Author: Em Nyquist
Navigating Post-Season Racing Options and How They Align With FemmeCycle Collab's Vision for Growth
The 2023/2024 Zwift Racing League (ZRL) season wrapped up last week, and many female racers began asking their team management, “What’s next for women’s racing?”
It is a valid question, often weighted with a certain amount of unavoidable anxiety. Many racers experience “ZRL withdrawal” following the completion of the six-month commitment to consistent racing. The ZRL season consists of three rounds of six-week blocks, including weekly racing, recon rides, recovery, and more, should the rider shoulder additional team responsibilities. A snowball of momentum builds throughout the season, beginning in September and ending abruptly after March.
Many athletes seek additional opportunities to engage with their teammates, especially the ones like me who use virtual platforms for racing year-round, but the infamous question looms in the forefront: “Where do we begin?”
In the Spring of 2023, following the ZRL finals, two different women’s-only racing series began. The Euro-centric time slots were decently populated across all categories. However, attendance in the Oceania and American time zones remained relatively low. These races were well-organized with plenty of publicity, which makes one wonder where all the women have gone, and what exactly was it about ZRL that kept them engaged week after week.
What’s the Secret Sauce?
The secret sauce might be more apparent than one realizes–the structure of the event and the organization behind it. World Tactical Racing League (WTRL) is the host of ZRL, and its founder, Martin Carew, runs a clean and efficient website where teams can easily register and manage their members and check race results within minutes after race completion. Zwift Community Live (ZCL), a professional esports broadcast with commentary by Nathan Guerra and Dave Towle, has covered races across all categories and time zones for years, with coverage on the Zwift Community Live YouTube channel.
The Zwift “Ladies Only” Series, which ran from April through August, also received coverage by ZCL, with immediate results on zwiftpower.com. However, the participation numbers in that series never came close to those seen in ZRL.
The Questions Aren’t Simple To Answer
There are two questions circling the air
- What is the magic behind ZRL?
- Why do there seem to be so few women racing on Zwift in general?
Think of it not as magic, but rather as the combination of female-only categorization and team-based racing in time zone divisions, on a global level. The spark of interest engages women to race with other women, for other women. Women tend to seek out community. We are motivated and empowered to accomplish intimidating things when others like us are supporting each other through the experience.
The answer to the second question is less simple. However, a certain group of individuals have joined forces and are determined to find an answer and lead the way to finding a solution to grow the numbers of women racing on Zwift, asking questions in order to tackle whatever hurdles deter women from even trying a race on Zwift.
The FemmeCycle (FC) Collab Was Born To Uplift Women
In October of 2023, a group of women and men dedicated to moving women-only racing forward decided to take action. This group included teammates from The Coalition, an esports team. These women enjoy racing together so much that they decided all female athletes should have an experience like theirs if the desire were there.
They formed the Ladies of Zwift Racing Think Tank–now FemmeCycle (FC) Collab —and the primary goal of this community is to uplift, connect, and enable women through esports cycling.
Beccah Niesen and Susan Clarke created a Discord server after much back and forth with James Bailey, a longtime women’s racing advocate, with the intention to collaborate across teams and categories with the underlying goal to “get more women racing on Zwift!”
Beccah’s dream is bigger than yielding larger race fields. She wants to reach women who are missing out on the physical and emotional benefits that come with consistent physical exercise and communal support from a team or club, achieved in the comfort and safety of one’s home.
FCC Aims To Build Confidence Through Competition and Community
Inspired by an article published by the New York Times by A.C. Shilton, “Building Grit in Girls Through Mountain Biking,” (NYTimes.com, 2019), Beccah points to a quote that she believes can impact women of any age.
“Girls, at large, experience so much hesitancy and a normative drop in confidence over the middle and high school years,” said Andrea Bastiani Archibald, a developmental psychologist and the chief girl and family engagement officer for Girls Scouts of the USA.
The organization has worked to counter the cratering of confidence that can occur during the teen years, in part by sending girls out into the woods to do things like mountain biking. In the period where most girls are experiencing a confidence drop, “our girls actually experience a confidence boost,” says Dr. Bastiani Archibald.
Beccah says, “As I age, I see so many women losing confidence in their athletic self and themselves as a whole. I believe the same confidence rebound can be achieved for women by racing virtually, particularly within a community of other women. Empowered, enabled women can do so much good in this world, both in esports and in real life.”
A Safe Space For Communal Encouragement and Listening
Within the first couple of weeks, the FC Collab Discord server quickly grew from a few women to around 30, and by late February 2024, there were over 200 members, with each week still bringing in a handful of new names. The server creators have done an amazing job keeping discussions organized by categorizing chat channels, creating polls, and directing questions or comments to channels to support the idea.
Examples of channel categorization include:
- Ranking women racers
- Calendar of events
- Race structuring, and more.
The channels have brought in constant communication as women discuss obstacles and ideas that need a safe space before dissection. Issues were brought forward for the first time because the mic was given to unrepresented voices. Seeing so many people from across all categories, teams, and experience levels was incredibly exciting and encouraging. From novice to elite racers, race organizers, course analysts, and coaches; every voice was being listened to.
By mid-February 2024, only four months after the collaboration began, FC Collab partnered with Eric Schlange of http://www.zwiftinsider.com to launch a women’s racing page to provide access to “all things women’s racing.” On the page zwiftinsider.com/wmn, riders can find a women-only Zwift racing calendar, a list of teams and information on how to join, inspirational stories featuring female racers, and more.
FCC Embraces The Multi-Platform Virtual Cycling Landscape For Greater Engagement
While the Women’s Racing page has become a catalyst, the vision for the future extends further. FC Collab is ready to continue growing to reach even broader audiences and get women on bikes and racing in the virtual realm. The virtual cycling landscape is evolving, and FC Collab embraces a multi-platform model of broader engagement.
Many women racers find options such as indieVelo, MyWhoosh, ROUVY, and others more appealing, compelling, or accessible. The partnership between FC Collab and the Virtual Velo Network, including Chris Schwenker’s TheZommunique.com, and the Virtual Velo Podcast he co-hosts with Si Bradeley, extends the reach to all aspects of cycling esports without being limited to one platform, philosophy, or belief.
Women’s History Month Highlights Women-Only Racing Opportunities
March is Women’s History Month, and race organizers have loaded each week with exciting women-only racing opportunities. FC Collab hosted its inaugural Chasing the Dream Chase Race on International Women’s Day (March 8th). The event was live-streamed, even with ladies racing on real-life bike setups, complete with female commentary.
The Iceni series, organized by The Warrior Games, will run every Tuesday, and the BL13 Zwift Racing Team will host a two-race series on Wednesdays throughout the month. Finally, Zwift Games has created dedicated categories for women-only racers, which run daily during Women’s History Month.
Still, the potential for expansion to other virtual platforms is endless, and FC Collab is excited to explore the possibilities.
FC Collab’s Vision to Positively Impact Women Beyond the Virtual World
With so much effort and determination to forge ahead and grow the virtual racing community, one can imagine that it will positively impact the number of female participants outside of ZRL. It is easy to conclude that many women who race on Zwift and other platforms, also ride and even race outdoors.
If we can reach the women who have side-lined their competitive aspirations due to the demands of adulthood, or the women with inner athletes yet to be discovered, the numbers will almost unquestioningly grow. With the dedicated members of FemmeCycle Collab paving the way, the joys of community that come with racing in the safety and convenience of one’s own home are becoming accessible to women of all experience levels.
Where do the women go? For women in all walks and phases of their lives contemplating that question, FC Collab has created a safe and nurturing space to explore the answer.
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Emily “Em” Nyquist is a busy mom of three and an avid esports racer. She’s passionate about getting girls of all ages into sports, whether they be her own kids or women in the global esports community. Em enjoys coaching her daughter’s basketball and soccer teams and riding bikes with them outside or indoors on Zwift or indieVelo. Em races for Team RIOT and Saris.
