June 20, 2006

go there, read that

Posted by dogpossum on June 20, 2006 2:53 PM in the category clicky

I think I want to post about this again. Check out this comment (which I linked to in my last post) from Dorothy (btw, hi Dorothy, and nice to meet you(r blog)!):

“I played a supporting, subordinate role in this race, and I had a great time doing it. Isn’t it fun to make sacrifices for other riders? It’s not really me that matters, after all, it’s the team. Winning isn't everything.” It’s not often a woman gets to sit around and listen to a group of men talk this way.

And they're talking about bike riding competitions. I have a friend who's seriously into bike competitions, and I must admit, I'm put off by the competitiveness of it all. Especially since it's endurance stuff they're into. The thought of all that aggressively competitive testosterone - I'm tougher! No, I'm tougher! Dang, boys - try labour for 12 hours and see who's got endurance!*

I don't know if we're talking teams there, or how that might work in that context, but the thought of team cycling events facinates me. It also emphasises the way these sorts of races are about tactics rather than just 'go! GO!' I was struck by this during the recent Commonwealth Games when watching that-team-cycling-event-where-they-work-in-teams-on-the-steep-round-track, where the use of team-tactics is so much clearer. There's lots of stalking** and so on there.

So go read that post. It's interesting.

*I speak as someone who does actually posess a baby-space, rather than as one who has actually made babies (or pushed one out). This is perhaps too obvious a feminist/woman joke to make about endurance, but really. Could you blame me?

**Don't you love the expression stalking horse? I'll talk about that somewhere else, though.

Posted by dogpossum on June 20, 2006 2:53 PM in the category clicky