There’s an interview with Jess Stone on Pedalfeet (Susan Greenwood’s blog) today. Read it here.
Archive for October, 2009
Interview with Jess Stone on Pedalfeet blog
October 7, 2009Thinking of racing? Here’s what’s required
October 6, 2009Credit to Winston from Rollapaluza CC* for this handy summary – league info is most useful to London riders but the rest is relevant to all.
“Most cycle racing in the UK is run under British Cycling regulations, this includes: Road, track, criteriums (circuit racing on road bikes), grass track, Cycle Speedway, Mountain biking (all disciplines) and BMX. The general exception is Time Trials (includes Hill Climbs) which fall under CTT (Cycling Time Trials)
British Cycling
BC have three membership levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold in general you will need Silver or Gold to race plus a race license (there are exceptions.…keep reading) details here:
BC membership runs for 12 months from the date of application, however a BC race license runs for every calendar year.
Generally if you wish to race in a BC race you are required to have a BC race license.
If you are not a member you can purchase a day license at the event for £5.00 – this is not possible at major events (if you intend to race more than once or twice this gets expensive….refunds aren’t given if you purchase a full license!)…guess what? there are exceptions.
Go-Race events are intended for novices to cycling, you do not require a license or BC membership, you get no BC ranking points and there is no prize money, in reality you would only race a few of these before making your decision to take it more seriously or not.
* BIG NEWS: If you have BC silver membership you do not have to pay for a day license (at events where they are allowed) and you can have as many day licenses as you want throughout the year! I learnt this yesterday, this means with Silver membership you could race all Herne Hill track leagues and open events and all the Crystal Palace circuit races and most of Hog Hill races without ever buying a license…..you do not get BC ranking points however.
Cyclo-Cross
Run under BC rules ‘cross is even easier to take part in, excepting major events you only need to be a BC member to race, you can even be a Bronze member with no license. If you are not a BC member you can ride on a day license, for ‘cross they are only £3.00
You do not need a cross bike to race cross, excepting major events you can race on an MTB and the rules state any bike is permitted, but I guess it has to be roadworthy and comply with usual brake requirement for road bikes.
Clubs
Note: You can join BC without being a member of a cycling club (private member), however you may have difficulty entering time trials if you are not a member of a club affiliated to CTT.
CTT (time Trialling)
If you want to ride in time trials (and hill climbs) you do not have to be a member of CTT, but your club does, most clubs affiliate to CTT. Some events, like the Catford hill climb are starting to introduce categories for non-club affiliated riders.
Leagues:
Surrey League Organise tons of road races, best way to join is make sure your club is affiliated then join yourself, it is possible to join indvidually but they request that you assist in the promotion of at least two events
Membership costs: £20 senior men, £10 senior ladies, £10 juniors or £5
Website: http://www.surreyleague.co.uk/ SERRL
Another league with loads of road racing and plenty of events at Hog Hill (Redbridge cycle circuit) easier to join than the Surrey League and cheaper too at a tenner.
Website: http://www.serrl.co.uk/ Herne Hill Track League Every Wednesday from early May ‘til end of August. A fiver to register for the league, then £8 per event (£6 for juniors, £3 for youths)
Welwyn Track League
Fridays, full details to follow.
Other Racing:
BC and CTT do not control all racing, just most of it, there are other associations such as “The League International” who organise racing based on age categories. There are also other events that run independently from the National federations for example:
SSUK : UK single speed MTB champs
Rollapaluza : Roller racing.”
*As well as doing roller racing, Rollapaluza run a cycling club which is open to all. There’s no pressure to race but there are some great riders in their membership – including Estelle Rogers – who are happy to share their expertise.
Cycle Show 2009 – the ‘New Cycling Sisterhood’
October 2, 2009Cycle Show is usually about 98% male, so it’s not very surprising that this year they’re aiming to be ‘female-friendly’. I got quite excited about this prospect, thinking big focus on women specific bikes (which would be great seeing as no shops ever seem to have high end WSD bikes in store for you to try out), women-specific cycling gear, etc. Great!
But apparently their idea of being female-friendly differs slightly to mine, and actually equates to focusing on how to look good on a bike. Because, you know, women are only going to ride their bikes if they can wear a lovely feminine outfit and some chainring earrings. So, we have a lovely celebrity panel who will be providing advice on fashion, hair, and make-up. Yes, make-up.
Maybe I’m missing something and there is a particular type of lipstick that improves your performance on a bike, or Cycle Show has taken a drastic change of direction and all the stalls aimed at men will be focusing on how they can look good on their bikes, but I suspect that’s not the case. I acknowledge that looking good on a bike is important to some women, but focusing on that aspect of women’s cycling at a show which has historically appealed to club riders and competitive racers just reinforces the stereotype that men value performance, women value appearance.
Anyway. It looks like there will be some good stuff: on Saturday 10th there are two presentations on ‘Competitive Women’ which will feature interviews with (at 12.30-1pm) Shanaze Reade, Victoria Pendleton, Nicole Cooke, Rachel Atherton, Lizzie Armitstead (or ‘Armistead’ as they’ve spelt her name on the programme…), Jamie Mert and Hollie Avil. So that should be good.
There’s also a presentation on Commuting for Women which includes an interview with Koy Thompson, CEO of LCC (not quite sure why they’re interviewing him and not one of the women at LCC, but there you go) and Kate Spicer, and one on family cycling including Josie Dew. They’re also doing women’s maintenance classses which is pretty cool.
All the info’s on the Cycle Show website.
