Tuesday night series #3 at FBF - Women showed up
While riding my bike home yesterday, I was thinking about the great women's turnout at race #3 of the Floyd Bennett Field series. That week, our team sponsored the event and chose to cover all registration fees for WTF/NB riders. Yes, the race was free and yes people love free stuff, but is it really enough to explain how we almost doubled the field compared to the previous weeks? Is it really just the simple impact of waiving registration fees or is there something else, something bigger?
And then I started thinking about things I’ve been hearing since I started racing last summer:
“ Women’s fields are a loss of money”
“We don’t have women's races because there is not enough interest, not enough racers”
“If 10 women show up it’s good enough”
“Men races are financially safer”.
And how in a few instances, race directors have made me feel like they were making a big sacrifice by having a women’s field. Leaving me to think it would probably be better if I wasn’t racing at all. For instance, when they make us race with juniors, when they threaten to cancel our fields or shorten our races “if we don’t show up” it actually creates an additional barrier to women racing and contributes to creating an intimidating culture. On another note, I also want to acknowledge that park permits are expensive and hard to get and that most race directors are very generous with their time.
Back to Tuesday night. Tuesday night was different. I think we all felt like they wanted us to be there and that was refreshing! There was an open invitation to join, there was this space that they were holding especially for us, and we showed up!!
I didn’t feel like we were a financial / or time “burden”.
What I’m learning from this experience is many women may just need an invitation to get out there and that can be a game changer—and maybe a free race once in a while.
I’m far from being a pro, I only have one abnormally short season of racing experience (because of covid), but sadly I think we’ve already felt that cycling isn’t the most welcoming sport. On the other hand, I must say that since I started with the team, I’ve also met a TON of human beings from NYC and out of town who are truly trying to change the sport and show so much enthusiasm for women’s cycling. I’m so happy to hear about individuals and groups advocating for equal distances, difficulty and prize money in races, both on the local scene and in the pro cycling world. I’m really hoping this team continues to promote and be a voice for women’s cycling in New York City! See you next week!
Words by Camille Bergeron-Parent