Living in the San Francisco Bay Area we have come to expect high performance and competition amongst the female racers. I, for one, go to the races with an emphasis on watching these women battle it out. Sure the men’s fields are larger and the pace is slightly faster, but there is something special and invigorating about watching these women push themselves beyond their limits in fearless combat. And honestly, out on the open road, most of these women would destroy us average guys on almost any climb or all out sprint… I don’t know about you, but I am 100% down with being “chicked” on a climb… You women are hard-core and you Rock!

There seems to have been a lot of discussion this off-season about the importance and integrity of Professional Women’s Cycling Teams as well as their funding and representation. This debate has carried right into the beginning of the season. In fact, just a couple of days ago “VeloNews” wrote an article about Shelley Evans wining the Tour of New Zealand which received a letter from a man (“David”) expressing his opinion and disdain toward the Pro Female circuit.

“I don’t mean to be a jerk or a sexist — but I’m sure going to sound like one here. Generally no one really cares about women’s road racing results or news, certainly when it’s lumped into overall headlines…” and “Stop trying to trick me into clicking on articles about women’s cycling and stop putting women’s cycling news in your overall road headlines. Trust me, your target audience doesn’t particularly care…”

This caused quite a stir in the community of people (including Velocurean) who wish Pro Women’s Cycling would grow and succeed reaching higher levels in media coverage, events and financial support. I realize that there are many factors effecting the state of women’s cycling on both the human level and the business level but I have no real knowledge base in that and do not wish to voice my opinion on that matter. My only desire here is to prove that guy “David” wrong along with any other naysayer and do my part in gaining respect for and shedding light on the world of the professional female cyclist.

Let’s start with the case in point, Shelley Evans (a racer for the Marin based squad Peanut Butter & CO. TWENTY12 Professional Cycling Team) represented Team USA at the Tour of New Zealand and brought back the Yellow Jersey with the help of team mates Amber Neben, Janel Holcomb, Andrea Devorrak, Jessica Phillips and Alison Starnes. The fact that they all race on different teams shows their determination and commitment to the sport and team structure. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment given the difference in programs between the US and the heavily funded European squads. Another “proove you wrong” scenario is that Lotto Ladies Cycling Team signed Liz Hatch this season – proof that being addicted to cycling can turn into a job for women too.

Brooke Miller had this to say about the USA National team victory in New Zealand and the sisterhood of the Professional Ladies Cycling community in the US –

“I was thrilled to see that Shelley and all of the USA National team were racing so well down in NZ.  USA Cycling has been pushing hard to develop talent and bring domestic racing up to par with the European peloton, which has such a long history in the sport.  Team USA’s dominating performance in the southern hemisphere shows what we in the women’s peloton already know- we have some incredible talent here!  Although we may race for different teams when we are at home, I know that I am not alone in cheering my some-times competitors when they don the USA jersey- we are all Team USA and we are all happy to go toe-to-toe with the best from all around the globe.”

We are blessed to be living in the Bay Area with such amazing terrain and food to fuel the machine that is our body as well as a very extensive, talented and intensely loyal cycling population. We are home to some of the best individual racers and teams. Our community is ever-increasing and supportive of the Velocurean lifestyle both nutritionally and physically necessary to excel in the sport. In short, Velocurean and the rest of the Bay Area are behind you and want to see Women’s Cycling grow. So in light of Brooke Millers request to “mobilize the troops…” I’m calling out to all of you who fit this modified Vanderkitten tagline – “…Women Who Kick Ass!” we are ready to do battle!

Ride Hard and Prosper! Live Velocurean!

- Joshua Seaman