Odin,

Racing is fun & crits especially can give you a good adrenalin hit. Don't think anyone has grading races. Just start out at the bottom & learn the ropes, or ask at the club & see what they recommend.
You could race veterans if you want too. I think 531 is racing vets in Melbourne now.

What club Odin? Some of the guys here might be members. Carnegie Caulfield generally have ex-Olympian Mick Hollingsworth ride with the D graders to give them a live 'clinic' through the race, which is a great idea. I reckon having raced the moto would give you a bit of an advantage over most new riders.

They will normally chuck you in the lowest grade first up. You have to have a licence to race, for insurance etc. They used to have day licences, which I think they would let you get three times before you had to get a full licence. I've been out of it for a few years so I'm not up with current arrangements. Check with Cyclesort Victoria

https://www.vic.cycling.org.au/Racing/racinghome.htm

It might even be easier to ring them as their website sucks. Good luck.

no advice, just go and have a go, you'll probably love it being an adrenalin junkie. Most clubs have several grades, you'll start out at the bottom level, see how it goes and you'll be moved up when you start to do consistently well. Tell us how it goes when you commit to the first one.

whats a crit? Is that those messenger style races?

Crit = Criterium. Generally a race held on a circuit measuring less than 2km, like the recent 'Bay Series' races.

thanks guys... forgot to mention that it's a veterans club (Eastern Veterans) Is there much difference in the way vet clubs are run to regular clubs?
I've been trying to get in touch with the club president for a few days and gettin' a bit toey so I think I'll drop in and watch the Saturday crits and see if I can make any sense of it all.

Yeah, I downloaded the forms etc... I'll ask if they do any day licences. Thanks for that.
Is a Veterans licence just like a club licence or does it restrict you to vet races only?
My bike's an '04 OCR1. That'll be good enough for a while won't it?


pretty good advice


Thanks for all the replies, I'll definitely let you know how the first one goes... if they don't kill me

Dunno. If it's an ACF licence I think it allows you to ride in any race, except Junior or women! .

An OCR1 will be fine. Good bike, good value, good components. That bike won't hold you back at all.

Like climbo said, get in and mix it!

Nah. It just means you haven't learnt to fall for their old tricks. You're a fresh face adding chaos to the field. You'll blow em apart with your dumb moves. And if that don't work, just put some of that 88km/h hurt of yours on em! Don't beat yourself before you even start!

[btw] Who can tell just about the closest I've been to a race is watching on TV?

Theres major crosswinds that blow the peloton to pieces in Qatar. Last year, CSC if i remember put their whole team at the front and forced a split of the whole field with pretty much only them in contention for the win. Wouldnt be too hard on Brown for this 1st stage then.

With a little help positioning wise he could get really get some good results this seasno, or he could at the very least give Freire some decent leadouts. I hope they show a little faith. I also hope he's got his head in screwed on straight. If things arent going well for the Rabo's, and the media gets on their back, they are likely to crap themselves and just start ordering riders to attack like mad to show themselves off the front. With a rider like Brown left to fend for themselves or ride in races hes not suited. They are totally whipped by the Dutch media and past riders.

there's also Southern Vets (https://www.southernvets.com.au/),
Hawthorn (https://www.hawthorncycling.org/home/default.asp),
Blackburn (https://www.blackburncycling.org.au/index.html),
and Carnegie out this side of town (https://www.carnegiecycling.com.au/).

The Southern Vets don't have a day license, and their license can't be used at most other club races, but I'm still not sure about other vet associations.

when you rock up to your first race they'll ask you what training you've been doing, have you raced before, etc, etc, so you won't necessarily be put in the lowest grade.

AUSTRALIAN Baden Cooke, riding for the Unibet.com team, has won the Grand Prix La Marseillaise cycling race in France.

The race covered over 140km between Saint-Cannat and Le Tholonet.


Advertisement:
Results
1. Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 3hr 17min 55sec, 2. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) same time, 3. Anthony Geslin (Fra) s.t., 4. Arnaud Coyot (Fra) s.t., 5. Bjorn Leukemans (Bel) s.t., 6. Antonio D'Aniello (Ita) s.t., 7. Steven Caethoven (Bel) s.t., 8. Ytting Bak Lars (Den) s.t., 9. Rene Mandri (Est) s.t., 10. Igor Abakoumov (Rus) s.t.

no way !!!

Stage 2 - January 31: Camel Race Track - Al Khor Corniche, 138 km
Results
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step Innergetic 3.31.06 (39.223 km/h)
2 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria
3 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
4 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Team CSC
5 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Wiesenhof-Akud
6 Rene Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner
7 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
8 Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Ned) Skil-Shimano
9 Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Ceramiche Panaria
10 Robert Hunter (RSA) Phonak Hearing Systems

As far as I know most vets clubs are affiliated with Cycling Australia via their state assn. Looking at their website, Southern Vets appears to be a normal club setup in this regard and they race performance based graded crits except for club championships which are age graded.

Just front up, you'll love it.

The vets are a different association to Cycling Aust & it's various state bodies and not UCI affiliated. There are Masters categories in CA racing but this is not related to the vets clubs. Vets are part of the Vets Cycling Council which runs thier own show - and quite well from what i hear.

So, basically there are two bodies, the CA affliliated clubs, and Veterans clubs, and a licence from one does not allow you to race with the other. Vets licences are cheaper than CA licences in Victoria.

The president of Eastern Vets walked up to a mate & I last year while we had a coffee stop (he wasn't on his bike) and asked if we raced, and had we thought about vets....must have been my mate's greying hair coz I'm sure I look younger than my age (35)!

From cyclingnews.com

"Gerrans and Deignan injured
AG2R riders Simon Gerrans and Philip Deignan were in hospital in Aix-en-Provence last night after crashing in yesterday's GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise.

Gerrans, the recent overall winner of the Tour Down Under, fell in the final sprint, fracturing his left collarbone, rupturing his acromioclavicular ligaments and sustaining head injuries that required several stitches. He will be transferred to today to a hospital in Nice.

Deignan fell on the final descent, some 5km from the finish and broke his right collarbone. He will undergo an operation today in Aix-en-Provence."

sounds very painful !!

Not a peep about UCI's awarding of Masters Track Champs to Sydney anywhere. Not at CA, not at CNSW. What gives?

uuummmmmmm, nobody cares ?

True.

But still, it would be nice to know whether it'll be held at DGV or Terrigal BMX Track. And roughly when (normally Aug-Sep, which is a bit bloody early for us: thank god for FNWTR). And who's responsible. One always needs someone to blame when things take on the shape of a crash at a T-intersection.

well true, you'll have a good head start on your training

That maybe true in Vic. but not in Australia . The Vets here in NSW, Waratahs and the Newey mob are definitely affifliated.

Australian cycling is a secret society which is currently being opened up to the normal folk, even if ever so slowly. Kerry Ruffles is on the job but old habits die hard.
Jock if you knew the secret handshake you'd be kept informed. I could show you but then I'd have to kill you.

What is all this Vets stuff anyway? This this turning into the 'old farts re-living their youth' thread.

Mate, we gotta have some worthwhile debate occasionally here. You can talk about which jersey to wear only so many times....

Fairy nuff. From what I heard or read somewhere a while ago the origins of split/difference in Vic was due to internal politics many moons ago, and my quick check of facts earlier didn't wise me up that Vics were different to the rest of Oz. Learn somethig everyday