Racing teams/clubs

GC29

Hi everyone

I'm South African (from Cape Town) and moving to London in January 2018 and am looking to get involved in the racing scene in and around London. I race at an elite level here, but that's probably the equivalent of your cat 1/2 in the UK. I have seen that British Cycling does allow foreigners to "skip" Cat 3/4 if their team/club provides motivation for it.

With all that said, can anyone suggest any racing teams/clubs with racing teams who compete in Cat E/1/2 in and around Putney (which is likely where I will be living). Pretty much any club/team that isn't based +30 minutes away from SW London is what I'd consider. Would be preferable for the team/club to have young workers racing too, although that's not essential.

Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this, I looked at every forum and this seemed the most appropriate place to post.

Thanks!

imposter2.0

In club terms, Kingston Wheelers or Twickenham CC would be the closest options - both seem to have well-supported race contingents. There's a couple of Kingston members on here who will probably be along later..

http://www.kingstonwheelers.com/
http://www.twickenhamcc.co.uk/tcc/

There's probably one or two locally-based 'teams' also, but someone else is probably better advised than me on that, as I'm not local..

LWLondon

Or London Dynamo is probably even closer. A lot of the riding based around Richmond Park, just down the road, and a well supported "National B" team sounds like it would work for you

djhnz

Wheelers is closed to new members at the moment. Dynamo is likely the best best -especially given you're in Putney

maryka

djhnz wrote:

Wheelers is closed to new members at the moment. Dynamo is likely the best best -especially given you're in Putney

Not entirely true, I believe 3rd cats and higher are accepted, as are juniors and women. The waiting list is for everyone else.

Best advice I'd say is to move here, join British Cycling as a private member, check out the local clubs via racing and join a ride or two with each, decide which ones fits best with what you can give as a member and what you want to get back out of the club, then join that one. No sense joining one based on opinions here, buying all the kit, only to find you think they're a bunch of idiots 2 months later and you don't want them as teammates.

Check with BC about foreign licenses. You will be able to skip 4th cat but not sure how the higher categories move across from country to country if you're not UCI level.