Intro to Women's Cycling and Racing Teams Sunday Ride

Today I went on one of the general recruiting rides for women cyclists. The idea is to have all of the local women's race teams represented and let new riders meet everybody at once. I represented my team the past two weeks. There are four rides total, all on Sundays. The rides are very interesting because you meet all sorts of riders with different backgrounds but all wanting to find out more about racing.

It's difficult to sum up why my team is different than the other teams in a few words. Mostly it's the size and the race focus. Because we have a smaller group of riders we can more closely interact with new riders. We build their skills and get them strong and confident before their first race. The other teams have larger groups but not everybody races. Some of the other teams are more of a club atmosphere. We look for riders who really want to race and are training through the winter with that goal. Our training rides focus on racing skills and building a strong base to anchor training later on in the season. We also have some really strong riders that know the kind of training needed to go fast. Training with fast people is the way to get faster. We have a relaxed fun atmosphere that is less rigid than the sturcted organization of some of the other teams.

So I tried to find out what each person was looking for and tell them about my team during a ride with 40 or so women who I hadn't ridden with before. It's fun but draining. I hope some of them will join my team because I'm excited to mentor new riders and pass on my love of bike racing.

At the half-way point we stopped at the rest rooms and I just happened to see one of my old teammates, Jennie, out riding with one of the local teams. It was great to see her again. I remember when she started cycling! Maybe one of the riders starting today will make it to the top like Jennie.