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The standards table is designed by old men.
We are confused with our tenses here. The vets' standard table was laid down a very long time ago.
It reflects the laughably low expectations of performance that the VTTA had in its early days. It would be difficult to alter now since this would destroy the existing vets records.
As for the prize money, I don't much mind the ancients gaining from the system and if I'm still functioning in twenty years' time I might even gain from it myself - it's always nice to have something to look forward to. At least the present arrangement has helped to keep events going by encouraging older riders to enter.
By the way, is it sporting to change the words in another's post when quoting it?
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How low can you go...
I'm guessing that's a Walser under the Canyon decals. Nicole Cooke has one with the mid-mounted stem too.
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Walser seems to do a lot of the pro TT bikes.. whatever they're badged as.
Hmm.. maybe they will have to license the design or something similar?
"Readers might be surprised to hear that Canyon plans to offer this frame configuration to the general public. Though one's intuition suggests otherwise, it's apparently safe to ride but the deleted material can't possibly do wonders for the front-end rigidity. However, given the UCI's recent rulings regarding the consumer availability of team race bikes, Canyon has no choice but to bring it to market in order for Evans to use it in competition. Interesting, indeed."http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-time-trial-speed-gear
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By the way, is it sporting to change the words in another's post when quoting it?
Around here, it does seem an accepted practice when you want to paraphrase to make a different but related point.
I'm well aware of the history of the Standards table, and of the discussions about its current relevance and the resistance to its updating or replacement with something more sensible. I have had 30 years of comments from my father about the mathematical fallacy at the heart of the Vets' BAR calculation...
A cynical person might draw their own conclusions from the fact that medals are awarded for annual improvements on Standard, funded by fees paid by those Vets who register for them, and the Standards get more generous with every passing year, so that it is possible to decline rather quickly and still qualify every year, which encourages people to continue to subscribe to this profitable little scheme the Groups have going...
It is equally well rehearsed that anybody who even takes an interest in these matters is admitting that they have given up on any ambitions towards the scratch prizes...
The age related records would be unaffected by any adjustment to the Standards table, although the history of the Vets' BAR would have a step in it. My own preference would be for the Standard at any age/distance to be set every year on January 1st at the corresponding age record. That would mean that you would have to beat the age record to obtain a "plus". I would also favour a rationalisation of the calculation method, which also currently favours the old regardless of the validity of the table itself, by, for example, awarding a 75 year old a plus of 3:20-ish for going 10% faster than his 10 Standard, while a 40 year old doing a similar performance only gets +2:30something. This is doubly ludicrous, firstly by using subtraction when division would be correct, and secondly by assuming that an equal proportional increase in speed requires an equal proportion increase in power. The first is easily corrected, although the second may inject more complexity into the subject than is practical.
Under my scheme, using age records and division, an exceptional performance would be rewarded with a score of just less than one, while the majority of us middling types would be fighting it out in the 1.1 to 1.5 range. Since the VTTA is nothing if not a load of old blokes with drawers full of old result sheets, it is perfectly feasible to recalculate old qualifying performances in the new method to determine whether one really has improved in comparison with the very best of one's age. The need to perform these slightly more complex calculations would, as a notable unintended consequence, provide an economy of scale for the production of Mr Babbage's Difference Engine, as I envisage that each of the 16 Group Secretaries would need their own machine.
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I've been doing time trials(with a 9 year break) since 1993 and i've never understodd the standards things, might as well be in Russian for me.
wonder if most riders are the same and maybe it will die out
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i've never understodd the standards things, might as well be in Russian for me.
I have Russian at O Level, maybe that's why I understand the VTTA Standards.
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Walser seems to do a lot of the pro TT bikes.. whatever they're badged as.
Hmm.. maybe they will have to license the design or something similar?
"Readers might be surprised to hear that Canyon plans to offer this frame configuration to the general public. Though one's intuition suggests otherwise, it's apparently safe to ride but the deleted material can't possibly do wonders for the front-end rigidity. However, given the UCI's recent rulings regarding the consumer availability of team race bikes, Canyon has no choice but to bring it to market in order for Evans to use it in competition. Interesting, indeed."http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-time-trial-speed-gear
IIRC there are no patents on the stem in headtube thing.
Cadel has left Silence so I don't think Canyon need bother anymore.
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BMC is and i wonder if Charlie Wegilius will follow him? I think he probably will and should
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This was also a Walser design I believe.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/images/focus-izal-tt-sr-2010-zoom.jpg
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Another hill climb
The Club rides out to this from Walthamstow Town Hall at 8.30.
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Another hill climb
The Club rides out to this from Walthamstow Town Hall at 8.30.
2m11s last time, woefully overgeared with a back strain. Conditions were good though.
Good luck to this year's competitors on 'The Hoople'.
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Hounslow Club Hillclimb
8th November 2009
Course HCC011 (Windsor Hill - same as the West Drayton MBC hill climb above)
Start time 10.45You'll need to be there a little bit before that if you want to enter on the line.
Good to meet you clubman and mitre.
My brief writeup here: http://thehippy.net/nucleus/index.php?itemid=1391
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What hippy is too modest to reveal here is that he trounced the field. Well done.
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I must've left that bit out..
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Time Trial / Time Trialling / TT
Posted by
@hippy
The standards table is designed by old men as a way of transferring the entry fees of working veterans to retired ones as prize money. Woodburn's +22 in the Mitre event would have left a 40 y.o. looking to get inside 44:00 on a sporting course on a tough day. I know John was, and remains, a good rider, but I think even he would admit that his ride last week wasn't as good as knocking 2 minutes off the competition record.