Rise with Vixen

Yesterday, I got up early to get on my bike and lead a group ride in Zwift. This is fairly unremarkable in and of itself, except for the fact that I, Jessica York, willingly got up at 6 am. It's a gross understatement to say I'm not a morning person. Even when I wake up super early, I don't really kick in until at least 9 am. The lights are on, but whoever is home is still sleeping. And yet, I now regularly get up to ride my bike before work. It's far easier to get a morning workout in than it is to do one during lunch or in the evening (although I miss my lunch workouts). I could say it's the bike that does it. Or Zwift. But that's not really the whole story. It's my Vixens that have pushed me to passably imitate a morning person, one of those motivated people that actually manage to get shit done at ungodly hours. Who are my Vixens? Well, I will gladly tell you!

Velocity Vixen is a women's team run by women. Five women, to be exact. One day, I got a Facebook message from Beth York. We're not blood related, just sisters-in-biking that met because of Zwift and cycling. She asked if I wanted to join in creating a women's team with her and a few other women. I had been wanting to be on a team in Zwift. I also greatly admire, respect and just love Beth so I said yes. It was Beth, Dixie Newsome, Inge Jansen and Carey Conabeare that were the core members of this group. Well, this was just perfect. I had the incredible privilege of meeting and racing with all of these women at CVR World Cup Paris. I had "met" Beth and Inge during Zwift Academy 2016. During the Zwift Academy group rides you get to chatting and you feel like you get to know your fellow riders. In addition, there was a Facebook group for the Zwift Academy women, and it was through this venue that we all cemented our online friendship. CVR World Cup Paris came around and we all became friends in real life, too. Dixie was my very awesome roommate in Paris, and Carey was a great racer and such a supportive and inspiring presence at CVR. We all got along so well and kept in touch after Paris, to the point where Dixie, Inge and I completed our Sufferlandrian Knighthood quest together in a group with 3 other women. Our love of cycling and mutual respect for each other as racers were the building blocks for the team. But the true driving force that brought us together as a team was the knowledge that the women's cycling community, specifically the women's virtual cycling community, needed more teams, rides and races run by women.

 Zwift Academy 2016 ended, and as I mentioned, many of us kept in touch. But there wasn't anything that cohesively held women together after the Academy ended. So Zwift Academy 2017 rolls around and the women who did it before are eager and excited for that community to return. This time, they had even more women that joined and finished. The group rides had great attendance and we even had to race this year. This new racing requirement was important because it introduced racing to women who either didn't know there were women's races in Zwift before ZA, or because it was the impetus for women to try it out who maybe didn't feel comfortable racing in Zwift prior to the Academy. Some women don't care for racing. But from the talk on the Facebook group, many women did like racing and wanted to see a greater women presence in Zwift racing. There were teams with women on them, but no women-only or women-specific teams. Fervor, excitement and need drove the creation of Zwift's first women's only team - Team Fearless. Many women joined, and it was really awesome to see so many women excited about racing and being on a team. Beth saw this excitement and thought it would be great to continue the momentum and create another women's team. She envisioned a supportive and empowering team that was serious about virtual racing. However, she didn't want to stop at just women's racing. Eventually, we would be one big team, with a women's squad and a men's squad. And why not? It was clear that women wanted and needed to be more involved in the Zwift racing scene, and there's no reason for women to be limited to only women things. For now the team would focus on launching the women's squad. And with that, Velocity Vixen was born. Velocity would be the overall team, with Vixen being the women's squad. Vixen - female fox. Swift and cunning, fast with a smart strength. 

All five of us are passionate about cycling. We love it, we live it, and we saw that there are other women that feel the same way. We also saw that there were women who could possibly love it just as much as we do and we wanted to give them that space to ride and compete. We know what a difference cycling has made in our lives and we want to share that with other women who want that, too. Zwift has always been a great avenue for that. And whatever missteps were made during the first E-Crit (see my first post for a refresher...not that anyone needs one...), none of us could forget that it was the Zwift Academy that brought most of us together. Even before Zwift became a "thing" within cycling, they created a women-centric event that highlighted women cycling. For a cycling company (or, arguably, any sports company), that's pretty remarkable. In addition, it's important to note that other teams have women on their teams and regularly host events for women. Prior to Team Fearless coming on the scene, these were all teams and events led and created by men. So it's not lost on us that men have made room for women within the Zwift community. There are certainly men that support women in cycling and want to see more women join events and races, just as we do. Truly, there is room for both men and women to lead both genders within the cycling community. But the leaders of Velocity Vixen strongly feel that women can make virtual cycling even better for women than it already is by leading as well. It makes sense; if women want more of a presence, more of a community within the already existing Zwift community, why not build it ourselves? Events for women that are led by men are awesome, are appreciated and we fully support them. We are very aware, though, that virtual cycling is in its infancy. We have the power to make a difference in how women are treated within the virtual cycling world at the outset.  

There we were - ready to build a great team and contribute different events for women (and men) within Zwift. We decided that our team would be serious about racing. We wanted honest and fair racers. We decided that our teammates would need to commit to racing at least once a month, as well as have a good trainer set up and use a heart rate monitor. This would ensure that all our members were active, upstanding members of the racing community. We launched our questionnaire and received quite a few applicants! We quickly grew to a team of 21 awesome women! We quickly got to work brainstorming different things we wanted to do as a team. We wanted to provide group rides for various abilities, racing series and group workouts. We launched Rise with Vixen, a social-paced group ride on Thursday mornings led by yours truly. Beth then followed with an endurance workout, Vixen VibeTribe. We have all sorts of things in the works and can't wait to launch them. And of course, we have all been busy racing. Quite a few of us are racing in the CVR World Cup league on Tuesdays. And we even stream our races, so if you want to watch us in action, check us out at CVR CycleView or ZwiftWatch. Also, feel free to check out our Facebook fan page. And if you are a woman Zwift racer and are looking for a team, take a look at our application!

We all work so well together, each woman bringing something to the table. Carey designed our fabulous logo and is our creative director. Inge is our Data Manager. Dixie is our talent manager and scout. Beth and I work on communications strategy and managing social media. We all support and help each other out. When we need help, we get it. Where one of us is too busy, another quickly steps up to the plate. A true team. I tell ya, amazing things happen when women support each other. We watch each other's races, give words of encouragement, help each other during races. And the women that have joined the roster are amazing, too. They are each strong riders in their own right. They fit right in, support each other, and are positive racers. I don't know what I expected, but this is certainly better than I could have ever imagined being on a team would be. I'm sure it won't always be wonderful. I'm sure we'll hit bumps as a team. But from what I have experienced over the last three months, I'm confident that we will rise above together. After all...We are Vixen. 

When is Enough, Enough?

Numbers. Numbers, numbers, numbers. Follow the money. Grab the market share. Polls. Participation. What does it all boil down to? Numbers. I'm an accountant in real life, so I know very well just how important numbers and accounting for those numbers are. Sports leagues care about viewership numbers because it means sponsorships and money. Subscription based services care about subscription numbers because it equates to users...and money. These businesses exist to make money, and making money means getting larger numbers of viewers, subscribers, participants, etc. But what lies behind these numbers are people. People to watch, to subscribe, to participate, to buy. So the numbers are important, but so are the people. Or at least, you would think they would be, right? But often, companies lose sight of the fact that real people are behind these figures.

Let's take a look at a particular segment of the population represented by numbers - women. According to the Harvard Business Review, women run the world economy. Indeed, according to Harvard Business Review, women control $20 trillion in annual consumer spending. $20 trillion dollars. In other words, we're a powerful segment of the economy and we control a lot of money. And yet, we are continually overlooked and or condescended to. Pink pens anyone? I mean, seriously, go shopping and see how the apparel industry continues to treat us. It's systemic of a larger issue, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the cycling community.

I'm sure you've seen them. Men riding around in lycra on slick bikes. If you're not a cyclist, you've probably cursed them out while passing them on the road (but seriously, not cool - don't do that). But think about how many of those times you've seen a woman riding. Not often, right? There really aren't a lot of women cyclists out there. They're there, for sure, but the numbers aren't nearly as great as the amount of male cyclists. So what does this mean? Well this means that the amount of women buying bicycles and participating in cycling events isn't as great. It's hard in the states to find coverage of male pro cycling events outside of the Tour de France (cycling just isn't that big in the States). It's next to impossible to find coverage of the women's pro cycling events. And why is that? The interest just isn't there. The number of viewers just doesn't warrant coverage. What it boils down to is basic economics - if there isn't a demand, there won't be a supply. And in the US, there simply isn't a large enough demand for women's pro cycling coverage.

But this isn't the only place we women cyclists are being told this. Take virtual racing. In the Zwift world, female participation equates to about 10% of the participation population. Since Zwift started, participation in general has grown. It's also grown for women as well. When Zwift Academy 2016 started they had roughly 1,100 participants. In 2017, that number almost doubled in growth to 2160 participants. It's not surprising that female participation on Zwift is growing. Zwift has become a popular training tool among cyclists and triathletes. It's so much more convenient for those that are strapped for time. Hop on your in-home trainer and get in a good workout. For women like me with kids and a career, it's a God-send. Zwift realizes this and is looking to gain more of that women market share. Which is a Good Idea. Besides the obvious of getting a bigger subscription base for Zwift, it also means that more women are participating in some form of cycling, and I don't think anyone can argue against this being good for cycling as a whole. More women racing and participating in cycling events is a great thing. But Zwift needs to be careful in putting the emphasis in just numbers of women participants and not forget the women that are behind their current numbers.

Lately, we, the women of Zwift, have been hearing that "there just aren't enough female participants". The numbers aren't good. They're "super low". Yes, you can't argue that compared to male participation, the female participation numbers are low. Recently, one of the reasons cited to scrap the Zwift e-Crit series was because women participation was too low (go here to read a great informational post on the e-Crit debacle). Zwift wanted to send the top 20 racers to a live racing event, but only had 15 women racers they could possibly send. So the e-Crit was scrapped for another event that would take place over 10 weeks. Now, to be fair, 2 of the best results would count for those that raced in the previous event. But it meant that people who had already reworked schedules and put in a lot of time and effort have to join ANOTHER event. It was an unfair move for both the female and male participants. But the emphasis on low women turnout burned, particularly for those that did show up.  See, the message there is that the results of the women's race don't matter if the numbers aren't "good". To be fair, perhaps that's not what Zwift meant to convey. Nevertheless, that's what the women's community heard. If we don't have the numbers, our races don't count. We also heard that at the Team World's event. A women's podium wasn't in the cards because of low women's team participation. So we're getting the message loud and clear - if men decide we don't have enough numbers of women participating, our races aren't worth scoring, they're not worth equal live coverage, they aren't worth equal rules, and perhaps they could be scrapped altogether.

But who gets to decide what numbers are enough? When will it ever be enough? Cycling is a male dominated sport, which means that the events are frequently run by men. Ergo, it's men that decide if our numbers are enough. And you know what? That's bullshit. And no, I can't find a more delicate or palatable way of saying it because it isn't a palatable situation. Women get a lot of placating talk of being supported in cycling. It's disingenuous to say that an organization or event honors or highlights women cycling if they're not going to take the event seriously or give it parity because the female participation numbers are too low. That's not the way you promote women cycling. What you do is you respect the time and effort put forth by those participants and you reward their efforts by caring about that "small" number. And when other women see that respect, they'll want to contribute. Good word of mouth goes a long way, and more women will join.  If you build it, they will come. But if women keep hearing that there aren't enough women, what will happen? Well, I'll tell you. They'll stay away. They'll be wary of competing in a small group, or of competing against other men. They'll wonder if it's worth their energy and commitment if no one else will honor that energy and commitment they will put forth. But if you show them that you care about THEM and not just the numbers they represent, they will show up. The proof is in the pudding. Zwift Academy 2016 had a lot of support and was very women cyclists friendly.  And what do you know - the following year, the participation doubled.  Take a look at CVR. The CVR World Cup events kept improving on their format and their treatment of women's virtual racing. At World Cup Paris, CVR offered an equal prize purse for ALL contestants.  This is unheard of in the industry. They did it and now women are all over participating in the new league. I predict they'll see a healthy number of women participants because CVR has proven they are truly committed to equality in women cycling.

We are enough. If it's one or 1,000 we are enough. We are more than a group of numbers that only matter once we reach a certain subjective threshold. If you want our numbers (and our dollars), you're going to need to treat even the smallest of us as if we are worthy participants.