By Bike Tart (Twitter @BikeTart) With the spate of recent news events surrounding pro cycling I?ve stumbled across a spell of writer?s block ? with so many drugs, US Postal and Lance Armstrong (et al) stories in the cycling media at the moment it?s a difficult subject to avoid, but I?ve tried to steer clear to avoid adding to the noise. It?s that same noise that?s hampered my ability to delve through the thoughts and waffle running through my mind to find a subject worth writing about of late. Cue an email update from Stef Wyman about the Fan Backed Women?s Team ? or rather, ?Fan Back Women?s Cycling?, as it is now proposed to be called. This is a little venture that I hope will give us cycling fans something to smile about. I wrote this article a little while back. Hopefully that inspired you to watch the women?s World Championship road race, and wasn?t that a cracker?! ?With any luck you might have watched Lucy Garner bag the Junior Worlds for the second time too. Fan Backed Women?s Cycling has emerged since then (although nothing to do with my article I must add!), and the Women?s Social Media Jersey prizes have also been announced ? two events which are both giving the women of our sport some belated recognition. Fan Backed Women?s Cycling is gathering pace at a rate of knots which will hopefully see this recognition continue. What is this ?Fan Backed Women?s Cycling? I?m banging on about? Well, if you?ve not yet heard about it, first up read this:?The Role of Fans in Women?s Cycling?- that?s the article by Stef Wyman, DS of the Prendas cycling team (and husband of mightily successful Brit ?cross racer Helen Wyman) that started it all. ?Now that you?ve genned up you should also be motivated to get involved (you are, aren?t you?). ?This is a fantastic opportunity to make a genuine difference in something that matters, even if you?re still yet to watch a womens race. Now, trot over to that there Twitter and do a search on the hash tag #FanBackedWomensTeam?or #FanBackedWomensCycling, be amazed at all the support, interest and excitement around it and then drop?@ds_stef?or?@ffflow?a note to say you?re interested in getting involved. ?There, sorted. Wasn?t that easy? But for the moment even that focuses mainly on the UK scene so there?s still work to be done. ?There was a timely article on Cycling Weekly today about the UCI?s ?masterplan? for women?s cycling ? some good news, some food for thought, some less promising messages. ?But it?s helping to spread the word more globally either way. As an example, here in Australia the gruelling 262km Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic race was run at the weekend (the first woman to complete this race was legendary Brit Beryl Burton!). The men?s A-Grade prize pot was well into the thousands of dollars. The women?s? Around $300 from memory (although do correct me if I?m wrong ? I saw some info about it that I now can?t find). ?It gets worse though: the first woman across the line isn?t even listed in the round-up on the event home page, and the official results list only one female entry. ?Personally I struggle to believe this as despite having only seen one or two domestic women?s races I was under the impression the women?s domestic scene here was quite strong (again though, I?ll accept it if it is true). Getting better support behind women?s races will help shift this imbalance in both fields of entry and in prize pots ??ultimately to hopefully further grow awareness and, in turn, encourage new blood. Now, with all the drugs stories it?d be remiss of me to ignore it when writing this ? let?s face it, women use PEDs too. ?I?ll hand back to @ds_stef on this one though: ?http://www.cyclismas.com/2012/10/doping-what-it-means-in-womens-cycling/?- so, for the moment at least, it?s perhaps arguably less worthwhile for the women to get into drugs as the rewards just aren?t there. ?And yes, there is a risk that the incentive will grow if the extra support leads to bigger prize pots? But we can hold out hope that the women of our sport will decide not to take that route, and hopefully that in itself will further encourage more participation, support and development. As a bit of a footnote, I feel like a bit of a hypocrite talking about women?s cycling like this ? I have, after all, watched only a handful of races myself so I can hardly claim to be an avid fan. ?With so much bad press in the men?s ranks, not to mention the seemingly text book ?early break staying out for most of the day followed by the catch and a bunch sprint? in almost any but the lumpiest of men?s race stages, and given how exciting both the Olympic and World Champs races were by comparison I know I?ll be watching more women?s racing in future. You should too.
