Girls Only Track Day

[jap]

2
Girls Only Track Day on September 21
August 02, 2012

The next Girls Only Ride Day is at Broadford on Friday, September 21.

THE next Girls Only Track Day is scheduled to be at Broadford's State Motorcycle Sports Complex on Friday, September 21.

Name:

Girls Only Track Day
Dates:

Friday, September 21, 2012
Venue:

State Motorcycle Sports Complex, Broadford, VIC
Event Information:

Entry Form
Contact Details:

Peta Thomas - participation@motorcyclingvic.com.au

[Possum]

Oooo, i might just be round broady then.. might have to stop by and get some pics

[BarraSpalding]

I'm sorry (I'm not really) but women cry foul for equality is all facets of employment and lifestyle, but still want to be treated different when it suits.
Womens only gyms? Yep I accept that - testosterone pumped dickheads are not fun to be around for anyone, moreso women.

But on a road or track - what the fk does it matter if your male or female? Your all suited up the same, unless there is something Pink being worn, how could anyone tell the difference?

[Nelso]

I'm sorry (I'm not really) but women cry foul for equality is all facets of employment and lifestyle, but still want to be treated different when it suits.
Womens only gyms? Yep I accept that - testosterone pumped dickheads are not fun to be around for anyone, moreso women.

But on a road or track - what the fk does it matter if your male or female? Your all suited up the same, unless there is something Pink being worn, how could anyone tell the difference?

You don't think there are any testosterone pumped dickheads at the track??? There are plenty of women that will not go to the track because they are intimidated by the male dominated world of track riding/racing. So what if they have 2 or 3 women only track days to encourage them to have a go. You will find quite a few will start doing regular track days when they realise riding on a track is not that daunting.

[BarraSpalding]

Are the groups (slow, medium, fast) not segregated to put all the adrenaline junkies together?
As a complete noob to track days, I'd go the slow to medium group and i'm sure most women would laps rings around me.
The male ego will take place and make me ride better to prove my manhood but if a woman is better, she's better.
Motorsport is one of the rare sports where woman can/are allowed to equally compete with men, even at the higher/top levels. There is a woman in the main V8 Supercars field i thought i heard.

I'm not totally going at the sexism angle, its just I'd like to have women involved, they balance out the male bullshit in some situations... sometimes it can really can be 'too many dicks on the dance floor'.

[Leanne]

Are the groups (slow, medium, fast) not segregated to put all the adrenaline junkies together?
As a complete noob to track days, I'd go the slow to medium group and i'm sure most women would laps rings around me.
The male ego will take place and make me ride better to prove my manhood but if a woman is better, she's better.
Motorsport is one of the rare sports where woman can/are allowed to equally compete with men, even at the higher/top levels. There is a woman in the main V8 Supercars field i thought i heard.

I'm not totally going at the sexism angle, its just I'd like to have women involved, they balance out the male bullshit in some situations... sometimes it can really can be 'too many dicks on the dance floor'.

Hi, I can speak from experience as the 1st time I did a track day I went home after 2 sessions as I was so daunted by the track, the other riders and my lack of ability on the bike and in a track situation. The idea of the girls day for me stems from my own experience. I was lucky that a couple of years later some guys convinced me to give it another go. I had more confidence 2nd time around as my skill had improved through riding with them, but what I see now many years later is that women stil fel the same as I did way back then so they are not prepared to give the track a go. I have learnt so much from riding on the track and the idea of the girls only track day is to encourage women who probably would not have given it a go to try it. Having other women around them instead of males will provide a more comfortable environment that's more conducive to learning and enjoying the day. Therefore, the likelihood of them coming back is greater and the flow on from that is that eventually they may have the confidence to do a regular track day.

[JetPilot]

Spot on Leanne. Lets hope the ladies come out of the wood work and enjoy the day...

[Nelso]

Spot on Leanne. Lets hope the ladies come out of the wood work and enjoy the day...

33 booked in so far.

[Glen]

Spot on Leanne. Lets hope the ladies come out of the wood work and enjoy the day...

33 booked in so far.

34 if you count yourself turning up in a nice frock and curlers

Having taught Learners for a bit and seeing how many blokes act like dicks when there's a lady in the class I reckon the girls only days are brilliant.

The most fun I used to have was stopping one of the ladies because she'd reached competence in braking and letting her stand there watching one of the blokes try and get it right

[Cath]

I kinda get where you're coming from BarraSpalding. I struggled with it a bit. I firmly believe that when it comes to motorsports, there is no gender disparity in ability. Given that, I've always been of the opinion that if you want to do it (ride motorbikes, do track days, race cars, drag race, etc) you should just do it and there's no need for a special women-only event.
In fact, I actually was *very* anti-women-only motorbike events. I thought it did women a disservice by suggesting that they couldn't just turn up to a normal track day and give it a go just like any guy would, that they needed to be coddled and helped along. I thought it was working against women, making it harder for them to get into those activities by the unstated assumption that they couldn't enter on the same level and needed their own special non-threatening environment to help them along until they were able to go to a usual track day. Yeah, I was very anti 'unnecessary' women-only events.

And then not too long ago (for unrelated reasons), I found myself on a womens-only ride. And I listened to their stories about how they got into riding. I felt like a foreigner in a strange land. I don't wish to betray confidences, but I learned that my reality and my world view was very different from almost every other woman on that ride. For them, there was a very real need for a women-only environment. From what I could gather, the lack of a womens-only encouraging environment would pretty much have stopped their entry to riding for around 90% of them. So, even though I couldn't understand that mindset, given it was so alien from mine, I had to accept it that it was real for them. So instead of judging it, I realised that the women who were from my world would just go ahead and start doing track days if they wanted to, but many many more would not without some encouragement. I'd love to see the day where women-only track days aren't at all necessary or wanted. I think that will happen when the gender mix at most track days is close to even. I used to think that the best way for that to happen was to treat the whole issue as a non-issue, but now I think that the best way for that to happen is to encourage as many women as possible to give it a go - and hope many of them get hooked!

And just to underline what I discovered on that womens-only ride, a friend and I were on the way to the meet-up point and stopped at a servo. The servo guy came out and said "Wow - girls on bikes! That's a bit... rough". Yeah, it's 2012. I was speechless (but only for a moment, before I blasted him)

So, yeah, I've just recently done a backflip on my thoughts on this issue. And considering how judgemental and opinionated I am, it was a pretty big thing for me

[Leanne]

I get what you mean Cath and Totally agree with what you said. I had that same attitude when I was racing and it wasn't until I got back into motorbikes in the last couple of years that I realised things hadn't changed much over the years as far as women getting on the track to give it a go. And yes in 2012 I still get the snob off and the look of 'what would you know about riding or bikes' from guys when I'm out Riding with Nelso or the subject of Motorbikes comes up. I just laugh about it now and think to myself, "I know I can ride."

[born green]

I think its a good idea, reason is simple, girls only day is probly the best to do, no stress, just get ur skills up, help is allways there, then when there comfortable do a course, pick which one u want, then when ur happy with the world, get out on the track, and alls good... just my 2cents worth

[Leanne]

I think its a good idea, reason is simple, girls only day is probly the best to do, no stress, just get ur skills up, help is allways there, then when there comfortable do a course, pick which one u want, then when ur happy with the world, get out on the track, and alls good... just my 2cents worth