Small societies and coopetition
Jun. 16th, 2004 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninevirtuesI'm starting to realize that I ride in a very small community. There just aren't that many women racing, especially in the category 4 races that I do.
(Side note: Bike racers are ranked as category 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, pro. Beginner men are cat 5, and beginner women are cat 4. On the west coast, I see a lot of cat 3/4 women's races. Here, I see cat 4 races, and then the pro/1/2/3 women all race together. To go up a category, you must win or place well in a number of races (which lets you accumulate points), and then you submit an official race resume to your local official and he spot-checks the results you said you got and upgrades you if you really do have enough points.)
Living in a small community means that:
1) If my teammates show up at a race that I can possibly get to, I go.
2) Everyone makes a reputation for herself as someone who will race fairly and take her share of pulls at the front, or won't. I already have a bad opinion of one lady who lied, in mid-race, about whether there were any more large hills coming up in the remainder of the race. She won, but I definitely have a mental picture of her that she has yet to substantially alter. If I were in a break with her (out in front, working hard to stay away from the rest of the field), I would be very wary of her. Conversely, I know that I need to build a reputation for racing clean and helping others out.
3) Women who race try to stay in touch and help each other out. I've raced less than ten times (can it really be that I have only been road racing for about six weeks? It already feels like forever....) and have two solid email contacts of women who've said, "Let me know where you are going to race. Let's synch up. We've gotta stick together."
In general, I feel like I have gone from a solitary life (triathlon and software enginering) to a people-oriented one (physical therapy and bike racing). Maybe that's the unstated cirriculum in my graduate education.
(Side note: Bike racers are ranked as category 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, pro. Beginner men are cat 5, and beginner women are cat 4. On the west coast, I see a lot of cat 3/4 women's races. Here, I see cat 4 races, and then the pro/1/2/3 women all race together. To go up a category, you must win or place well in a number of races (which lets you accumulate points), and then you submit an official race resume to your local official and he spot-checks the results you said you got and upgrades you if you really do have enough points.)
Living in a small community means that:
1) If my teammates show up at a race that I can possibly get to, I go.
2) Everyone makes a reputation for herself as someone who will race fairly and take her share of pulls at the front, or won't. I already have a bad opinion of one lady who lied, in mid-race, about whether there were any more large hills coming up in the remainder of the race. She won, but I definitely have a mental picture of her that she has yet to substantially alter. If I were in a break with her (out in front, working hard to stay away from the rest of the field), I would be very wary of her. Conversely, I know that I need to build a reputation for racing clean and helping others out.
3) Women who race try to stay in touch and help each other out. I've raced less than ten times (can it really be that I have only been road racing for about six weeks? It already feels like forever....) and have two solid email contacts of women who've said, "Let me know where you are going to race. Let's synch up. We've gotta stick together."
In general, I feel like I have gone from a solitary life (triathlon and software enginering) to a people-oriented one (physical therapy and bike racing). Maybe that's the unstated cirriculum in my graduate education.
