Regional A 2-Stage Road Race in Devon

Jinx9

RUTrainingToday CC (Plymouth's newest cycling club) will be holding a Regional A 2-stage road race at Brentor, Nr Tavistock, Devon (PL19 0LP). Open to all junior and men 2/3/4 Cats and all women Cats.

The first stage will be a one lap TT of approx 5 miles - the winner of this stage will win (and keep) the leaders jersey. Stage 2 will be a road race of approx 50 miles (10 laps of the circuit). Prize fund will be dependant on the number of entries. Field size is limited to 60.

The race will be held on 8th April 2012. TT stage at 10.00am and road race at approx 12.30pm.

No TT equipment allowed - that means wheels must be a max depth of 50mm and standard race helmet and no aerobars so that everyone has equal footing.

Points are available for each stage and overall standings. For further e-mail ruracingtoday.co.uk or see BC website.

Pseudonym

Jinx9 wrote:

No TT equipment allowed - that means wheels must be a max depth of 35mm and standard race helmet and no aerobars so that everyone has equal footing.

so I couldn't use my regular road race wheels, (which are 50mm section) then...? 50mm is ok for time trials and there are no rules against them in road races either. i don't see the logic myself....

oldwelshman

It is to ensure all have same equipment, this happens in some vets races also, not everyone can afford a tt bike or 50mm deepsection rims.

Pseudonym

but what if you can't afford 35mm either..? If the only wheels you have are a set of open pros, or an old pair of MA40s then you will still be at a disadvantage, potentially, to those with 35mm wheels. I say 'potentially' because at club level, the advantage is imagined, rather than genuine, anyway.

amaferanga

50mm rims aren't 'TT equipment'. Wouldn't saying no rims greater than 60mm depth be more sensible?

dru

oldwelshman wrote:

It is to ensure all have same equipment, this happens in some vets races also, not everyone can afford a tt bike or 50mm deepsection rims.

I can understand the logic but to what extent does this then stop?


Peoples 50mm wheels could be substantially cheaper than the guys who turn up on their zip 101/303's etc

Also, I have a powertap on my rear wheel - would I be allowed to use this as it might be worth more than some peoples bikes (disregarding my lack of ability)

Pross

Is this event for teams of 4 or are individuals OK to ride? On the equipment side of things I would have thought anything permitted in a BC road race should be acceptable? I think that is what the do for the Etape de la Defonse and Ras. Not intended as a criticism as it is nice to see a new event being added but as others have pointed out some people will have deeper rimmed wheels as their standard race set up (not me though!!).

Tom Butcher

Good on them for putting a race on - bit of an unusual rule but there's always the option of not entering.

cleeve hill reject

If it's anything like as windy as the race I did on that circuit at the end of last season you won't want 50mm deep rims!

jibberjim

What is the circuit like? I'm tempted, always like the more interesting dynamics of a race after a TT.

cleeve hill reject

Rolling circuit with a c.500m drag up to and beyond the finish line, fairly decent road surfaces. I really enjoyed racing on it - one where a break could easily stick if the chasing group doesn't get organised quickly.

Jinx9

Thanks for all your comments.

As you will see I have changed the maximum wheel depth to 50mm in the original post as it seems a lot of people ride them as standard. The logic behind this is down to what it says in the BC handbook about bikes complying with the spirit and principle of cycling as a sport. The spirit presupposes that cyclists compete in competitions on an equal footing.

Not everyone has a specific TT bike and equipment so we have decided that those who want to enter can do so with one bike that they will ride both stages on. As mentioned in a post above, if its windy (and it is on the moors) a full TT bike could be dangerous. Also if we did allow riders to do the first stage on a TT bike, the riders who do not have then would complain about that. As they say, you can't please all of the people etc!

@Pross - you can enter as an individual.

Anyhow, those that are okay with this ruling are more than welcome to submit an entry (by 3rd April as EoL subject to places still being available). Course is approx a 5 mile triangular circuit on mostly good roads (resurfaced in spring last year), with a steady incline on the stretch of road that the race finishes on. Go on... you know you want to

Tom Dean

Jinx9 wrote:

As you will see I have changed the maximum wheel depth to 50mm in the original post as it seems a lot of people ride them as standard.

If you can change the rule to accomodate those with 50mm rims why not deeper? There are some pretty commonly used wheels deeper than this, 404s, cosmics etc.

It might be easier to say the bike has to fit BC RR regs, rather than picking a rim depth figure out of the air.

Good luck with promoting the race.

jibberjim

Now you've lost my interest, I'm not going to TT with a 20 or 30 watt disadvantage in wheels. Yes 35mm is shallow, but that's specifically limiting the difference between rims, the rider who only has a box section is only going to lose a few watts because the difference betweel wheels at depth is pretty minimal. The deeper wheels though it becomes significant.

Tom Butcher

If you actually enforced UCI regs you'd probably still have to disqualify some riders' wheels - or have they got rid of the rules that wheels outside of a certain specification need to be on an approved list ?

oldwelshman

Getting a bit illy really, should have stuck with original idea, those who are flash enough to have a tt bike could either ride using their standard road bike or enter a TT somewhere else. TBH I think with most of the riders riding it would not make too much of differenceto the overall as the length of TT not too big and as said if windy would be bloody dangerous to ride deep section so original idea was good and it is good you at least promotong a race good on you

Pross

Hmm a bit earlier in the year than I intended starting racing but may have a crack as I had hoped to ride ine of the Brentor series last summer. Will have to have a think about it - what's the entry fee?

mamba80

Well i paid £20 for the 2 events cant be bad can it?
oh no! feel a another load of (negative) comments coming on about that now!

re J/jim & wheels, i have 50mm and DA cl24s and it ll be the 24s i ll be using, its a long climb (over 1.8miles) back up to the TT finish line, the 24s are more comfy, lighter, accelerate out of the 2 very tight corners quicker, the rest of the course isnt long enough for any aero effect to be noticeble, the race will be won or lost on the RR stage, 10 1/2 times up that hill anyone?