When my Dad decided this parenting malarkey was best done more at arms length than in the trenches, I landed up with a little more feminine perspective than is probably healthy for a 9 year old boy. Thankfully Dad was always on hand to keep the scales balanced (albeit after an hour pedal to the trailer park he was living in) and offer tactful tips like ‘keep yer mouth shut, do as you’re told and listen to your mother’ Yep ok, got that, but what about when I’m older, ‘same deal’. Jeez, over simplifying the obvious?
Clearly Dads advice was at odds with his reality and what the hell has this got to do with bike riding?
Well lets just say I learnt to gauge the ebb and flow of the female psyche slightly better and this made for many an amicable truce between my sister and myself in times of conflict. As for riding, well those benefits only became obvious much much later on!
Fast foward 29 years I find myself with a truck load of wheels that aren’t mine and kit that doesn’t fit, you guessed it, my lady races bikes, a lot. Here are some of the things
Engaged to another cyclist – cue the storage issues!
I’ve learn’t
– Don’t use her heart rate monitor strap
– Don’t use her wheels
– Don’t hog the washing machine
– Do move around the flat like its a submarine
– Do prepare two of everything, sometimes four
– Do buy double
– Do maintain all bikes at all times as its basically your fault anyway
In summary, keep your mouth shut, do as you’re told and listen to your …..er….partner? Mmmm?
In all seriousness mixed racing is a different kettle of fish to regular pairs. After a week long training camp in Majorca where I hijacked the London Dynamo Womens team agenda I got to demystify a few myths.
Team mate Imogen Smith opened Spies eyes to what women will put themselves through.
Women are emotional? Maybe, but unlike the simmering under current of male detachment women chuck it all out there, in one moment you have everything, then its done, boom, move on. It may look like an A-bomb in the ocean and the devastation may be huge but it gets the job done. I saw this on camp and I saw it second hand as team mate Imo buried herself up Alpine climbs in Transalp last year, pedalling through the tears, snot and swearing to a very deserving podium…Mike just looked like a determined drill instructor, questioning his sanity then soon his ability to keep pace with a very determined partner.
Women are less competitive. Er, yeah, sure, personally I’d rather be eaten by wolves than get in the way of ladies who want something. If we’ve learn’t anything in sport its that the ‘underdog’ is a dangerous dog indeed, sporting ladies have so many battles to take on outside of simply doing what they intended you wonder how they find the time to do anything other than fight, but they do, and they train, and they plan, and they hit it hard.
Women are less competitive??. Photo Andrew Davison
Lets stop with the comparisons, lets look at the facts, what will get your mixed pairing firing like an angry race machine?
1) Support your partner, find what they need to hear, be where they need you to be
2) Push yourself, push your partner, if you’ve had an easy day you certainly weren’t doing point 1
3) Give each other room, no partnership needs 1000% togetherness
4) Strive on your individuality in all areas, capitalise on your strengths, manage your weaknesses
5) Learn from each other
6) Put the toilet seat up
Spies will partner with Naomi Hansen for Transalp in 2014. Photo: Sportograf
Naomi Hansen (Subaru-MarathonMTB.com) rails the roots in the LIMBC Prologue. Photo: Andrew Davison
Later this year I will be paired with Subaru-MarathonMTB.com team mate Naomi Hansen, a veteran of countless stage races, as we attack the Transalp Stage Race in July. Naomi has penned her own thoughts on mixed racing in 2012 and Imogen Smith did too in 2013. So pedal hard mixed pairs, we can’t wait to see you!
Full details of the Transalp Stage Race are available on the event website.
Plus there’s team consistency at stake too for Stu and Naomi.