From Grassroots to Glory
It was very lovely to be asked to partake in a panel at the Scottish Cycling conference covering the topic of Womens participation: From Grassroots to Glory. We specifically focussed on how we’ve got more club members regularly racing - something we think we’ve done a great job of in the last few years.
We thought it would be great to share this further so we’ve documented below some of the key things we talked about but also some bits we missed.
Jodie holding the microphone and maybe making some great points
Building the Club
If people are not riding bikes regularly then they probably are not going to be racing. We’ve focussed on a couple of key things below that we think have increased our number of active members.
Increased our online presence via social media and a frequently updated website. It is the way most new members find us and also a way many lapsed members found their way back to us. FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is powerful.
Funded leader qualifications for more off-road leaders. This led to a much wider range of rides being possible, meaning our rides vary from beginner rides to enduro tech at the Golfie or gravel EPICs. We ensure that our rides are inclusive for all our members and not just the beginners by clearly stating the distance, pace and vibes.
Practical Things
There is a few practical things we do that we believe any club could easily copy. Some being as simple as letting other club members you are going to an event, offering a lift, or sharing the entry link with reminders near the closing dates.
Going from riding to racing can be a big leap often without any intermediate steps. We aim to reduce this by offering rides which mimic racing. This includes Cyclocross sessions (in which we practice both technical aspects and include efforts such as starts and laps around a mini course setup in a local park) and SMASHFEST (a social ride with around 5 short varied segments which you can choose to ride faster if you wish, we still regroup at the end of the segment and carry on the chats). We also encourage riders to take advantage of Womens Hour at the West Lothian Crit Circuit run by West Lothian Clarion, its important to note sometimes promoting events run by others can be as powerful as running them yourselves and way easier!
Finally, we think its important to remember that there are many types of cycle racing disciplines and even regular bike riders might not know about all of them and the ins and outs of how they work. We’ve therefore organised rides which include spectating local events at which our members are racing, to cheer them on but also gives those less aware of racing a chance to ask questions, get a feel for the vibe at local races and see that you don’t need to be fast to race. We also put this idea into practice by organising a round of the Thank Crit It’s Friday Series where members could volunteer (and race for free if they did).
The Racing Community
One of the best things about the racing is the community of other women there, across Scotland you’ll see many of the same faces at most races. There are many friendly rivalries throughout the pack and a strong shared goal in improving womens racing.
Within our club we aim to replicate a smaller version of the community. One which supports everyones successes, whether you took part in your first race, managed to not get lapped at cyclocross for the first time, stayed with the group at the crit, beat your nemesis, podiumed or climbed on the top step, we celebrate each of these equally.
We also, more importantly, share our failures. Everyone has bad days and races which don’t go as planned. We share these and console/heckle as appropriate (often both). The best example of this is an agreement that our group chat image becomes the latest crash/dubious technique captured on camera at the races, even broken bones don’t get you out of this.
We aim to always add to the racing community by being role models at events, we can frequently be seen cheering each other on while racing, cheering those that lap us, those we lap and sometimes those we are supposed to be racing when we get confused. We also make sure to chat to any new racers, feeling welcomed and part of the community is an important part of keeping people coming back for their second race!
Finally, we make sure on our socials to show that racing is for everyone, with everyone who takes part getting equally celebrated, and showing the fun of the races and not just the suffer faces, again FOMO is powerful!
Changes we’d Love
Womens only starts/races are an absolute must if you want women to race. There’s been a lot of progress on this but there is still work to be done. Cancelling the race because you havn’t got great numbers is almost worse than not doing it to begin with.
Similarly, womens novice races are important as a stepping stone, and we’d love to see more of these. Ideally run alongside other womens racing, so they can spectate that too and see that its not as scary as it seems.
More attempts to reach those outside the community of women that are already racing - most of us already do many disciplines and have very few weekends left free. There are many wonderful womens communities springing up around the country, if you’re running a local womens race then make sure to contact them!
Women in promotional materials - if we don’t see a women in your race promo and ideally more than the token 1, then we arn’t coming, simple.
The media shared after races needs to cover way more than just the winners. There is an amazing community of women at the races of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities but we very rarely see that shared across the socials by race organisers.
See you at the races!
