Why are there so many of you who are such dorks and douchebags when it comes to interacting with women on the trails? I’ll give you an example, Lady P who happens to be happily (that’s what I’ve been told) married to yours truly, gets quite a bit of men talking to her while riding. For the most part the fellas that do chit chat are always RESPECTFUL and KIND. But there’s a few of you guys out there who are so threatened by a female mountain biker. Your insecurities come out and you don’t even know it. When it does, you just come off in a light that is not flattering.
Just this past weekend, there was a guy who was trying to talk to Lady P. She was climbing up this hill and some dude wearing a motocross jersey starts saying stuff to her. He made the following comments;”Oh I’m getting passed up by a SKORT!” “I used to have a KHS…pssh, back in the day!” Lady P just brushed it off. But as she was taking pictures of her bike to post on Instagram, the same dork comes up to her and says, “Gotta take pictures of your bike just so you can show it off on Facebook huh?” She gave him a courtesy smile and turned away. Then this dork was trying to talk to other women riders and runners who were there too trying to get a conversation going. Who knows, perhaps he was trying to look for a date.
Any how, we then went on our way down the trail, I met up with some people I knew, so I introduced them to Lady P. One of the guys made a comment on how much faster Lady P was compared to me. We all laughed I thoroughly agreed. The other guy I knew also said that it’s great to have our spouses on the trails with us. Then his insecure buddy starts popping off on how he doesn’t like it because his wife complains that he drives too fast when trying to get the trail head and that she also complains that he never waits for her because he’s always ahead during their ride. I just shrugged my shoulders because I really didn’t know what to say. His insecurities just pea-cocked it’s ugly head out and it was totally obvious to everyone.
Here’s the thing fellas. As you know, mountain biking is already a male-dominated sport. The fact that we have women out there riding, should be a cause for celebration. Think about it, if your wife or girlfriend was out there with you, riding and heck even racing (because they love it), then wouldn’t you want people to treat them with respect and kindness? I know that not everyone out there does what those douches did. But in every group there’s going to be a few, all I’m saying is don’t be THAT GUY.
