Welcome NEW Board members in PGH!
December 07, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PITTSBURGH, PA - Velomuse welcomes new Board members for the Pittsburgh chapter!
As we’ve grown over the years, our purpose has remained unchanged while the regional participation has shifted. One commonality is that while mountain biking issues are shared, new strategies for pulling volunteers and land managers together are frequently required. Further, since the most important thing is riding – we’ve been researching what folks are doing elsewhere, while keeping tabs on what other folks (mtb and non-mtb alike) are doing right here in Pittsburgh.
In leading by example, we have been able to initiate programs and create relationships that didn’t previously exist: getting permits for bike events in City parks, coordinating film premiers for local and international producers, leading a women’s mountain bike skills series and hosting kids mountain bike rodeos with our own fleet of kids’ bikes and features.
Last year, we had so much variety that it was difficult to keep up with the needs in the community, finding new volunteers for every event – it was a full-time and fulfilling job, despite being unpaid. This year, we’ve narrowed the focus to reconnecting with newer still, cross-sections of the community and using the research to understand where we can best put our focus for 2012, and avoid burnout. We’ve decided it is time to make the Pittsburgh (PGH) chapter of Velomuse an official mountain bike development organization, focusing on women’s leadership. As continuing founder and Executive Director, I would like to introduce you to the all-female Board of Directors for the Pittsburgh Chapter of Velomuse:
BOARD OF DIRECTORS - PITTSBURGH CHAPTER
Last winter was my first exposure to indoor mountain biking. As the cold, wet weather creeps in, I will be the first to admit that I can’t wait to go back and continue skills practice on some new features! The website might need to be updated to reflect the new dates for the women’s weekend in 2012, but it should be noted that it is their busiest weekend!
It turns out that I wasn’t the only that decided to register in the opposite gender’s race category this past weekend. A colleague in women’s coaching sent out a survey regarding motivation factors in relation to racing and it left both of us with questions – and a similar plan of action. What might I be missing by racing only with women, specifically, the same handful of women I ride with and see at every local race? I didn’t know, but now after racing with the guys, I only know that I need to do it again.
Definition: Super D
There are some unique qualities in this specific race that lent itself to the decision to change my race category from a combined Women’s category to Sport Men: Super D and downhill racers are timed individually to quantify bike-handling skills. Age, gender or fitness categorization would seem to be futile, at least as far as the start is concerned. As Super D racing includes 80-90% of time spent descending over the course of about 15-20 minutes, it shares some similarities with Downhill in the terrain, but on a smaller scale that doesn’t often engage the fight vs. flight response. Where it parallels cross country is that you have to pedal some, and maybe even climb a bit on a contour line, so you can’t let bike weight get to out of hand in either direction. Everyone rides the same course. It really comes down to skills – a potential game changer for racers.
Theory: Gender Classification in Racing
Here’s where I start to get really experimental with my hypothesis. I considered one of the common reasons for splitting men and women’s categories tends to be difference in physiology – specifically muscle development and oxygen uptake rates, which is a game changer in cross country and road racing. Further, there are also differences in fight vs. flight response in men and women, which could affect performance in a downhill race while scanning extremely technical trails. You have to be very familiar with your capabilities in order to be competitive with Super D, but I don’t think the demands are gender specific. I wondered if having a field of more than a handful of competitors might change my race goal. Would I ride faster, harder, or finish the race in better spirits? Would my female competitors feel snubbed by my decision not to race with them? Would they question their own race goals? Would my boyfriend find it undeserving that I was racing in his category? Would I find out that women are less skilled riders, as a rule? Was this all a very BAD idea?
Analyses: Race preparation
I decided not to talk about it before the race, to protect others from all the questions that did, in fact, haunt me throughout the race. As I suffered through a harsh warm up and some significant breathing problems, I realized that pre-ride would have helped me to understand that more than half of my time would be spent climbing, and I actually needed a warm-up and/or some kind of mountain biking in the weeks before. The lag gave me plenty of time to curse my lungs and watch as the female competitors passed me by. I was also gifted a handful of trailside mechanicals (chain drop 3x and packed down/no rebound suspension fork), and to offset the time I lacked in preparation. Still, I managed to finish the descent with what I thought was a respectable pace.
Observation: Trail/Course Design
My thoughts drifted to trail design at this time, since I didn’t know what to expect with the 3 technical alternate routes that would be coming, I knew that there weren’t a lot of mountain bike trails in the area to begin with and Month of Mud‘s first “Super D” style race. This solo time on the trail allowed me to quit thinking about gender politics and imagine a sharp and steep ladder-bridge drop with a transition landing full of hungry piranha rocks. I probably would’ve ridden it if I’d had the chance to look at it, but I didn’t hesitate to ride the long go-around which is where I managed to throw and twist my chain in some fluke double shift uphill fenango. After looking at photos, I don’t think the go-around options planned as options to the “skull and crossbones” sections were really necessary, after all. I also think the grassy vs. gravel access roads could be much more limited. READ: swoopy, fast Star Wars style trails are my favorite. Overall, I think the course could be much shorter and later in the day to accommodate out-of-town racers in pre-ride opportunity. Upon racing the course, I think it ended up more like a point-to-point cross country race than the Super D races I am familiar with. Not that it wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t exactly what I was prepared for, with what little preparation I did have.
Conclusion:
One of the things I am learning as a result of this experiment is how different women’s goals for racing can be. My experiment is a philosophical one : I really feel that the institution of racing is built with a framework catering to the status quo, male-dominant psyche that do not necessarily apply to everyone’s needs – and might actually be intimidating women from riding, racing and even vocalizing their needs. I plan to continue my research. Race preparation for myself and the bike is mandatory, regardless of gender – and I fell short here. The amount of apparent work and planning that went into the race that carried on without a hitch spoke to the potential of more trails and better riding opportunities close to home. That’s enough reason to have my support and I really hope that others appreciate it as much as I did. The great crowd, fall colors and warming temperature really made for a special race day near the river in Ohiopyle.
If you found this article compelling, you might also like to read:
All kinds of bike riding and racing are great, which is why I’ve never ruled anything out. When my sweet boyfriend took note of this women’s camp posted on the ridemonkey forum, on the same date as the Single Speed World Championship race in Ireland which I could no longer afford to attend, I was intrigued.
Photograph by Mark Poore
The CAMP Curriculum: Being a professional mountain bike coach, I value curriculum a great deal and made a point to check in with promoters that there would be challenge for all skill levels. I was looking for advanced skills practice, along the lines of tailwhips, and big drops. I considered my ambitions fair, because I had been riding and racing cross country, dh and super D in addition to other non-mtb events like adventure racing and triathlon. I knew the basics in bike-handling well enough to teach others but was not afraid to humble myself and admit that there’s always more to learn. Still, when given the option to choose which group I wanted to ride with, I chose advanced.
Angie’s a certified International MountainBike Instructor Certification coach, which landed on my coaching radar a couple years ago as something potentially useful to compliment my USA Cycling Coach certification. I was glad to meet a handful of people with some experience from IMIC, and just sat back and took it all in. I liked the coaching style performed by Angie, who seems naturally to be a good listener and enthusiastic about sharing skills. There were also a handful of skills demonstrations which seemed to fit into a more formal program, that I would anticipate the other groups also shared. I really liked the practicality of some of the practice skill sessions (manual, bunny hop, and drops/jumps), although it seemed time-consuming at the time to watch everyone and wait my turn. I learned more in watching and listening than in doing and talking, although I don’t think one can exist without the other. In the end, I learned some things I didn’t know that I didn’t know.
The Bike Park: Finally, the organizers of the event put together such a great package deal, that it couldn’t be passed up. $109 for 2 days of dh bike and armor rentals, lift tickets, accommodations AND lunch! Snowshoe offers a majority of advanced trails on both sides of the mountain, with lots of rocks and drops alternating between man-made and natural features. Trails that gave some challenge to my head were on the Western side with Ninja Bob, Missing Link, Ball & Jack and Pro DH. Trails were designed and maintained beautifully, especially when it was possible to place singletrack right off of the lift. What we didn’t plan for was the extra bonus of Go Pro HD footage recorded to help us review our techniques – this was priceless!
Photograph by Justin Scheifflee
Equipment: The 2011 Kona (A blue, size small, Kona Operator Freeride) DH bike had Boxxer’s 8 inches of full-suspension travel, Minion tires, and sram x9 shifting, so I felt right at home in no time. The bike’s wheelbase felt manageable – even flickable – despite being close to 40 pounds. It took some getting used to the super-slack headtube angle (64deg) since I’ve only ridden my Banshee Pyre (all mountain mtb w/68deg HTA) on DH trails before. As it turns out they will be selling it with the rest of this years’ demo fleet, soon. If you call Snowshoe’s Mountain Adventure Center, be sure to ask Ethan about the demo fleet sale and then give one a try.
1) Let the woman (your girl friend, wife, friend, family member, etc.) express enthusiasm for the sport before telling her that she’ll like it. Same goes with trying other new things.
2) Offer NO unsolicited feedback, unless there is a safety concern. I think this one applies to both genders. She’ll ask for help when she needs it, and self-sufficient cycling requires this attribute.
3) Support women’s rides, by helping promote to other women, and respect women-only attendance. I don’t understand exactly why, but women-only forums have shown to increase the receptiveness of women participation in a number of ways (ex: Co-ed vs. Girls School: http://www.girlslearndifferently.com/classroombias.php)
4) Anticipate that women riding with other women may ride more, faster, with greater skill and your coed rides together will be more fun. They probably won’t drop you, but maybe they could? When in doubt, let the woman lead and set the pace.
5) Find women role models for yourself. Who has inspired you or supported your hobbies?
6) Encourage your female riding partner to find and develop her own riding style, without comparison to other people.
7) Encourage off-the-bike activities to include women in the bike community: bike films, repair classes, trail maintenance, leadership in advocacy.
8 ) Provide similar opportunities for women if you plan/organize races. If combined fields are a necessity due to low attendance, perhaps find ways to split other fields, combine and make a regular rotation of field combinations. Have an equal payout/prize for top placing women.
9) Think things out twice and do share your opinions. Try to respond to situations before reacting.
10) Share your goals. Be positive and encouraging, for when goals are achieved. Avoid taking credit for their success or over-emphasizing small goals.
Snapshot Recap 3: Diversity Builds Strength; Women and Mountain Biking @ IMBA Mid-Atlantic Summit
After lunch, I grew quite nervous since the nature of the session had changed several times over and hadn’t really settled into a solid focus nor had time to prepare a power point presentation – and I had doubts that I was the right person to be leading the charge. Leading the “Diversity Builds Strength: Women and Mountain Biking” session on behalf of Velomuse, I was thankfully joined by such strong, experienced panelists as Morgan Lommele from the IMBA Trail Care Crew and professional mountain biker Sue Haywood.
Morgan put me at ease, by suggesting that we pose some workshop questions and share everyone’s experiences in break out groups, after priming the audience with examples and success stories. The primary questions were “What is diversity?”, “How can your club benefit from it?” and “What are your success stories, ideas or plans to support diversity and inclusion of women in your club?”.
Diversity was defined as inclusion of extremes; different levels of skill, non-cyclists, age, ethnicity, and different types of riding/mountain bikers.
Clubs benefit from diversity because it makes the club more politically powerful, represents the mountain bike community better, defies stereotypes, increases club membership, builds trust in the club, allows it to reach wider audiences, and ultimately builds capacity to change the community for the better.
Success Stories, Ideas and Plans for increasing women in mountain biking clubs:
- More women on Board of Directors (and not just administrative roles) – trickle down effect.
- MTB gear/repair clinic for women
- Women-only events (ex: Sue’s Wine and Cheese ride)
- Take a Woman Mountain Biking Day
- Bring a woman/girl-friend to a non-riding social event
- Reach women in non-cycling, familiar settings (e.g. church)
- Reach out to women who don’t consider themselves athletes
- Meetup.com (type) groups
- Join races together, emphasizing social aspect
- Trips to bike parks (ex: Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park)
- What you don’t want your husband/boyfriend/dudefriend to tell you/duo women’s instructional video
- Women “ride free” days at mountains or resort parks
- Women teachers for skills clinic, repair and gear clinics
- Bob trailer demo days
- Baby-sitting co-ops, switch off/group parenting at rides
- Fun for the whole family trails and events
- Emphasizing gender-specific technique (“Chick-technique”)
- Weekly women’s rides
- “Log-therapy” session/make obstacles entertaining not intimidating.
- Chicks-only race (ex: Little Red Riding Hood)
- Advertise in Women’s publications
- Better signage on trails, for solo exploration and independence
- Foster future women ride leaders
- Promote group ride guidelines (Morgan also provided a take home handout: Organizing Women’s Riding Groups)
- Inclusive marketing language (don’t assume women=beginner)
- Partnering with recreation centers
- More women at public meetings
There’s something very unique about educating oneself in trail design at these conferences. It’s a great blend of altruist volunteers, professional land managers and the humble curious – with plenty of time for hands-on (mtb) trail exploration. I like to travel sometimes for these events, make a mini “work” vacation out of it. But it doesn’t feel very much like work with all the beer drinking and riding going on, which also acts as a great ice-breaker for the various types of participants.
Being fortunate to carpool with my partner-in-crime, we tag-teamed the sessions so we wouldn’t miss any valuable information. Here’s a sneak peek some riding fun, video courtesy of Justin Scheifflee:
There’s a snapshot recap of each session in the summit, if you click the double chevron arrows below.
Hilly Billy Roubaix
This is what happens when you put a “road” race on West Virginia’s rocky, rutted dirt and gravel roads: you get dozens of short, steep climbs on fairly technical terrain and not much road at all, actually. But, that might be a good thing if you like mountain biking or cyclocross… and you’re willing to put your mind, body and bike/soul through the ringer for 70+ miles. You land yourself with an unforgettable experience that you have to document, so please bear with me while I get this experience out of my head.
Yesterday, the racers’ turnout culminated from marketing to various cross-sections of the cycling community, which is probably a big reason I even considered going. Mountain bikes and cyclocross rigs had the advantage over skinny-tired carbon road bikes. Personally, I was on the fence regarding participating in it at all, because of scheduling and a lack of training. With recent job changes, the only riding I’ve done this year was commuting and a touch of touring – which turns out to be a decent amount of (loaded) mileage, but not anything over 50 miles in a day and not focussed on efficiency. After taking the fenders and rack off my steel ‘cross bike, putting on the aforementioned skinny tires and lightening the load; my bike started resembling a road machine last month. Was I ready to compete? I very much doubted it, but racing provides ride and reflection opportunities that are too fun to pass up, sometimes. And so, knowing it was going to hurt a lot, I committed to participating about 24 hours before the race and put the fat tires back on.
At the race site, I noticed other folks’ tires were actually smaller and softer than mine, and decided to take a test-run out in the gravel parking lot (thinking it was the worst conditions I might see, and therefore a safe data point). I took my PSI from 93% to 63% of the maximum recommended pressure on the WTB Interwolf tires I had, and am glad I did. A few times over the course of the day, I considered that the ride would be signifiicantly less harsh if I had taken out another 5%, but resolved that the frequency of flat-tire repairs I saw on the side of the “road” every hour negated any comfort:efficiency savings that could be had. I gave away my extra tubes and patches to the riders that had gone through their own supply, and was glad I had thought to bring extra. I ate all the extra GU and electrolyte blocks I had brought, in addition to 4 sample-sized raw vegan food bars at the rest stops and 1 jello shot, drank 2 bottles of electrolyte fluid and 3 of plain water. I peed with the 3 C’s, but that’s enough about data. Who will remember that stuff years from now, anyways? I took care of my body and didn’t bonk, ended up recovering pretty well, even feeling stronger a couple days later.
Within 4 miles of the race start, I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Really. Wow, I should know better than to start out like that, when I haven’t trained my heart or my body for such efforts. I reminded myself that I was out to finish the race, not beat anyone. I also wanted to document it, because the stories I’d heard about last year’s event had inspired other riders I knew. A lot of people hadn’t finished at all last year, so I thought that was a fair goal despite the fact that I’ve never *not* finished a race that I started. And it was a bigger challenge than any other race I’ve entered. Every 10 minutes after those first four miles, I considered waiting for the sag wagon and flagging it down, bailing out. And I would reason with myself, “Will I DIE, if I continue?” Unless I couldn’t find a way to negotiate a “No.” answer with myself, I could continue. I ended up eliminating all possible excuses not to continue, and thereby justified unlimited amounts of pain, discomfort and confusion for the next several hours. I took breaks to take pictures (about 50), but didn’t have a single mechanical. I rode quite slow and steady (11mph ave.), but performed perfectly in the process and am satisfied – even impressed – with myself. It didn’t hurt that the course consisted of mostly dirt, either.
A few times, I would trade places or paceline with other riders on long stretches, and eventually passing a few. There were some people I never saw ahead of me and some people I never saw behind me – definitely more of the former, but I held my place after those first 4 miles, didn’t look back and only walked a couple sections when no one was looking. Keeping my promise not to die but finish instead, I took the gear of least resistance through 7:26hr for 75 miles and climbed the sarcastic hill of shame towards the finish, as the parking lot was beginning to empty before me. And yet, they continued to cheer. Thankfully, it got me the rest of the way across the finish line, to the bathroom and a cold beer, which I had been anticipating, the last hour.
Thank you ABRA, you delivered one of the best races I’ve ever had the opportunity to participate in. And congratulations to the 12 other women that participated in this race – you are truly bad-asses that I admire!
Here’s another race report from MJ.
After mountain biking for about a year and a half I was ready for my very first mountain bike race. I started training in the winter by taking a spin class, going to Ray’s Indoor Mtn bike Park, and I got out on my bike a few times including pre-riding the race course a couple weeks before. I was so psyched, the first race of the West Virginia Mountain Bike Association (WVMBA) series was going to be in my home town where I ride quite a bit. Drew, my coach and significant-other went on the pre-ride with me and gave tips and tricks etc to increase my speed and to help me be a little more competitive in my women’s beginner category. My goal from the beginning was always to finish the race and not to be last, but come on – that competitive edge inside me said it wouldn’t be so bad if I pushed myself and finished in the top of my class – right?
We watched the weather like hawks in the weeks leading up to the Simonton Challenge at Mountwood on April 11, 2011. The forecasted temperatures were in the 80’s. Yay! That’s my kind of weather, no snow! The day before the race I pre-rode the first major two-mile hill in the rain, I did good and felt good; I was soooo going to do good. The trails were holding up great, the River Valley Mountain Bike Association (RVMBA) takes great care of the trails, adding new bridges and log-overs.
The day of the race I arrived at Mountwood park with a record capacity of 229 other riders, which was quite overwhelming and increased the nervous jitters. Riding around warming up with the other riders helped ease the nerves until the rider meeting and the following line-up. The first wave of riders took off at noon and then every 2-3 minutes till my group at 12:11, that was a crazy long 11 minutes. I was so focused and ready to go, then they counted down “5-4-3-2-1 and we’re off!” I took off trying to keep up with the rest of the beginner pack, still nervous but such an amazing wave of relief to be moving, though I did feel eerily alone riding with so many people I didn’t know.
After about a quarter of a mile of paved road we arrived at the bottom of the gravel two-mile climb. I was coached not to worry about staying with the pack heading up that climb so I wouldn’t blow-up. But, being competitive, it was so hard not to try and keep up with the pack – so by the time I got to the top, I was completely crushed and overheated. My body just started shutting down, which completely freaked me out and lead to an outright panic attack. I got off my bike and started walking (I had to keep moving right?). My legs didn’t want to work nor did my upper body; I wanted to lie down and go to sleep on the trail. I had no idea how the heck I was going to get off the mountain, let alone finish the race. I couldn’t even walk, and I thought I was going to die or pass out in the very least. Everyone that I was ahead of started passing me at this point and the sweeps came up to check on me. While the sweep was getting salt pills for me I started gagging and heaving and came close to throwing-up. I rested for a few minutes, regained my composure, and started walking. Yay, I could walk! Then I climbed back on my bike and started riding, walking, and resting in intervals. The sweeps kept encouraging me and Drew, God bless him, was around every corner taking pictures, cheering me on, giving me water, taking my Camelbak, and everything else I could possibly take off, including my jersey (did I mention it was hot?!).
I finally got my legs back under me and was excited to be able to clear all the log-overs and bridges and I actually passed two other riders. The trail conditions were great. The final couple miles were a fun descent so I was able to fly down the hill, past my cheering parents and down the last stretch to the finish line. Hell yeah I made it. I didn’t even have to crawl across the finish line, I was able to ride my bike! My time was 1:32 and I placed 5 of 6 in the women’s beginner class. Ok, so it wasn’t at the top of my class but at this point I was so happy to have finished the race and yes I’m off to the races next weekend, this is fun…right?
Free Webinar: Women Can Change the World through Cycling
Wednesday, March 30, 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. EDT
Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/852395306
Attend this free webinar if you want to learn how to increase the number of women cycling for transportation in your community.
This webinar builds on last year’s session, “Writing Women Back into Bicycling.”* Five speakers offer compelling insights about cycling projects run by inspiring women, illuminate what women told APBP they want in a cycling environment, and suggest best practices to help you make a difference in your community. Don’t miss the stories of some of the wonderful women leading the cycling movement, and results of APBP’s 2010 survey on Women Cycling.
APBP encourages individuals to gather colleagues and friends together to watch the webinar and discuss and plan afterwards. Build your team. Check out the Women Cycling Project here:https://apbp.site-ym.com/members/group.asp?id=63197
Presenters:
Andrea Garland, Alta Planning + Design, presents women’s viewpoints on three of the open-ended questions from the 2010 Women Cycling survey: “What would cause you to start or increase your cycling?”, “What reaction do you get when cycling for transportation?” and “Why do you use your bicycle for trips?”
Kristin Gavin founded the Gearing Up program in Philadelphia, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide women in transition from drug and alcohol addiction, domestic violence and/or homelessness with the skills, equipment and guidance to safely ride a bicycle for exercise, transportation and personal growth.
Fionnuala Quinn, PE, Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling, offers up a brief history of APBP’s Women Cycling Project which she helped to inspire, points to resources we can use, and suggests next steps for the project.
Anna Sibley, Masters in Public Health candidate at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, summaries the results of the 2010 APBP Women Cycling Project and survey.
Carolyn Szczepanski, Communications Coordinator, Alliance for Biking & Walking, and columnist for Bicycling Times magazine, profiles some of the women leading the bicycling movement. Her talk is inspired by http://blog.publicbikes.com/2011/03/fifteen-women-who-rule-the-biking-world/
*View the recording of “Writing Women Back into Bicycling” here:
