OK, guys, you like cycling ahead anyhow, so go.
Go on. Git. See ya later, hot shots.
All right, ladies, listen up.
Don’t you just hate that? You’re cycling along at a pretty good pace when the testosterone rushes by in a pack of wannabe Lance Armstrongs.
And you wonder, “Will I ever be able to keep up?”
Basic physiology puts women at a disadvantage. We have less lung capacity and muscle mass, which is why experts say the top male cyclists will continue to speed past the top female cyclists.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t hang with the boys.
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Just think like Armstrong.
Kristin Armstrong, that is.
Kristin Armstrong (no relation to Lance) is a member of the T-Mobile Professional Cycling Team. The Boise, Idaho, resident also competed in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Even she knows what it’s like to be left behind by the guys sometimes, but she says women can use the gender gap to their advantage.
“It’s not a physical thing. It’s a mental barrier,” she says. “You have to go there with confidence. I always figure to get stronger I have to train with the men, and I don’t want to hold them back.”
Kristin Armstrong says women need to come into coed cycling knowing the basics such as how to fix a flat, how to ride a straight line and how to communicate with other cyclists.
Start out cycling in small groups of women to get over the initial wariness of riding in a pack, she advises. And take advantage of any special women’s bike clinics.
She mentions one forming in her town where women learn what type of bike to buy, what to eat and drink and how to ride together.
“I think that’s a great step in the right direction for women because there’s a lot of women out there who want to be fit on the bike but don’t know how to integrate themselves in these groups of men,” she says.
Women should learn to see training with men as an opportunity to push themselves to be faster and stronger, says Plano, Texas, cyclist Suzie Goodwin. Goodwin has won multiple women’s cycling events and has set world records at the master’s level.
You can often catch her zipping around Frisco’s Superdrome track, where her husband, Tim Goodwin, is the track director.
“When you’re the strongest woman … you can go race with the men, and there are obviously men who are stronger than you are,” she says. “I think it’s easier for women to improve and get stronger than it is for men. A woman can go and train with the guys, and no one thinks anything of it.”
At first, though, women cyclists have to be OK with not being able to keep up and sometimes being “dropped” or left behind, she says. As women improve, they’ll find that they can keep up with some of the men, she says.
“In reality, women are one-third weaker in the upper body and almost equal in the lower body,” she says. “We don’t ride as fast, but the gap is closing as the stronger the women in general become.”
For women who want to take that drive beyond making a point with their male counterparts, there are racing opportunities, says Jim Miller, director for the women’s endurance program with USA Cycling in Colorado Springs.
A lot depends on how you’re naturally built, he says, but capable female cyclists generally reach peak performance faster than men.
Women are likely to be older than men when they start racing, and that’s often because cycling is their second sport, Miller says. The average age for the women starting on the U.S. national team is about 30, he says.
Both Kristin Armstrong, 31, and Suzie Goodwin, 38, came to cycling second. Armstrong was a triathlete, but had to switch to a lower-impact sport after osteoarthritis was diagnosed in her hips in 2001.
In-line speed skating was Goodwin’s first love, but she switched to cycling after it became almost impossible to find speed-skating sponsors.
Women’s cycling still doesn’t garner the attention or sponsorship money that men’s cycling does. And most people don’t even know there is a women’s version of the Tour de France.
The trend in more women pursuing the sport, despite the obstacles, does make it feel more personable, Kristin Armstrong says. She recalls watching a race in Idaho where the announcer called out the women’s names as they cycled past, and before she named their sponsor she announced the cyclist’s profession. That doesn’t happen in men’s races, Armstrong says.
“About 75 to 80 percent of these women were doctors, lawyers, nurses,” she says. “They had stuff figured out in life, but their passion was bike racing and they’re making that happen.”
So, ladies, what are you waiting for? Those men really aren’t that far ahead anymore.
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