First criterium next week...

[Centurion07]

What should I expect (aside from how easy it is to get dropped)?

[CharlieGee]

Where is it? Should be fairly easy to stay with the bunch of it's flat. Just sit in for as long as you can and sprint from the last corner.

[Centurion07]

Thruxton.

You don't know my level of fitness!

[Master Bean]

Dodgy lines through corners and nasty crashes. Have fun.

[gazza285]

Elbows.

[okgo]

Centurion07 said:

Thruxton.

You don't know my level of fitness!

4th cat will either be very easy or a fairly large eye opener depending what you did before it. The racing circuits are not really that difficult as you barely need to brake/and are pretty flat, I've not raced Thruxton but it looks pretty untechnical so should make it a bit easier to stay in the group, they're also nice and wide so potentially not too unsafe vs a Hillingdon or something.

[louiebaby]

Watching with interest. I've never done any road racing before, but am doing the Tour of Cambridge at the end of September, and would like to do some preparation. Crits on a motor racing circuit make sense to me, wider course, no tricky corners, usually pretty flat, etc.

I live in Devon, so I guess I'm looking at Castle Coombe or Thruxton. What do I need to have to be able to compete? What are the hoops to jump through?

I am a member of a British Cycling affiliated club, Exeter Wheelers, and have done a few local 10 mile time trials. (First of the year on Wed this week.)

[okgo]

louiebaby said:

Watching with interest. I've never done any road racing before, but am doing the Tour of Cambridge at the end of September, and would like to do some preparation. Crits on a motor racing circuit make sense to me, wider course, no tricky corners, usually pretty flat, etc.

I live in Devon, so I guess I'm looking at Castle Coombe or Thruxton. What do I need to have to be able to compete? What are the hoops to jump through?

I am a member of a British Cycling affiliated club, Exeter Wheelers, and have done a few local 10 mile time trials. (First of the year on Wed this week.)

Need to get a race licence from BC is about it, not sure about there, but some race leagues/series request you do an accreditation so you don't kill everyone the first time you ride in a bunch.

The standard of riding in a sportive will be 'far' worse than that of a race, FYI.

[louiebaby]

okgo said:

Need to get a race licence from BC is about it, not sure about there, but some race leagues/series request you do an accreditation so you don't kill everyone the first time you ride in a bunch.

The standard of riding in a sportive will be 'far' worse than that of a race, FYI.

Thank you for this, I've just bough the British Cycling Membership at gold level, with a full Race License, so that was pretty easy to sort out.



Now I need to find some races. I guess I start at Cat 4, right?

[Centurion07]

The series I'm doing at Thruxton allow you to buy a day licence on top of the race entry to see if you if actually get on with it which is what I'll be doing.

Definitely going to be an eye opener as I've never ridden with more than 2 other people before!

[okgo]

Centurion07 said:

The series I'm doing at Thruxton allow you to buy a day licence on top of the race entry to see if you if actually get on with it which is what I'll be doing.

Definitely going to be an eye opener as I've never ridden with more than 2 other people before!

And this is why the system is a bit broken to be honest. I wouldn't want to be in the same bunch as you.

People don't seem to join cycling clubs as much now, so they don't get any exposure to riding in a group, which is vital. People die from crashes, it's not a joke. Hillingdon has had the air ambulance many many times. It's mostly not for the E12 race...

[Centurion07]

okgo said:

Centurion07 said:

The series I'm doing at Thruxton allow you to buy a day licence on top of the race entry to see if you if actually get on with it which is what I'll be doing.

Definitely going to be an eye opener as I've never ridden with more than 2 other people before!

And this is why the system is a bit broken to be honest. I wouldn't want to be in the same bunch as you.

People don't seem to join cycling clubs as much now, so they don't get any exposure to riding in a group, which is vital. People die from crashes, it's not a joke. Hillingdon has had the air ambulance many many times. It's mostly not for the E12 race...

Agreed. It is a bit silly. But Thruxton is massive with only a single pinchpoint at the chicane which is barely a pinchpoint.

Speaking for myself I'm more than confident I'm able to hold my line and ride safely but as you say, that may not be the case for everyone there.

I did try and get out for a group ride with one of the local clubs a couple of weeks ago but was running late and so missed it by about 15mins!

[JEA1K]

There are plenty of circuit races which are 4th cat only ... its really the best place to start, particularly if you have no group riding experience. But as above, I'd say its safer to get some group riding experience on the road at road speeds beforehand ... the mixture of speed/adrenaline/red mist when racing make it a very different experience.

You learn from experienced riders about smooth riding ... there's nothing worse than erratic riding which is ultimately the reason for most accidents. Newer riders tend to have some annoying habits like coming through at 800w turn and then parking up on the front struggling to hold 100w ...

I rode a BC test event yesterday with a full field of 60 riders. Whilst it was a Cat 2/3 event, there were some juniors with zero road experience ... plenty of groans as this was announced by the commissaire. I only saw one lad on the deck, looked ok but I think he'd hit a manhole cover in the wet as he cornered

[okgo]

Always a tricky one, luckily my club had a chaingang which I did a fair few times before going to Hillingdon, so riding at 25-30mph in a tight line wasn't anything new. Still snapped my bike in race 5 though when I had nowhere to go when someone else messed up!

[JEA1K]

okgo said:

Always a tricky one, luckily my club had a chaingang which I did a fair few times before going to Hillingdon, so riding at 25-30mph in a tight line wasn't anything new. Still snapped my bike in race 5 though when I had nowhere to go when someone else messed up!

Was similar for me, group rides and chaingangs for a while. A few races in before I was involved in a crash ... pedal strike from a rider in front, nowhere to go, for a split second I was going to bunnyhop him but wasn't confident my 6 week old Madone would take the impact so ploughed into him and hit the deck. Broke a small bone in my hand ... bike was ok though :-)

[louiebaby]

I'm grateful for the advice here, and it's great that it's been given in a pleasant matter. (Pedal Powered seems to be better than other areas of PH far that anyway.)



I've done some group riding before, but will get out on a few proper Chaingang rides with my club, before going to a couple of the Thruxton rides. I'll be sure to only enter Cat 4 races too.

I've heard the "only race what you can afford to replace" adage before, so I'm not convinced about taking my nice bike. (2019 Cervelo S3.) Might see if I can pick something a bit less precious for racing, it's not like I'm likely to be challenging for wins from the start, I turn 41 next year.

[addey]

All these stories aren't going to help the OP

I did a TT on Saturday and saw someone who I haven't seen in years. He had a fairly chunky scar across his nose and cheek, courtesy of a crash at Hillingdon a few years back. Suffice to say he sticks to TTs now!

[okgo]

louiebaby said:

I'm grateful for the advice here, and it's great that it's been given in a pleasant matter. (Pedal Powered seems to be better than other areas of PH far that anyway.)



I've done some group riding before, but will get out on a few proper Chaingang rides with my club, before going to a couple of the Thruxton rides. I'll be sure to only enter Cat 4 races too.

I've heard the "only race what you can afford to replace" adage before, so I'm not convinced about taking my nice bike. (2019 Cervelo S3.) Might see if I can pick something a bit less precious for racing, it's not like I'm likely to be challenging for wins from the start, I turn 41 next year.

You can get race insurance actually, I didn't bother for the years I raced, but people do and they seem to pay out if a bike gets munched.

I think crashing is a quite Pareto Law based, I never crashed again after that one above, and I raced quite a lot for the following 5 or 6 years. Some people I know seem to constantly be crashing...

[louiebaby]

addey said:

All these stories aren't going to help the OP

I did a TT on Saturday and saw someone who I haven't seen in years. He had a fairly chunky scar across his nose and cheek, courtesy of a crash at Hillingdon a few years back. Suffice to say he sticks to TTs now!

I might end up doing the same in the medium term, but in the short term this is definitely an itch I want to scratch.

Long term I really want to "do a Gruffy" and do the Trans Am, or similar, but not whilst I have young kids. I don't want to spend so much of my holiday time away from them.

okgo said:

You can get race insurance actually, I didn't bother for the years I raced, but people do and they seem to pay out if a bike gets munched.

I think crashing is a quite Pareto Law based, I never crashed again after that one above, and I raced quite a lot for the following 5 or 6 years. Some people I know seem to constantly be crashing...

I'll look into it. Tour of Cambridge are offering it, and I'll be taking it up, it's only £10. (Might not bother if I can get better insurance for the season of course.)

[okgo]

louiebaby said:

I'll look into it. Tour of Cambridge are offering it, and I'll be taking it up, it's only £10. (Might not bother if I can get better insurance for the season of course.)

Pedalsure, Laka, this lot https://www.yellowjersey.co.uk/bicycle-racing-insu...

There's a fair few out there I think. I never really raced on expensive bikes (all sub 5k) but I think if I was on a new trek/s works that are now 10k or so I'd probably consider it.