Beginning Racing - Calendar

ROK ON

I am planning to begin racing at the lowest level possible next year.
I am at present mapping out a training calendar, but would like to be able to aim to compete in a few races (by compete I mean turn up and hang in there, not compete for placing :-)). Looking at the CI Calendar leaves me perplexed. Most of the races that I would aim to do would be in the region of Kerry, Cork and Limerick. However it seems as if the calendar is full of races that I could do in March, but then effectively dies down for the rest of the year.

Now as a noob, I have no intention of doing a race every weeken, thinking more of one or two a month initially.

A lot of the races mentioned on the 2010 calendar for example give no indication as to where they were on, jus a race name and contact number. Whereas sportifs on the calendar seem to contain a lot more information.

Is cycling in Ireland really this disorganised?
Is it too much to ask that someone coming to the sport could look at a calenadar and be able to pick a few races to base training and fitness around in order to get to?

So what I am asking, is there somewhere I can go to get a comprehensive idea as to what A4 races are on each month in each province?

Thanks folks.

Keep_Her_Lit

A good idea would be to get in touch with your local/nearest road racing club. If you're lucky, there might be a local league that would give you an ideal introduction to racing and save on lots of travel. In any event, a quick chat with someone who knows the local racing scene will soon clarify things for you. Where are you based?

Lumen

I wouldn't expect too much information this far out.

nomadic

Lumen wrote: »

I wouldn't expect too much information this far out.

Or at any stage. I was looking at doing a few races this year and the name and phone number was all the info that was available for a lot of races.

Planet X

Try club racing first. You'll get suitable handicaps.
If you jump in for an Open race, A4 or equivalent, you MIGHT be blown out the back after a mile or two.
It will put you off.

Lumen

nomadic wrote: »

Or at any stage. I was looking at doing a few races this year and the name and phone number was all the info that was available for a lot of races.

The information is available, you just have to dig a bit.

For many of the races this year (at least the ones near Dublin) we've had threads starting up on boards during the run up with maps and discussion of terrain etc.

Also, this:

http://racestarts.at/

ROK ON

Thanks for replies.
I will be joining a club, once I get a Sunday morning that I can get out on a spin. Also I plan on doing a few of the Swords club races every month if possible.

Where I was coming from on the race calendar is that some organisers don't make it easy to find out much about the race unless you phone the number. Others however provide lots of detail. In other sports (athletics, triathalon, ball sports) a person can sit down in the off season look at a calendar and say I wil aim to compete in this, this this and this etc.
As a person who enjoys organising and planning, this is not entirely possible with the CI calendar as I am reading the calendar for the year just gone.

Finally I wouldn't be in the slightest bit worried about going out the back. That's akin to going to a boxing match and worried about getting hit.

Lumen

The point being - you can't just use the CI calendar in isolation. There is often information on the website of the organising club. It would be nice if C.I. could work with the clubs to provide more comprehensive information, but as I understand the structure of cycling in Ireland just doesn't work like that.

IMO it's amazing that clubs put on such consistently safe, well-marshalled races, with efforts made for even the lowliest competitors. When you see the amount of logistical effort that has to go into running these races in the real world, event information in the virtual world is really window dressing.

shaungil

I think there is a huge disparity in the organisation between clubs. I naively presumed that there was a certain standard the races needed to reach before they could be included in the CI claendar but that process is still being implemented from what I can see. Even the same club can have a huge difference between races depending on the main organiser.

Often the newer races seem to make more of an effort (maps onlien better prizes) so they can establish themselves and the established ones do not seem to try as hard or maybe say we've always done it this way why change. Ie no high vis late start time changes, advertising one grade but then not running it cos too much hassle.

CI do their best I know but sometimes you think they can't see the big picture on the calendar and spreading events out (same grade races on at the same time and none the following week).

However re planning get in a club and the info exists between members or on here. Also with cycling most races you can rock up and don't need to pre-enter whereas that flexibility doesn't always exist in tri's for example.