PG - Central Coast Tour

[Matt]

I guess so Dan - as bloke who bought his first bike on the Saturday and raced on Sunday I guess I was a benficiary of not having to jump those hoops!

[Matt]

Having said that Dan I still think the laissez-faire, she'll be right, you'll pick it up as you go along, we're all nice guys approach is coming to an end for cycling.  It's a pity but that's the way its going.  For the absolute beginner with time on their hands its hard to know what questions to ask in the first place when you're putting all your effort into just hanging on.

Having spent two hours unconscious after competing in a crit I was obviously not ready for I think entitles me to say this.

As I said before my summer pastime is the equally dangerous sport of surf life-saving which is absolutely manic about beginners and on-going training and I simply point out that they don't have the same image problems eg 60 minutes that we have.  Quite the opposite.

I still think that at a bare minimum absolute beginners should be required to go through something like a 40 minute induction session on hand-signals etc before they have their first race.

Thanks for reminding me about Finesse - I'll definitley be taking it up.

[SpacelySprocket]

Matt
Racing is racing - think you'll find there's no more room or time at Calga than at Crits.
I think what you really want is to put yourself out there & ask some questions / get some experienced riders to show you the ropes.
You'd be surprised how helpful/friendly fellow cyclists can be - maybe you could move yourself in the bunch rides and talk to a few different people until you find what you're after.
This is certainly how we used to do things anyway - like most things in life "you don't ask, you don't get".
The one thing I would advise is to get some pointers from more than a single source (so you don't end up being blindly led by the blind).

If you really want/need some "official" courses then they're out there already - it's up to you.  eg. http://www.impactcycling.com.au/index.php/topic,1772.0.html  or  http://www.impactcycling.com.au/index.php/topic,1779.0.html
What we don't want is to make these things compulsory - isn't it great that you can actually start racing without going through too many hoops?

This is the best advice for anyone new to racing.
Start in a grade that matches your skills and follow Grant's advice before moving up to the faster categories. This has worked for years as a safe tried and true method, as what advice works for 1 may not work for you.

RE: the event timing, Dan has kindly offered to sponsor, it's his toy, race his dates.

[Matt]

Yesterday I had a bee in my bonnet and should not have used this thread to vent it.  I apologise to Dan - hope the event goes well and his generosity is rewarded.

Matt