How We Build Community Through Bike Racing

A core value to Happy Valley Women’s Cycling is providing a strong sense of community for ladies who ride. Whether it’s simple exercise or year-round racing, we believing that holding space for women is key to developing the community we want to see. But it’s the bike race culture that makes us stand out from being just a group of ladies who ride together.

how race day culture builds community

Each Happy Valley Women’s Cycling team member is required to participate in three races per year. We also are proud supporters of Seasons of Rothrock. The year-round races that we host and support are unique to the central PA area. Rothrock is one of the best areas for mountain and gravel riding, hiking, backpacking and all manner of outdoor activities for the nature enthusiast. The area is beautiful and we’re always glad for a race in our backyard that allows other people to experience what we ride all the time.

But there is another element to Seasons of Rothrock that really matters…

Equal categories matter

When starting these races, we wanted to have equal men’s and women’s categories for racing. Equal categories allows men and women to enter their race with confidence. Confident that they can compete well for their age group, bike type (hey single-speeders), and even body type with Clydesdale and Athena categories. By offering equal categories, we take our core value of community to a whole new level.

Happy Valley is in our name. It’s the community that we serve as a non-profit and stand for when we ride. When it comes to racing, we try to allow the greatest number of cyclists to feel included and confident in their race goals.

The competition and energy on race day is exciting, but it only matters in the context of the community around us. Without others to compete against in the categories we offer, then race day wouldn’t be what it is.

Encourage More riding on race day

Whether you’re a race director, “just do it for the t-shirt” racer, or want to get a “W” each race and your chance on the podium, we encourage you to be open to all the categories offered on race day. And we encourage more people to ride, opening up the community to the sport and friendly competition on the course. Races are only successful when there are people who participate. And more, equal categories may make the difference for someone signing up for a race.

Happy Valley Women’s Cycling encourages confidence on race day by offering equal categories. And in that, a strong sense of community is upheld for all of our rides and races.

Join us for the next Seasons of Rothrock

If you’re interested in a race in the central PA area, then join us December 4, 2022 for the final Seasons of Rothrock Session IV. Race the Ridge at Tussey Mountain with some of our teammates, or catch us at the aid stations and on the course volunteering! Just head to our Seasons of Rothrock homepage or check out the info below.