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Dec 28, 2024 4 tweets 3 min read Read on X
For the next cycling results before and after comparison:

Michael Pillman (L) ➡️ "Arya Elowen" (R)

Michael Pillman raced for many seasons in the men's cat 4s. When he moved to Boulder, he changed his name to Arya Elowen and started racing in the women's cat 4. Image
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Michael Pillman started racing as a junior back in 2012. He continued racing into college.

No results to write home about. Image
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Michael Pillman continues racing through 2021 with the men. No wins. No podiums.

(And to be clear, I'm not disparaging mid- to back-of-the-pack riders. There are many ways to have a fun and successful bike race. Riders can set and execute goals for a race that have nothing to do with the podium.)Image
In 2023, Pillman is racing as "Arya Elowen" in women's cat 4.

And look at that! He's on the podium in his first race.

In 2024, he takes more podiums and is even the women's state cat 4 criterium champion.

I need to find out who his coach is. This is quite an improvement! Image
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More from @i_heart__bikes

Mar 5, 2025
Um, excuse me, how is it ok for @SenFettermanPA to literally deny the existence of trans athletes in Pennsylvania?

It's NOT a "small handful," Senator Fetterman. Stop trying to erase trans people. 😤

Don't believe me? Here are some examples from cycling.

🧵👇 Image
Here's Katheryn (James) Phillips on the podium at the Hummelstown Criterium in south central Pennsylvania. Image
Here's Tara (Todd) Seplavy in second place at the Pennsylvania State Crit championships and first place at the Emrick Boulevard Crit in Pennsylvania.

I know women who have quit racing because they were tired of racing with Seplavy in their field. Image
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Read 8 tweets
Feb 20, 2025
Austin Killips, a male former pro women's cyclist, has written a piece for The Guardian!

I'm proud that my coverage of his AZT record made it into @realDonaldTrump's speech announcing his women's sports EO.

Let's explore some of Killips' claims. 🧵👇

theguardian.com/sport/commenti…
Killips says that his interest in events like the Arizona Trail Race was due to their co-ed leaderboards.

But these events all have separate male and female records. And Killips races in the "female" category. Image
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This piece by Killips fails to mention that after taking the "overall co-ed record" (while registered as a female) on the Arizona Trail, he took the women's ITT record for the Tour Divide.

He was not fast enough to take the overall record on this one.

bikepacking.com/news/austin-ki…
Read 10 tweets
Jan 20, 2025
Not a single one dominating?

Remember that time Killips won Tour of the Gila. (That TT position on the left got him 3rd on the stage that day. 🤪)

And he took win after win in road and cx when moving up to the elite level. Image
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Remember when Kylie (Kyle) Small took the women's national cyclocross championship title for women's singlespeed after only ever winning a cat 4 men's race the previous season? Image
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Check out "Chloë Spritz's" 2024 season.

The man can't stop winning women's cyclocross races! He's unstoppable! Image
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Read 10 tweets
Dec 27, 2024
Here's another male-to-female cyclist comparison:

Cole Sprague ➡️ "Chloë Spritz"

Spritz has been doing extremely well in women's singlespeed and category 1/2 in cyclocross.

I'm sure he was an incredibly talented bike racer when he raced against men, too, right?

🧵👇

1/ Image
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Cole Sprague's career finish breakdown on says he took a few wins and a few placements towards the top when racing against men.

Looks like all the wins were early in his cyclocross racing career.

2/ crossresults.comImage
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As the years go on, he doesn't get many podium placements or even top 10s.

3/ Image
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Read 5 tweets
Dec 25, 2024
Let's compare the results of another male before and after his transition to the women's category.

This guy used to race with males under the name Kyle Small (L).

Upon enrolling at @FLCSkyhawks, he changed his name to Kylie Small (R) and started racing with the women.

🧵👇 Kyle Small taking his only men's cyclocross win in the men's cat 4.
"Kylie" Small winning the women's national singlespeed cyclocross championship title in 2023.
Here are some road and a few mountain bike race results taken from .

Kyle Small raced in men's 4 and 5 and in some junior age group races. His best results come in the men's 5, which is for complete beginners. bikereg.comImage
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Now let's look at results for "Kylie" Small.

Small's results here are mostly from higher categories (collegiate A, P/1/2/3) than his men's results, but he's suddenly getting podiums and upgrade points! 🤯 bikereg.comImage
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Read 7 tweets
Dec 23, 2024
When I post about men racing in the women's category, I often get questions along the lines of, "How did he do in the men's category?"

I'm going to start posting some comparisons.

Today let's look at Henry Lin (📷left) vs "Eva" Lin (📷right)

🧵👇 Image
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Here are Henry Lin's road racing results from road-results.com

Looks like Lin started racing in college at @SJSU. He got one road podium and otherwise mid- to back-of-the-pack results. (These are reasonable results for a beginner and nothing to feel bad about.)

Btw DNP stands for "Did Not Place." Depending on the type of race and size of the field, sometimes officials only give placements to a certain number of riders.Image
Here are Henry Lin's results after switching to the women's category and racing as "Eva Lin."

Looks like he started winning after switching categories.

I wonder why that is. 🤔🤷‍♀️ Image
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Read 4 tweets

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