Nightmare Debut!!!

hothead

So Yesterday was going to be the day I did my first Time Trial, Got to the signing on hut, got my number, warmed up (Feeling good) then with about 15 mins to go headed of to the start :oops: . Only problem is I couldn't find the start. I then spent 15 mins all over the place looking for other riders to follow but no one was anywhere to be seen. I had asked before I set off and a guy gave me basic directions but to be honest they were not the best. Seems like everyone had ridden the course before so knew the start. So I missed my start time and that was that!!! A wasted round trip of 150 miles to not even get a time. I also feel a prat as having a bike problem is one thing but not finding the start!!!! Has anyone else ever had this? Also I have to say as a novice the start sheet had no directions to the start just the A road number so I really didn't have a clue.

I hope to ride this course in August so I drove around until I found the start, which happens to be no where near where anyone said!

God I feel so stupid!

Rich Hcp

They should marshall it better than that.

I'd ask for my money back

Best of luck for next time

boybiker

Its traditional for the start of any race/timetrial to in the middle of nowhere and if you ask someone they say things like'oh its on the old P765 course we used to use 15 years ago, you go left then right then left where charlie fell off and broke his collar bone.'
I just follow someone who looks like they know where they are going.

Richie G

Sounds like nightmare's the right word - i have that particular bad dream before most open time trials i enter! I guess you've got to put it down to experience. One thing i would say is that i normally ride up to the start before warming up, to get my bearings and to check how long i need to allow to get there. I guess it's another reason to check out the course before hand (Not that you always can - 15o mile round trip to look at a 10 mile course is probably a bit excessive!). I hope this hasn't put you off - maybe there's a local club 10 you could try this week (get all that frustration out on the road! )

Cheers
Rich

hothead

I did try that with 5 mins to go but the guy i followed was warming up and took me down a road miles from the start. I know what you mean but following actually got me further away from the start :oops:

Richie G

Sounds like you just had one of those days! Rich Hcp has a point about the marshalling though.

BeaconRuth

Rich Hcp wrote:

They should marshall it better than that.

I'd ask for my money back

Maybe they should, but we're not talking about a professionally run sport here where any minimum standards of 'service' can be expected. Every single time trial is run by volunteers who are giving up their hard-pressed time for the love of their sport. Very often a club really struggles to find enough members to do all the jobs that are necessary in order to run a time trial. An organiser may simply not have any spare marshals available to direct riders to the start after he or she has allocated all the minimum required for the safe running of the event.

Boybiker is unfortunately quite right that some organisers aren't very good at putting together a clear description of how to find the start - you do all too often come across instructions like "start on the old A123" when no current map will tell you which road used to be the A123! However, time trials won't exist unless we accept gratefully the efforts of those people who do their best to put on events. It is not the responsibility of the organiser to get us safely to the start line on time.

Hothead - really sorry to hear about your disastrous outing. That kind of thing has caught riders out in the past and will catch them out in the future. FWIW I always check out start and finish points, distance and directions from the HQ to the start (as well as having a thorough look at the course) on a map before leaving home. I couldn't imagine starting a TT without knowing where the junctions are on the course and the approximate distances between them - and part of that learning process is locating the HQ and the ride out to the course.

As Richie G said, don't be put off - it's a great sport but I'm afraid you've got to look out for yourself and be prepared like a good boy scout.

Ruth