This was the year the Lionesses showed the nation that women could play great football and the year I joined the Club des Cinglés du Mont Ventoux at the age of 60. So, what's the connection? Well, it got me thinking about the underrepresentation of women in the many sports that we are so capable of performing well.
As a member of two local cycling clubs, I know that women are very much in the minority, making up around 12% of members. Most of the big sportives have a similar percentage of female participants. Why is this? Little girls or boys will be given their first bike at a similar age, so when do women decide that cycling is a sport for men? Rather than a lack of ability, could women be suffering from a lack of self-belief? This might include having the confidence to buy their first bike, the knowledge to cope with a roadside puncture or believing we can become strong enough to keep up with the group, which, with club numbers like mine, are full of blokes.
This story is from the February 2023 edition of Cycling Plus UK.
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This story is from the February 2023 edition of Cycling Plus UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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GANARY A COALMINE
The James Brown tune 'It's a Man's Man's Man's World' comes on the radio, filling the coach, and does nothing for my pre-event nerves as I sit surrounded by serious-looking, wiry, tanned men in Lycra. It's 6.30am, pitch black outside and I'm feeling very out of my depth as a relative newcomer to the world of clipless pedals and hurting for fun. Last night's stress dream involved being very unprepared to get married and being handed my great-grandmother-in-law-to-be's hideous silver dress with lace trim to wear minutes before the ceremony was due to start. I'll let you psychoanalyse that one.
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