Handicapping in time trials is always classed as something of a dark art. This is largely because there seems to be no written rules about it at Club level though there clearly are standards within the VTTA which work on a different method.
People keep asking me how it works and are still bamboozled by it even when I try to explain my limited understanding of it.
It seems to be the only measuring system which is applied scientifically in some cases and not in others. By that, I mean the VTTA system works in a clear, consistent and reasoned fashion yet at Club level, it just seems discretionary on the odd occasion.
I have always been amazed at how accurate the figures are in relation to our Club 10's for the most part.
We should have a clear and consistent method written down that can be followed not only for this but for many others gems of information that otherwise will one day be lost.
Ed has such a wealth of information on many aspects of cycling and one great way for the legacy of this information to carry on is to get it down in writing before it's too late. It was something I discussed briefly with Ed a couple of months ago.
We should, and we probably have somewhere, also have clear written rules of how each club trophy can be won. Some are obvious, some are not so obvious. Take the Evening 10 Series for example. If two people rode, 10 events each in which the other did not complete and obtained maximum points, would two members each be entitled to a joint claim on the trophy because they had each collated 60 points? I'm not sure that is the case but we should really have a repository for this and many other questions and answers.
On the subject of Opens, we need to keep records for 7 years for legal reasons. There should be a central physical repository for these especially as may people come and go. I assume this would be the Club Racing Secretary but again let's start to get these things written down so we do not have to rely on verbal communication and dissemination of important issues relating to the running and management of the Club. It will surely make things simpler and perhaps encourage more of the younger members to step up and take responsibility and relieve the older members of some of the duties that they feel they have to do year in, year out to keep the club alive.
As Steve Littlewood recently said, "It's time to give something back!"
I intend to check electronic copies of the system I have used to manage the event and will work towards improving the spreadsheets and clarity so that this could, theoretically, be picked up by anyone without any difficulty or at least a learning curve not as steep as George's Hill...
It was really enjoyable running the Open and I can see why Ed enjoys doing the Club 10's. I even learnt the system of how a District Timekeeper records the times. It looked really complex to begin with but after some explaining it all fell into place. I picked this skill up so I could check the results there and then. I only found 3 results which had been accidentally written down wrong.
I find it really encouraging too that more members are beginning to time trial and that we have some really good riders and we all now seem to be striving towards a new faster future (apart from me who seems to be going backwards at the moment!).
Interesting, but I would be careful about being too prescriptive about handicapping. In it's simplest form, your handicap is your best ride at that distance compared to the fastest rider. So if you've done 27:00 for a 10 and the fastest rider has done a 21:00, then your handicap is 6 mins.
However, your best rides will have been done when conditions were good. If they are not so good, e.g. windy, then a faster, stronger rider will lose less time in the wind than a weaker rider. Also, fastest rides will often not have been done on the same day, on the same course, so it is very difficult to compare them.
So handicapping purely on fastest times will favour the faster riders. To give slower riders a chance, when handicapping, I will sometimes add a bit on to their handicap, to give them an equal or better chance. Handicaps are meant to reward slower riders, after all.
Regarding the Evening 10's - there are less than 20 events, so you can't have 2 riders scoring maximum points.
The club racing rules cover how each trophy is won, I think. If not, then they could be expanded to do so. They also explain how the points systems work for 10's and weekend events. Acorn points its 4 for a win, 3 for 2nd, 2 for 3rd and every other finisher gets 1 point. The same for handicap, except you don't get the 1 point for finishing. All points count towards the same league table
For 10's, it's 6 points for a win, 5 for second, etc. with your best 10 scores to count. The same for 10's handicap. For 10's, there are separate league tables for fastest and handicap.
Fastest and handicap awards for individual events are easily understood. Likewise the various league tables - most points wins. The BAR's probably need a bit of explaining but are basically the fastest average speed over events of varying distances. I would have to check but I think it is the average of the average speeds - so your 10 is 24 mph, your Circuit is 23 mph and your best 25 is 22 mph, then your average is 23 mph (24+23+22/3).
Bert Morris our club timekeeper and handicapper just knew the riders and it was hard to" get one over him". In the Redhill CC my club before coming up here to live Basil Chilcott was the same I did a 1 5 0 on our hilly 25 and he said"normally that would win on here but Dave will do 1 4 0 or better and Bob Black a middling to long 1 2 0".sadly he was right!--------wing nut