Cycling Development West Midlands

Cycling Development West Midlands is a group, formed by BC Go-Ride Clubs in the British Cycling West Midlands Region, which aims to develop Youth riders and encourage them to take part in all aspects of the varied cycle sports competition. We also aim to support clubs and club officials in setting up races, coaches in developing their coaching practice with Youth riders and Go-Ride Schools in making wider contacts within cycle sport.

As CDWM is in its first year of operation, we have decided to focus on Youth Circuit racing in order to keep the initial set-up relatively simple and manageable. There is a Youth Development Series based on regional circuits during 2010. There is also an XC MTB event in August and we are open to suggestions for other events throughout the year and beyond. We want to develop CDWM to encompass other forms of cycle sport, particularly currently less represented disciplines in the region. Cross discipline coaching activities can be very beneficial for young riders and we aim to provide opportunities for this.

The CDWM Series of circuit development events launched in March 2010 with 6 circuit events around the West Midlands open to all Youth riders & Junior Women. The first event included a Time Trial for all which allowed riders to be grouped according to ability, rather than age. Each group has a CDWM club-based coaches/mentors who themselves will receive support from Tim Buckle and other BC Talent Development Coaches. Each event is Entry on the Line to keep things nice and simple and entry fees have been kept to a minimum to encourage participation. The first event was just £2 per rider, subsequent events are £4. If you are not a racing licence holder you may need to pay a small additional fee for a day licence to get British Cycling insurance cover, see our Beginners Guide to Circuit Racing for info on this and other aspects of getting started in Circuit Racing, such as gear restrictions and how a race day is structured.

Each event has a different set of races and the coaches assess the riders progression through the series, moving riders up or down the ability groups in order to develop their skills further.

Riders are encouraged to move on to compete in local, regional and eventually national youth events and CDWM aims to ease their entry into competition.