Group riding skills gap in UK road racing

[oldroadman]

I have ridden with a few of them because my club mate lives local over in Romily and is a member (you probably know him, the supremely likeable Chris Wilky) and has organised a few rides out from the cafe. They were all competent at least equal to my standard of group riding (which is "reasonable", not particularly good, I wouldn't race crits or road races with my level of skill, however have ridden chaingangs etc.) and also nice guys, except one bloke who was quite frankly, a s*** tip on wheels. Kept racing off the front of the group, then waiting, rejoining the group then smashing it up the outside of the line to the front again, he was all over the place, a danger to himself and others, he obviously didn't have a clue and was an ideal example of one of the reasons why I am not keen on riding sportives. Someone had to have a word in the end as he was making everyone anxious as he was an accident waiting to happen, he calmed down a bit, but it didn't do much good, on the plus side, his lack of etiquette meant he didn't know how to signal a mechanical, so when he punctured, everyone assumed he was just being a cock again and left him to it. Turned out he has previous!

Fantastic to essentially have a club house as a cycling club though, which is essentially what the cafe is.

You get nitwits like that at all levels, sadly. They "prove" how good they are (not), and as you mentioned, when the puncture came, justice was served. The thing is whether he will learn from his experience, or just carry on being a c*ck. When I first started as a youngster, the senior club members would give you advice, then firmer advice, and then very robust advice if you didn't heed wise words. Being dropped by a small group of hard men (it was all men then, before certain people start responding, not my fault!) 30 miles from home is a lesson few forget.
This is what's missing, there is little grounding with a club for some of the new "racers" who think that a few sportives makes them proper riders fit to race. So the lack of skills shows and crashes happen. Worst of all is the sheer arrogance of some, who simply do not wish to learn from their betters (in all respects). A little humbleness and listening goes a long way. Nobody knows it all, and some know very little indeed!

 

[Canrider]

I suggest this 'new problem' has always been the reality. I just pulled out Fred Matheny's _Beginning Bicycle Racing_ (3rd printing, 1985), and the chapters on crits and road racing echo most of what's been said above: scared novices with deficient skills, lack of training in group riding, and crashes resulting from these. What he doesn't mention is 'fit novices progressing quickly without learning skills'.

When Fred wrote this book, the US system was thus:

...earning the right to upgrade to Cat III. This is by placing top 3 in 3 qualifying races, top 6 in 6, or competing in 8 or more sanctioned races. But since many promoters merge IVs and IIIs there is little difference...the real change comes when upgrading to Cat II.

Reading the BC system, I see you need 10 points as a 4 to upgrade to a 3. And 40 as a 3 to upgrade to 2--that doesn't seem like a whole lot of points to progress, compared with the system quoted above. . Maybe what's needed is to up the points needed to change classification, make it a bit slower to progress up, particularly from 3 to 2?

 

[Rob3rt]

That doesn't solve the problem, that just keeps lots of maniacs together for longer! You still have people without the rudimentary skills racing and causing carnage.

 

[Canrider]

That doesn't solve the problem, that just keeps lots of maniacs together for longer! You still have people without the rudimentary skills racing and causing carnage.

Well, no, they either quit or they learn, really. Come on, the earlier complaint was that 'fit novices' were progressing too fast--surely the answer then is to keep them from progressing 'too fast', until they learn from experience!

 

[montage]

I think the idea of an accreditation is the best way forward. Not necessarily an exam, but just x many coached lessons on which you can be failed on should you happen to be a numpty. A small bit of coaching goes a long way, both in safety and tactically. The general advice seems to be "just enter one and have a go" which is great for encouraging participation, but learning the hard way can have dire consequences, and not only for yourself. There should be specific attention paid to what happens on the last lap/ bunch sprint, as these are frankly terrifying. Though half the issue here is lack of teamwork leads to a lack of leadouts, which often causes the speed to be too low causing a bunch that fills the width of the road, meaning people go for gaps in the middle of the bunch that just are not there in order to move up.

As said about, it is the risk of prized possessions that really makes racing scary for me. If I wreck my bike anytime soon, that's it for a long time unless I find a magic lamp. With such frequent crashes, I have to questions whether it is even worth it.

 

[GrasB]

As said about, it is the risk of prized possessions that really makes racing scary for me. If I wreck my bike anytime soon, that's it for a long time unless I find a magic lamp. With such frequent crashes, I have to questions whether it is even worth it.

A lot of club racers in my club have racing insurance which basically pays for a new bike if they crash.

The club always raises concerns about inexperienced riders in cat 4/3/2 races. But things are a little different over there, the last race I entered I spend over 10 miles at over 80km/h

 

[Rob3rt]

Well, no, they either quit or they learn, really. Come on, the earlier complaint was that 'fit novices' were progressing too fast--surely the answer then is to keep them from progressing 'too fast', until they learn from experience!

The thing is, if people are expected to learn good habits through experience, but are stuck in with a load of other lunatics, who are they going to learn from? It will just end up being like a high speed sportive, absolute chaos. It needs to come from a controlled environment (club runs, or formal training etc), IMO. Whether they move up through the categories or not, is IMO, a parallel issue, the main issue is that they end up competing without the required skills in the 1st place. IMO again, it doesn't really matter if they are endangering cat 2's or cat 4's, they are endangering people.

Some people are not good at gauging their own level of skill and whilst people don't want to be discouraging, if someone is being a doofus, racers are going to have to self police it and tell them to stop riding like a cock. If they continue after a friendly word, then after a sterner word, then still after being told flat out to shape the fark up, well, report every rule infringement or incident. It will only be a matter of time before they get pulled up by the relevant "authorities" right?

Clubs could probably play a part in introducing people to racing by babysitting newbies in a few races too, get a couple of newbies and a couple of racers who will survive easy, who just nurse the newbies round and give them advice as and when things happen in the context of the race. This is less possible in a crit, but in a road race, it is possible. I am sure this goes on in my club to some degree.

Just throwing some ideas out there but maybe clubs could organise their own training runs for newby racers and stipulate 1st time racers must do them before they are allowed to race in the club colours? The quality will of course will still depend on overall club standards, but it will prevent people joining a club just so they have a banner to race under. It will also prevent clubs coming into disrepute because of a nobber in their jersey wiping people out every week in the local RR series.

 

[e-rider]

wasn't cycling better as a minority sport?

 

[Monsieur Remings]

The thing is, if people are expected to learn good habits through experience, but are stuck in with a load of other lunatics, who are they going to learn from? It will just end up being like a high speed sportive, absolute chaos. It needs to come from a controlled environment (club runs, or formal training etc), IMO. Whether they move up through the categories or not, is IMO, a parallel issue, the main issue is that they end up competing without the required skills in the 1st place. IMO again, it doesn't really matter if they are endangering cat 2's or cat 4's, they are endangering people.

Some people are not good at gauging their own level of skill and whilst people don't want to be discouraging, if someone is being a doofus, racers are going to have to self police it and tell them to stop riding like a cock. If they continue after a friendly word, then after a sterner word, then still after being told flat out to shape the f*** up, well, report every rule infringement or incident. It will only be a matter of time before they get pulled up by the relevant "authorities" right?

Clubs could probably play a part in introducing people to racing by babysitting newbies in a few races too, get a couple of newbies and a couple of racers who will survive easy, who just nurse the newbies round and give them advice as and when things happen in the context of the race. This is less possible in a crit, but in a road race, it is possible. I am sure this goes on in my club to some degree.

Just throwing some ideas out there but maybe clubs could organise their own training runs for newby racers and stipulate 1st time racers must do them before they are allowed to race in the club colours? The quality will of course will still depend on overall club standards, but it will prevent people joining a club just so they have a banner to race under. It will also prevent clubs coming into disrepute because of a nobber in their jersey wiping people out every week in the local RR series.

Great idea. There are a few old hands in my club who act as marshals for most of the local races so they know the score. Plus of course, to sign up for races, most organisers want to know which club you belong to, thereby acting as a sort of safety net for all those who may as well have been picked off the street. The impression I have had for most of my local races - both road and circuit - is, no club, no race.

Also, and as I said, where I race they have training sessions where you pay to get watched in a bunch which is also a good idea IMO, but it's not essential for taking part...perhaps it should be?