Home | About | Rides | Events | News | Photos | Training | Sitemap

Open TTs | Club TTs | Road races | Audax | Marshalling | Upcoming

The club organise a wide variety of events through the year, please click on a link above for more information.

Time trials: Races against the clock, riders are sent off typically at 1 minute intervals and whoever completes the distance first (or rides the furthest in the case of 12 and 24 hour events) wins.  Standard distances are 10, 25 50 and 100 miles and 12 and 24 hours.  Open events are open to all members of CTT afilliated clubs and have to be entered in advance.  Club events are more informal, generally held on a weekly basis through the season and can be entered on the line.  See the CTT website for more information.

Road races: Bunched start races where the first person over the line is the winner.  They can be on short circuits usually closed to traffic, such as the new Hog Hill circuit in East London, short lap distance events are sometimes called criteriums or 'crits'. The racing is usually fast and furious, with the lead changing several times every lap. Or they can be held on an open public road and these events usually have much longer laps, typically of 5 to 25 miles and a total race distance of from 35 to 120 miles. The road is likely to be open to traffic and a convoy of cars in front and behind the riders, keep regular motorists at a safe distance.

To compete you will need to be fairly fit and an experienced competitive cyclist. You must be able to ride in a group and not panic if you have other riders elbows overlapping you as the bunch goes into a narrow corner.  You can practise group riding by going on the Chelmer's training rides. Here you can learn to 'follow a wheel', which means riding within less than the diameter of a bike wheel of the rider in front, but just a couple of inches to one side. This ensures that if he kicks back, or brakes unexpectedly you do not run into him. This technique requires practise before you can do it automatically, but is an essential part of road racing as the average speed will be too high for you to maintain riding by yourself, without the benefit of drafting other riders.  But, you still need to be fit enough to stay with the bunch! If you 'get dropped' (fall behind) you will be unlikely to catch up again (as you will lose the benefit of the other riders shelter from the wind) and are effectively out of the race. If you are planning you're first race, I suggest entering a criterium and then if you are dropped, you can wait for the bunch to lap you and have another go at staying on.  You will need the type of bike that's commonly called a racer (the correct term is a lightweight). It will have 14 - 20 gears and high pressure tyres. It does not need to be super expensive. Any reasonably light steel framed bike will do. It's the person riding that makes the difference.

British Cycling is the nationally recognised governing body of cycle sport in the UK. They promote, administer and regulate the sport as well as developing the programs that have led to gold medals at the Olympics etc. So in short, you do need to join BC, as most of the best races are held under British Cycling's regulations and you have to be a member and hold a licence to take part. Being a member of British Cycling also means that you have insurance cover to take part in events and also for riding your bike on the road.  British Cycling publish lists of events throughout the year and will provide help and assistance through their network of fully trained coaches. Road racing requires more knowledge and skill than time trials, but at the Chelmer we are set up to help you. We are the only club in the country that has our own fitness suite operated by cyclists, for cyclists.  See the BC website for more information.

Audax: Audax is a style of long distance cycling event mostly popular in France, but also in Holland, Belgium and Germany. The term is now also commonly used to describe a different style of long distance cycling event found in many countries including France, Great Britain, Singapore, Australia, Canada and the USA.

The original form of the audax style involves riding in strict group formation at a steady pace set by a road captain. The group attempts to maintain a pace of 22.5km/h between stops. The route is pre-planned with designated stopping points. For longer audax events the group may ride between 16 and 20 hours in a day before stopping at a designated sleeping location. The goal of the audax is to finish inside the prescribed time limit with all members of the group present. A support vehicle is allowed to follow each group of riders.
In some countries such as Australia and Great Britain, the term Audax is also used for randonnées. These are also long distance bicycle events, but riders are free to cycle at their own pace (French: allure libre), stop or sleep wherever they want and form groups randomly, provided they stay within the time limit.

The national organising bodies for allure libre riding in these counties (Audax Australia and Audax UK) both include the word 'audax' in their names. In addition, Audax Club Parisien now holds events such as the Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) for the allure libre style, not the original audax style.

This has contributed to some confusion over the use of the term 'audax'.

Audax UK website

Website maintained by Graham Brant.  All contributions to the site welcome!