I finally took the courage to take my bike riding to the next level. The Road Race.
Here's how the day panned out.
5:45 am - Get up, eat vanilla slice for breakfast. Drive 3 hours to Gunning.
9:00 am - Arrive at small Australian Country town.Buy coffee and ANZAC biscuit at local cafe. Ask for directions to show ground.
10:00 am - Get to hall, sign in. Forget my license, go back to car to get license. Realise the lady's talking about my racing license which I haven't received yet. Buy a race tag holder for the bike ($2.50), pin number to back and side. Head off to start.
10:15 am - Look for other women and hang around in their vicinity.
10:20 am - Get briefed about the "neutral zone" - the area where we're not racing, lead by our lead car to the "safe zone". More details here - http://www.bathurstcyclingclub.com.au/index.php/site/road

Racing Etiquette - know hows

1. Bring your racing licence
2. Leave your spares with the spares car
3. Try to stay with the group (peloton) for as long as possible. ride at the back if you have to
4. Number needs to be on the side and back of your jersey

Where to get Race Info (for NSW races)

• Information about the race itself isn't easy to find. 
• After registering and receiving the race registration email, there are no more emails with details
• The starting list is released the Monday before the race on the NSW cycling website - refer to the registration email
• Look for previous race's results to see the times and get an idea of the times people are racing at.

My tips

• Don't panic. The worst that could happen is you come last (that's what happened).
• Don't panic or you could start hyper ventilating and not being able to breathe while riding (that's what happened, I was stressing so much I couldn't breathe).
• Have an emergency sugar hit (I had my first sports gel, not as bad as I was expecting)
• Wear sunscreen
• Wear a cap 
• Have a support crew waiting for you at the end for moral support

One night last week I saw a post on Facebook calling out for more female participants in the Goulburn Great Divide Race. The organiser was appealing to the women's cycling group for more participants to support the event so it could continue. 

So, being all obsessed with cycling as I am, I thought this might be an interesting experiment. 
I set myself a challenge to find out what it takes to be a competitor in a cycling race and what it takes to organise one.

What I want to know about the race before signing up.
As a first time racer before getting myself into anything crazy, I had a few things I wanted clarification:

• How long is the race? 
• What is the route? Road surface, elevation, turns 
• Is it safe? Is it a supported race? Are the roads blocked off? Will I be safe?
• What's are the other competitors like? How fast are we talking?
• Where and when do I need to be there?

Sign me up already
When it came to actually registering for the race it was all a bit confusing. 
I was sent to the race event website but then couldn't enter the competition because I wasn't registered as a race. 
So first you need to register with  Cycling Australia and nominate a membership "type". The website's a bit confusing but the types are:

• Race Elite - For all the crazy bike races; nationally & within clubs
• Race Masters - For club races (this is what I needed)
• Recreational - Commuters 
• Non-riding - Fans of cycling

The Steps to register in a race:

1. Register with Cycling Australia with a club 
2. Register for the race via Cycling NSW (or whoever is organising the race)

What should you do when you stuff up your registration?
I stuffed up the Cycling Australia membership and couldn't enter the race. But I was able to call up the office and was relieved to find a real person offering help.

Registration complete but where is the info pack? 
I received the registration complete email, but still waiting on the complete details of the race. Details are to be released the tuesday before the race, so the wait begins.
Not sure what time I start, what I need to bring, where I should be meeting people. 

Some info I found

Strava activity from last year's participant: http://www.strava.com/activities/178669297/segments/4178269918
Route I created in mapmyride: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/829471375
Last year's results: http://nsw.cycling.org.au/Events-Results/Results/2014-goulburn-great-divide-road-race-results - First place time was 1h21 mins. That's fast. 


So the 1 week countdown to the race....