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Interesting article on Cycling Weekly about the issue of crashes in entry-level races which is being put on the British Cycling National Council agenda: Investigation called for into fourth cat. crashes

I've been a 4th category rider since 2006 when I started racing. In what amounts to five seasons of racing I have yet to score a point.

I've races scores of races in London and the South East, in particular at Hillingdon as well as in the Surrey League at Chertsey. It's likely I've seen more than my fair share of the crashes in question, so I'd say I've got a fair perspective on lower category racing and the crashes.

Is it the courses?

The one thing I can say is that not a single crash is attributable to the "technical" nature of the circuits. When people say a course is "technical" what they really mean is "difficult" or requiring skill to navigate. Neither Hillingdon, Chertsey MOD or any of the other courses where these crashes occur is particularly difficult.

Warrick Spence, one of the best bike handlers I've ever had the pleasure to ride with, explained to me at Chertsey how it was possible to ride the whole course without touching the brakes at all. He said the same was true of Hillingdon.

With the exception of Hog Hill, most "4th Cat only" races in the South East are run on relatively benign closed road circuits where the terrain doesn't decide between riders. There's nothing that could be considered "hilly" about them.

I remember Eastway as being brutal by comparison with a couple of short rises that picked off the weaker riders, forcing a natural selection by the finish.

But less selective courses don't cause crashes on their own, no matter what anyone tells you. It just means more people are in with a chance come the end.

Hillingdon is safer when run clockwise with the finish on the straight rather than through the snaking S, but that hasn't stopped crashes entirely. Riders still try to cut the apex of corners and make inexperienced decisions on their riding line.

Chertsey MOD is notorious for crashes on the deceptively long finish straight as riders run out of steam in the headwind.. The worst I've witnessed involved something like three separate crashes inside the last kilometre.

Is it the number of riders?

Nor are the crashes directly attributable to the rider numbers. I've been in fields of 60 without a single crash and in fields of 30 where there were more riders on the deck than upright.

A fast, strung out field of 60 is less likely to see a crash than a slow, bunched field of 30.

Is it down to a lack of experience gained in club rides?

I'm not convinced it is. As often as not, it's club riders who are involved in crashes and my experience is that club rides bear little relation to racing.

Club rides frequently involve riding in pairs, learning to follow a wheel. On occasion that involves riding through and off rotations but it's always in small groups of less than ten.

I just don't see the correlation between that and coming down in a corner with five abreast or the horrific wheel touches in sprints when someone moves dangerously across the road.

The frequency with which you experience physical contact in club rides is negligible. Do clubs offer specific skills sessions on how to ride shoulder-to-shoulder or what to do on contact with another rider?

If anything, I'd argue that a lot of what you get told about racing by club riders is the sort of thing that leads to the current situation. How many times have you heard people interested in racing being told any of the following:

• Just sit in
• Save your energy for the sprint
• Stay near the front but don't do any work if you can
• Let other people chase down the breaks
• There's no point wasting your energy attacking

I don't see how anyone's race skills are improved by being pack fodder. It's rare to hear more experienced club riders telling those new to the sport to go out, enjoy themselves, attack and see how it goes.

You trundle around for an hour way below your limit then don't know what to when for ten seconds you hit the red line on the last lap. How does that improve your ability to handle your bike when fatigued or to find out your limitations as a rider?

Is it fair to blame "triathletes"?

For all this talk of triathletes with little experience in bunch riding causing the problems, they do seem prepared to ignore this perceived wisdom and at least try to make a race of things. Be it towing the bunch along for long periods or trying to get involved in breaks, they do contribute.

I've watched plenty of "club riders" ride entirely negatively: chasing down breaks rather than starting them; trying to bunch on the front to control the pace; doing nothing for the entire race then trying to do a lead out train as if they're HTC-Columbia.

I've been cut up, nerfed, verbally abuse and everything bar knocked off by as many riders in club kits as triathletes.

The reason triathletes have a tendency to do well in 4th Cat races is that they are fitter, fresher and stronger than the opposition. Those are all skills that in my opinion make you less likely to cause a crash because you are less likely to be fatigued and in the wrong place when accidents occur.

So let's think about what can be done to improve the situation...

It sits there in the hallway, untouched. It pleads with me every time I pass it, but I ignore it.

I ignore it as long as I can. But there comes a point where you have to take the bike out of the box and reassemble it.

Out it comes, number still attached to the centre of the bars, dustier than I remember. The frame sticky with a coating of sweat, energy drink and road dirt.

It's almost a week since the Etape and it's the first time I've looked at my bike since packing it away for the journey back. I've ridden the 4km to work a couple of times without thinking much about exerting myself and that's as much as I've concerned myself with riding a bike.

What are you meant to do after you've achieved a goal as massive as the Etape? There's no reason to go out and ride it again. (There wasn't much reason other than the "because it's there" one in the first place)

Mentally there's no next step to take. Physically my body craves rest and complains when I so much as suggest exertion.

I take myself down to Hillingdon on Tuesday for the first ride since the Etape. People say how much they liked my video piece while I fret about my handlebars not being on straight.

It's the usual 4th Cat routine, so I try my legs in the first quarter hour to see how they feel. Sore, no snap when I click up a gear and push the pace.

So I do what I always do: wait for a slight lull in the pace, then increase the effort and move off the front.

My breathing is steady but I can feel the pain rising. Nobody will come across the gap, they'll just drag me back within a lap or two.

Then there's suddenly someone across and we're two away. He's pulling harder than I can manage and every time I try to come through my legs choke, forcing me to drop back into the wheel.

A few more riders come across but I can't hold the wheels, my legs are numb. I need to let this one go. So near to making that magical break happen.

Shuffle back through the pack, I've done my turn.

Wait for three laps to go and the watching to begin. There'll be a drop in pace and that's the time to go hard.

There it is. Bit too far back but I'm going anyway. Pace hasn't dropped as much as I thought and there's still two to go.

Another Dynamo follows the counter and goes away. That's the ticket: attack in pairs or follow the chaser and use them.

He's away, I'm spent, sit in the back and let the race go away from me.

Don't see the finish. Wonder where and when I'll find the courage to stop making excuses for not getting up there in the sprint.

SPRINT! DAMN YOU! CORNER, DON'T TAKE ANYONE OUT! SPRINT! CORNER! BRAKE... NO DON'T BRAKE! PEDAL HARDER! HILL!!!!! PEDAL HARDER! *SPORZA COMMENTARY VOICE* "OY-OY-OY-OY-OY!" BREATH DAMN YOU LUNGS. (REPEAT X25)

And that's pretty much how it goes for roughly an hour. Fun, yes? HELL YEAH!

Hillingdon, you go for the tea and cake and pottering round trying not to get knocked off on an entirely innocuous circuit where you don't need to brake if you're riding it properly and there's only one corner of any difficulty.

You hope to get lucky in a bunch gallop and probably spend most of the race waiting for the three laps to go board. It's all good stuff and if you attack enough it amounts to a decent workout. It's a bit like waiting for Bon Jovi to play Livin' On A Prayer.

Crystal Palace on the other hand is like AC/DC: deafeningly loud, relentless hit after hit. No sneaking off to the back for a rest because if they're not playing Thunderstruck, it's all Dirty Deeds Done Cheap, Back In Black, you name it.

Let's take a trip round the lap...

180 degree left-hand hairpin round tree with metal post exactly where you'll end up if you don't get round.

Sprint out of that and up to a sharp downhill right hander running away down the hill and about the only place you can get any recovery.

Touch of brake then blind, flat out 90 degree left hand round a bush with tree and grass bank to fall down if you get it wrong.

The hill doesn't look much but when you ride round it before the race. Then you hurtle through the left-hand corner at race pace on the first lap and every part of your body laughs in your face at the folly. Big ring, little ring, it all hurts like hell and it's a fight to get on top of the right gear.

Recover across the top section while trying not to let a gap go and then it starts again.

I think I lasted all of three laps before I got shelled out the main bunch and joined a small grupetto that enjoyed its own race within a race up until they pulled out the lapped riders. I think I got lapped at least twice, maybe three times.

I say "I think" because frankly I was a dribbling mess just trying to keep going. And the worst thing is I know I'll be back, work permitting, to take another beating. Damn you Stu for persuading me this is a good idea.

It works out quite well as the ride there and back plus race works out at around a 3 hour ride. Perfect midweek stuff really.

One of the joys of being a London cyclist is that once the weather is good enough, there's a good choice of weekday racing a short pedal from your doorstep.

Tuesday night is the big night with a choice between Crystal Palace and Hillingdon. Palace starts this week (Tuesday 20 April) while Hillingdon started a week earlier. Here's a brief overview of what's on offer.

Crystal Palace

• South London, in the middle of the historic park- the one with the Victorian dinosaurs, athletics stadium and remains of an historic motor racing circuit.
• Run on tarmac park pathways
• Brake, corner, accelerate, repeat
• Separate E/1/2 and 3/4 races
• A test of handling, legs and lungs - one for the strong
• Offers women's racing

Hillingdon

• West London, just past Southall on a windswept piece of parkland.
• Purpose built road circuit
• Nothing technical, barely even need for braking
• Separate E/1/2/3 and 4 races
• Ideal introduction to racing and good exercise in bunch racing - 4th Cat race almost always ends in bunch sprint

The Hog Hill summer league gets under way on Thursday 13 May and there's also LVRC racing available for those who qualify as a "veteran".

If you're looking for more information Londoncyclesport is the indispensable guide to all things that involve bikes and racing in London. And John who runs it is a top bloke.

You'll probably find me hanging about the 4th Cat bunch down at Hillingdon, continuing the longest losing streak in cycling - no points since I started racing in 2006. If I move up to 3rd Cat I've promised I'll treat myself to a trip down to Crystal Palace.