Road Racing from scratch in 2012. A beginners guide by Ben Hookway.

Road Racing for 2012

 

Happy New Year everybody, and thanks for all the responses to my plea for a good sports doctor regarding my knee. I did get all fixed up and after a while off the bike I'm fine.

There have been quite a few questions on the Saturday morning rides from folk wanting to get into racing this year. This is great to hear: We can look forward to the black and red jerseys bossing the peloton with the fast boys coming through and rumours of the come-back kings making an appearance as well.

I mentioned I'd give a brief guide to the logistic of racing to the newer riders so here it is. Most of this relates the British Cycling races, but there is plenty of action from TLI and LVRC racing locally as well.

Step 1 - Get a License

You need a license to race. You need to join British Cycling (www.britishcycling.org.uk) and also join the club by popping into the shop.

Make sure you get a full license, not a provisional one. By the way many newer riders having been going I am expecting instant points (!) and you can only get points if you have a full license rather than a provisional one.

If you are brand new then you will be assigned as a 4th cat rider. If you have raced in the past and been a 3rd Cat in the past you'll still be a 3rd Cat.

To go from 4th Cat to 3rd Cat you need to get 10 points.

Step 2 - Enter 34 Road Races early!

The 3rd/4th cat road races fill up quickly in the NW and most will be full on race day. There is a regional series of 17 events run by Cycling Development North West (www.CDNW.org) which has races usually on a Sunday, from 4th March to the 2nd Sept.

The first couple of events are flat, with the hills coming after that. For climbing nutters, target the Bole Hill and Dolphinholme events! See the various race reports from last year for a taste.

To race the CDNW series you need to register with them and then enter, all via the website www.cdnw.org. Note that you will have to sign up to marshal one event through the year, or have a volunteer do it for you.

There are plenty of other non-CDNW road races on through the year. Have a look in the road race calendar on the British Cycling website. Its also well worth looking for Yorkshire and East Midlands regional races as well. There are some great courses and some are closer to Manchester.

Step 3 - Get Sorted for Ashton Criteriums

Every Tuesday night from April to August there will be criterium races at the Ashton circuit. This is a great way to get your racing fix with no travelling. There have been a couple of tweaks to the format this year that is especially good news for the 4th cat, women and new riders:

  • Starting in March there are dedicated 4th cat only, and women's races for a series of three races on Sundays.

  • The Tuesday night series will continue as a 2/3/4 race, but will also have a 4th cat and women's event on the same night

Again, all the details are in the British Cycling Calendar online:

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events?zuv_bc_discipline_filter_id=21

I think all of the Ashton events can be entered on the line so no need to enter in advance, but you will need to register with the Tuesday series.
http://www.tamesidecyclingdevelopment.co.uk/

If you like your circuit racing then the Darley Moor events in the East Midlands region are worth a look as the trip is fairly short. These races run on the weekend, and there are quite a few early season ones.

Step 4 - Don't forget TLI and LVRC events

There are two other organsations that run events in the UK:

The League of Veteran Racing Cyclists for riders 40 and up - http://lvrc.org/

You get age group based racing which is pretty tough. Talk to Dave Genders on the Sunday morning fast ride to get the skinny on these.

The League International provides age group/ability based racing - http://tlicycling.org.uk/

So this ought to give most of the information you need on how to get started but there is anything else just ask one of the guys. And if you are brand new, then just race as much as you can. You'd be amazed at how much you learn so quickly.

Best, Ben