What is your cycling ability?

I was recently posed an interesting question, "Do you think women get in over their heads or underestimate their ability?". I didn't need to take any time to even think about this question, my instant response was they underestimate themselves. Now, I am not an expert on women and cycling by no means, but I do come in contact with a lot of women who do cycle and that is just what I have seen. I get to meet strong competitors, those who just want to lose weight and get in shape and those who just like to ride for the fun (and physical fitness) of it.

Beginning in July Trace Bikes will begin our second year participating in the MS Society Bike to Jack & Back 150, we will train a group to participate and finish this ride. Our group is at 37 members right now, 15 of those are women and 10 of those women have never completed such a ride or distance. I have to say that last year (2007) was my first ride of 150 miles, before that my longest ride had been 62 miles and that had only been one day, not riding a long distance two days in a row. I was nervous about being able to do it myself. I fully expected to be miserable on the second day of riding and struggle through the miles. I was pleasantly surprised to find the opposite happen. I was tired when I finished, but I felt wonderful and I was so proud of myself for completing the ride.

My hope through this blog is to show how capable all of these women are in completing such a ride. I am not expecting these women to go blazing fast and set new records, that is not what this is about, this about proving to yourself what you can do. This is about the physical and emotional changes that I have seen in women as they face the walls that hold them back, the hills they thought they could never climb and the rides they never thought they could complete.