Celebrating 30 years since the first Women's TdF

This year, Cycling Australia celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first Australians, Don Kirkham and Iddo 'Snowy' Munro, to participate in a men's Tour de France. A Team of the Century was created and announced at the annual Australian Cyclist of the Year awards on Friday November 21st. You can see official line up here. Congratulations to all who received recognition!

Now I can understand why you might make a big deal about this. It was something different and it attracted a lot of publicity. However, I can't help but feel disappointed at what was another missed opportunity for women's cycling. I know that there hasn't been 100 years of Aussies at a female Tour de France and there is no way the women's side of the sport can make up the 70 (or more) years on the men. However, continuing to ignore the women's side serves no one.

What disappoints me more than anything is that women weren't even part of the thought process of creating the concept in the first place. If someone stopped for two seconds and thought about it, it would have been a terrific and innovative opportunity to give recognition to some aspect of women's cycling, and provide a much needed historical context where books, internet searches and other records provide slim pickings.

Why should I raise this now? Every blow I get in the push to change our sport hurts. And I have received a few blows this year. I could (and probably should) just walk away. But for our sport to change, we all need to change. As someone told me on the weekend, 'you have to be that constant drip, tap tap tapping away until the message gets through'. Depressing, but true, sentiments. So here is my tap tap tap..

2014 is also significant for women's cycling, and especially where the Tour de France is concerned: it is the thirty year anniversary of the first women's edition of the TdF, which was first run in 1984.

Coincidentally, 1984 was also the year that women's cycling was included for the first time at the Olympics. The significance of this is not lost on the winner of that first gold medal, USA cyclist Connie Carpenter. In a recent interview, she tells not only why this was so big for women's cycling, but also shares her beliefs on why women's cycling has not progressed over the last thirty years (hint, it has something to do with the sport prioritising the men's TdF). (This Rapha video on Connie's recollection of the race is great. Off topic, but still cool!).

Some Background on the Women's TdF

Now, you ask: a women's TdF? Back in 1984? Call it what you will, and you may, because there have been a few names for the women's version over the years:

1984 - 1999: Tour Cycliste Féminin

1999 - 2009: Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale

2014: La Course

The race was not held in 1990 and 1991, and again skipped a year in 2004. The race was discontinued after 2009, so no 'TdF equivalent' was held in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.

The women's TdF was never really a TdF in terms of distance, prestige and reward and recognition. In the early days it lasted around two weeks, with the women racing a reduced distance to the men over the same course. As time progressed, the event was shunted and reduced, and later forced to change it's name due to infringements on TdF trademarks. It became a shadow of its former self until it was killed off in 2009, after winner Emma Pooley described the race as being 'more like a petite boucle, rather than a grande boucle'.

Other significant women's tours were also run during this time, but they did not last three weeks and capture the late night televisions of the land down under, the early mornings of the Americas, and the lazy afternoons of Europe. (A timeline of significant events on this topic can be found here.)

In July 2013 a petition was launched by Le Tour Entier calling for the establishment of a women's Tour de France. A full monty version. No, not that full monty. You know, the real deal. It got some serious support with a few people (97,000 or so) signing it. Under a little bit of public pressure, ASO (owners of the men's event) met with Le Tour Entier, and history was re-created with the announcement of a one day spectacular, known as La Course, which was held on 27th July 2014. In all the hoo-haa of the announcement, many people forgot that the women's TdF had previously existed, as 1984 US participant Patty Peoples noted. The 'return' of a women's event was met with unprecedented attention. La Course was televised in many places. I actually watched it in a room jam packed full of women's cycling supporters in a pub in North Melbourne. When the race finished, we turned off the TV and all went home to bed and missed the last stage of the men's event. I'll watch their highlights package one day.

The Aussie Connection

The 1984 edition was won by USA rider Marianne Martin. Earlier this year she recorded this terrific pod cast with Mike Creed. It is a great listen; check it out here.

However, I can't find a start list of the 1984 women's TdF so I have no confirmation that Aussies were present in that race. There were no Aussie women in the 1984 Olympic race, so my hunch is that Aussie women were also missing from the Tour Cycliste Féminin.

I do know that Aussies were present in 1986 and 1987, and on the podium in 1988 with Liz Hepple finishing third on GC (results list here). I believe supercoach herself, Geelong-based Donna Rae-Szalinski, was part of the National squad during this period.

In the 1990s the AIS began increasing their support for the women's national team to travel to Europe to participate in this race (and others). From searches, it seems the significant results from these efforts kicked in from 1997 onwards.

In 1997 Juanita Feldhan (or Feldhahn) won solo after riding off from her break companions on stage 11. Canadian superstar Linda Jackson, who finished third on GC that year, sent personal reports back to Canadian Cyclist. She described the Aussies after Feldhan's victory: 

"Australia has ridden an excellent tour. They have been aggressive in most of the stages, and today was no exception."

In 1998 the Aussies increased their presence in the race with Victorians Anna Wilson winning Stage 6 and Kathy Watt 3rd on Stage 12b.

From here the results are harder to trace. We know names such as Charlotte White, Tracey Watson (now Gaudry), and Liz Tadich (now Taylor) raced in these events, and in the early 2000s more Aussie women would have followed suit. But without a good source of data and no start lists, it is difficult to know exactly who raced, and how they went. It would be safe to assume that start lists at some stage would have included the likes of Olivia Gollan, Alison Wright, Oenone Wood and Sara Carrigan, amongst others.

Fortunately, information on the 2014 version is much easier to come by. In this year's La Course version, Australia featured twelve athletes:

Jenelle Crooks - AUSTRALIE

Louisa Lobigs - AUSTRALIE

Jessica Mundy - AUSTRALIE

Rachel Neylan - AUSTRALIE

Lizzie Williams - AUSTRALIE 

Taryn Heather - BIGLA CYCLING

Chloe Hosking - HITEC PRODUCTS

Gracie Elvin - ORICA AIS

Jessie Maclean - ORICA AIS

Amanda Spratt - ORICA AIS

Carlee Taylor - ORICA AIS

Sarah Roy - POITOU-CHARENTES FUTUROSCOPE

The best placed Aussie was Lizzie Williams, finishing in 12th.

So, from the wide range of race formats across the years, how do we decide the 

Aussie Team of the 'Past 30 Years' of Women's Tours de France?

Using the CA men's selection protocol, the team would also consist of nine riders (not the 5-6 limits of women's teams over the years). Convicted or confessed dopers would be excluded. The lineup would have:

- Two riders for the general classification
- Two key domestiques to support the general classification riders
- One sprinter
- Two leadout women for the sprinter
- One all rounder
- One team captain

As per the men's challenge, this is also a tough one for the women. Although the thirty year history means that most contenders are still alive, I was personally unaware that women raced bikes until Kathy Watt popped up to win the Olympic Road Race in 1992 while I was in school.

The inability to search for start lists or comprehensive results makes it even harder to compile some background info. Certainly a great project for a historian..

GC Riders and Key Domestiques

The first is an easy choice: Liz Hepple, the only Aussie to make the GC podium of any version of the race, when she finished 3rd in 1988.

The second is a bit tougher. It is hard to find GC results going back further than 3rd. So I don't have a second GC rider, but I have combined the three key domestiques who also performed at another French tour, the Trophée d'Or Féminin. Any could be a Ritchie Porte-like backup, ready to step in to the lead GC role:
Oenone Wood
Tracey Watson (Gaudry)
Olivia Gollan

One Sprinter

While Oenone Wood was also known for her sprinting, a more recent rider comes to mind: Chloe Hosking, who has really carved her name as the dedicated sprinter. You can imagine her in the sprint stages of a TdF: the more intense, the better for her.

Two Leadout Women for the Sprinter

I admit not knowing much about those who performed well in the professional peloton in the 80s and 90s. I know even less about those who played superb supportive roles. I know they exist, and they were awesome.

Although she won a hilly stage back in 1997, Juanita Feldhan still deserves a nomination. She would have been a support rider while riding for the National team, which suggests to me that she would also have some skill in providing lead outs.
Victorian Liz Tadich (Taylor) was the first female to win a medal at the World Champs, and although I cannot find any results on her for the TdF, I know she was an instrumental team player for the Aussies squads during the mid 1990s.

One All Rounder

The Big Watt. Kathy Watt may not be a pure sprinter, or hill climber, but she was so bloody determined that she almost made up for all of it. Her stage win in 1998 also ensures her nomination!

One Team Captain

I can't go past Anna Wilson. I have had the pleasure of having her Direct in a team I was racing in. She is a natural captain. Anna also is a stage winner in 1998 and a multiple World Cup winner.

Over To You: What is your pick for the top riders of the past 30 years?

Who do you think should be on the list? Do you have any more details on Aussies participating in the various women's TdFs over the years?

I am intrigued (and a little frustrated) at the lack of information on women's cycling throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Any insight would be greatly appreciated! 

Whitewash

Many moons ago, I spent some time with my brother who was living in Kelowna, in BC, Canada. Both of us were on our big 'overseas life trips' involving backpacking, sleeping in weird and cheap places, and exploring life. On this occasion he had planned a trip for us to head north and go white water rafting.

As what tends to happen when a significant life event occurs, I don't remember much of the details about the other aspects of the trip. However, my memories are crystal clear surrounding the moments that I fell off the raft and into the rapids. I remember the lean-of-no-return, the feeling of my foot being horribly stuck which prevented me from flowing with the water under the raft (turns out it was my brother desperately trying to save me by grabbing my foot), the darkness and disorientation of finally being set free, and the feeling of forever on trying to resurface for air. Up and up and up I pushed my head, desperate to get a chunk of oxygen unattached to two atoms of hydrogen. As the water was so 'frothy' from the rapids, this feeling is apparently pretty common. Eventually, with my lips pointing to the sky, I hit air and was able to breathe. I looked around, found my raft, paddled across, grabbed the oar on offer, and was dramatically pulled back onto the boat like a fisher's haul. Slumped into a lump in the middle of the raft, my fellow ship mates then proceeded to cheer in delighted unison. The 'skipper' jumped over to me, patted me on the back and announced to everyone that I was his first swimmer for the season. Clearly, the event was a highlight for everyone.

*************************

A few weeks ago, I awoke to the sound of our newest addition to the household, Camille. At just 3.5 weeks old we were lucky to get four hours of uninterrupted sleep.  I didn't mind this one bit. Okay, maybe sometimes a little bit... but I felt, and still feel, unbelievably lucky to have scored another baby who does all the right things: eating, sleeping and pooing. Even better, this time post-birth I have been healthy - super healthy in comparison to our first. It feels like I am experiencing life with a newborn for the first time, and it is all awesome.

My husband Ewin got her up and changed her, and then I went to work as the milk factory. We got the feed over pretty quickly, so in the dark I re-wrapped her and put her back to bed. No mucking about in the night time. I then went and changed my insulin pump site before sitting back down to express more breast milk for freezing (and for pressure relief!). At some point I tested my blood: 94mg/dL, or 5.2mmol/L. I saw the reading and gave myself a quiet high five. Yessssss. Smoking it.

Back into bed in under an hour. I remember thinking to myself, 'smashed that session out!'

**************************

My dream was loud and weird and engaging. I can't tell you what it was about, other than me being absolutely absorbed by it. Maybe it was about a social function, by the beach? I have no idea what the drama was that had me so locked in. Who knows. Who cares. It was intense, anyway. But the dream DVD player was misfiring. I was seeing scenes repeating. It didn't matter, I was still so absorbed by everything. The mood, the lighting, the....sweetness. The sweetness? The mood, lights, people talking, and again...that sweetness. The dream was breaking up, like a CD skipping but at a slower pace. The sweetness again. In and out of head corridors, blue lights. Close ups and quick retreats of faces of people I don't recognise. Something in my mouth, followed by sweetness.

My brain was slowly switching back on, pulling apart the scenes of the make believe, and trying to find order in the scenes that were real. Not an easy task when under-fueled. I have no idea how long it took; the concept of time is far gone.

Suddenly, the brain clicks and gets it. There is something being stuck into my mouth that adds something sweet. My brain needs this. It orders me to start up the sucking motion. Get the sweet stuff! I tilt my head up, pushing my lips up to break through the frothy bubbles of white water rapids. I need that sweet stuff. I desperately need that sweet stuff. It is my air.

The soundtrack is added. I can hear my breathing: it is short, hard and rapid. Again, the 'thing' gets stuck into my mouth. I work it out, finally. It is my husband's finger, dipped in a sweet drink. It is the only way to safely get carbs into me. The brain orders me to suck every morsel of carb-filled fluid off that finger. Blue gatorade, the most unnatural looking of beverages, is saving my life.

The rest of the picture starts to complete as the missing blanks are formed. It is my body that is closing in and out rapidly. I am uncomfortably perched on part bed, part bedding cover. I am in full grand mal seizure, convulsing back and forth in quick succession. I have no control over my body. But I can now control my mouth. I can reach up with my lips and consume the sweet stuff, and my brain forces me to focus on this. The backdrop fills in some more. I can see my husband's face. He is perched above me, with intense concentration. In one hand he holds the blue liquid. The other is going as quickly and carefully as he can between my mouth and the bottle. Drip by drip is added to provide just enough juice to get my system going again. He keeps an eye on the clock, but as he sees my convulsions slow down, he loses track of time. No need for phase 2 (horse-sized needle of glucagon injected into a moving muscle, usually inaccurately) or 3 (ambulance). This time.

Between convulsions I breathlessly swear. Another convulsion, another pause, and I repeat the expression. Still not fully with the program, my brain goes into auto mode and repeats this expletive between every major body shake, the timing impeccable despite having no formal control over the function. I don't know how long I continue this for, but Ewin eventually says, 'okay, that's enough'. It shakes me off auto pilot, and my brain shuts the voice down.

As the seizure finishes, two things kick in: a return to control of my body, and a surge of emotion that accompanies the realisation of what just occurred. The full body function should not be trusted at first: this is a learning from previous editions many years ago. I can hold the bottle of gatorade, but under no circumstances should I have control over me drinking it. A late convulsion will send the sweet stuff everywhere. It is amazing how a jolted body can disperse hard-to-clean fluid to the most unusual and far-flung places. Ewin guides it to my mouth and keeps a hand on the bottle, just in case.

I become weepy as I think about what this means and ask Ewin to fill in the blanks. Yes, this was not cool. I was on my belly when it began and he had to physically roll me over; I can't imagine how much fun that would have been with someone in seizure. I check the time. Two hours had passed since I had returned from the previous baby-feed. Two hours.

*******************************
Having just come off the most intense phase of tight type 1 diabetes control a person can ever endure: pregnancy, the adjustment back to 'normality' post birth is usually a laid back one. Medical staff are fully aware of the strain involved in keeping such incredibly tight numbers in order to minimise harm to me or the baby, and generally advise taking it a bit easier as you adjust to life with a newborn.

The reality is much easier said than done. In the 24 hours post birth I struggled to get a blood glucose reading above 110 (6.1) and had to request a glucose drip to be re-inserted twice (mostly so I could get some sleep as the staff were waking me every 50 mins for another blood glucose check). In the days prior to birth I was taking around 65 units of insulin per day (total daily dose). Suddenly, post birth my daily tally was 25. A massive drop in anyone's language.

When - after a few days - breast feeding kicked in, my numbers dropped again. There is a bit of energy required to sustain a baby, and adjusting to this also impacts on blood glucose numbers. In the past few weeks I have frequently seen big drops between starting and finishing a breast feed, and have eaten dinner without the need to bolus for the meal.

So looking at the cause of this seizure, you can easily point the finger at these major forces. But they are not enough on their own. I can normally handle these forces. What else was a factor? During that day we went for a walk, slightly longer than normal. I am not doing much activity at the moment (as required post-birth), but still, even an added stroll when combined with breast feeding could have had a greater impact than I imagined.

I also had a hypo during lunch time. No big deal - hey, hypos happen and you simply deal with them. This one knocked me round a bit. And when you have a bigger-than-normal hypo, your anti-hypo defense systems are also knocked around and impaired, leaving you cruelly open to even more significant hypos. Although I had brushed off my lunch low, hindsight tells me I should have paid some more attention to this.

Those wonderful glasses of hindsight can tell you many things, and when you stop and point out all your mistakes you wonder how the hell you make it through each day as it is. This is simply the life of a type 1, and for many of us, we get so used to the many minor errors we make throughout the day we sometimes overlook that we have made them in the first place.

It takes a lot of balance to sit on the edge of the raft, putting your paddle in the water and keeping everything afloat and away from the bad rocks and evil drops. You are so focussed on getting through the path you don't even realise you have tipped too far. And, if you happen to be asleep, you don't even feel the slide off into the water below.

Every night I ask myself the same question before I go to bed: have I done everything I can to minimise my risk of dying in my sleep?

I am careful and diligent. This seizure was a horrible event from a horrible condition, and one that I must prevent from ever happening again.

I will still be asking that same question from now on, just perhaps after each middle of the night baby-feed as well.

Things Change when you Change Things

I totally stole the heading from a billboard advertising an employment search website. Inspiration from the unlikeliest of locations. But I found it applicable to many things in life.

Like cycling and the 'movement towards equality'.

I just read an article in a well established and respected magazine about equality in cycling. It talked about the current dire situation for top end female cyclists, how 'male' the sport remains (including in some of the advertising), and the (relatively slow) progress being made, highlighting where improvements still need to happen.

To be honest, I am sick of these articles. I have been reading these for a few years now, and they all follow the same script: women's cycling in comparison to the men's version is appalling in terms of profile, investment and reward for athletes. And then they usually exclaim: but women's racing is exciting! People actually watch it! More people watched it at the Olympics than the men's! The article then might mention that 'some stuff' is being done - finally - by the head of the organisation, so while more needs to be done, for now we have our answer and can return to regular programming.

I was disheartened to discover that this story was the only dedicated article on women's cycling in the entire 224 page publication. There were a few other bits: a contribution by a female athlete on training, some pictures in an equipment review, and two short profiles, but that was it. And this pearler of an advertisement:

Wanna Rendez-vous in Paris, hey hey?

So if more needs to happen, how come it isn't happening?

Here's the thing. If you want to see an improvement in the profile, investment and reward for female in cycling, stop writing articles saying there is a lack of profile, investment and reward in women's cycling. Instead, do something about it!

May I suggest writing some articles about women's cycling, or significantly increasing the number of images of women racing? Perhaps write about the female athletes (while avoiding asking the athletes to write their own articles, which is the tactic of another major cycling news outlet. At least they get paid...?). Or write about the teams, or on women around bikes in some way.

Try creatively applying Geena Davis' Two Easy Steps to Make Hollywood Less Sexist:

1)  Go through the projects you're already working on and change a bunch of the characters' first names to women's names.

Okay, so you can't make a direct application to Geena's rules, so in this case, take your story focus area on men's cycling and apply it to a rider/riders/team from the women's peloton.

Suddenly you have a topic that is not just another piece on 'equality in cycling' but which show cases a side of cycling that is a) a relatively unique perspective (given how infrequently this seems to happen) and b) slowly helps to build the fascination behind women's cycling. It also removes the novelty tone of a female in a traditionally male-filled role.

2) When describing a crowd scene, write in the script, "A crowd gathers, which is half female." 

In this case, I suggest looking for contributions from writers and photographers who are covering women's cycling. They are around. If you can't expand the budget, then get your in-house writers and photographers to cover women's cycling. Why not aim for half of your cycling stories to be about women?

I understand this appears easier than the reality. Having looked into this as a bit of a focus area for Cycling Victoria in 2013, I learnt from journos that they would increase coverage of women's cycling if:
a) material was supplied to them re: stories about women's cycling, and
b) if the women themselves were more willing to be interviewed and forgiving of the mistakes and lack of knowledge a journo might have about their backgrounds.

We took this feedback seriously. In response, Cycling Victoria held two workshops teaching athletes, teams, and women's AustCycle beginner cycling Teachers (from our Breeze program) about the importance of building social media profiles and being available for interviews. We also brought in experts to provide advice on how to prepare media releases and approach media outlets to pitch stories.

With these efforts I would have to say that the awareness has increased but not much else has changed. I know we need to repeat the training and continue to invest in this, as generally women are less likely to boast about their achievements and pitch themselves to media outlets. The more we are aware of this, the more we can try to overcome the relative 'shyness'.

I also learnt that, in cycling, there is a part c) as well:
c) Journos need to be willing to write about women's cycling.
This to me seems to be the biggest barrier to the opportunity for increasing coverage on women's cycling. Journos with major news outlets simply aren't interested in the topic of women's cycling, other than the above equality-formula article.

I was comforted to see coverage on the US Pro weekend with equal amounts for the men and women (until Phinney crashed, but fair enough - big story! So too was Ali Powers' incredible hattrick, but I don't think it got as many re-tweets). It reinforced that you can provide quality coverage to both sides. Many others do this too. For the past few years Cycling Australia has committed to providing equal share of stories, news and video highlights to the women and men of the NRS. These efforts are so important and are valued.

Race reporting is one thing, but it is the coverage in the mainstream media and the bigger cycling news outlets, the feature articles, the riders-as-people stuff, that for women are harder to find. When you do find them, they are gorgeous. Read Jen See's feature, I am Marianne Vos, as a recent example. The funny thing is, people love reading about women's cycling. 91% of survey respondents in the Cycling Australia women in cycling survey said they loved reading about women's cycling. That's a bloody good stat if you want to develop an emerging market.

In 2014 Cycling Victoria introduced a media award to recognise those who are going above and beyond in their efforts to promote women's cycling in Victoria, or women from Victoria achieving great things outside of our borders. The award was won by Star News Group and South East Melbourne sports reporter, Jarrod Potter. Jarrod realised that there was a wealth of hidden stories in his region not just about the achievements of women competing in sport, but also stories on women simply participating in sport. He sought support from his editor to focus on finding these stories. He also knew that if he wrote these stories, they would always get published.  These stories now find him: he has a name and a reputation to cover women's sport. Fortunately, this includes cycling and in 2013 he wrote feature article after feature article on women's cycling in his region. He is now an award winner.

At the 2013 Road World Champs in Florence Italy, the post-race press room would be full of journos for the men's races, but was significantly emptier for the women's. Within ten minutes of the men's press conference, fifty people had written down the exact same quote and another fifty were hanging around trying to get a private second or two with one of the riders to make their article have a point of difference. Such energy investment and competition! Want your story to stand out? Want YOU to stand out? Change things.

There is so much that needs to evolve and change for us to consider that cycling is truly headed towards equality. We all have a role to play. Mainstream news outlets and major cycling news sources have an audience and influence that is significant. And they are missing out on a key market. I believe there is a responsibility and, in dollar terms, an opportunity to not only to report on progress but to be the progress.

The Athlete of the Week

Update: Five days after this post was first published, on the 25th March, around 7pm Melbourne time, Team Novo Nordisk gave recognition to their athlete, Steph Mckenzie, via their facebook page:

Great to see this organisation provide some recognition for Steph's outstanding achievements (even if they miscounted the number of gold medals...hey, gotta go with what you've got!). Well done to all.

This post has generated a surprising amount of discussion and support backing calls for more female athletes to be recognised by TNN, including from head sponsor Novo Nordisk - well beyond what this post set out to achieve. It will be great to see this result in further positive outcomes for the female athletes who remain with their program.

Best wishes to you, Steph, for a great 2014 and beyond. You deserve it.
xxx

Original post below - posted on the 20th March, 2014
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This past week has been pretty amazing for one rider.

One rider who, when the National body cut funding, was able to work around this issue through hard work and dedication, and from utilising opportunities to find support through another, high profile racing team.

One rider who, since the age of 8, has had to deal with life with type 1 diabetes in a sport fuelled by adrenaline. Exercise + adrenaline + extended race programming = a complicated management equation. This athlete has had to learn the hard way on how to manage this, and is now seeing the results of years of hard work.

Last year, this athlete won their first senior National title in the blue ribbon event of track sprinting. An amazing achievement on its own.

Last week, again, this rider had to successfully manage their life with type 1 diabetes, add in the pressure of being the defending champion, and cope in an environment with significantly limited funding.

What was the result?

Four gold medals, and one silver.

Outstanding. Seriously, outstanding.

I watch, as I always do, the steady progression of this fast and dedicated athlete, and to see these results my heart filled with happiness and pride. I am inspired, knowing a little about the struggles of their journey and knowing that despite their stellar performances, deep down they are just like everyone else with Type 1 diabetes, having good days and not so good days.

Knowing how hard it is to come up at your best day after day is no easy feat for anyone, let alone someone with type 1 diabetes. So, understandably, the successes received huge recognition in this athlete's home country in print and on tv. Some of the news articles covering the results are listed below.

I was pleased to see the team this athlete races for recently announced their Athlete of the Week.

Unfortunately, the rider the team chose is not the one I speak of. The rider they chose as Athlete of the Week is not a track sprinter, nor a four time 2014 senior National champion coming off one of the biggest weeks of their lives. And perhaps most importantly, the rider is also the wrong gender.

At last count, at 11:16pm Melbourne time on the 19th of March, there has not been ONE mention of the achievements from the past week by the team that this athlete has signed for, and who kindly mentions their team, or team slogan, in all their social media work. Not one.

Incredible. Seriously, incredible.

This is despite the rider informing the team of their results over the past week. Ignorance cannot be claimed here.

So, my biggest congratulations to you, Steph Mckenzie of New Zealand, who since 2013 rides for Team Novo Nordisk, for going above and beyond in achieving all you have in your chosen field, for being such a fantastic role model and spokesperson for type 1 diabetes and exercise. And for just being a really great person. You deserve every success and you should be acknowledged by the diabetes world for your efforts, even if your team doesn't think so.

Photo credit: NINZ Dianne Manson

(why is Steph not in her Team Novo Nordisk colours? Well, track national championships in countries like NZ and Australia are region/state based. At Australian track national championships we see actual Pro Tour riders (that is the highest team category for men) like Jack Bobridge (who rides for Belkin) riding in his home state colours of South Australia instead of his pro kit. In NZ you must wear your home region colours. This week, Steph was riding for her adopted region of Southland.)

To confirm her achievements in the past week:
GOLD: standing lap
SILVER: 500m Time Trial
GOLD: individual sprint
GOLD: team sprint
GOLD: keirin
at the 2014 New Zealand NATIONAL track championships.

Steph is very lovely about the whole situation despite the lack of recognition by her team, and the funding cuts to the national sprint program last year. On her page, she kindly wrote:

""It's not what happens to you that matters, but how you react to it" - Epicititus (Greek Philosopher). This quote was in one of my Sport Psychology lectures and you can take this in, in many different ways. Us BikeNZ female athletes had no funding last year and our performances at nationals shows that we are still self driven and determined to represent our country with pride (Juniors & Seniors)."

Steph, you also represented the entire Type 1 diabetes world with pride, and we salute you.

By the way, you can support Steph by liking her page on facebook (which shows just how dedicated she is to her team, despite their inexplicable ignorance of her achievements).

Some of the articles on Steph from the NZ papers in the past week:
http://tvnz.co.nz/othersports-news/young-kiwi-sprinters-defend-cycling-titles-5865518
http://www.3news.co.nz/Cyclists-gear-up-for-Commonwealth-Games-selections/tabid/415/articleID/336124/Default.aspx
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/9824651/Southland-cyclist-take-first-track-nationals-title

Note: this is not a post to bag the other athletes supported by Team Novo Nordisk. I am sure they are fine athletes who, if they knew about Steph, would be a little embarrassed about how such significant results and achievements are being ignored by their team. I am simply questioning the choice of Team Novo Nordisk to select a Men's Team rider over a female and multiple national champion, and also why they seemed to have failed to acknowledge any of her achievements.

I look forward to Team Novo Nordisk correcting this situation as soon as possible.

IWD 2014: Inspiring Change in Cycling

On Thursday March 6th, Cycling Victoria, along with Liv/Giant, hosted the annual International Women's Day event, including the Cycling Victoria International Women's Day awards. These awards recognise those who are going 'above and beyond' to help encourage more women into cycling. It was a great night.


Award winners: 
Kelly Jamieson (Shepparton CC) for her enormous work in getting Breeze up and running in a regional community (now with over 110 women involved after six months!); 
Tim Scarborough (St Kilda CC) for supporting women's cycling through sponsorship that has enabled equal prize money; 
Jacinta Costello (Ladies Back on Your Bike) for targetting women over the age of 40 to rediscover the love of cycling; 
Pip Carroll (The Squeaky Wheel) for instigating, among others, the Pushy Women Rides series to get all women on their bikes; 
Jarrod Potter (Star News Group) for excellence in covering women's cycling for work reporting on women and girls in Melbourne's south-east; 
Laurie Lovelock (Hawthorn CC) for being a leader of change that has overseen Hawthorn progressing to be the biggest growing club in Victoria for women; and 
Tracey Gaudry (President Oceania Cycling Confederation) for being a legend on the international scene including Vice President of the UCI, supporting women at world level and also as CEO of the Amy Gillett Foundation.

It was so great to be able to give due recognition for the efforts of so many - and also the finalists as well - for all their incredible work. That in itself is so inspiring.

At the start of the evening I made the following speech about words and actions, and a reminder that we aren't there yet. There is much more work to do.

The video below provides a summary of the work over the past three years that the Cycling Victoria Women and Girls' Commission - as sub-committee of the Cycling Victoria board - has undertaken alongside everyone at Cycling Victoria. When you look back the change has been enormous. Enjoy!

IWD 2014: Inspiring Change

Good evening. On behalf of Cycling Victoria I would like to thank you so much for joining us tonight on this special occasion.

In a few moments I want to show you a short video that highlights the journey that Cycling Victoria has been on over the past three and a half years to help shift our sport to become more welcoming for women.

It has been a long journey, and one you have all been a part of. Tonight we will hear of some amazing work being undertaken in our community from top women and men keen to simply see more females on bikes. You will hear of the many ways in which this can be achieved, and underpinning all of this great work there are the common themes of a strong passion for community, opportunity and ultimately, equality.

The journey is not easy and we are not at the end goal yet.

In the past twelve months I have been learning about the differences between words and actions. About saying you believe in something, and actually seeing something you believe in being achieved. Simply saying that you support women’s cycling is nowhere near enough. Cycling cannot change to embrace more women simply with words. The actions to follow these words are the key. Fortunately, tonight’s finalists will show case what this means in real life. As the International Women’s Day theme for 2014 is Inspiring Change, I hope you will be inspired by their messages too, in terms of words AND actions.

Our next challenge as an organisation is very clear: sustainability. How do we sustain all this good work happening across our communities? How do we ensure our next leaders embrace the need to continually push for a greater female presence in cycling at all levels, from riding to the shops to sitting in board rooms?

To change a culture requires an understanding from within the culture that change is needed. It is up to all of us to remind everyone involved in cycling in some shape or form that getting more women into cycling is a necessity for the future of our way of life, as a mode of transport, and as a sport. When you welcome women, you welcome everyone. With all of us pulling together, we can unlock the flood gates.

Keep up the good work.