Author Topic: First race, and finding a club  (Read 5672 times)

First race, and finding a club
« on: 07 October, 2018, 09:09:26 pm »
Rachel did her first race today. U10 cyclocross - she finished 9th and loved it.  :thumbsup: She wants to do it again, but she'll have to wait a couple of weeks before there's another one in a sensible travelling range. We might even get to ride together in the park a bit first!
She was on her Islabike Beinn 20 - most of the tiny kids were on Cnocs, but the older ones were on Luaths and assorted other drop bar bikes. The ones at the front were super fast and super competitive. She'll need to grow a bit before she can fit on any of the 24" bikes, and I can't see her getting that competitive, so we'll see how much she loves it before she gets a chance to upgrade! ;)
One thing that is going to prove tricky is that there don't seem to be any clubs around Oxford that do club riding for U16s. Most of the Oxford clubs are road-centric, and so understandably they shy away from having youngsters on their rides. There are clubs with active kids groups in Reading, Swindon, MK, and Hillingdon, and all are about 1 hours drive from where we live. I think that's quite a lot when she is exploring what she likes doing - is that unreasonable? Clearly I can ride with her, but she doesn't really like taking "instruction" from me (DAHIKT), and the social aspect is something that she would be missing...

Re: First race, and finding a club
« Reply #1 on: 07 October, 2018, 10:03:05 pm »
Look for a Go-Ride club via British Cycling.  We are one, down in Devon, and run an academy for youngsters.

Re: First race, and finding a club
« Reply #2 on: 08 October, 2018, 09:44:36 am »
Yeah, the British Cycling website is how I know about the ones an hour away. The only "Go Ride" clubs locally are Witney MTB club, who do a Saturday ride once a month, and Oxonion, who put on events but don't seem to have any regular stuff going on (I'll contact them an see if their website is out-of-date).

Re: First race, and finding a club
« Reply #3 on: 06 January, 2019, 03:06:37 pm »
I finally got accepted to the Banbury Star facebook group - they have stuff on on Saturdays too, but that clashes with swimming.  ::-) Hopefully Rachel can graduate from her current swimming group soon and do it some other time!
She did her second race before Christmas, and was very disappointed to come last. Today she did her 3rd one and came 11th out of 16, so that's fine, and she's pleased with herself for that.  She seems to be having fun and growing - she tried a Luath 24 for size today and she just fits, so I can see a new (to her) bike in the near future!