There might be some confusion about the term “data point,” so I simply will not use it.

I repeat: In General, men are larger and stronger than women. One doesn’t need to view charts and graphs unless one is literally blind. Men In General (as in, taken as a group) tend to be larger and stronger.

Even saying this is like .... “Duh.” Come on, folks.

Equally blazingly obvious, though, is that taking any two individuals, “In General” has no meaning.

The average paycheck of the people living in your area does Not affect the size of your paycheck. Your check affects the average. The average square footage of houses in your neighborhood does not determine the size of your home.

I worked in a factory where white males were about ten percent of the work force. yet, somehow, I remained a white male. And the other folks remained Iranian, Thai, Cuban, Ghanaian, Colombian, Kenyan, Mexican, Puerto Rican, whatever ... Even after they left the plant and returned to the General population where Caucasians are 70 percent of the population and white men, 35 percent. And no one’s gender ever changed (at least while I was watching.)

This is the difference between the General and the Individual.

If I take any one man and any one woman from any crowd, odds are (mathematics assures us) that the man will be larger and stronger. However, since there are large, strong women and small weak men (and even large, old, fat, weak men like me) it is certain that at least some of the time, the woman will be larger and/or stronger.

That’s why the House always wins in Vegas and people still beat the House. The general versus the specific. Really, do you think any of us would ever have heard of Las Vegas if no one ever won anything? Or equally, if the House did not have an advantage in General? Nope.

When further selecting for cyclists, given that more men ride than women, it is even more likely (one would think) that the male rider would be faster,. However .... since it is not a Random selection, but a self-selection of people who choose to engage in an athletic endeavor, the chances go up (as the barrier to entry is perceived to be higher) that the woman will in fact be more athletic ... the nature of the sport (in the U.S. at least, where cycling is perceived as an athletic endeavor) ensures that there are fewer casual women cyclists.

Further, women cyclists are much more likely to be training and riding with men, because except at the competitive levels there simply aren’t enough women involved to have a separate category (I have yet to hear of a bike shop Sunday morning ride with a women’s category ... it is done by speed.)

This means that women who want to keep up but do not want to race are probably used to working harder than their male counterparts .... at least until they reach the front third of the group.

Similarly, based on my observation, a lot fewer women get into competitive amateur cycling, but a lot of the ones that do, rise to the level of Cat 3 and race with the boys there ... but go to women’s 1-2 instead of Pro 1-2.

Since (again, speaking generally) most riders tend the be in the back two-thirds of the group ... People like the OP are probably not any faster than the faster non-competitive female cyclists in his area ... since there are fewer, he sees them less, but since there are only so many hours in a day and roads in the region ... sometimes he gets smoked.

What is upset here is a certain sense of entitlement that (in particular) American males (and I know this is Much stronger in other cultures, but again, going with what we all know from personal experience) have learned throughout their lives, that they are the superior physical specimens compared with women.

This is why men hate getting passed by women. it (mentally, not in reality obviously) threatens our manhood. Men are Supposed to be stronger, faster, physically better .... we live our whole lives thinking that.

Therefore, some guys, even the most enlightened, can still feel that our masculinity, our self-image and (because men are by nature competitive) place in the male hierarchy is threatened by physically superior women.

That is what I see here. This rider is thinking in the General, that he is faster than women, and is not ready to accept the Individual and the Specific, where he is clearly shown that Some women are faster than he is.

I did some martial arts as a youth, and anyone who does will soon meet some woman who is half his size but who also can very surely kick his butt. Some lady who has been practicing for years and has Earned a very high rank, who has been knocked around and ground down and come through it ... and is trained, focused, toughened, fast and strong and efficient and so totally motivated that the beginner, just in off the street, who thinks “Hey, I do push-ups and work out with dumb bells” will be flat on his backside before he is aware of exactly what his opponent is doing.

Kind of brings home the “General versus the Individual” argument in a an unavoidable way.