Question

Despite their determination and daring, female bicycle athletes didn't always have the support of the cycling community. In 1896, Sporting Life applauded what the newspaper saw as the failure of a recent six-day women's bicycle race in New York City, declaring, "This ensures that the disgusting and degrading exhibition will not soon be repeated. Women's place in cycling is not on the public race path." In 1897, the League of American Wheelmen, which regulated races, included in its bylaws the statement, "No race meeting shall receive official sanction if it . . . has upon its schedule any event which is open to women competitors."

–Wheels of Change,
Sue Macy

Read the passage. What do the quotations help the reader understand about the central idea in the first sentence?

how brave the female bicycle athletes were when competing in long races
what women felt while they were competing in cycling races
the way some people felt about women competing in bicycle races
some reasons female bicycle athletes were accepted into the cycling community

Answer 1

"the way some people felt about women competing in bicycle races"

The quotations provide specific evidence of negative public and institutional attitudes—newspaper condemnation and a ban by the League of American Wheelmen—supporting the idea that many opposed women racing.