My sincere respect to you, and Props to you and your partner. And that is why the thread is gone. BTW, my wife is very accomplished in the HR field, and an avid cyclist as well, and we have talked about this thread too. However, I still feel that the thread was not a sexist thread, but a celebration of the irresistible beauty of women.(although it had it's flaws at times....nothing is perfect) Whether in bikinis, in full battle gear of an Olympic cross country racer or DHer, or a triathlete or cyclocross racer. Or even a woman going out to get groceries or flowers. And they can make a fashion statement while associating with biking that is incredibly attractive to both men and women. Not only can they compete in racing just as the men do, they do it with a panache that few men can match. Beautiful in every way. But I do respect your opinion completely. I simply find it very interesting that these days many have fallen back to trying to ban all sorts of things, in an effort to make it seem like those things don't exist. Look (and I'm sure I don't have to tell you where to look) at how well that has worked with racism, misogyny, and xenophobia (and I'm not even going to touch the marijuana issue
) to name a few. The covers are off, and it appears that all those things were not only still in the American fabric. But shamefully enough, they are still very much alive and flourishing, but people just learned that they better covered them up, while others very naively thought we had advanced past those things. That shows you just how effectively bans really work. Instead of hardline stances, we need to attempt having conversations about differences we have. But sometimes thats just not possible. And so, BoB flourishes elsewhere. My comments just advocate Choice, that's all. A forum should be about expressing and communicating ideas. Bans on those things should only happen when things spin out of control, not when someone doesn't like the expression or opinion. We should be able to learn from others expressions and opinions, not seek to just shut them up. Just my take on this overblown issue. I hope you can understand and respect my position. Have a good one. :-)