npda wrote:
AWARE wrote:
What I was looking for in my area was a team that had no minimum racing requirements, was cat 3/4, and was a mix of social and racing, and had some "normal" people on it... no luck! Much better luck with the masters swim team and the running clubs. Hopefully what I describe exists out there somewhere! I think that "middle ground" would suit a lot of women who don't want to/can't commit to bike racing 100% because they have jobs, families and/or other hobbies, but also want to race and not just do social rides. And these "middle ground" teams would make the sport grow. !
that is why me and a few other girls tried to do. Make a social 3/4 team. Well, in 2 years everyone was a Cat 2 or had quit. I think you pretty much summed it all up.
And now the team is doing well and we have our kit out on lots of social type rides too. It was Win Win for our sponsors so I can't really complain. But as far as competition, no.
and if you look at the men, at least in my area, you'll see the biggest fields by FAR are the Cat 5 and the Masters. So you have dudes w/o commitment and lots o moiney (kids are gone) or you see Newbies, and I bet 1/2 them never cat up to 4.