Rando Diversity: Younger Riders/Women Riders

[Dan Jensen]

Advance apologies for the long post.

Thanks to everyone who turned out for the meeting; to Mark, Maggie and
Eric for continuing as officers; and to all the volunteers for next
year events. Although I don't feel I'm ready to take on
responsibility of planning a brevet--I will be reaching out to
organizers to lend a hand.

One aspect of the discussion regarding the fee structure of the
Cascade 1200 was the issue of 'opening up the sport' to more people--
in particular younger riders (and women). I'd like to open a new
thread on this topic.

I started with SIR in 2008 via the winter training series--I guess I,
like many others, get to blame Ralph and Carol for giving me the
'taste' of randonneuring that got me hooked. The initial attraction
was the collegial nature of SIR members on these rides compared to the
'normal' Cascade Bike Club rides I'd done, which I found to be
cliquish. This is definitely something SIR does right.

It is generally accepted that randonneuring is skewed to an older,
male demographic. Nonetheless,after doing rides in other regions,
I've noticed that our demographics seem somewhat more skewed in this
direction. This was also reflected in our PBP participation (15% of
US riders, only 6%* of the female US riders). I did long brevets in
Arizona and Oregon this year and both had more young (< 30) people and
women participate as a percentage of the field than we do. I don't
think it is matter of money. We have a very reasonable fee structure
for our standard ACP brevets, and our permanents--cheap at twice the
price ;). I've wondered if our rides are too difficult, but the rides
I did in AZ (400K) and OR (600K) were plenty hard. Both were
essentially unsupported 'here's your card have a good ride brevets.'
Riders on typical SIR brevets are spoiled by comparison (once again
thanks to all the volunteers who make it possible).

We have a large and successful club--I'm proud to be a member. I
believe with more age and gender diversity we can be even better. On
the other hand, it's not that we are struggling for members, so maybe
it's NOT a problem. Another line of thought is that if we get any
bigger, it might cause problems organizing brevets due to the number
of participants.

My hope is to generate thoughtful and constructive discussion to help
make our strong and successful club even better.

We had a tremendous season in 2011. Here's to an even better 2012!

Dan Jensen

An interesting side note. I met a young guy from California while in
France. I asked him how he got started in randonnuering. His reason
was that the popular double century rides were too expensive. 300K
brevet fees were much more reasonable. He finished in the 85 hour
plus range so I'm sure he spent $300+ in registration fees and on
course services to do PBP--not to mention the expense of traveling to
France. Ironically, he got sucked into a vortex that ultimately cost
more than countless triple-doubles but was ultimately more rewarding.
In other words, $300 is not all that much of an expense once a
randonneur has set the goal of completing a 1200K brevet whether it be
in 45 or 90 hours.

* I counted 3 of 52 (Elaine, Jan, Jennifer)

[Erik Nilsson]

Dan, I think the most effective way to learn answers to your questions
would be to ask women and younger riders what SIR could do to attract
them. Ask women in other chapters what drew them to Randonneuring. Ask
serious biking women in Washington who aren't randonneurs why they
aren't. Ask younger riders in SIR and other chapters the same
question. (For example young SFR riders, since they seem like a more
youthful version of SIR in some ways.)

I am neither young nor female, so probably you should stop reading
now. Even though I don't quite feel I should stop writing. (And shall
probably have trouble stopping for a fair piece. You've been warned.)

I come to Randonneuring fairly recently, and I'm somewhat familiar
with the research into the declining numbers of women entering the
computer science field, so maybe I can at least think of some
interesting questions to ask.

Randonneuring is not the first kind of athletic biking somebody will
undertake. Potential new randonneurs are already out there on their
bikes, wanting something more, and possibly wondering if randonneuring
could be it. Young people are riding charity rides, outlaw urban
races, cyclocross, or bike polo; or they are just bike commuting to
work and wanting to see more of their region. Women seem to come to
athletic biking predominantly via triathloning. More people will add
SIR to their mix of rides if they know about SIR and think that SIR
rides will add more than they demand in time and expense (and possibly
risk).

When I ride events like RAMROD or HPC, I tend to finish around the
same time as the top women finishers. My ride profile is different
(fast women are just way faster than me in the hills) but I still
spend considerable time riding with such riders. There is a problem in
that the top women RAMROD riders, say, may not reflect all athletic
women riders, but if we can persuade such women to add SIR events to
their calendar, then perhaps more women will follow into SIR, and more
women will become interested in athletic cycling in the first place.
So, I have observed a few important characteristic of these women that
may discourage them from SIR events. These women are very competitive,
and they strongly care about where they finish compared to other
women, and to an extent overall. Most of these women are triathletes,
and are used to the idea of entering a race with the goal of placing,
and often the goal of winning. They uniformly excel in the hills, and
so would likely find SIR's events rewarding. These women are not put
off riding with men, but they seem to strongly desire women of similar
ability to ride (and compete) with. Women on mixed-gender tandems
don't address this issue for them. Promoting one ride a year as
specifically women-friendly to convince women they'll see other women
on the course could start a virtuous circle. I don't mean women-
friendly in a hand-holding sense, of course. I'd think that would
backfire. So definitely not a 200. Maybe the May 400. I would think
the timed nature of randonneuring would be a plus, since it is more
like triathlons, which are formal races. Some women may be put off by
the randonneuring attitude that it's OK to take your time, but a lot
of riders take that approach to rides like RAMROD, so that's really
only a perception problem. So, I would ask current and potentially
randonneuses (the people, not the equipment) whether a message of
"this is a new challenge you will enjoy" resonates.

Younger riders may feel they just don't have the time for
randonneuring. Time was certainly a concern of mine before starting
randonneuring. I'm hardly young, but more than a few SIR members are
technically entitled to call me "sonny," and riders younger than me
face many of the work and family time pressures I face. I was
concerned about the time I would need to train but even more concerned
about time to learn new techniques, evaluate and assemble new
equipment, and so on. In fact, I think those concerns were justified.
Learning randonneuring well enough to complete PBP required
considerable time and thought. It was time well and pleasantly spent,
but it was still a lot of time. I was also concerned about learning
randonneuring culture, and in fact the adjustment to rando culture and
randonneuring manners was a bigger challenge than I anticipated. I
think one way to attract more young riders would be to make our web
home page more inviting to them. Emphasize the opportunity to see the
natural beauty of Washington, specifically promote the shorter rides,
and emphasize that a comfortable bicycle in good repair is suitable
for any of the shorter distance events, so long as it has fenders and
mudflaps. It would be worthwhile to ask potential riders which message
better resonates, "do something different than the same old commute
and charity ride" or "see the natural beauty of Washington." SIR
offers outstanding support better than the so-called "supported"
charity rides, inexpensive prices, a wide variety of rides, and rides
that allow you to experience and learn about the region. Some of these
attributes will be more attractive to new younger riders than others.

Another possibility to ask potential new riders about is having a 200
or 300 late in the season, specifically to attract younger (and also
possibly women) riders. Or, perhaps the Mountain Populaire might serve
that purpose. My first event was a 400 in September. If there had been
a 300 available, especially one that started and ended in Seattle, I
would have signed up in a heartbeat. As it was, I thought long and
hard about it, and had to lobby my wife that driving down to Astoria
to meet me the next morning was actually a great birthday present. For
her. (No, really. Inside this nerdy exterior beats the polyester-clad
heart of a salesman.)

Incidentally, I heard about SIR in 2007 because of PBP. Looking for a
new challenge, I though about Cannonball, but it just didn't sound all
that pleasant, so I kept searching. Furnace Creek seemed entirely out
of the question, from a logistical standpoint if not a physical one.
The Death Ride looked promising. I heard about PBP, which sounded like
a great experience, but assumed I would not be able to find the
necessary training time. However, between 2007 and 2009, PBP became
the White Spider of my fears and dreams. I was afraid of doing it, but
even more afraid of not doing it. So I decided to take a ferry over to
Bremerton in the middle of a rainy September night to find out if
randonneuring was for me.

One thing I think may work against attracting women and younger riders
is the rando emphasis on distance awards like R-12, the Mondial, and
so on. Obviously, these are key elements of rando culture, and we are
not free to change them anyway. Nor should we. My point is, the first
thing somebody hears about SIR probably shouldn't be that randos get a
medal for riding 40,0000 km.

It's easy for me to say, since I don't yet feel expert enough to
safely organize a brevet, but I don't think SIR is likely to grow to
death. More riders mean more potential volunteers, more rides, and so
on. Some events may actually be easier to put on with more riders and
more volunteers.

P.S.: Thanks again for organizing the road cleanup, Dan. Never has a
morning of picking up cigarette butts been more satisfying. Seriously.

[greta olson]

Just a disclaimer to begin with - I have not ridden with SIR since 2007, but I thought I would add my two cents since I could be considered a younger rider, and I am a woman.
 
I started riding with SIR when I was 24. My first ride was the Mountain Populaire in the fall of 2005. I can't quite remember where I heard about the ride but it sounded plenty challenging, just what I was looking for. The ride was a blast and the "sport" of randonneuring sounded very enticing. I started riding and volunteering more with SIR in 2006. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful on rides. I always felt like I had someone looking out for me on the rides - I never felt unsafe. Randonneuring was appealing to me because it was challenging, but there wasn't a competitive focus - you felt like everyone was rooting for each other. Most riders were male and older but I don't felt like that kept me from wanting to ride with the club.
 
I stopped riding with SIR for a number of reasons:

• I stopped training seriously so I couldn't ride long distances.
• I was busy with school which kept me from training (maybe that's an excuse).
• As a student in Bellingham, I didn't have the money to keep riding.

 
I feel like this may be a reason that SIR doesn't have a lot of younger riders. I felt like to do a lot of long distance riding, one needs disposable income. At this time in my life right now, I don't feel like I can devote a large part of my income to riding. Maybe this is just another excuse.
 
The reasons I stopped riding were due mainly to the circumstances in my life (being a student and broke). I'm not sure if there are ways that SIR can accomodate to riders in similar positions. I'm not sure what the point of this response is. I guess I just wanted to give my perspective as young, woman rider. I loved riding with SIR and I hope to ride with them again someday in the future.
 
I hope this email provides a little insight.
 
Greta Olson
 
 
 
 
> Date: Sat, 8 Oct 2011 16:44:30 -0700
> Subject: [SIR] Rando Diversity: Younger Riders/Women Riders
> From: dg...@comcast.net
> To: seattl...@googlegroups.com

[Joshua Shanks]

I got interested in SIR this year thanks to a cascade ride leader who is also a member (and had no idea the sport existed until then, in fact most people I mention it to aren't aware either). I'm pretty sure I also count as a young rider with a girl friend that is also a young rider with absolutely no interest in randonneuring.

I haven't joined SIR yet and have only done one ride so far, the mountain back in September. I dropped out after the second hill because zoo hill literally destroyed me and while I knew I could finish the ride I knew I wouldn't have fun so I took my last chance to cut it short and not have a miserable ride. The organizer of that ride was awesome and very supporting but I can't really say other than him we felt very welcomed overall (though we didn't feel unwelcomed either).

I really like the idea of randonneuring but have found getting started to be rough. I was told about the Spring 100k and to come to that but 6 months between introduction events is pretty limiting as far as getting introduced to the sport. The talk in other threads about monthly 100k is excellent.

My girlfriend like most of my friends my age are into bike racing and while I got my girlfriend to come with me on the mountain ride she'll probably never do anything longer than 200k because the idea of riding anything longer just doesn't appeal to her personally.