I'm obviously new at this, so I know I'll be entering in the cat 4/5 groups, but I'm unsure if there is some sort of association that organizes the races, or if there is a series of races throughout the season, etc. If someone could give me a rundown on how it works, or even a site that explains it I would appreciate it. How do the races normally work? Do you need to bring a trainer or can you warmup around the area before hand?
(I've found socalcycling.com , but it only shows the race dates) Also, I see on a few sites of individual races they have a collegiate group. I'm in school but my school doesn't have a team, so would I enter in the college group or the cat 4/5?

I'm obviously new at this, so I know I'll be entering in the cat 4/5 groups, but I'm unsure if there is some sort of association that organizes the races, or if there is a series of races throughout the season, etc. If someone could give me a rundown on how it works, or even a site that explains it I would appreciate it. How do the races normally work? Do you need to bring a trainer or can you warmup around the area before hand?
(I've found socalcycling.com , but it only shows the race dates) Also, I see on a few sites of individual races they have a collegiate group. I'm in school but my school doesn't have a team, so would I enter in the college group or the cat 4/5?
Every race is different. There are individual races and those that are part of a series. There are those sanctioned by USCF (the ?official? US sanctioning body, those that are sanctioned by other organizations and those that are not sanctioned at all. There are time trials, criteriums and road races that are each handled a little different. I?ll leave it to those in your area (I assume CA since you looked at that site) to give you advise on the races that are available.

A race has an organizer who puts on the race. This may be anyone from a local club to a for-profit company.

Then there is (usually) the sanctioning body that provides the insurance, provides the officials, standardizes the rules, determines the Categories, etc. Assuming USCF, there is Cat 1-5 (5 is the easiest) and Pro 1-2. You start at Cat 5. You will need a license ? either an annual ($65?) or a 1-day ($8 this year?). If you are under 18, Junior rules apply. If you are female, you have you?re own categories starting at 4. If you are over 30 you have Masters categories. Women, Juniors and Masters can also race in other categories so if this applies just reply and someone will go into that.

Pre-registration can be anything for on-line to nonexistent. Regardless, you will have to check in at the race. Get there with plenty of time because sometimes the lines get long.

There is usually a local road that serves as a warm up area, but many prefer to do some or all of their warm up on a trainer.

I believe that collegiate racing is for college teams. You would race Cat 5 (or Cat 4/5 combined if that is all they have). There are also Citizen only races (at least in the Chicago area) that are for beginners who do not have a license. Each organizer decides what races they will have.

Don’t be surprised when you get there to learn that there are no beginners in the beginner races. Road racing culture expects that you already know how to race (and all of the secret handshakes) when you arrive. Especially in southern California, finding a club/team first to learn group riding, bike handling and passwords may be a good idea.

Hope this helps. Any more questions, just ask.

TF

Another Site is www.californiabicycleracing.org They are independent of USCF and do pretty good job of introducing beginners to the sport. If you can make them I recommend their Tues. night races in Long Beach that start in March. There are no prizes but entry is cheap ($9 for nonmembers and $6 for memebers) and the racing is fun. It is generally the same people every week so you learn your competition pretty well and get to try different strategies.

On socalcycling.com you can click on the race names and they usually link you to a flyer, If there is no link then the new flyer is probably not yet posted anywhere on the internet.

It seems that alot of races are using active.com for preregistration this year. By using the pre-reg you save $5 on race fee, but active charges a $2.50 transaction fee. Sometimes you can pre-reg by mail. I did this 4 times last year and they lost my Registration twice. It was all sorted out, but still a bit of a pain.

You could look into starting a team for your college, there might even be some funding available. But if you don't feel like doing that go to socalcycling.com and under RESOURCES click clubs and teams. Find some teams in your area and check out their websites or give them a call. Do a ride with some of them and join one if you find one you like.

Good luck, have fun racing

Thanks for the good info.

I think Long Beach is a bit out of reach with school and work, but maybe.

I am trying to get a club started, only my 1st week at school so hopefully in a month or so I'll have the neccesary stuff done to get things going.