Starting out in amatuer club riding/racing, advice needed!

chris_king

Hi all,

have just completed a BHF 60 mile ride. Ended up being 65 miles due to a diversion on the route needed as road bikes dont like going off road!

Had done around 150 miles training up to the event, mainly small rides of 10 miles with a 40 mile ride 2 Sundays ago. My Bianchi has been faultless, and after adjusting everything is even better.

Thing is, i've really got the bug now! On the 65 mile ride I didn't want to stop, and had to break away from the group I was riding with in the last 5 miles as I had a good pace and didn't want to slow.

I'd like to get into some club riding and racing in the new year. Nothing too competetive. How do I go about this? I'm from the Ashford area and often see cyclists about, mainly on the Ashford to Rye road.

if anyone can shed some light on wheres the best place to start, and what sort of events I should be looking at trying, that would be great.

Cheers, Chris.

Velonutter

Chris you might get a better response asking in the Amateur race section

chris_king

Good call, wasn't sure where to post. Will stick it in there, cheers.

Pross

The best place to start is to call a few clubs and maybe try out their club runs before deciding which to opt for. Have a look on the British Cycling find a club page here http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/clubfinder

It's not my part of the world so I don't know any of the clubs down there but maybe Ashford Wheelers http://www.ashfordwheelerscc.com/

In the first instance I would look at getting out regularly on winter club runs which will build your base stamina and get you used to riding in a group. You could also try a few cyclo cross races at this time of year as they can be a fun way to start racing.

The racing season tends to start in March but I know there are winter road racing leagues in the south east. Come March, if you are still keen to race, you could look at taking part in some time trials which are reasonably cheap and easy to enter. If you want to try some road racing you should take out a British Cycling membership, which is worth getting even if you don't race. You can look out for Go Race races to start off, these will probably be circuit races and do not require a licence so can be a good starting point. If you then want to start taking part in regional racing you can take out a 4th cat road licence (or race on a provisional licence through your BC membership).

I've probably made it sound more complicated than it actually is sorry (the BC website has the same effect!). If you join a club there will be plenty of people who will help you and explain it or in far simpler terms - others will disagree but I think that joining a club is the best thing you can do if you want to race and the BC site should help you find something.

Pokerface

Also look at TLI for racing. Easier than BC because you can race with less experienced people if you want. It's a great into to road racing and if you find you do well, you can also try BC races (which I find a little more competitive).

http://www.theleagueinternational.com

Bar Shaker

I was recently in the position so went along to where my local club ride from on a Sunday morning. My first ride (their level 2) was a bit slow last week but the same group was excellent yesterday and my membership cheque goes off this week. Great people and great fun riding in a peleton.

Just search your local clubs out and ask what group you should be in. They will have stops to let everyone regroup unless in the Elite groups.

blackhands

chris_king wrote:

Hi all,
I'm from the Ashford area and often see cyclists about, mainly on the Ashford to Rye road.

if anyone can shed some light on wheres the best place to start, and what sort of events I should be looking at trying, that would be great.

Cheers, Chris.

It depends on exactly where you live, the nearest club sto you are the Ashford Wheelers, San Fairy Ann CC (Maidstone) and Medway Velo Club - the latter two certainly have regular rides. As for racing, it depends on what type of racing you are interested in, but the best advice is to go along to a club and see what they do. Steve Berry who posts on this forum is a member of the San Fairy Ann CC and should be able to giv eyou a bit more specific advice.