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Permalink Reply by Tamara on December 11, 2008 at 9:19am

I don't see Downers Grove on the list. Hmmm. I don't know if I can bring myself to race Elk Grove again after being lectured by the mayor last year about how few women showed up. Every year he complains bitterly, but every year he cuts down the women's races giving us less and less incentive to attend. And the first and second years, he had DEEP fields. No, there weren't 70 women there. But there were 30 or 40 really strong, amazing racers.

So this past August, not only do they schedule the women's 1-2 race and the women's 3-4 race to run at the same time, starting two minutes apart [which could cause massive problems if the 1-2 women lapped the 3-4 women on any of the many corners], they decided at the last minute that not enough women showed up, so they combined the fields on the line into one race. Right there, my race went from 'how do I win?!' to 'ack! Keep up!' It sucked. And to rub salt in the wound, he gathered us all together after the race and lectured us. Dude! WE CAME TO YOUR RACE. We aren't the problem.

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Permalink Reply by Tamara on December 12, 2008 at 4:06am

The streets are fine -- no potholes, etc. But the course has challenging corners including a 180 that can wreak havoc on less experienced riders [or those behind them]. I've raced it all three years it's existed, and I was quite surprised the first year to hear he was upset by the size of my field, when it was the largest field I'd ever raced in. Women's fields are simply not as large as the men's fields, especially on the amateur level. And after the tragic death of a cat 4 woman racing in the state championship road race in 2007, the women's fields were halved. It's starting to rebound, but while you'll get 100+ cat 5 men at a race like Elk Grove, you'll never get 100 cat 4 women. Over 30 women in a cat 3/4 race IS successfully large.

Yeah, I've heard he might cancel the women's races too. Instead of trying to grow interest and attendance over several years by offering quality racing, he's given women less and less reason to come to his race. And now possibly no reason at all.

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