Without a doubt cycling is dominated by males. Stop for a second and make two lists. One list including all the male pro cyclists you can think of off the top of your head, male riding companions of yours, and other male Velominati. On the other list, jot down all the female pro cyclists you can, female riding companions of yours, and most importantly, female Velominati. Without a doubt, guaranteed, fo’ sho’ the first list you made is considerably longer than the second. Furthermore, I’m guessing your second list, the one with the names of women, has something like 5-10 names in the pro column, something less than that in the female cyclists you ride with column, and something smaller still in the female Velominati column. Far be it from me to pontificate on why this might be, although I do have my suspicions, so let’s just say it just is. But that doesn’t mean it can’t change.
That said, we’ve received some pointed feedback from the fairer sex that we’re a bit of an old boys club here at the site. Moreover, some of our female readership has taken umbrage with our use of the term Velomihottie. Upon further reflection, we can understand why. In its inception, Velomihottie was meant to convey a female Velominatus, a feminine derivation of the term which denotes a cycling disciple of the highest order. Seems simple enough, right? However, the misogynistic tone of the word “hottie” has been pointed out as something that is turning female readership and participation away. That is not something that we, the Keepers, ever intended.
Taking their feedback a step further and actually making it constructive, something women are much better at than men are, our female counterparts offered up a suggestion: Velominata. This makes perfect sense, no? It seems the correct feminine derivation of our hackneyed faux-latin masculine Velominatus. So with that we offer up an edit to the Lexicon:
Velominata: A female cycling disciple of the highest order.
So thank you to all of our female readers, no Velominata, who visit the site, lay down the V, and appreciate this place enough to actually offer up a great suggestion. You are correct, we can be a bit of an old boys club around here sometimes. But if you stick around, let your voices be heard, and tell us to HTFU often enough that can change. More importantly we want you to share your passion for cycling on these pages.
By the way, the Velominata pictured above is Katrien Van Looy. She’s Rik Van Looy’s grand daughter. If you don’t like this change to the Lexicon then talk to one of them. They’ll rip your spindly little legs off.
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My Velominata kicks my sorry ass on every climb. She turns the full racing 53x11 while I suck on the 50x compact. It's a simple matter of thrust to weight ratios. I do climb well for my weight though.
yeah, they pretty much drop me every time unless they are on a recovery ride
Emma Pooley in GP Plouay 2010. Velominata of the highest order.
Nice work! Velominata it is! Good move by the Keepers on this one.
And, just to note, I always thought the term Velomihottie was to be used in reference to one's own female bicycle riding partner; that's how I used it.
Nice photos, Frank! Some good celebration shots in there.
Great Marko & nicely put. I don't think the site was ever the OBC, but boys will be boys.
Like the new term as well.
It's a long time since I did any Latin but IIRC a noun is either masculine or feminine, not both - similar to French.
So velominatus means, well whatever it means, irrespective of gender - a velominatus, the velominati.
The 'a' ending is not necessarily feminine. Agricola (farmer) for example is masculine, and the plural is agricolae.
A neuter noun ending would be velominatum (singular) and velominata (plural).
So basically we are all velominati.
@ChrisO
Not exactly. Latin is an inflected language and as such has nouns, pronouns, and adjectives that must be declined in order to serve a grammatical function. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_declension . But nouns also frequently have gender as well. Most nouns ending in "a" are first declension, and feminine in gender.
There are exceptions as you note above, as there are in other Latin root languages like "la mano" and "el agua
ok ladies...its good to have ya in
congrats, it'll be a good ride
Continued (fucking iPad)...
Velominatus/a are perfectly correct Latin noun forms, and besides, I like the distinction.
FYI I made a serious attempt to learn Latin a few years ago so I could read inscriptions on European monuments and ruins.... Fucking hard language. I'll stick with Spanish and passable Italian, thank you very much.
Delenda est Alberto
So, while explaining the update to the lexicon to my Velomihottie this morning she replied: "Well that's silly."
She rightfully pointed out that Velomihottie should really be gender neutral and used to refer to any good looking cyclist. For instance, she would refer to Cancelara as a VH.
So, I would say keep VH and add Velominata.