The road section of the club centres on group rides that meet on Broad Street (outside the gates to Trinity College) at 9am every Saturday during term. These are led by committee members and there are always different groups going out for rides of varying length, speed and difficulty. There should always be a ride suitable for everyone. Routes are often published in advance in the weekly email newsletters and on the club Facebook page.
During the week, people often use the facebook page to organise rides and the squad regularly rides together as part of training. If you are ever lost for inspiration on places to ride around Oxford then the club’s Strava group is worth looking at, or try this catalogue of rides starting from central Oxford.
We are keen to welcome riders of any ability (we were all new to it once) and support you with whatever it is you want to do on a bike. A significant proportion of our current riders rode their first bike races in OUCC kit, so if you want to give racing a try, we’ll get you there.
Road Squad
The OUCC Road Squad is the racing side of the club. The squad represents Oxford at the highest level of university cycling in the UK. Each year, the squad’s objectives are to win the Varsity Match against Cambridge and to win as many BUCS medals as possible (see our news page). The squad also competes in local and national British Cycling races, as well as international events in Europe and beyond.
As a club we will support any rider who is keen to develop and gain experience, whatever your goals. If you are considering getting into racing at BUCS events or elsewhere, please feel free to sign up to one of our regular weekend rides – we are a friendly bunch with a good range of racing experience between us and can let you know what to expect from BUCS races and beyond!
We are an active group who mainly enjoy getting out on our bikes around the Oxfordshire countryside – usually just smashing it up local climbs and sprinting to town signs – and have found this approach has yielded excellent results at the real races we enter as a squad. These include:
- OUCC Hill Climb – TBC (usually Michaelmas term)
- BUCS Hill Climb – TBC
- Cuppers 10 mile TT – TBC (usually February/March)
- BUCS 10 mile TT
- BUCS Team TT
- BUCS 25 mile TT / Varsity against Cambridge
- BUCS Road Race
- Local road and crit races in and around Oxfordshire
as well as a selection of other races. Entry to some of these races will be organised via a selection process where required (usually a trial TT), however those in bold are highlighted as races that are open to all and which we encourage everyone to enter (irrespective of their experience or ability).
The club is currently fortunate enough to possess a good range of time trial equipment which we loan to our riders in preparation for BUCS events in Hilary Term. This allows some riders who do not already own time trial bikes to compete at BUCS events, and we are immensely grateful for the generosity of our sponsors and alumni members who allow the club to offer such valuable support.
If you are interested in getting involved with the racing side of things, please get in touch with either Max (Men’s Road Captain) or Maisy (Women’s Road Captain). We are happy to answer any questions and hope to see you on the road soon!