TT races near London

tgotb

I did the 3 Richmond Park TTs this Summer; I think that TTs are something I could get into, and fancy trying a few more. Unfortunately all the events I can find are either:
- Club events during the week which are impractical to get to from work in Central London
- Open events at the weekend, which seem to be quite serious and also require membership of a club

For instance my nearest club, Kingston Wheelers, has a weekly club 10 near Dorking. To get to this I would either have to ride 25 miles to Dorking before taking part, or take the train and compete on my Brompton.

Does anyone know of any weekend events which are open to all comers, or of weekday evening events which aren't too far from Central London?

Dess1e

I'm afraid that for weekend events, you'll have to travel out of London. It's difficult holding a TT in an urban environment.

I would recommend joining a local club, (Kingston or Twickenham are a good local choice for you it would seem) and then try and get a lift with a club member. Open TT's are a lot more low key then you realise as well, just that you need to enter in advance.

jibberjim

TGOTB wrote:

For instance my nearest club, Kingston Wheelers, has a weekly club 10 near Dorking. To get to this I would either have to ride 25 miles to Dorking before taking part, or take the train and compete on my Brompton.

There was a Kingston Wheeler club 10 on the saturday before the last RP TT and there's another club 10 on the 28th IIRC, so there are club 10's on the weekend. Also a lot of people do ride out to even the weekday ones.

ives.

I believe there used to be 10m TT's at Hillingdon circuit.
Not sure if they still do them. Bit boring going round and round though

Dess1e

ives. wrote:

I believe there used to be 10m TT's at Hillingdon circuit.
Not sure if they still do them. Bit boring going round and round though

Last one for the season is tomorrow evening at 7-15. You need to get there slightly earlier to sign on etc.

BeaconRuth

Dess1e wrote:

I would recommend joining a local club, (Kingston or Twickenham are a good local choice for you it would seem) and then try and get a lift with a club member. Open TT's are a lot more low key then you realise as well, just that you need to enter in advance.

I agree with this. Membership of a club is usually very inexpensive (cheaper than a BC licence, for instance) and there is no obligation to take part in club activities just because you are a member. It's not uncommon for people to join a club just so they can ride in open TTs.

Secondly, open TTs are no more 'serious' than the RP TTs. In fact, to all intents and purposes, the RP TTs might as well be open events (they aren't from a legal POV), so don't expect anything very different at an open.

There are TTs at Hog Hill every Tuesday evening, I think, although you might need to be a member of the club which organises them (East London Velo maybe?............ not sure).

It's not very close to London, but an event which is well worth travelling to is the Blenheim Palace TT. Makes a terrific day out and you don't need to be a club member to enter: http://www.bikeblenheimpalace.com/

It's nowhere near London and you will have to join a club to ride, but I'd be failing in my duty if I didn't also mention one of the best TTs in the country - if you like a real challenge, have a look here and put 24th April 2011 in your diary: http://www.beaconrcc.org.uk/open_races/lmtt/index.html

Ruth

rebs

It can always be such a pain to get to these events on time. I work up untill 5:30 (no possible for me to alter my work times which I can understand).

But it does often mean that I have to bury my legs getting home 20/30 minute ride +5/10 mins changing clothes Old Street to Walthemstow. Then travel from Walthemstow to Navestock by car to do a TT. I missed out on the Lea Valley (think its Lea Valley its not East London Velo) Tuesday TT's at Hog Hill.

It would be a blessing to cycling from work to a TT. Do TT then ride home.... I so need a new job!

Toks

TGOTB wrote:

Does anyone know of any weekend events which are open to all comers, or of weekday evening events which aren't too far from Central London?

As Des mentioned, you should be able to get to Hillingdon and do one of Westerley CC's 10mile TT (11 laps) starts at 7pm and the last one is this Wednesday (18.08.10)
http://www.hillingdoncyclecircuit.org.uk/

tgotb

Thanks very much guys!

Will take another look at open events, and also try to get out to Hillingdon tomorrow night :-)

gattocattivo

BeaconRuth wrote:

There are TTs at Hog Hill every Tuesday evening, I think, although you might need to be a member of the club which organises them (East London Velo maybe?............ not sure).

They're not on now - they're from (roughly) early May to mid July each year, run by Lea Valley CC. You don't have to be a member of Lea Valley, but you do have to pay £5 to become a member of the 'Hog Hill Tuesday Club' (or something similar).

tgotb

Thanks a lot for the advice on Hillingdon; I turned up last night and had a great time.

Far from being boring, the short laps made it rather exciting, it's quite a fun circuit to ride round at race pace :P

Shame it was the last one of the season...