The Beacon Message Board

Hi All

I have a couple of questions and I wasnt sure if this was the best place to put them but here I am.

Ive recently just finished my first sportive and absolutely loved it and its got me thinking about entering a proper road race or a TT event, and im mainly looking for advice on the things I might need.

Im guessing a racing license would be one? apart from that would I need a club membership as well.

Im also looking at purchasing a new bike in the next month or so, if im going to look to take part in a road race or two next year is there anything in particular I should look for with regards to the bike such as not having break discs etc.

any advice will be gratefully received and sorry if this question has been asked before.

thanks

Dan

This is perfect place to post and discuss. here's a link to a similar question from Roger who's also looking to try racing.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1132584073516536/?ti=cl

Also quick answer to your other qs

Disk brakes aren't allowed in road or crit/circuit racing.

You don't need to be a member of a club but being a member of of a club and especially the Beacon and racing in our colours means it's a bit more enjoyable and supportive as you know you have friendly wheels to follow in the race.

You do need a race licence to score points otherwise you have to pay bit extra each race for a day licence. I'd advise getting British Cycling silver membership or gold (if you want personal insurance) plus a race licence.

You don't need to spend thousands, I raced for first five years on a £1k cannondale bought on bike2work scheme. Making sure gears are working well more important. I also did a few races on a £400 felt with sora groupset and that was competitive enough, was my legs not bike that let me down!

TT you can race on same bike possibly with TT bars added then if you think that's your thing you can get a TT bike. Do the little mountain time trial in April, there's a road bike category. We organise lots of TTs plus Jess the TT captain will flag other events

I'd check out our track sessions too during Jan to April and go and watch or take part in one of the cyclocross races in Birmingham in January. They would help your road and circuit racing especially track training sessions. Why limit yourself to just road and TT?

Woolly mamil winter circuit races at Stourport normally start in Jan, aim for them maybe, they have a 4th cat only race.

Also come along to that event in the Facebook link

You can get a discount on your first year's British Cycling membership as a club member here: https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/clubs/membership. You need a race licence on top of that. As Tim says, you can buy a day licence if you just want to give a couple of races a try, but an annual licence is better value if you plan to race more often and is necessary in order to gain points. The Woolly Mamil races are a good introduction, but I think they are pretty much the hardest 4th-cat races of the season because they seem to attract lots of people who are very fit but haven't raced before, or who have spent the winter training like most people only do in the summer!

Thank you both for the information its much appreciated. first step for me is to get my beacon membership sorted which ill get done this week then hopefully I can pick up a jersey shortly after.

then racing license im going to make sure Im there for the event mentioned.

thanks again

Dan, see also: http://www.beaconrcc.org.uk/other_activ ... index.html