Transgender Cyclist - Official Policy?

Lyaiera

I honestly thought it would be a long time before I had to consider this, but my cycle today has raised some issues for me. I make no secret on Boards (or to most people) that I'm transgender. I'm transitioning from male to female. I haven't gone "full time" yet, meaning I don't live my life day to day in a "female role." However I have been on anti-androgens for over half a year, and I've been on oestrogen for three months. My hormone levels (including my testosterone levels) are in the female ranges and are that of any other woman.

I set my profile to female on Strava when I started cycling again a few weeks ago, I've changed it back to "rather not say" again today. This is because I've done quite well on a few segments on Strava, enough to be getting trophies in the women's category on some of the more recreational routes.

Like I said, I honestly didn't think this would be an issue for a long time. I hadn't exercised in the nine months prior to April (since the heat wave last summer,) I weigh over 240lbs (down from over 300lbs two years ago) and I smoke at least twenty cigarettes a day. I never thought I'd get any rankings in a category on Strava until at least next year as I'm so unfit. And that being said my good rankings are on less competitive segments. On the segments that are a challenge or more conducive to cyclists training and pushing themselves I'm firmly in the bottom 25%. I'm not on Strava to get the trophies; I like comparing my rides and I like seeing how I shape up against everyone else. I will admit that seeing my rankings improve and getting the little icon about how I did is really encouraging and fun.

I've searched for official policy from UCI on transgender competitors and I've searched for official Cycling Ireland policy but I can't find anything. I know the highest standard set is at Olympic level where to compete in the female category transgender women need to be two year's post sexual reassignment surgery or post orchiectomy (testes removal surgery) so as to not produce testosterone and not have to rely on a medical testosterone blocker. As you go down competition levels in the sports that do have rulings on transgender athletes the requirements drop the lower you go. And in most non high-performance, amateur competitions that having a given gender's hormone range for a number of months or years is sufficient to compete in that category.

I'm not planning on competing at any level any time soon so it's just the Strava thing that's getting to me. Like I said I've changed my gender back to "rather not say" on Strava so none of my new performances will come in in the female categories. But it does make me wonder if there's any official policy anywhere for non-high performance level cycling and transgender athletes. While I know I'm not capable of racing and won't be for a while, I do think at the back of my head and during my daydreams that if I keep at this I could compete some day. Except not knowing about the attitude and policy with transgender athletes means all those thoughts fill me with doubt and worry. I did a 30km cycle today, 7km longer than yesterday which was my previous longest distance and looking at Strava just messes me up now (maybe irrationally.)

bcmf

Fook Strava and just enjoy riding the bike.
Strava is a great tool but people become obsessed with and judge every ride by it.
Get on the bike and enjoy the countryside and the fresh air.

Darkglasses

Huge congratulations on the weight loss, that's a fantastic achievement. I don't know a thing about what UCI policy on it is, but I'm with bcmf. Don't sweat it about Strava, it's fun but in truth it doesn't matter a toss. You're doing extremely well, keep building up the distance and enjoy yourself!

eeeee

I wouldn't give a fuup about Strava (easy for me to say, she that's never been on it!), just use it to test yourself and have yourself as your 'competition'. That's what I do. (although I think if I had the money I'd prob have a carbon bike and a Garmin :pac: ) Use it to track your own progress and developments rather than categorising yourself against other people.

Seriously though, enjoy your cycling, and best of luck with the transitioning, it's a hard road, I admire anyone who goes through it. The mental toughness you have means you will kick ass when you start competing.

slap/dash

I pretty much agree that strava is nothing to really care much about but then you could say the same about Facebook or any number of 'frivolous' apps etc. It's pretty important IMO that policies are thought through so that the level of discrimination faced by people is minimised. Cycling Ireland should step up and deal with this. There's way too much machismo in sports and cycling is no exception.
Finally, well done on the progress!

Lyaiera

slap/dash wrote: »

Cycling Ireland should step up and deal with this.

With the gender recognition bill coming through the Dail committee looking at the proposed legislation have discussed sports. While there'll be nothing in legislation forcing sporting organisations to let people compete in their "acquired gender" the committee has said that the Dail should unoffically request that the official sporting bodies draw up policies on this. Especially when sport has social benefits and physical and mental health benefits.

I'm pretty lucky with cycling though, I can ride to my heart's content on my own, against myself and there's events such as sportives where gender is irrelevant (I'm hoping to do my first within a month.) There are a lot of other sports where trans people would be excluded or put in a dangerous sporting situation.

And thanks for the kind words everyone. I'm loving the progress I'm making over the past few weeks. That 30km I did today (and the categorised climb according to Strava) made me feel like a serious cyclist for the first time. :P

12 sprocket

Here's some information from Cycling Irelands website and it looks like some of your questions may be answered in that.

"Cycling Ireland Code of Practice and Safeguarding Procedures for Young and Vulnerable Cyclists

Cycling Ireland is committed to safeguarding the well being of its members. Every member of Cycling

Ireland should, at all times, show respect and understanding for members’ rights, safety and welfare

and conduct themselves in a way that reflects the principles of the organisation and guidelines

contained in this Code and the Code of Ethics and Good Practice for Children’s Sport as issued jointly

by the Irish Sports Council and the Sports Council Northern Ireland.

Cycling Ireland’s first priority is the welfare of young people and vulnerable adults and we are

committed to providing an environment which allows participants to perform to the best of their

ability free from bullying and intimidation.

We shall take all practicable steps to protect them from discernable forms of abuse, from harm,

discrimination or degrading treatment and shall respect their rights, wishes and feelings.

The environment will be one that is safe and has the welfare of participants at the forefront.

Cycling Ireland recognises that it has a duty of care,to protect all young people (and vulnerable adults)

and safeguard their welfare, irrespective of age, disability, gender, racial origin, religious belief and sexual identity. For more see link http://www.cyclingireland.ie/page/about/safeguarding

Caroline_ie

Hello. Trangenders Pros male to female exist. I've met one Dutch woman who used to cycle as a man but transitioned quite early in her life. She races as a pro now in her late 30s in a UCI team. What they told me just last year was that she can race UCI sanctioned races just not national champs.
AFAIK strava is not national championship ...

NamelessPhil

I'm female, on Strava, and I say more power to your legs if you're getting cups on Strava. I think that you might as well start as you mean to go on, if you're going to be female, be female. Also, when you have fully transitioned you can always go back and ride the same segments and see if you can beat your time.

I often "lose" Strava cups and all it does is make me want to go faster the next time I encounter the segment. They might be nice to get but they're not real life. In real life I'll get my ass handed to me in races by the women who are not on Strava but who certainly can race.

Good luck with your progress in all areas of your life on an off the bike.

laraghrider

I'd echo what a lot of people have said here and say don't be worrying about Strava. Some people take it to ridiculous levels. One guy I know for example was 4th on a particular climb in the wicklow mountains so he drove to the base of it, warmed up at the side of the road on rollers (i kid you not) and when he was ready cycled 1km back up the road turned and took a run at the hill. He came 2nd and was disgusted. The point is purely targeted a specific exercise to get a high ranking on a segment. I've heard a few others do similar. Some people are taking it to stupid levels.

I just go out training or commuting and just do my thing and ride by the figures (hr + cadence) on my garmin and check how I did later when I get home. Just as a pure information and how I'm progressing through the year or how far off I am in April to my best in June/July etc... How much more unfair is it to do what the lad did that I mentioned than anything else?

slap/dash

Lyaiera wrote: »

With the gender recognition bill coming through the Dail committee looking at the proposed legislation have discussed sports. While there'll be nothing in legislation forcing sporting organisations to let people compete in their "acquired gender" the committee has said that the Dail should unoffically request that the official sporting bodies draw up policies on this. Especially when sport has social benefits and physical and mental health benefits.

I'm pretty lucky with cycling though, I can ride to my heart's content on my own, against myself and there's events such as sportives where gender is irrelevant (I'm hoping to do my first within a month.) There are a lot of other sports where trans people would be excluded or put in a dangerous sporting situation.

And thanks for the kind words everyone. I'm loving the progress I'm making over the past few weeks. That 30km I did today (and the categorised climb according to Strava) made me feel like a serious cyclist for the first time. :P

Deadly. Full disclosure: I love strava and my garmin. I don't really use heart rate zones but I probably should. One thing that I did start using last year was cadence. I set cadence, time of day and direction only on the computer and just try to keep a more or less steady 85-95rpm in my pedal stroke no matter what the terrain. When looking back on the speed data etc later I've found I do faster and with more overall endurance than if I had been looking at the speed as I'm riding.
I'm lucky in that I can commute a relatively easy rolling 25k to and from my office in Maynooth so if I'm not working from home I can rack up 250k a week just commuting: that sort of thing really helps a lot more than long ass weekend warrior rides IMO

seamus

Yeah, as others say, don't sweat strava. When I started using Strava for running I discovered that not many Irish people were using it. I'm not a slow runner, but I am way off challenging for tops spots. Even still I'll pull CRs (course records) and top tens in relatively sedate training runs. So it's purely down to the amount of people riding the various segments in your category.

Whether it makes you comfortable is up to you. Yes, many people will "investigate" when their KOM/QOM is taken off them, but once they see the overall stats for your spin and it's clear you weren't driving a car, then they're not going to do anything about it. Well, OK, there are some petty pricks about the place, but they're few and far between. The worst they can do is "report" your spin.

If you want, you can set up Strava to automatically set all of your rides as private. This means that any "records" you get will only be compared against your own spins and nobody else's.

Lawdie

Hi well done on the achievements. But maybe use another app (someone suggest) and ignore the Strava KOM awards. I've come off Strava and just use the Garmin site, or maybe you can turn off the public settings. Anyway at least your cycling, NOTHING, else matters.

RobFowl

PM a mod (Beasty knows me so maybe him) to get my bona fides and if you're happy contact me and I'll get a definitive CI position for you

Lyaiera

RobFowl wrote: »

PM a mod (Beasty knows me so maybe him) to get my bona fides and if you're happy contact me and I'll get a definitive CI position for you

Thanks for that. If you want to contact CI that'd be great, but like I said I have no plans to do anything competitive for quite a while and plan to focus on sportives where the gender question isn't a problem.

It'd be great if CI did have an official policy. It'd give people peace of mind and could even help attract trans people to cycling. I can pass along the name of the endocrinologist in Dublin who deals with Irish trans people in his HSE clinic and would be an expert or the changes to bodies caused by hormone treatment.

rollingscone

OP have you considered the most obvious solution. A new lovel...I mean HEAVY steel framed roadbike to slow you right down (probably).

Lyaiera

rollingscone wrote: »

OP have you considered the most obvious solution. A new lovel...I mean HEAVY steel framed roadbike to slow you right down (probably).

Ah Jaysus, I'm not going that fast, I wouldn't mind a road bike though. My best so far is averaging 21km/h over 30km. It wasn't so much about the Strava trophies, I was only doing well on routes people can't go too fast on anyway. It was just the catalyst for my thoughts.

Some good things have come from this thread though, so I'm glad I posted it.

mirv

Getting off topic but I enjoy using Strava as it lets me track my own progress over time on segments, rather than worrying about overall leaderboards.

CptMackey

Lyaiera wrote: »

Ah Jaysus, I'm not going that fast, I wouldn't mind a road bike though. My best so far is averaging 21km/h over 30km. It wasn't so much about the Strava trophies, I was only doing well on routes people can't go too fast on anyway. It was just the catalyst for my thoughts.

Some good things have come from this thread though, so I'm glad I posted it.

I'd say go female and get all the cups you can.
It's only strava. People who moan about it aren't worth thinking about anyway