Club runs

The Sunday morning club run is the staple of most traditional cycling clubs. This is mainly a social ride on a Sunday morning stopping at different cafes each week and then cycling back to Yeovil. Yeovil Cycle Club offers a club run on most Sunday’s throughout the year. The short run is a very good place to start for the younger rider or beginner. This will see you riding 30 or 40 miles at a relatively steady pace. We find that the youngsters soon move up to the medium ride, leaving the older riders struggling to keep up, and often on to the longer faster ride.

You’ll need to carry a pump, a set of tyre levers, a spare inner tube and/or puncture repair kit and preferably a handy cyclist’s multi tool. A spare inner tube, or two, is recommended as it cuts down the time to mend a flat and the punctured tube can be repaired later in the comfort of your own home. To ensure that you don’t dehydrate you’ll need a drinking bottle (known as a ‘bidon’ in cycling circles) filled with water or a sports drink. A banana (the traditional food of cyclists) or energy gel will help to stave off the ‘knock’, a cycling term, for ‘hitting the wall’ when the body runs out of energy reserves.

See the Club Runs page for more details.

Road racing

For those riders wishing to emulate their Tour du France heroes then you’ll probably be interested in road racing. However, before you can race on the open road you must be aged 16 and over. But don’t worry, racing on a traffic free circuit is the ideal place to start for under 16’s and anyone new to the sport.

Membership of British Cycling and a racing license is required before a rider is allowed to race. For under 18’s free or discounted membership of British Cycling, with a free racing license, is available. Riders must also be members of a cycling club that is affiliated to British Cycling, such as Yeovil Cycling Club. Talented riders aged under 16 can also be nominated by the club to attend the Regional School of Racing, organised and run by British Cycling qualified coaches.

See the Road racing page, the British Cycling website, or contact our Road Racing secretary for more information.

Time trials

Between Spring and Autumn Yeovil Cycling Club runs a weekly evening time trial. This year (2013) these were held on a Tuesday night with the length of course varying between 5, 9 and 10 miles. The 5 mile Time Trial, held along the B3151 which runs through Yeovilton Air Station, is an ideal event for first timers, especially younger riders.

You don’t have to be a member of the club to try one of the evening time trials, as the club operates a come and try it policy. All riders aged 12 and above are welcome and we’d be happy for you to come along and give it a go. Under 18 riders will require a Parental Consent form to be completed before they can ride, these are available on the day.

Yeovil Cycling club also run a number of ‘open’ events during the season. These events are either a 10 or 25 mile course run along the A303. These are suited to the more experienced under 18 riders and aren’t recommended for inexperienced or first time riders. Yeovil Cycling club is also affiliated to the Cycling Time Trials, the national body for time trialling, and this allows our members to enter other open time trials organised by other clubs. The CTT website has a section that provides excellent advice for beginners to time trialling.

See the Time Trials page for more details, or contact David Notley.

Track racing

Why not follow in the wheels of our Olympic multiple gold medal winning GB team and give riding on the track a go. Yeovil Cycling Club has a number of riders that ride and compete on the track. The two nearest tracks to Yeovil are the Newport Velodrome and the outdoor track at Bournemouth. Newport Velodrome is a purpose built covered track open all year round and is about a one and a half hours drive from Yeovil. They run beginners courses throughout the year and you can ride on the track from the age of 10. Please see their website for more information.

The Bournemouth open air track, just over an hour’s drive from Yeovil, is mainly used between spring and autumn. This year (2013) specific coaching sessions were held on a Saturday morning for under 16’s. See the Bournemouth Cycling Centre website for more details. Both tracks have bikes available for hire, so you don’t need your own track bike to start. Track bikes are different from normal road bikes. These ‘fixed wheel’ bikes don’t have any gears and you can’t freewheel (the pedals and cranks are always spinning when the bike is moving), and they don’t have any brakes (you slow yourself down and come to a stop by controlling the pressure on the pedals).

Anyone interested in riding on the track can also speak to our membership secretary, Stuart Wroot. Stuart has ridden at both Newport and Bournemouth and can offer help and guidance.