New to Racing

danhalliday

Hi all,

I have competed quite a bit at sports involving cycling (triathlon, adventure racing etc.) but was looking to do a few road races over the winter (if they exist) and at the beginning of next year. I have had a look at the british cycling website but would like to try and clarify a few points

I realise I have to start with a category 4 licence. Does this mean that I am Cat 4 for the whole year or if I gain the necessary points can I upgrade my licence during the season?

From my understanding, if I only had a Cat 4 licence I would not be able to compete in national events

Can anyone recommend any decent events over the winter/beginning of next year. I am based in Coventry but happy to travel up to the Peaks etc.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Dan

Tom Butcher

There is no racing to speak of over the Winter - only a few circuit races in London. You'll start as a cat4 but as soon as you get the points to move up you will - so theoretically you could be an Elite by the end of the season. Maybe if you are an outstanding triathlete you could ask BC to issue you a higher category of licence - but to be honest I wouldn't bother - if you are good enough you'll move up fast enough. National level races are hard - you'd have to be pretty good to be competitive in them - which of course you may be. The majority of riders are 3rds and 4ths - events and entries for 3/4s outnumber the E12s even though the top category riders are likely to race far more frequently than most lower cats.

Bronzie

Yes - you start at 4th cat and when you get 10 licence points in the same season you move up to 3rd cat. (You never go back down to 4th cat by the way). Get another 30 in the same season and you move up to 2nd, but you need to get some points the following season to stay 2nd.
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/si ... lained.asp

A typical entry level 3/4 race will award 10 points for the win, down to 1 point for 10th, so one win or a few good placings is all it needs to move up.
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/si ... lained.asp

The highest level of races you can enter as a 4th cat are Regional A (2/3/4 cats), but frankly I'd avoid getting too carried away with the idea of riding higher category races until you've tried a few. See this link for more details:
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/si ... cation.asp

Not sure of any winter races around Coventry. The only ones I'm aware of are the Imperial Winter Series at Hillingdon. Think there's another winter series in London this year as well - look on British Cycling's event calendar.
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/si ... future.asp

danhalliday

Thanks guys, I guessed that would be the case but couldn't see anything explicitly saying it on the BC website. I was more interested in the structure than thinking that I could race at a high level.

I had a look on the events page but there don't appear to be any road races listed for 2009 at all. Are they due to be released soon? What is the "normal" season for road racing?

thanks

Bronzie

Entries for the 2009 provisional calendar have to be submitted by 5th Oct so it'll probably be November before they appear on the website. I did search for the Imperial Winter Series but details for 2008/9 are not available yet - it does start in December though I think.

The "normal" road racing season is March - September with a few events in Feb and October.

Tom Butcher

If you look at the calendar for this year - next years will be very similar as a lot of events are at the same time of year every year - if you can't access the 08 calendar now (but I think you still can) then just look at the results to see what races there were.

Ste_S

Are you a member of a club ? If not i'd highly recommend joining one to get used to riding in a bunch before racing.

Before the racing season starts most clubs will put on reliability rides (imagine a handicapped cross between an audax and a race) and will usually do a weekly chain gang style training ride.