There is a time trial that happens every so often around here called the “Cemetery TT.” It’s a 7.1 mile out-and-back that starts and ends about 8 miles south of town on highway 441.
The Cemetery TT is a fixture of the Gainesville community. The Team Florida collegiate athletes use it as a benchmark to gauge their fitness, and the strongest Gainesville cyclists use it as a low-key chance to duke it out against the clock. After all, in the “race of truth,” the clock never lies.
For full disclosure, I have never participated in this race. There has only been one instance of the Cemetery TT since I moved to Gainesville, and I had a prior commitment. I have, however, participated in more than my fair share of triathlons (of which the cycling leg bears a strong resemblance to a standalone TT) and time trials of all distances.
The distinguishing feature of the Cemetery TT is the set of unique, arbitrary and unusual equipment restrictions. To quote Team Florida Cycling coach Phil Gaimon on the equipment rules:
“Equipment rules: aerobars, TT bikes, deep clincher wheels, shoe covers, and skinsuits are okay.
Aero helmets, tubular wheels, disc wheels, and trispokes are prohibited. You will not get scored if you come out on this stuff, because aero helmets aren’t as safe in the event of crashes, and no one wants to stand around while you change a flatted tubular or try to find a tube with a 2-mile valve.”
Of course, some of this reasoning is simply illogical. Aero helmets are no less safe than regular vented helmets in a crash, and during a TT there is no one “standing around” waiting for you to change your flatted tubular. (In fact, a flat tubular is faster to change than a flat clincher, if you do it right!)
So I followed up with Phil on this issue, and he cited two reasons for these equipment restrictions:
- It’s the way things have always been done.
- Since most collegiate athletes can’t afford fancy gear, we want the technological playing field to remain level.
Of course, reason #1 is fundamentally flawed. Not only is the fact that something has been happening for a long time NOT proof that it is correct, the UCI (International Cycling Union) has a track record of changing equipment restrictions that have been in place for a long time. Example: the retroactive changing of the Hour Record equipment rules, invalidating Boardman’s and Obree’s hour records that they set in grotesquely awesome positions with some hideously fast equipment.
Reason #2 is, in theory, a perfectly valid reason for implementing equipment restrictions. There are few higher priorities in the sport of cycling than encouraging new athletes to compete at a high level. The cost of TT equipment is a legitimate hurdle that these athletes must overcome to be competitive. Setting equipment restrictions is a simple and effective way of allowing college athletes to get competitive experience without sacrificing their student loan payments.
However, the current equipment restrictions do not adequately reduce the financial barrier to entry of these cyclists. The use of TT bikes adds a minimum of $1500 in cost to a collegiate cyclist looking to be competitive. The use of deep clincher wheels is also another expense, as TT wheels are often deeper, heavier and less practical than the aero wheels used in road and crit racing.
Additionally, some of the equipment banned by the current rule-set makes no sense from a financial standpoint. Aero helmets are not particularly expensive ($100-$200, about the same as a good set of clip-on aerobars, which are LEGAL under the current rule-set). Tri-spoke wheels are perhaps the best “bang-for-your-buck” wheelset a college athlete could get. Tubular wheels are often cheaper than their clincher counterparts, especially when obtained secondhand. Wheel covers for a training wheel, effectively turning the wheel into a super-aero disc wheel, cost $100, a very reasonable price. All of these pieces of equipment are banned on the pretense of either safety or convenience, both of which are largely non-factors in time trial racing.
The current equipment restrictions for the Cemetery TT are not appropriate. They do not keep costs down for college athletes, and include the nonsensical banning of perfectly reasonable equipment. Additionally, they do not allow those with tons of aero gear the chance to actually use a significant portion of their equipment.
So, what *should* the equipment restrictions be?
Simple. Ban all aero equipment, period. Run the TTs in an “Eddy Merckx” style–no aerobars, no deep wheels, no aero helmets, nothing. Let the college athletes show up on the same road bikes they use for their weekly training rides and duke it out. Total extra cost: $0. (Well, maybe clip-on aerobars would be OK. The expense is reasonable, it’s easy to install/remove them for the TTs and they get the athlete 95% of the way to a full-on TT setup in terms of the total bike/rider aerodynamic package.)
Also, maintain a “best human effort” competitive category as a throwaway. This would be for the athletes who want to show up with their disc wheels, aero helmets and other aero gadetry. For many athletes, simply getting a chance to use their aero gear in a competitive setting is half of the run! (Course records could not be set in this division. Intra-category records could, of course, be set, but the official course record would have to come from the Eddy Merckx division, just as the current Hour Record does now.)
The collegiate cycling TT equipment rules are scheduled to change next year (for all non-A riders) or the year after (for the A riders). Aero equipment will be severely restricted. For college athletes, this is unquestionably a GOOD thing. It’s time that the Cemetery TT followed suit.
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On Time Trials, Equipment Costs and the Accessibility of Cycling. « Pointy Helmet Coaching
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