Racing in West & Central London

iPete

Right, I need my hand holding a little! Looking at picking up my BC license a bit earlier than next year as previously planned and doing a few end of season races.

I've no plans to join a club yet, don't own a car and live in TW15. So what does that leave? Open to whatever formats are available. It seems I'm a 9 mile cycle from Hillingdon race circuit.

Will I get spat out the back of a crit? Recently finished the 112mile Ironman bike leg with a 19.4mph avg and Windsor's 25 mile triathlon course with a 23mph avg.

More importantly, will I be the only hairy legged roadie at these events?

okgo

Hillingdon would be the obvious start point. With no car it makes it a bit of a pain to get to other road races about the place, as you'd have to cycle/train.

Hard to tell if you would get spat out, I'd imagine you wouldn't but your average speed numbers mean very little in terms of crit racing. You see some guys there that wouldn't be able to average the speeds you can, but because they are 'crit fit' they can handle it. Its the bursts and slow/fast stuff with little recovery in between that makes it hard as opposed to the actual speed of an event.

The best bet, as you'll always read is to give it a go. I doubt it will be too hard for you, but getting points is a different ball game to getting round. But that can come later.

coopster_the_1st

Every Tuesday until 21st August there is a cat 3/4 race on at Hillingdon where you only need a provisional licence to enter (Silver or Gold BC licence). These races start at either 19:00 or 19:15. There are no BC points available but are a good introduction. These races have been at an average speed of about 25.5-27mph depending on the size of the field.

There is a initial £10 series fee and then it is £12 a race.

From 25th August these move to a Saturday and become Cat 4 only races which requires a full race licence with standard BC points available.

I'm sure with you 25 mile pace you will not be weakening the field :?

okgo

Tt efforts mean very little really, they're about as different to a crit as you could be.

iPete

Crit sounds more like SCR then

Thanks for the info, might see if I can get down to one of the Tuesday night races. What are the event details, is it a number of laps or run for a certain time? info is quite hard to come by and the hillingdon site itself is sending my malware scanners crazy.

Nuts. :twisted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUVgautjaeo

Cleat Eastwood

iPete wrote:

Crit sounds more like SCR then

Thanks for the info, might see if I can get down to one of the Tuesday night races. What are the event details, is it a number of laps or run for a certain time? info is quite hard to come by and the hillingdon site itself is sending my malware scanners crazy.

Nuts. :twisted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUVgautjaeo

Probably be better asking in the Amateur Race section in Road, found these 2 which may have some info.

viewtopic.php?f=40041&t=12855151&hilit=hillingdon

viewtopic.php?f=40041&t=12854348&hilit=hillingdon

Headhuunter

iPete wrote:

Right, I need my hand holding a little! Looking at picking up my BC license a bit earlier than next year as previously planned and doing a few end of season races.

I've no plans to join a club yet, don't own a car and live in TW15. So what does that leave? Open to whatever formats are available. It seems I'm a 9 mile cycle from Hillingdon race circuit.

Will I get spat out the back of a crit? Recently finished the 112mile Ironman bike leg with a 19.4mph avg and Windsor's 25 mile triathlon course with a 23mph avg.

More importantly, will I be the only hairy legged roadie at these events?

Those are good averages! How much climbing was there? What were the routes like?

bigmat

Hillingdon is less crit like than most though - not very technical and pretty flat / fast. Other circuits in London area are Hog Hill (Thursday) and Crystal Palace (Tuesday). Palace very technical and tough for a clumsy diesel like me, Hog Hill at least I can use the climb to make up a few places!

I still have hairy legs - keep meaning to shave them but never quite get round to it!

coopster_the_1st

Go to the Road calendar section of the British Cycling website to find out what is going on at hillingdon - http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road

iPete

Thanks Mat, great to know about the hair, oh and that there are plenty of other circuits

Cheers, cleat, useful reads, I just prefer to ask here as I'd imagine there are plenty of London racers with the same travel limitations.

Headhuunter wrote:

iPete wrote:

Right, I need my hand holding a little! Looking at picking up my BC license a bit earlier than next year as previously planned and doing a few end of season races.

I've no plans to join a club yet, don't own a car and live in TW15. So what does that leave? Open to whatever formats are available. It seems I'm a 9 mile cycle from Hillingdon race circuit.

Will I get spat out the back of a crit? Recently finished the 112mile Ironman bike leg with a 19.4mph avg and Windsor's 25 mile triathlon course with a 23mph avg.

More importantly, will I be the only hairy legged roadie at these events?

Those are good averages! How much climbing was there? What were the routes like?

112 miles; 6,755 feet http://app.strava.com/rides/14194260
25 miles; 490 feet http://connect.garmin.com/activity/189904821 (not my activity!)

Both were winding and undulating roads with plenty of turns, not straight dual carriageway TT riding. Ironman was of course after a 2.4 mile swim and Windsor was after a 1km run with runs to follow, so had to leave some gas in the tank but not much!

kieranb

well, with your quoted speeds you should be fine, although accelerations play a big part in winning a crit, when you are sitting in the bunch the effect of the sudden increases in speed are watered down quiet a bit, as long as your bike handling is good you should find it no problem. Not sure if much racing at CP this year due to the motor racing and the weather, the course is very slippery when wet/damp and as it is shaded by trees takes a while to dry in some places, so races tend to be cancelled if rain during the day. Hog Hill is good as well, though sometimes the hill scares the riders into staying in the bunch till the last lap. My guess would be that course wise Hillingdon is the easiest. CP is probaly the hardest, mainly because they usually go full speed up the incline every lap and accelerate hard out of each corner.