Are British Cycling & Sky being deliberately sexist?

[mr_cellophane]

Ride levels are very subjective and personal. Same as skiing - what makes one piste a red and another blue ? I have been on easy reds and testing blues. Problem with skiing thoough, is you can't turn around and go back if it gets too difficult

 

[mr_cellophane]

Here, no need to do it for free now
https://www.goskyride.com/News/Show...ws+30th+January&dm_i=BM6,25B9Z,690ILH,7RNDV,1

 

[velovoice]

You're wrong. It's not. It's quite fast.

Agree. I consider myself "experienced" if not "expert". My fitness is well above those on Breeze rides (I do them to help the leader out and to rest, frankly!) but my average -- over all my types of riding whether road cycling, commuting, whatever - runs about 10-11mph.

 

[Rob3rt]

You can be both experienced and slow!

 

[velovoice]

If you consider the entirely voluntary basis of this Breeze initiative, then the people volunteering to do it may well be better off investing the time and energy in building female membership in a local club. The role would be near identical, but the results sustainable and lasting as people can be shuttled off into appropriate channels as they progress. IMO it would also feel more like a community (I have no basis for saying this other than how I feel regarding my club and what I observe others saying).

@Rob3rt, you've posted quite a lot (on a number of points that go OT in different ways!) since I last looked at this thread, so excuse me if I'm lagging behind. I just want to say - the local Breeze ride leader here in Dunstable does exactly this -- encourages her ladies to progress and then lets them know about other groups and rides going on in the area (which some may or may not classify as "clubs"). But this is mainly because she is comfortable with those other groups herself and knows they have the right atmosphere to nurture these ladies' skills and experience even further.

Not every town is so lucky. For many ladies in many areas, there is nothing or next to nothing outside of Breeze without getting into that whole "testerone" thing, cf. my earlier posts on this.

 

[velovoice]

You can be both experienced and slow!

So why were you equating "slow" with "not qualified to do anything beyond Sky rides"?

 

[Rob3rt]

So why were you equating "slow" with "not qualified to do anything beyond Sky rides"?

That is not what I said!

 

[velovoice]

I agree and IME, people who come to our club after doing Sky rides generally arrive at a level we would deem beginners, i.e. group riding skills are poor to non-existent and fitness is low. The reasons why, I do not know (I don't actually know what goes on, on Sky rides). The solutions to these unknown reasons, I do not know. We have seen a few Sky Ride advanced (or whatever they call it now) turn up and go off the back of an easy ride within a mile.

I'd say a ride looking to average 13-15 mph for 30 miles is suitably defined as easy (you could flip your comment and say maybe Sky ought to re-think what they call advanced, I certainly would not consider someone who struggles to ride at 13-15 mph average as advanced). Also, these rides are exactly aimed at teaching people group riding skills and learning about and hopefully joining the club (given that out membership is very large and growing at a fast rate, they appear to be working very well. We also have a fast growing womens membership).

Then what were you saying?

 

[Longshot]

Men don't have the same confidence issues

Wow. Sweeping generalisation of the day.

 

[velovoice]

Wow. Sweeping generalisation of the day.

Like you, I detest generalisations. But please note: no one ever said men don't have confidence issues. They're just not the same ones that women have.

 

[Rob3rt]

Then what were you saying?

I was saying exactly what I said! Take care to read it again!