The club vs team dispute continues on, with Mex making her decision - “Team it is”.
Bike racing so often idolises the masters of the solo moves, the big riders with legs and hearts that ache and pound, punishing everyone else around. So often these riders are more mythological than real. Everyone can have a good day, “going like 10 men” was a common phrase from winning riders when I was a lad. More often though its the team that wins the race, and this weekends evidence from Stuttgart only provides further proof, if it were needed.
So what’s the dispute? Well its more a question of where Mex feels more comfortable, touring club or racing team? Since the only other racing woman in the club upgraded in May, Mex has had no one else to race with. Turning out 28 times to race, with more or less 20 of them by herself, has been little fun. When you look across the start line there are some strong Womens teams out there - the ‘Mints are one, the ‘Bella’s and the ‘Girls are others. She’s had enough. She wants more from bike racing, a sense of camaraderie, a sense of team spirit and a sense of community. Recognising that this wasn’t forthcoming from the other women on C4 - they don’t race, don’t intend to, don’t want to get their kits dirty or whatever - she’s decided to leave. Good for you, Mex.
The lipservice has been silenced, the platitudes of non-racers is no more and the year of racing alone is over. Put away the negative thoughts of the unwilling and condescending comments of the super-strong-but-never-raced, leave them in the dust. They don’t have the desire and passion to succeed in your chosen sport. They’ve shown themselves not willing to keep the commitments made by you all, to you all, at the start of the year. It is sad, but ultimately more an example of your integrity to those commitments and your ‘team’ that you’ve decided to move on.
So to the future, Mex has traded C4 for C3. C3, a new team with high hopes for womens cycling, an ambitious project of a few thats quickly gained a significant number of women that raced a lot this season and that are committed to racing more next season. It sounds like there is a lot of enthusiasm for C3, they’re busy talking with all the right sponsors and are putting together a really great program. It will good to have a strong womens team, up and down the categories next season, and if they’re all training like Mex wants to they should be a force to be reckoned with.
I hope C3 kicks some female derrière next season.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Lance // Oct 2, 2007 at 2:29 pm
traitor!
2 Ron // Oct 3, 2007 at 9:15 am
It’s too bad. We lost a few women to this new team I think.
The reason it is too bad is that our club/team is set up to support anyone who has a vision and wants to make something happen. There was really no reason to go out an reinvent the wheel, the foundation for what ever someone wanted to do has and was laid. It just needed someone who wanted to make it happen.
They could have done it all under our umbrella and still had their anonymity as an exclusive Women’s team.
Short sited.
3 Lorri Lee Lown // Oct 11, 2007 at 9:52 am
Nome, new teams are good for the sport. You’ll find new racers to support. When folks have a dream, they don’t want to confine themselves to someone else’s structure/organization.
4 Katie // Feb 13, 2008 at 9:22 am
Teams are fun. But then you get to your first race, and find your team leader has horrible taste in warm up music and there’s nothing you can do about it. Then you realize it’s going to be a very long year.
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