{"id":61176,"date":"2024-03-23T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/a3de39e2-7ed9-412b-8440-9f4ac691c09a"},"modified":"2024-03-23T17:59:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T16:59:51","slug":"do-women-make-the-best-ultra-endurance-cyclists-we-investigate-the-science-and-speak-to-race-winners","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/rss_feed\/do-women-make-the-best-ultra-endurance-cyclists-we-investigate-the-science-and-speak-to-race-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"Do women make the best ultra-endurance cyclists? We investigate the science and speak to race winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why the gap between men and women closes over longer races, and what the future holds for women’s ultra-endurance cycling <\/p>

By Jack Evans\n <\/p>

Published: Saturday, 23 March 2024 at 16:00 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Fiona Kolbinger\u2019s overall win in the 4,000km 2019 Transcontinental Race shattered the assumption that the fastest cyclists are necessarily male.\u00a0<\/p>

The 24-year-old medical student became the first female winner of arguably the world\u2019s hardest bike race, finishing six hours ahead of her closest rival, Ben Davies.<\/p>

Kolbinger made mainstream news with channels as diverse as Fox News and the BBC covering the story, while followers of ultra cycling were impressed but not surprised.<\/p>

Men have a biological advantage (including higher muscle mass, lower body fat and higher VO2 max), which helps them cycle faster in short events.\u00a0<\/p>

But many of the best ultra-endurance cyclists were already women. And the tables appear to turn in women\u2019s favour as hours turn into days and then weeks.\u00a0<\/p>

Why is this the case? It\u2019s a question scientific research has struggled to answer, but we spoke to the likes of Lael Wilcox and Jenny Graham, plus organisers of the Transcontinental Race, to find out.\u00a0<\/p>

A track record\u00a0<\/h2>
Fiona Kolbinger became the first woman to win the Transcontinental in 2019. – James Robertson for The Transcontinental Race – https:\/\/jamesrobertson.co.uk<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\u201cOver distance and time, women have a fighting chance, which is unusual in other disciplines of bike racing,\u201d says Wilcox, who won the 7,000km Trans Am race, crossing North America from west to east, overall in 2016.<\/p>
\u201cThe longer the distance, the smaller the gap between the men and the women, especially in ultra-endurance events.<\/p>
\u201cYou’re never really at max capacity except for maybe at the beginning when all the gaps are established,\u201d says Lauren De Crescenzo, the US gravel racer and 2021 women\u2019s Unbound Gravel<\/a> winner.\u00a0<\/p>
Before Kolbinger\u2019s triumph<\/a>, plenty of impressive female performances seemed to support this theory.\u00a0<\/p>
Wilcox held the unofficial overall Fastest Known Time on the 1,300km Arizona Trail until 2023.\u00a0<\/p>
Her 15-day completion of the 4,300km Tour Divide<\/a> route in 2015 remains the women\u2019s record and few men have ridden faster.\u00a0<\/p>
Are women faster self-supported?<\/h3>
$\"PARIS,$
Guinness World Records doesn’t distinguish between supported and unsupported rides, so Mark Beaumont has the record. – Aurelien Meunier\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>
On paper, the fastest male circumnavigation of the world by bicycle (78 days) looks much faster than the female record (124 days).\u00a0<\/p>
But the number of days is deceiving. Mark Beaumont\u2019s 2019 record was completed with a full support crew, while Jenny Graham set the fastest women\u2019s time self-supported in 2018.<\/p>
Guinness World Records doesn\u2019t distinguish between supported and unsupported rides, so Beaumont holds the record. Graham\u2019s is the fastest self-supported time that Guinness World Records has ratified, male or female.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
There are only eight hours between the men\u2019s and women\u2019s records for the 1,350km LEJOG time trial.<\/p>
Michael Broadwith<\/a> rode from the southern to northern tip of the UK in 43 hours, 25 minutes and 11 seconds in 2018. Christina Mackenzie<\/a> took just 51 hours, five minutes and 27 seconds in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>
Catching up\u00a0<\/h2>
$\"Transcontinental$
Scientific studies into ultra racing are hamstrung by the scarcity of female entrants. – Joseph Murphy<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Several studies have analysed men\u2019s and women\u2019s relative performance in ultra-endurance cycling.\u00a0<\/p>
In 2013, researchers from the University of Zurich published a paper<\/a> comparing male and female race results in the Swiss Cycling Marathon, a 720km race.\u00a0<\/p>
The researchers showed women\u2019s speeds improved over the period by almost five per cent. This narrowed the gap between the fastest three male and female cyclists to approximately 14 per cent in 11 years.\u00a0<\/p>
This is consistent with the 10-16 per cent discrepancy observed in endurance sports over short and longer distances, according to the scientists.\u00a0<\/p>
Nonetheless, scientists concluded women could close the gap to men in longer ultra-endurance cycling events.<\/p>
In the Race Across America, a 4,828km time trial from the west to east coast, there could be no discernible difference if more women take part and the current rate of improvement continues.\u00a0<\/p>
The longer the better?<\/h2>
$\"30$
The gap between men and women is small over long time trials, such as the End to End. – Brian Smith \/ Jasper Image – http:\/\/www.jasperimage.com\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>
A 2020 study<\/a> found men rode faster between 100 and 200 miles, but the gap closed from 400-500 miles.<\/p>
Like the Swiss Marathon study, the authors cautioned the low proportion of female entries (from 3-11 per cent) may have skewed the results.\u00a0<\/p>
They suggested biological attributes that generally give men a higher \u2018top end\u2019 (such as higher muscle mass, VO2 max<\/a> and anaerobic capacity for more power) dip in relevance as average speed drops.<\/p>
In fact, higher body fat could help women, by providing extra energy for low-intensity exercise, according to the researchers.\u00a0<\/p>
The fastest woman to ride round the world, Jenny Graham, says: \u201cIt\u2019s possible that women\u2019s higher body fat keeps them warmer while sleeping out at night, so they get more rest.\u201d<\/p>
$\"Lauren$
Lauren De Crescenzo points to women’s higher proportion of slow-twitch muscle fibres. – Cinch Cycling<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Lauren De Crescenzo, the 2021 women\u2019s Unbound Gravel <\/a>winner, says: \u201cWomen have more slow-twitch muscle fibres, which helps us in longer events.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cYou are not relying on fast-twitch fibres and bigger muscle mass, so the gaps get smaller between men and women.\u201d<\/p>
Slow-twitch muscle fibres are key for cycling endurance<\/a>. Compared to explosive fast-twitch muscle fibres, slow-twitch muscle fibres are more fatigue-resistant and efficient.\u00a0<\/p>
They favour using the body\u2019s unlimited fat stores for fuel, preserving finite carbohydrate stores, which can help avoid bonking<\/a> \u2013 a potential disaster for long-distance cyclists.<\/p>
Mind over matter?<\/h2>
$\"Titanium$
Ultra racing isn’t all about good legs and the bike. – Joseph Murphy<\/figcaption><\/figure>
If physiological characteristics, genetic or otherwise, don\u2019t fully explain women\u2019s performance over long distances, then what does?<\/p>
Hannah Larbalestier, from Transcontinental Race <\/a>organisers Lost Dot, says: \u201cIt’s about your ability to just keep going rather than your ability to go fast.\u201d<\/p>
Even if you are riding what might be considered slowly (for example, 15-20kph), Larbalestier says: \u201cYou can still ride a hell of a long way over 24 hours.<\/p>
\u201cAnd that’s why time in the saddle is so much more important than what speed you’re going.\u201d<\/p>
The complexity of ultra-endurance cycling means physical ability isn\u2019t always enough.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cThere are so many different skills and things that play into it, like making good decisions,\u201d Wilcox says.\u00a0<\/p>
Despite the huge physical challenge, Jenny Graham says: \u201cYour head has so much to do with ultra-endurance cycling.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cOnce your legs are conditioned to ride hundreds of miles day after day, it comes down to your mind because your body is able to do it.\u201d<\/p>
De Crescenzo says: \u201cThe more equal dynamic between men and women [in ultra-endurance] comes down to more training and mental toughness, both of which are areas where women exceed.\u201d<\/p>
Efficiency<\/h3>
$\"Lael$
Reducing stopped time is paramount in self-supported racing. – Rugile Kaladyte<\/figcaption><\/figure>
In bikepacking races or Fastest Known Time attempts (FKTs), the clock doesn\u2019t stop when you do. FKTs are long-distance, self-supported time trials on a fixed route.\u00a0<\/p>
Wilcox adds: \u201cThe secret to this racing is being efficient with time and multitasking if possible.\u201d<\/p>
She has a list of jobs to do when she has to stop, for example: change layers, relube the chain, refill bottles, eat and charge devices.\u00a0<\/p>
This was also pivotal to Kolbinger\u2019s 2019 Transcontinental Race win, according to Larbalestier.<\/p>
$\"Fiona$
Efficiency underpinned Fiona Kolbinger’s win in the 2019 Transcontinental Race. – Angus Sung \/ Transcontinental Race – https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/angusung\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\u201cOne thing that Fiona talked about after her win was that she was super organised and super efficient,\u201d says the race coordinator.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cShe’d get a stop at a shop done in a few minutes and do everything that she could do on the bike.\u201d<\/p>
Nothing is stopping a female ultra racer being more efficient than a male rival and consequently spending more time pedalling.\u00a0<\/p>
This could counteract the disadvantage of a woman\u2019s potentially lower average speed.<\/p>
Taylor Doyle is the media manager for the Transcontinental Race and herself an ultra-endurance cyclist.\u00a0<\/p>
She says: \u201cUltra-cycling is about forward momentum, not necessarily rapid momentum.\u201d<\/p>
Pacing<\/h3>
$\"Jenny$
Jenny Graham says women are good at keeping their heads together. – Jack Armstrong<\/figcaption><\/figure>
A 2015 study into marathon runners<\/a> found men were more likely to slow during the race than women. Some interpreted this to mean women runners are better at pacing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
A similar study hasn\u2019t been conducted into cycling. But can we draw parallels between the steadier pacing of female runners and ultra-endurance cyclists?<\/p>
Doyle says: \u201cI think women are really good at making good decisions and are in tune with their bodies.\u201d<\/p>
She admits that might be a generalisation because anyone can know their capacities well.\u00a0<\/p>
But she adds: \u201cI think the best [female] riders are super in tune with their bodies and know when they are pushing over the limit.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cIt can take one wrong decision to not be able to come back and be at your best.\u201d<\/p>
$\"Lael$
Progress has to be forwards but not necessarily fast. – Rugile Kaladyte<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Graham also speculates women could be better at pacing ultra-endurance rides.<\/p>
\u201cWomen I\u2019ve ridden with are very good at keeping their head together,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cThey ride hard but also keep enough in the tank to look after themselves the next day.<\/p>
\u201cPerhaps they get into less of a hole [than men], but that\u2019s just speaking about my own friends.\u201d<\/p>
Pain threshold<\/h3>
$\"UK$
Women might not be better at bearing discomfort than men. – Jack Luke \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Psychological toughness and ability to ‘suffer’ is often romanticised in ultra-endurance cyclists.\u00a0<\/p>
Could women\u2019s supposedly greater pain tolerance help them here? It seems not.\u00a0<\/p>
A review of pain-related scientific studies <\/a>reached the opposite conclusion: that women are more sensitive to and worse at inhibiting pain than men.<\/p>
Wilcox hasn\u2019t given much thought to whether or not she has a physiological advantage as a woman and says this may help her.<\/p>
\u201cSo I haven’t gotten scientific about it because for me that would be kind of a mental drain versus just being out there and going by feel,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cAnd that might also be in some cases an advantage, because nothing ever goes to plan.\u201d<\/p>
For example, Wilcox says you might fail to achieve a certain average speed or go off-course.\u00a0<\/p>
The skill is to find a solution and be \u201cforgiving of your mistakes\u201d.<\/p>
\u201cEverybody makes them so it might help me that I’m not too worried about achieving perfection on the bike.\u201d<\/p>
What does the future hold for women\u2019s ultra-endurance cycling?<\/h2>
$\"Laurens$
Men still make up the majority of ultra racers. – Transcordillieras<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The question of whether women are better than men in ultra-endurance cycling is complex. The lack of research on the topic doesn\u2019t help either.\u00a0<\/p>
Larbalestier says: \u201cIt’s so multifactorial that it’s hard to break it down.<\/p>
\u201cWomen’s participation in cycling is just very low on the whole, so it becomes very hard to analyse it in a kind of data-driven way.\u201d<\/p>
She says we tend to pick out \u201cone-case examples\u201d, such as Leah Goldstein winning the overall Race Across America in 2021.<\/p>
\u201cBut it’s hard to extrapolate that across the whole sport and say when women could be better than men at ultras,\u201d adds Larbalestier.\u00a0<\/p>
Making sweeping judgements about gender is also tricky.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cI think I would err on the side of caution and maybe not make those generalisations, especially because \u200b\u200bwe’re learning more about the spectrum of gender,\u201d says Doyle.\u00a0<\/p>
She also says the lack of diversity is not just about men and women: non-binary and non-white people are also underrepresented in cycling.\u00a0<\/p>
Systemic issues<\/h3>
$\"Emily$
But female turnout has increased since Emily Chappell won the women’s TCR in 2016. – Kristian Plettan<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Society-wide gender inequality leads to lower turnout from women than men in sport in general<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>
Graham says: \u201cWomen have had to fight hard to take part in sport. They\u2019ve not been supported or represented in the same way [as men].”<\/p>
Notwithstanding the success of women such as Emily Chappell and Fiona Kolbinger in the Transcontinental Race, Larbalestier says many more men race than women.<\/p>
In 2019, the year of Kolbinger\u2019s victory, 40 women started out of a 265-strong field. The balance hasn\u2019t improved since.\u00a0<\/p>
This is despite Lost Dot treating applications from women and other underrepresented groups preferentially.\u00a0<\/p>
Larbalestier and Doyle say they feel welcome at ultra races where men make up the majority of entrants.\u00a0<\/p>
But factors beyond race organisers\u2019 control depress female entries.\u00a0<\/p>
The cost of ultra-endurance racing<\/h3>
$\"Icelandic$
Travelling to far-flung destinations to race can be expensive. – Robyn Furtado \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
On average, women earn less than men<\/a>. This makes it harder for them to afford the cost of entering, training for and taking part in an ultra-cycling race.\u00a0<\/p>
Women also have more childcare responsibilities<\/a> and tend to be in more precarious employment<\/a>. Therefore, it can be harder for women to take time off to race for days or weeks.\u00a0<\/p>
However, some endurance bikepacking events already have a 50\/50 gender balance, such as the Pennine Rally, or are women-only, such as the Komoot Women\u2019s Rally<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>
Doyle says such rides can serve as a gateway for women to competitive events, which are open to all.\u00a0<\/p>
But what would have happened if over the past 50 years women had had the same opportunities as men?<\/p>
\u201cWho knows? Maybe we would be on a more level playing field,\u201d Graham says.\u00a0<\/p>
She argues that ultras where the start sheet has a more even gender balance reflect this in the results.\u00a0<\/p>
For example, five women finished in the top 10 of the 2021 GBDURO, a 2,000km self-supported bikepacking<\/a> race in the UK.\u00a0<\/p>
The example of gravel\u00a0<\/h3>
$\"New$
Can cycling learn from the gender equality of US gravel racing? – Ben Delaney \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
De Crescenzo explains that a more level playing field has emerged in the Life Time Grand Prix US gravel racing series.<\/p>
\u201cWhat attracts me most to gravel is the equality,\u201d she says.<\/p>
\u201cAt the Life Time races and all the gravel events, we get equal prize money and ride the same distance, which hasn’t always been the case in road racing.<\/p>
\u201cNow with our own starts, we have equal media coverage and we have all the same media opportunities in the Life Time series, which is really cool.\u201d<\/p>
This helps the women\u2019s peloton land more and more valuable sponsorship deals, according to De Crescenzo. The brands believe they\u2019ll see more return on their investment from the added coverage.<\/p>
\u201cI know a lot of women have left their careers because they’re able to fully support themselves just from gravel racing, which I think legitimises the sport even more,\u201d adds De Crescenzo.\u00a0<\/p>
If cycling, including ultra-distance riding, could follow this template, surely the gap between men\u2019s and women\u2019s finishing times would decrease quicker.\u00a0<\/p>
Have we been here before?<\/h2>
$\"Start$
The future looks good for women’s ultra-endurance cycling. – Tristan Bogaard<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The scientific evidence shows the gap between women and men in very long bike races is closing, while individual women are winning races overall.\u00a0<\/p>
But history suggests it\u2019s important not to get too far ahead of ourselves.\u00a0<\/p>
In an article published in the Nature journal in 1992<\/a>, Brian Whipp and Susanna Ward forecast that women would outpace men in the marathon by 1998.\u00a0<\/p>
They based their prediction on women maintaining their rapid rate of improvement and men\u2019s progress remaining steady.\u00a0<\/p>
This hasn\u2019t come to pass. The men\u2019s marathon record is currently 11 minutes, or nine per cent, faster.\u00a0<\/p>
The parallel to ultra-endurance cycling isn\u2019t exact. A two-hour marathon requires an exceptionally high V02 max, which means a male athlete is more likely to be able to achieve this pace. Whereas, the lower intensity of ultra-endurance cycling can be to women\u2019s advantage.\u00a0<\/p>
It may be better to wait until female participation matches men\u2019s in ultra-endurance cycling before making another bold prediction.\u00a0<\/p>
The future is bright for women in ultra-endurance cycling though.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s a really exciting time to be a woman in ultra [cycling] because it\u2019s taking off right now,\u201d says Doyle.<\/p>
While she relishes seeing more women on start lines, when female turnout is lower, she thinks: \u201cIt\u2019s okay because I\u2019m still going to beat a huge chunk of these men.\u201d<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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