Racing in/around Bath

[53 x 11]

I've secured a new job near Bath/Bristol. I'll be moving from Australia shortly but wanted to know what the racing scene is like over there.

Is it just TT's? That's all I can really see on the club sites, or are there more road races? I really don't enjoy TT and only do them if I absolutely have to in a Tour.

In Australia I race at A grade level, which I think is sort of cat 1-2, mostly in my home state. Are there many competitions at this level?

Thanks for any help.

 

[uphillstruggle]

There are plenty of races in the UK but a lot more people do TT's. Not sure how the racing scene compares to Oz but you should find some thing to compete in.

Go to the BC website and look up results in the South West to get an idea of the amount of races in your area (it's coming to the end of the season so there won't be many races left in upcoming events.). The UK is small too so races in other areas aren't too far away if you want to travel for them.



http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road

 

[dsut4392]

I've secured a new job near Bath/Bristol. I'll be moving from Australia shortly but wanted to know what the racing scene is like over there.

Is it just TT's? That's all I can really see on the club sites, or are there more road races? I really don't enjoy TT and only do them if I absolutely have to in a Tour.

In Australia I race at A grade level, which I think is sort of cat 1-2, mostly in my home state. Are there many competitions at this level?

Thanks for any help.

Lovely part of England for riding - I (another Aussie) lived in nearby Exeter for 2008 (never ran into Dimspace AFAIK). No 'big' climbs but lots of short incredibly steep (20%+) hills on quiet back roads.

I'm not a racer so I can't comment on the UK scene, but I can say that living in Bath you're only a couple of hours away from Milan, Bordeaux, Madrid and tens of other places on an easyJet flight out of Bristol, or FlyBe out of Exeter. Even if your local scene isn't great, doing a weekend of racing in Italy is totally achievable if you can sort out the racing licence. I used to drive for longer for day trips when I lived in Sydney.

One thing to watch out for: don't be the guy who turns up for a bunch ride to be told "oh, you didn't bring your winter bike? Didn't Mike tell you we were going down cow-pi55-lane?". Said lane turned out to be not only ankle deep in cow pi55 and dung, but also had plenty of hedge trimmings overlying the base of broken cobbles!
It's worth getting a cheap winter bike to spare your racing machine, or you could put CF+Titanium mudguards on your system-six (as one guy in the group I rode with did) so at least you don't stink so bad when you get home!