My first race was at hogg hill cycle centre which was built to replace the east way circuit which is now the Olympic park. i was only 7 and my dad had to hire me a road bike. I remember finishing quite hard against Matthew Farrow who showed me the ropes around the track.
I found that riding the British cycling go ride events for kids helped me and my advice is to find a local cycle club which host them for your age group. You get to learn skills on your bike before you race for real. If you don’t know what your doing in a race it can be quite scary and you might get put off by the speed of the riders. Let alone getting caught up in a crash. We done a time trial, road race and got to learn bunch skills at the Essex Roads go ride events.
Since those early days i have raced quite a bit and have grown to love the sport. Sometimes it can be quite hard when the weather is cold and wet and your racing with spray in your face and you can’t feel your hands. But that feeling soon goes away when the business end of the race starts.
Once you get into the racing you will need a BC licence you will need to know what age group you fall into BC site there are some important rules that protect us all, which should be strictly observed. You will need to make sure your gears are correctly set. My advice is to get these sorted well in advance of the race day. The BC guide
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