Rules and Regulations

Rules

Before competing in any Time Trial event, please make sure you read the CTT regulations here

N&DCA Rules:

N&DCA aligns with the CTT rules and regulations. We are currently updating the 2021 rules and regulations posted below that apply specifically to our region however, here are the absolute essentials.

Time Trial Bike Category

Working front and rear lights

Your bike must be in sound mechanical condition

A helmet must be worn to an approved standard

Skin suit or separate top and shorts – sleeveless tri suits can now be worn

No head down riding

No cutting right hand corners or crossing into the oncoming lane

Road bike category

Working front and rear lights

Your bike must be in sound mechanical condition

Wheels no deeper than 90mm (no disc wheels)

A standard road bike helmet with no built-in visor

No tri or Spinaci bars

No head down riding

No cutting right hand corners or crossing into the oncoming lane

Approved for use in 2021 by the committee of the N&DCA

Terms used:

Northumberland and Durham Cycling Association – ‘the Association’

Cycling Time Trials – ‘CTT’

Best All Rounder – ‘BAR’

Veterans’ Time Trial Association – ‘VTTA’

Hill Climb League – ‘HCL’

  1. GENERAL
  2. 1 Affiliation

1.1.1 In order to eligible for any of the Association’s competitions a rider must be affiliated to the Association, either by being a member of an affiliated club, or as an individually affiliated rider.

1.1.2 Any club or team that has affiliated to CTT in the North East or Teesside districts may affiliate to the Association.

1.1.3 A club or team becomes affiliated to the Association on payment of an affiliation fee of £30. This covers all of the club/ team’s riders for competition eligibility for 2021.

1.1.4 An individual rider may affiliate to the Association provided they fulfil at least one of two criteria: 1) they ride for a club or team affiliated to the North East or Teesside CTT districts (which may not wish to affiliate to the Association as a club/ team); or 2) they are primarily resident within the boundaries of the North East or Teesside CTT districts (if for example, they ride for a club or team affiliated to a CTT district other that North East or Teesside).

1.1.5 A rider becomes affiliated to the Association on completion of an online affiliation form and payment of an affiliation fee of £10. This covers the individual rider’s competition eligibility for 2021

1.1.6 In order to be eligible for any of the Association’s competitions on a given day, a rider must ensure that their club/ team has affiliated, or that they have individually affiliated to the Association before that day.

2 BEST ALL ROUNDER (BAR) COMPETITIONS

2.1 Format & General

2.1.1 Individual BAR competitions will be available in five categories – Overall, Vets on Standard, Women’s Vets on Standard, Women, Junior, Road Bike and Women’s Road bike.

2.1.2 Team BAR competitions will be available in three categories – Overall, Women and Vets on Standard.

2.1.3 The minimum number of counting events required to complete the BAR in the Men, Women, Vets on Standar and Road Bike categories are 4x short distance time trials, 3x medium distance time trials and 1x long distance time trials.

2.1.4 The Junior Bar will be decided by the riders best 2 X Short and 2 x Medium time trials.

2.1.5 The events that are able to count towards the BAR are all open time trials within the CTT North East District occurring from 1st March until 30th September, not including the National Youth Championship qualifier event, team time trials, or hill climbs.

2.1.6 A short distance time trial is defined as an event advertised as being 14 miles or less in distance.

2.1.7 A medium distance time trial is defined as an event advertised as being between 14.1 and 27 miles in distance.

2.1.8 A long distance time trial is defined as an event advertised as being 40 miles or more in distance.

2.1.9 In the case that an event, for any reason, is run at a different distance to that which is advertised, which would then place the event in a different distance category, the event will retain its position in its original distance category for the purpose of BAR competition. Reasons for such a situation include moving to a different course due to original course availability or a change in distance due to roadworks etc.

2.1.10 If an event is postponed before the start sheet is published and run later in the season, affiliated riders in the event will be eligible for BAR points.

2.1.11 If an event is postponed after the start sheet is published and run later in the season using the original start sheet, all affiliated riders will be eligible for BAR points.

2.1.12 If an event is postponed after the start sheet is published and run later in the season, and the organiser allows new entries to the rearranged event, only riders who had appeared on the original start sheet will be eligible for BAR points.

2.1.13 If the event is cancelled in its entirety it will be withdrawn from the BAR competitions without affecting the requirement for the number of counting events its distance category.

2.1.14 Rule 2.1.14 will stand, save for a situation in which a number of events are cancelled in a given category, such that the integrity of the competition is compromised. In this case the committee of the Association will decide on any format changes that are required.

2.2 BAR points allocations

2.2.1 120 points are awarded to the highest placed affiliated rider in each qualifying open time trial for each individual BAR category.

2.2.2 119 points are awarded to the second placed affiliated rider and so on in descending order until all affiliated riders within the result have been allocated points.

2.2.3 In the case that two or more affiliated riders finish with the same time, they will be awarded the same number of points that correspond to the position in which they were tied. E.g. two riders finishing joint second out of affiliated riders will both be awarded 119 points. The next placed (or fourth placed rider) would be awarded 117, and no rider would be awarded 118.

2.3 BAR positions

2.3.1 A rider’s BAR points total (in each BAR competition) will be the sum of their qualifying events total points as per the counting events schedule described in 2.1.4.

2.3.2 Where a rider completes more than the required minimum of events in each category, the highest scores will be used in the BAR total according to the required minimum number of counting events.

2.3.3 In the case that two or more riders lie in a BAR table on the same number of total points, placings between them will be determined by head to head reesults bewteen the riders.

2.3.4 In the case that it is not possible to split the riders’ positions using this head to head method, the position will be considered to be tied.

2.3.5 Head to Head will only be considered a determining feature between positions once the riders in question have completed the BAR. Previous to completing the BAR, the positions will be considered to be tied.

2.3.6 Awards will be made for the top three riders in each individual category if there are 5 completions, If only 4 individuals complete the top 2 will revieve awards and if only 3 completions then only the winner receives an award.

2.4 Overall BAR eligibility

2.4.1 All affiliated riders entered in a given event will be eligible to receive points according to 2.2 in the Overall BAR.

2.5 Vets on Standard BAR eligibility

2.5.1 In order to qualify for points in the ‘Vets on Standard’ BAR competition, a rider must be aged 40 or over on the day of the qualifying event.

2.5.2 The rider’s ‘plus’ will be calculated according to the published VTTA standard for their age and sex at the published distance of the qualifying event, and points allocated based on 2.2 with 120 points going to the rider with the highest ‘plus’.

2.6 Womens BAR Competition

2.6.1 All affiliated female riders (of any age) in each open qualifying open time trial will be eligible for the Womens BAR competition, with points awarded according to 2.2.

2.7 Junior BAR eligibility

2.7.1 A rider shall be considered to be a junior until the 31st December of the year in which their 18th birthday occurs.

2.7.2 All those affiliated riders satisfying the condition 2.7.1 will be eligible for points in the Junior BAR competition according to 2.2.

2.8 Road Bike BAR eligibility

2.8.1 For the 2019 season for riders to be allocated points in the road bike competition: Any rider wishing to be allocated road bike category points for a given race should indicated this by completing an entry on the N&DCA Road Bike BAR ‘on the day’ entry sheet, which will be available at sign on at each race. Entry to the road bike category must be made BEFORE riding and not retrospectively.

2.8.2 The rider’s attire and bicycle should comply with the spirit of a ‘road bike competition’. To this end, they should not seek to overtly contribute to, or affect their performance with the use of aerodynamic aids now common in time trials.

2.8.3 It is expected that riders entering this category will be self-compliant in the spirit of the competition. No official checks will take place on the day, and it is not the responsibility of the organiser, officials or timekeepers of the event to rule or advise on attire or bicycle suitability for the purpose of the N&DCA competition. Please do not distract timekeepers from their timekeeping duties for rulings or advice on the N&DCA road bike competition – they won’t provide it.

2.8.4 If any dispute arises as to whether a rider has complied with the rules and spirit of the competition or not, the dispute should be referred to the Committee of the N&DCA with any appropriate evidence; the decision of the committee will be final. Sanctions available to the committee include disqualification from the N&DCA road bike category for the event in question and/ or disqualification from the road bike category BAR competition as a whole. Any sanction would not affect a rider’s eligibility for the other BAR categories (Overall, Vets, Ladies, Junior).

2.8.5 In the case that an organiser decides to run their own road bike competition as part of their prize prospectus for the event then this is totally separate and independent from the N&DCA competition. The organiser may choose to use the N&DCA rules and guidelines for the purposes of their competition, or they may choose to run a competition under their own parameters.

2.8.6 The rider:

  • No time trial style pointy helmets (including kask bambino), or helmets with built in visors should be worn.
  • No aerodynamic ‘trip strips’ or ‘trip socks’ that go above the halfway point of the calf should not be worn.

2.8.7 The bicycle:

Frame geometry:

The frame should be constructed in the traditional pattern, i.e. built around a main triangle.

Bars:

No time trial style or tri forward extension bars with or without elbow pads should be present on the bicycle.

Wheel construction:

Wheels should be of a spoked construction with a minimum of 12 spokes. Disc wheels and tri-spoke, quad-spoke wheels etc. are not permitted.

Wheel rim depth:

Many road bikes are now sold with rims of medium depth, a standard road bike deep rim would usually be no greater than 65mm in depth, and such wheels would be permitted in the competition. Wheels that have rims that are visually obviously deeper than this, i.e. 80mm rims are not permitted. This is the most contentious of rules for a road bike competition and no one on the day of the event will be measuring wheel depths with a tape measure. Please apply the spirit of the road bike competition to your equipment choice with regard to wheels.

2.8.8 The committee of the N&DCA reserves the right to amend these rules and guidelines at any time, and as it sees fit.

2.8.9 All those affiliated riders satisfying the condition 2.8.1 will be eligible for points in the Road Bike BAR competition according to 2.2. This is provided that they have not been shown to break the rules of the competition.

2.9 Team BAR Competition

2.9.1 The scores of the three (two in the womens team) highest placed riders from a given affiliated club or team in the Overall BAR will be summed to give a points score for their club or team for the purposes of a team league table.

2.9.2 The winning team will be the one with the highest points score.

2.9.3 At the end of the season, only teams that have three riders who have fully completed the BAR will be eligible for the competition trophy or any medals or plaques.

2.9.4 Any tie for 1st position will be decided on count back on the total of the three qualifying riders total points score in the Association’s standard distance championship events.

2.9.5 In the event that it is not possible to split two teams using this count back method, the 1st position will be shared.

2.9.6 In the event that an affiliated club or team has a second or subsequent set of three riders that also complete the BAR, the club or team will be given a ‘B’ and subsequent teams in the final table.

2.9.7 Awards will be made for the three highest placed teams.

2.10 Vets Team BAR Competition

2.10.1 A Vets Team BAR Competition will be run on the same basis as the Team BAR Competition; save that the scores used will be from the Vets BAR instead of the Overall BAR.

2.11 Womens Team BAR Competition

2.11.1 A Womens Team BAR Competition will be run on the same basis as the Team BAR Competition; save that the scores used will be from the Womens BAR instead of the Overall BAR.

3. STANDARD DISTANCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

3.1 Format & General

3.1.1 There will be standard distance championship at 10, 25, 50 and 100 miles.

3.1.2 Awards will be made for the top three affiliated riders in each category of Overall, Ladies and Junior.

3.1.3 The events at which these championships will take place are as follows:

  1. 10 mile championship: 16th May 2021, Zeus RT, M101
  2. 25 mile championship: 27th June 2021, Houghton, M254
  3. 50 mile championship: 6th June 2021, Blaydon CC, M50
  4. 100 mile championship: 5th September 2021, Tyneside Vagabonds CC, M100/10

4. HILL CLIMB LEAGUE (HCL) COMPETITIONS

4.1 Format & General

4.1.1 Individual HCL competitions will be available in four categories – Overall, Vets, Ladies, and Junior.

4.1.2 A Team HCL competition will be available the Overall category only.

4.1.3 The minimum number of counting events required to complete the HCL in all categories will be (TBC).

4.1.4 The events that are able to count towards the HCL are all open hill climbs within the CTT North East District during 2021. In two stage events, the combined result will be taken.

4.1.5 If an event is postponed before the start sheet is published and run later in the season, affiliated riders in the event will be eligible for HCL points.

4.1.6 If an event is postponed after the start sheet is published and run later in the season using the original start sheet, all affiliated riders will be eligible for HCL points.

4.1.7 If an event is postponed after the start sheet is published and run later in the season, and the organiser allows new entries to the rearranged event, only riders who had appeared on the original start sheet will be eligible for HCL points.

4.1.8 If the event is cancelled in its entirety it will be withdrawn from the HCL competitions without affecting the requirement for the number of counting events.

4.1.9 Rule 4.1.8 will stand, save for a situation in which a number of events are cancelled such that the integrity of the competition is compromised. In this case the committee of the Association will decide on any format changes that are required.

4.2 HCL points allocations

4.2.1 120 points are awarded to the highest placed affiliated rider in each qualifying open hill climb stage for each individual HCL category.

4.2.2 119 points are awarded to the second placed affiliated rider, and so on in descending order until all affiliated riders within the result have been allocated points.

4.2.3 In the case that two or more affiliated riders finish with the same time, they will be awarded the same number of points that correspond to the position in which they were tied. E.g. two riders finishing joint second out of affiliated riders will both be awarded 119 points. The next placed (or fourth placed rider) would be awarded 117, and no rider would be awarded 118.

4.3 HCL positions

4.3.1 A rider’s HCL points total (in each HCL competition) will be the sum of their qualifying events total as per the counting events.

4.3.2 Where a rider completes more than the required minimum of events, the highest scores will be used in the HCL points total according to the required minimum number of counting events.

4.3.3 In the case that two or more riders lie in a HCL table on the same number of total points, placings between them will be determined on count back to the next best score. If these are equal then the next best score again will be used and so on.

4.3.4 In the case that it is not possible to split the riders’ positions using this count back method, the position will be considered to be tied.

4.3.5 Count backs will only be considered a determining feature between positions once the riders in question have completed the HCL. Previous to completing the HCL, the positions will be considered to be tied.

4.3.6 Awards will be made for the top three riders in each individual category.

4.4 Overall HCL eligibility

4.4.1 All affiliated riders entered in a given event will be eligible to receive points according to 4.2 in the Overall HCL.

4.5 Vets HCL eligibility

4.5.1 In order to qualify for points in the Vets HCL competition, a rider must be aged 40 or over on the day of the qualifying event.

4.5.2 All those riders satisfying the condition 4.5.1 will be eligible for points on a scratch basis in the Vets HCL competition according to 4.2.

4.6 Womens HCL Competition

4.6.1 All female finishers (of any age) from an affiliated club in each qualifying open hill climb will be eligible for the Womens HCL competition, with points awarded according to 4.2.

4.7 Junior HCL eligibility

4.7.1 A rider shall be considered to be a junior until the 31st December of the year in which their 18th birthday occurs.

4.7.2 All those riders satisfying the condition 4.7.1 will be eligible for points in the Junior HCL competition according to 4.2.

4.8 Team HCL Competition

4.8.1 The scores of the three highest placed riders from a given affiliated club or team in the Overall HCL will be summed to give a points score for their club or team for the purposes of a team league table.

4.8.2 The winning team will be the one with the highest points score.

4.8.3 At the end of the season, only teams that have three riders who have fully completed the HCL will be eligible for the competition trophy or any medals or plaques.

4.8.4 Any tie for 1st position will be decided on count back on the total of the three qualifying riders’ next best qualifying events. If these are equal then the next best score in any category will be used and so on.

4.8.5 In the event that it is not possible to split two teams using this count back method, the 1st position will be shared.

4.8.6 In the event that an affiliated club or team has a second or subsequent set of three riders that also complete the HCL, the club or team will be given a ‘B’ and subsequent teams in the final table.

4.8.7 Awards will be made for the three best placed team.