2019 Season:
ARCC Youth Win Counter #69
Podium Counter #135 Most Races: Sam! Most Wins: Sofia! Most Podiums: Sofia!
Palmares: Champion: U13 Tour de Junior: Isaac Champion: U14 –Yorkshire Fixed Wheel Grass Track: Sam Champion: U10 White Rose league: Sofia Champion: U12 White Rose League: Isaac x 2 Champion: U14 White Rose League: Sam Champion Yorkshire u9 Time Trial Champion: Sofia Champion: U14 ACT Track League (National Cycle Centre): Isaac Silver: U16 White Rose League: Max Silver: U10 North East Youth League: Sofia Silver: U12 Barnsley Town centre: Isaac Silver: U15 British Schools circuit: Max Silver: U10 White Rose league: Sophia Bronze: U14 Skipton Town Centre: Sam Bronze: U14 Yorkshire Fixed Wheel Grass Track: Max Bronze: U12 ACT Track League (National Cycle Centre): Isaac
2017 Season:
239 races
ARCC Youth Win Counter #67
Podium Counter #126
Palmares: West Riding Track League Champion, 2nd and 3rd places British Schools National and Yorks9hire Grass Track u15 Champion Barnsley town centre 3rd White Rose League Thursday 3rd
2016 Season:
ARCC Youth Win Counter #23
Podium Counter #52
2015 Season:
ARCC Youth win counter #82
ARCC Youth podium counter #130
Racing is a great way to practice the bike skills you will learn at the albaRosa training sessions, and throughout the spring/summer months there are a lot of different youth races from beginners to the more experienced racers.
Licence
To race you will need a British Cycling race licence.
This comes with your British Cycling membership depending on which type of membership you choose. We recommend the SILVER membership. The race licence is a FREE add on for all riders under the age of 16. The membership is also FREE or discounted if you it is your first one and you a member of albaRosa.
If you want to try it first or if you forget your licence you can pay for a day one at events.
Checklist
A safe bike. For most kids races any safe bike will do but obviously a road bike for a tarmac race and and an MTB for a mountain bike race would be preferable (you wouldn’t be able to use a road bike). Check race regulations.
A helmet.
Motivation. Important one this and often overlooked. Your kids need to want to race. They may be very good at it, they may get lapped and they should find enjoyment and/ or a determination to improve whichever happens. Pressure to succeed is not motivating and can remove enjoyment.
Train! (see bottom of the page) Race winners and top ten finishers don’t win by accident. They are motivated to go faster and train their bodies to cope with the demands of racing.
Check your bike & kit the night before. Pump your tyres up.
Eat plenty of carbohydrates and drink water the night before. Pasta is a cyclist staple energy food. Eat a carb rich breakfast and drink plenty of water.
Arrive in plenty of time and warm up.
Some sugary food such as sweets/ banana/ gel 15 mins before the race will give an energy boost.
Don’t be put off by everyone else looking like they know what they’re doing. Be there for you and have a good time.Cheering! They probably won’t hear or care for your advice on the way round but will get a boost from hearing their name and a cheer. And a big well done if they finish, win or walk back with a puncture throwing their bike on the ground……
Supportive expectations. You shouldn’t expect your child to go and win nor talk them down to feeling like they’ve got no chance. A realistic, positive discussion on what to expect (Have they been training? Is this their first time? What do they want out of it? How do they feel? Give it your best shot!) can be helpful, based around enjoyment and taking something good from the experience. Team Sky and GB don’t try and win but rather they do what is needed to go as fast as possible and winning is merely a rewarding product of that if it all falls into place.
If you want to adapt your bike read our article on equipment.