Buxton CC members take part in a variety of cycle racing disciplines including road racing, time trials, cyclo-cross, MTB and sportives etc.

A time trial is a form of competition in which individual riders are sent out at intervals to cover a specified distance on a road course. The contestant with the fastest time for the distance wins. The time trial is also known as the Race of Truth as it is all about riding the course unaided in the shortest time possible. The beauty of Time Trials is that you can race against yourself aiming to beat your best time for the course. Time trials can be of any distance but the standard one’s are 10, 25, 30, 50 and 100 miles. There are also 12 and 24 hour events, in which you ride the furthest you can in that time.

Club Events

Buxton CC organises a number of ‘club’ events including the Len Eyre series on Tuesday evenings and these are an ideal introduction to competitive cycling. Other club events include the Monyash time trial and The Three Hills Challenge – three hill climbs on consecutive Tuesday evenings in August. Our club events are open to members and non-members. See the Club Events page for details.

Open Events

Open Events are time trials which attract riders from many clubs. Buxton CC organises an open 10 mile time trial, an open hill climb and the Mountain Time Trial.

Hill Climbs

A hill climb is an individual time trial where competitors ride up a hill in the shortest time possible. The courses vary from short and steep lasting perhaps less than 2 minutes to longer grinding hills, but the aim is the same; to get from start to finish in the shortest possible time. Hill climb specialists will often have a special lightweight bike just for the occasion, but there is no need to go to extremes to take part.

Bicycle road racing is mass start bunched racing on public roads or closed circuits such as motor racing circuits. This often takes place on open roads with lead car and motorcycle escorts with marshalls on junctions to warn drivers and pedestrians. Significant energy can be saved riding sheltered in the bunch and so riders wheels are often inches apart and so experience of fast group riding and a good level of fitness is essential before entering your first road race, joining fast group training rides known as “Chain Gangs” are a good way to gain this experience. The winner is the first rider across the line.

Cyclocross is winter cycle sport where races are typically held in parks, country estates, sports grounds etc. There are obstacles that riders must carry their bikes over and being winter it is often very muddy.
Riders often use cyclocross specific bikes or Mountain bikes and tyres designed to cope with the conditions and often have a backup bike.
The great thing about cyclocross is it has a very friendly community and are generally organised into leagues where each event has races for all ages and abilities and is often a day out for the whole family. Three such leagues are the Forme Notts & Derby Cyclocross League , the Northwest Cyclocross Association and the Yorkshire Cyclocross Association .

Race categories are organised into U8, U10, U12, Youth (U14 and U16), junior (U18), U23, senior (23-40) and veterans (40-49 and 50+). Juniors race from 15 to 30 minutes, and seniors and veterans for 40 to 60.