Wednesdays April until End of September

From the SNCC women’s representative:

If you have never been part of a cycling club – joining a male dominated space can be a bit daunting, and the most common question I get asked from prospective female members is: “Will I be able to keep up?”

Not wanting to patronise anyone, or take away from the many strong female riders we have in the club and elsewhere… fact is that a woman of similar fitness to an equivalently sized male will ride at a 1-2mph slower pace for the same amount of effort. Why?

We have, even proportionally, 15% smaller hearts and lungs, and even the leanest carry 10% more body fat (which we absolutely need but does NOT help us go faster ;-)). Add to that that we are, on average, smaller, and what could be a comfortable pace for a 6ft male is basically “hanging on for dear life” zone 4 for someone like me 😂 (5ft4 and relatively fit). Especially on the flat Cambridgeshire roads, where watts per kg doesn’t help me. On a positive note, you just get fitter than the equivalent male – sorted! ;-)

At SNCC we have a growing number of female riders and committee members and are committed to encourage more women not just into the club, but into the sport of cycling in general (as well as my personal mission to get more women into time trialling ;-) ). We offer a regular Wednesday evening “women only” ride which leaves from the traffic lights outside One Leisure at 7pm (30-50km, 15-17mph), and during the winter months we meet more sporadically, but there is usually a female member on hand to ride with if you haven’t ridden with us before and want to get a feel for pace etc.

Also, some of us race on Zwift, and we have a very friendly and supportive women’s only whatsapp group where you can ask all of the questions you may not want to ask elsewhere (you might think I’m joking but the second most common question I get from women who have never ridden as part of a club before is: “What if i need a wee on a group ride?” ;-) ).

Please do get in touch!

Tina

femmes@stneotscycling.club