Getting started with long distance rides...

Unless there was a surprising amount of cannibalism in old fashioned cycling clubs then I can't see why women might be considered forbidden food.

Yes, this is one of the oddities here. I don't really know the answer, but I can make a guess.

The best explanation I can offer is that there is a connection in the French mind between sensual pleasure and food. The English, traditionally, famously lack this. Although there a many literary examples of this idea, I'll offer just one: from the aphorisms of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) 'A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who lacks a eye.'