There are a couple of women on our ride who race our local races. They are quick, very quick on the rollies but they lack real power on those 2% drag that go on for few miles so they learn how and which wheel to follow to get out of the wind. You are correct. they train with the men and they get strong fast. When I was riding the track, this young pimple faced 16 year old girl shows up one Saturday evening and we noticed that she was really something. She can hang with a lot of the local riders on the track. As she got a couple of years behind her, she went on to hold the unofficial world's Kilo as well as a bunch of other races. I believe she was on the olympic back up track team. We would mess around on the track with her training and I tried many times to drop her or maybe I should say, we men would take turns, tried to drop her but she hangs tough and stays put right on our wheels. I am sure if I was racing against her, I wouldn't stand a chance.

We have several strong women that ride with us. They can maintain pace as good as anyone with their only weakness coming out of turns where they just can't accelerate as well.

I was in a very small race this weekend away from my usual club ride (13 people) with 2 women in the group. It was 63 miles, I hadn't really trained lately so it was just a ride for me and I finished 45 minutes behind the winner. I checked the finish time and the women were in the top 5 with a finishing average of 23.2 MPH over 63 miles. Pretty impressive to me especially with such a small group.

Dang, 23 for 63 miles is fast. Hills?

You still race? Racing has cross my mind several times but the time commitment is what kept me from doing it. I want to ride the track again mixed in with some local crit racing. Doesn't getting back up into speed out of a turn require so much interval trainint. It sure hurts like heck.

Some of the strongest riders in our gravel group are women. One is about 100 pounds and climbs like a goat. Several others come from running/triathlon and have incredible aerobic engines. They are a lot more fun to draft behind than the guys! :)

There was also a pro female rider who lived here several years ago. When she'd show up you knew you had your work cut out for you.

And there are some 'not so obvious' perks from drafting women.;)

I always kept my eyes on their rear wheel and never overlap it. You can cross a wheel and fall, ya know.

Mildly hilly. I rarely race and if I do, I just treat it like a hard ride since I’ll be finishing way back.

Last Sunday's ride. We are getting close to riding season being done. I'll get a few more in if I can.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1762972654.jpg

Cycling is healthy at any age until you get run over by a bread truck

Today was an unusually warm and dry day! So much fun to ride at noon with a group.

(Apparently, this is the last dry day for a pretty long while...)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1762985656.jpg