10 Questions With... Evelyn Egizi, on MABRA Women's Racing

(ed: This is the first in a new series on GamJams.net called "10 Questions With". Its purpose is to give us some insight into a side of local racing we might not have seen before, and allow us to get to know some of the folks who toil mightily on our behalf. If you have suggestions for future "10 Questions With" interviews, nominate them by email.

This interview is with Evelyn Egizi, Team Director for Artemis and inveterate champion of women's racing in the area. Get Evelyn's perspective on the state of women in the sport today and yesteryear, the skinny on how the MABRA Women's Race Series works, and whether men or women cyclists shave their legs more frequently. Consume heartily.)

(GamJams) 1. What is the MABRA Women's Race Series and when did it begin?
(Evelyn Egizi) The ORIGINAL Women's Race Series was developed and implemented in MABRA (formerly known as "D-20") by Linda Mack (now current owner of Silver Cycles in Silver Spring).  I think that we can safely say that Linda had vision for women and clearly is a respected Elder of women's cycling. Linda set the stage and foundation for the women's series.  With her vast networking within the cycling community, she was able to inspire an energetic, enthusiastic woman (Gerri Moriarity) in New England to start a women's series there.  The outcome and success was phenomenal.  At some point, our other respected "Elder", Tracy Lea, came on board to join forces, and the Cycling Made Real Series (CMR) was born.  The purpose of the National Series is to spread our success.  Linda was lucky(??) enough to find me to pass the series torch onto.  I've been organizing it for the past 8-9 years.

(gj) 2. Other than D-20, do you know how many other districts are participating?
(ee) I think that it's safe to say that MABRA (the Mid-Atlantic region) has one of the most comprehensive women's series of all.  It certainly has longevity over the rest!  Like California, we have a very concentrated area of cyclists.  Now, if we'd only have their weather...

(gj) 3. Who is sponsoring the series, and who benefits from the sponsorship?
(ee) For this season and last, MABRA has stepped up to help me out by providing a subsidy for series prizes and primes.  This was very important for me to go on.  In addition to running my own club, Artemis, and still trying to race and train myself, seeking out sponsors for the series was becoming less of a priority.  In the past, I would seek title sponsorship from local bike-related businesses.  REI, Proteus Bicycles, and City Bikes all have been title sponsor in the past.  A local sales rep would always come through for me providing merchandise like Tifosi glasses, Louie Garneau clothing, and so on.  One season, GOT MILK (the Dairy Industry) granted Artemis sponsorship money.  I took a portion of that money to run the series, as it was in keeping with our club's mission: to promote women in the sport. Also, CMR has been fantastic in supplementing all of the national series participants with sponsorship from the bigger companies.  Tracy Lea was instrumental in providing a FUJI frame to the series winner for a few seasons!  TERRY, Sugoi, De-Feet, Clif Bar, Bell Helmets, and others have graciously contributed to our cause over the years. Who benefits?  I sure hope that we all do!  When REI was sponsoring the series, the "Top 10" winners got great REI clothing.  Before Jill DiMauro bought Proteus, she was the shop manager at REI.  Jill made sure that we were taken care of.  One year, the winner of the series won a set of Kysrium wheels!  The women were competitive and showed up to race because they wanted good schwag!  Of course, we hope that the sponsors all benefitted from their marking and contributions, as well.

(gj) 4. Isn't the series just a ploy by the USCF and local clubs to fill women's fields and make more money through licenses and registration fees?
(ee) Ha, Ha.  Very funny.  Like USCF ever had anything to do with this!  But, hey, what's wrong with trying to fill women's fields and increase revenues for the sport?  We are STILL trying to do that in all fields, aren't we?  I think that I have to defer back to Linda Mack again when we talk about the "local clubs" buying into this.  She did the elbow-twistin' back then to convince club race promoters to even consider having a Cat 4-only women's field.  We must have had some pretty liberal race promoters back then (THANKS, Guys!), because from what I see, the PA women are fighting the fight now (15 years later!) that Linda did back then. Artemis was recognized nationally by USAC a few years back when it received the Women's Club of the Year two years in a row.  That was special to be recognized, but in the process, we submitted all of our "secrets" of how we run the Women's Series step-by-step! There has to be a mutual understanding of what has to be done to grow the sport at various levels (women, Juniors, etc.).  Now that USAC is "sort of" out of the picture in how we run our own Local Associations (LA, like MABRA), we need to put our own money back into the sport.  The LAs are now getting money BACK from USAC to run programs and put the money back into their own constituency.  MABRA seems to have plenty of money (OUR money...yours & mine) and is very generous in using it to benefit our region and improve racing here, and not at the expense of the promoter. (Does the average MABRA racer realize this??)

(gj) 5. Are there any goals for the D-20 series? What will make you call it a success?
(ee) The goal of the series has always been to get women OUT there racing. Let's face it, this is a tough sport; it is time-consuming, expensive, and can be very intimidating.  Whether guys realize it or not, most women need to be treated differently than men to even start racing.  Women need to be encouraged, gain confidence, and allowed to succeed, and I believe that is what the series provides.  Even though we have 3 different women's BAR categories, we need more.  Only the really GOOD women can compete for and win the BAR.  The series allows even the average women to be competitive for series points.  "Just showing up is half of the battle" I say.  (And*I* would know!) Success for the Series is to have women upgrade AND stay in the sport.  In the past, we would see a lot of women upgrade to Cat 3 and then lose interest due to the extreme change in the level of competition.  I want to believe that the Cat 3 Women's Series has made that segue much easier for women who have upgraded.  Now, we are seeing more women wanting to upgrade to Cat 2!  In addition, there are more clubs in MABRA that give women the same recognition and benefits that the men get (or, shall I say somewhat?). So, Kudos to the MABRA clubs who have recognized the contribution of their women racers!

(gj) 6. What else needs to happen for more women to turn to bike racing?
(ee) That's always been a difficult question.  If I felt that there was more, then I'd be doing it!  But, it has to come from each club at this point. It was interesting to see a bunch of "Guy" clubs take a shot a developing a women's squad once they saw all of the BAR points that we were getting.  It takes MORE than just recruiting a few women to your club.  Guys don't want to do training rides and wait for the women, and women should not (be forced) to train with the men exclusively.  SOME women can, but MOST cannot get the necessary benefit.  As I stated previously, women's needs are different.  They need a Go-To person who will take the time for them, their training needs, their questions.  This does require a committed person(s). I'd also like to see some of the existing clubs that have women's squads to have some trickle-down.  Let's see some more beginner development and outreach.  Everyone talks about "grassroots" racing, but then walks like a pro.  They only want to recruit the "good" women.  We've all got to remember that this is a HOBBY and we all have jobs to go to on Monday morning.

(gj) 7. Do women cyclists shave their legs more often than women non-cyclists?
(ee) Probably not...we just don't have the time.  I personally have a self-care deficit most of the time!  Actually, who even hangs out with "non-cyclists"?  That's even more difficult to fit into our schedule...like REAL life?

(gj) 8. Do women cyclists shave their legs more often than men cyclists?
(ee) Definitely not!  I was embarrassed once when I had a nice stubble going, but just had to touch Adam Fung's fresh, smooth legs.  (I'll bet that he'll deny that...or he didn't know who the heck I was!)

(gj) 9. If you had to give a grade to the state of women's cycling in D-20 today, what would it be?
(ee) I'd give it a B.  I am very proud of what we've got going here, and it certainly is not because of me.  Like I said, we are lucky in that we have such a high concentration of cyclist in this region.  BUT, if the trend continues like it has for the first few races, we might get a better grade! The Cat 3 women are really out there this year, where it has been sparse in the past.  At Jeff Cup this past week, the 28 out of 32 women were Category 3!  16 out of 22 (PRE)registered for Walkersville are cat 3.  Great job, Girls!  Let's reconvene mid-season, and see how we look.

(gj) 10. What about when you started racing?
(ee) Well, not to reminisce TOO much, but I think that it is important for NEW women riders to know this:  They are spoiled and don't know how good that they've got it now!!!  Back when Linda Mack found me riding in Rock Creek Park and recruited me to race, the series was underway.  I don't know how she did it, but she had race promoters provide a Cat 4-only field.  Back then, there might have been FIVE of us racing (some of the others were Cheryl Osborne and Heidi Woolever).  Yet, Linda & the promoters persevered and the fields got bigger.  Also, there was a lot less pressure back then. MY goal my first season was not to be "DFL".  Jim Patton was often our motor ref.  He saw a lot of my butt back then!  Women would just "show up" to race and give it a try.  No one had a team, and certainly NO one had a COACH!  I would try to get any women that I met who had a road bike to race.I DO try to convey this info to the women today...not to take their own race field(s) for granted and to show up to race to show promoters that we WANT to race.  Heck, just over the border in PA, the women are still fighting for just ONE women's field.  I just don't get that...  As I always say: "It 'aint about the money".  It would be a happy world if race promoters could put on events with a little bit for everyone.  But, I digress!  MABRA rocks and the Women racers are a big part of that.  I think that we (MABRA) are one of the better organized and progressive regions in the U.S....it's true.  Wouldn't you guys be bored without us???