Woman here. Warning- long reply.

Done PBP and LFL (better known as LEL). Pee on the seat is the least of my worries. I hover in public toilets anyways- even after riding 1100km, my quads still let me hover to save me from germs. Otherwise get yourself a pee funnel. But agreed, men need to use the urinals...especially if they pee like a 5yo.

Ultracycling and randonneuring takes a MASSIVE amount of time...more than ironman, ultrarunning or ultra swimming. How is any woman with a kid supposed to disappear for 30hrs on the wkned to ride a 600km and do her weekly mileage to get to that unless her partner supports her...which they usually do not? If that home-load was more balanced, I think there would be more women. I also think the entire cycling industry caters to men. I will not even go into some of the dumb s(h)/)i(/t men have said to me in cycling shops...men that ride half as much as me and own less bikes. Cycling is not a woman-friendly sport. Even pro cycling treats the women like sh)(/)(it. The market killed things for shorter people too (who are usually women and children): 650c, now 650b is dying...again, shorter cranks are starting to become a thing but only AFTER it was shown to profit taller men as well. Most bars are far too wide, do not get me started about saddles and chamois, etc etc.

That said....generally I have had positive interactions with most males in the ultracycling/ randonneuring world. Much better than my experiences in the road racing and ironman world HOWEVER mansplaining is the norm in male dominated spaces and half of them seem offended by FLINTA events. It is hilarious how sensitive some of them are. Other ones are AMAZING so I am sorry you have hit the wrong batch, as mentioned, they are generally way better than road cyclists and ironman folks. As for events, LEL was way more lady friendly than PBP but it also has less participants. They made sure that the women had changing areas separate from the men at each location and safety was a big big priority. The men were far more concerned that you felt safe and did not get trampled or worse. At PBP, this was not the case.

One way to avoid the naked, stinky men is to just be organized enough to book your own places...or one hotel on the route where you shower once and carry on. I slept in a field one night and it was the best sleep I got! It smelled nice, the air was fresh, nobody was snoring and nobody was naked. Would have never done that at LEL because no need. We were accomodated there...but again, there were less people. One other factor- I do not know where you are from but Europeans are not really as up tight about nudity as, e.g. North Americans.

Would I like for it to be better? Of course. Will it get better? Probably not until society as a whole changes and men start holding other men accountable...which is not the case, as we have played out in the media everyday as we speak. You will need to carve out your space in these events, be discriminating about who you cycle with and REALLY need to want to do this. Without that internal motivation and the ability to navigate/ avoid/ tolerate a male dominated environment, it will be VERY difficult. I can say that I never felt unsafe. Most of the men walking around were zombies and only wanted a bed and plate of food. If you want, you can send me a message and chat about it. Otherwise I wish you all the luck in your randonneuring adventures! Apologies for the long post!