My 5yr old wants to do circuit races - where do I start?

snakeeater

Hi My 5 year old wants to start racing on closed circuits. What is it I need to do to get her in a position where we can turn up to an event and be ready to start (e.g. Omega circuit races at Portmouth Mountbatten centre 20th October)? Does she need to join a club? If so, does it need to be a Go-Ride club or can it be our local club? Does she need a BC licence or not? I'm afraid to say that the BC website is very thin on information regarding this aspect - the Go Ride pages only detail what they are about, but dont explain how to get started or what the difference is between a Go Ride event and a normal closed circuit set of races for all categories. I was hoping my daughter would be able to turn up to the Omega races at Portsmouth mountbatten centre on 20th October. Please advice - many thanks!

lc1981

To answer one of your questions, a licence isn't required for a Go-Ride race. See here.

othello

snakeeater wrote:

Hi My 5 year old wants to start racing on closed circuits. What is it I need to do to get her in a position where we can turn up to an event and be ready to start (e.g. Omega circuit races at Portmouth Mountbatten centre 20th October)? Does she need to join a club? If so, does it need to be a Go-Ride club or can it be our local club? Does she need a BC licence or not? I'm afraid to say that the BC website is very thin on information regarding this aspect - the Go Ride pages only detail what they are about, but dont explain how to get started or what the difference is between a Go Ride event and a normal closed circuit set of races for all categories. I was hoping my daughter would be able to turn up to the Omega races at Portsmouth mountbatten centre on 20th October. Please advice - many thanks!

Both my children race regularly and are not that much older than your daughter.

As lc1981 said, if the event is a go-ride event you don't need a BC licence. You just pay the entrance fee for your daughter and race.

For non-go-ride events you usually do need a BC license, otherwise you pay a small extra fee on the day.

I would say to get a BC license though. It doesn't cost much, and kids get some stickers, posters etc when they sign-up. Plus they have a card to use at sign-on like the older riders which they seem to really like! By having a BC license she can start to accumulate ranking points, depending on how well she does. These don't give you anything, though as she gets older (and better) some events are dependent on having some ranking points. Though she will need to be a bit older before that kicks in.

She doesn't need to be a member of a club. All she needs is a bike that works, helmet and gloves and she is good to ride. However, by being in a club she will learn skills and techniques to make her racing safer (I'm a British Cycling L2 coach at a kids cycling club and thats part of what we do there). I've watched some races through my fingers, where inexperienced riders have almost taken out faster riders over taking the slower ones. This is usually down to a lack of knowledge and skills on how to deal with bunch races. It can be pretty scary begin overtaken by some fast riders. If there is a club local to you then get her joined up. Plus she will have team kit!

For the first few races get her to concentrate on riding straight (not weaving around across the track) and stick to one side, especially on the straights. That way, when riders overtake they can do so safely.

At the age of 5, your daughter is going to be in the U8 category, and will be up against some pretty quick riders. Outside of national series races you will find a real spread of speed and ability, but you will find some fast riders. She will have a few years in that category to get used to it, build up technique and speed, and get quicker.

If you have any further questions let me know

mpatts

Mine too....

A question, where do I find a list of events?

othello

mpatts wrote:

Mine too....

A question, where do I find a list of events?

The BC website is the place. Go to the road, section, then calendar.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/event ... lter_id=21

Use the filter on the left to drill down. You'll want to use the 'rider categories' filter to show races that have youth racing. The categories are matched to BC age bands.

U8 = E
U10 = D
U12 = C
etc
Age is the childs age on 1 January of the current year i.e. the age your child was on 1 January 2013.

othello

Something I forgot in my earlier post...

All youth racing is gear restricted, so you need to make sure your childs bike is within the gear restriction or they cannot race.

Each age category has a maximum gear that can be used. This is to stop young children from pushing too big a gear and damaging their knees, and to also keep the racing fair. Children can ride with a lower gear than the max, just not over the max.

The gear is worked out by the distance taken for one full crank rotation. Put a tape measure on the ground and line the bike up with the crank pointing straight down on 0cm. Then wheel the bike backwards until the crank points back to the ground again. That is your gear distance. Go to the highest gear on the childs bike and try it. If it is under the max for their age then great. If over, you need to lock off that gear and try again down a gear. Repeat until udner.

DeVlaeminck

Second the suggestion of finding a goride registered club - try any within distance - weekly coaching should be more valuable and more enjoyable than the occasional race. On top of that at this time of year cyclocross can be a good entry to cycle sport - 7 minute races at that age I think - no need for a cyclocross bike our league has all sorts of machines at that age group.

othello

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Second the suggestion of finding a goride registered club - try any within distance - weekly coaching should be more valuable and more enjoyable than the occasional race. On top of that at this time of year cyclocross can be a good entry to cycle sport - 7 minute races at that age I think - no need for a cyclocross bike our league has all sorts of machines at that age group.

+1 for cyclocross races as a simple introduction. I was going to say 'easy', but then I remembered how some of the little ones struggle around a wet, grassy field! They seem to enjoy themselves mind!

snakeeater

Thanks for the replies people. She only has one gear on her bike at the moment and hopefully its low enough to not break the restriction rule. Think I will just get a day licence to start with and take it from there. The cyclocross option sounds very good indeed - is the calendar for those events also on the BC site?

There's not many Go Ride events now until next year so I think it will be a case of turning up at the Omega races, then looking out for a club and joining up to get her to participate in the group coaching lessons etc. We'll take it from there and see how it pans out. Looks like Palmer Park in Reading have something going on but there's a waiting list.

Thanks.

othello

snakeeater wrote:

Thanks for the replies people. She only has one gear on her bike at the moment and hopefully its low enough to not break the restriction rule. Think I will just get a day licence to start with and take it from there. The cyclocross option sounds very good indeed - is the calendar for those events also on the BC site?

There's not many Go Ride events now until next year so I think it will be a case of turning up at the Omega races, then looking out for a club and joining up to get her to participate in the group coaching lessons etc. We'll take it from there and see how it pans out. Looks like Palmer Park in Reading have something going on but there's a waiting list.

Thanks.

If she only has a single gear then she is almost certainly well under the gearing limit!

For cyclocross take a look at the Wessex CX and Central CX league websites. They have the dates up there (they are also on the BC site).

I'm a coach at Palmer Park, and unfortunately we do have a waiting list to join. The thing to do is get her signed-up for the 3 'come and try it' sessions. After that, and if she likes it, she can get on the waiting list for membership. We add riders on a regular basis.

bobley

If you go back on the British cycling website you can use the "club finder" at the top to find your nearest Go Ride accredited club. Get down there, find out what they can offer and get stuck in. Clubs do a lot more fun things than just turn up for races. We had a great time yesterday at our club youth Christmas party with roller racing and awards.

paulintheforest

My daughter rode in the Winchester Criterium in August at just 6, they set the under 10's and under 8's off together and it was a bit nerve racking watching the pack streak past her. However she had 6 months of Go ride training under her belt and when a couple of older boys took the corner badly and nearly put her into the wall she handled it really well. Definitely find a Go Ride club. You mention Portsmouth so I assume you are local to there. Solent Pirates had a good turnout at the WInchester Crit and are only for 6 - 18 year olds. My Daughter attends the Andover Wheelers Go Ride sessions and gets a lot out of them on a Saturday morning.