Introduction to Racing
Club member Kate Taylor guides through the ins and outs of racing.
The basic guide to road racing by Kate
The categories
The event classifications
Licence requirements
What you need
CTT
1. The categories
In road and crit (closed circuit eg. Litherland) races, riders are split into 5 different categories:
4th cat: This is likely to be you, a new licence holder/a new racer. This is the lowest category and therefore many events are 4th cat only or 3rd + 4th cat only. In order to progress to 3rd cat you need to gain 12 points in a year.
3rd cat: Once you have progressed to 3rd cat you cannot be downgraded back to 4th cat. Events for this category tend to be 3rd + 4th cat only, or E/1/2/3. Basically, you can enter most things. In order to progress from 3rd cat to 2nd cat, you have to gain 40 points in a year.
2nd cat: Starting to get fancy here! In order to retain this licence, you have to gain 25 points in a season. To progress to 1st cat you must gain 200 points in a year (yes 200).
1st cat: Semi-untouchable. To retain this licence you have to gain 100 points in a year. To progress to Elite you have to gain 300 points.
Elite: The creme de la creme. (Don’t even think about it.)
2. The event classifications
This is quite confusing. Not only will races only be open to certain categories eg 2/3/4 but they are also split into different classifications. This isn’t super necessary to know, it affects race organisers more than riders but it does change the amount of points on offer.
National A Male + Female: Stuff like the tour series or the Cicle classic. Not applicable for us really.
National B Male + Female: Open to E/1/2/3 riders.
Road race, male= minimum distance 120km, points go down to 20th place (1st = 60 points, 2nd= 52, 3rd= 45 etc etc)
Crit, male= minimum duration 60min, points go to 15th place, (1st=30, 2nd=25, 3rd=21)
Road race, female= minimum distance 80km, same points as men
Crit, female= minimum duration 45 min, same points as men
Regional A Male + Female: Open to 2/3/4 riders
Road race, Male= minimum distance 80km, points down to 15th, (1st=30)
Crit, Male= minimum duration 50 min, points down to 10th, (1st=15)
Road race, Female= minimum distance 70km, same points as men
Crit, Female=minimum duration 40 min, same points as men
Regional B Male + Female: open to 3rd + 4th cats
Road race, Male= minimum distance 90km (not sure why?), points down to 10th, (1st=15)
Crit, Male= minimum duration 40 min, points down to 10th, (1st=10)
Road race, Female= minimum distance 60km, same points
Crit, Female= minimum duration 40 min, same points
Regional C Male + Female: Open to all categories, minimum time 30 mins, max time 90 mins.
Very confusing, I know. I got confused writing this can’t lie. Most of you will probably be in regional races only. I wouldn’t bother memorising this, just use it to refer back to if you need it :).
3. Licence requirements
Also confusing. For British Cycling races, you need a licence to compete.
At some events you can purchase something called a day licence (regional races only). These tend to cost £10 and allow you to do that race on that day only. If you have a provisional race licence (see below), then a day licence costs £5.
If you intend to race a lot then you are better off purchasing a British Cycling Membership and a race licence.
There are 3 different types of race membership.
Race bronze is £27 a year and gets you a provisional race licence which is not sufficient for road and crit races.
Race silver is £46 a year and gets you 3rd party liability insurance and legal support as well as a provisional race licence. You also have the option to purchase a full race licence on top of that (full race licence costs £40).
Race gold is £78 a year and gets you personal accident insurance, 3rd party liability insurance, legal support, and a provisional race licence; also with the option to upgrade to the full race licence for £40.
4. What you need
Alright the confusing stuff is pretty much over now. So now the question is: what do you need on race day?
A bike for a start.
Clip in shoes
Your race licence (see above)
Water
Energy products (I like a cheeky gel on the start line, think about how long your race is i.e. do you need to have anything during the race?)
Recovery drink
Chamois cream
Helmet
Glasses (optional but you wanna look cool so highly recommend)
Track mitts/gloves (we don’t want torn up hands now do we?)
Your basic cycling kit (shorts + jersey, skinsuit, etc etc)
A jacket to remove on the start line
Longs to warm up in (if you’re racing in shorts)
Clothes to get changed into (DON’T FORGET NON CLIP IN SHOES)
Deodorant (pls)
Garmin/Wahoo/Whatever
Your best legs
5. CTT
If you’re reading all this and thinking oh shit I don’t want to be surrounded by people/near anyone!!! Maybe time trialling?
CTT stands for Cycling Time Trials and is the national governing body for them. (If you don’t know what a time trial is, go away + google it then come back).
You don’t need a BC membership to do any CTT events as they are run separately to BC. However, your club needs to be registered with CTT for you to enter any events
RRC are a CTT affiliated club.