Timing chips

Peddle Up!

As used in sportives etc. How do they work?

Down the Road

strap on bike or shoe (depends on chip)

It carries your number (sort of) and when you ride over a mat on the start and finish line it transmits this number. time diff between the 2 is your time.

similar is used in Tour de france and F1 but these are much more advanced

Peddle Up!

So no allowance for water/food stops, just total elapsed time. I read somewhere that they eliminate potential cheats by being checked around a circuit at different points. I guess that's easily arranged.

Down the Road

Why would you cheat in a sportif?

Not a race just an audax with signs at 10 times the cost

Peddle Up!

Down the Road wrote:

Why would you cheat in a sportif?

Not a race just an audax with signs at 10 times the cost

I wouldn't.

Keith47

I did the Blenheim sportive with a friend a few years ago, we crossed the start and finish mats side by side yet the "official" timing put me 1 minute 38 seconds ahead of him. I've never let him forget it! Hope the TdF timings are a little more accurate!

danowat

Peddle Up! wrote:

So no allowance for water/food stops, just total elapsed time. I read somewhere that they eliminate potential cheats by being checked around a circuit at different points. I guess that's easily arranged.

I doubt that, the ones I've used just have a start and finish mat which you ride over to start, and stop the timing.

Monty Dog

The road race series I participate in has a set - they can be a right hassle to set-up correctly but are a big help when trying to sort out bunch-sprint finishes with 60 riders. I've also used them on inline skate marathons in Europe with literally thousands of participants.
They can be set-up with a number of check points around the course to ensure that entrants pass over each timing mat or that there is no inconsistencies in timing between stages on the course.
Each bike-mounted chip has a unique serial number and the timing mat has an induction loop which reads the chip as it passes over it. A laptop uses a software programme to collect the data which can then be sorted / analysed using a spreadsheet programme. They are generally work on elapsed time i.e. start to finish - you could do multi-stage with stop-start 'gate' points at feed stations etc but that would be more expensive / complex to manage.
If you want to know your elapsed time, use your own bike computer.

springtide9

Peddle Up! wrote:

As used in sportives etc. How do they work?

Think they use RFID Tech:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-freq ... tification

The only issue with them (if doing say a large timed run event)... is that they can be triggered before you pass the actual start line. Some events use cameras to 'adjust' the actual start time. It's less of an issue on the finish time... as you are not all bunched up trying to get over the line (generally).

rich164h

Some of the running events that I've done have used these at various points around the course to give 5km/10km split times, but it's normally only the larger events such as the Great North/South Run. I've never seen this in a sportive, nor do I see why you'd need to. It's not a race, unlike those other events which are (even if the majority of the field are only trying to finish). As others have said, use your bike computer if you really want/need to know.

I personally like to keep track of my "moving time" rather than total time as it's the only simple and yet meaningful way that I can compare my performance of one ride to another (assuming there isn't massive differences in terrain). Total ride time means (i.e. including stops) nothing to me as I don't compete, whereas having a rough guide about whether I'm getting quicker/fitter or not is important to me. My garmin forerunner and edge 800 both give me the moving time (and average moving speed) directly.

Without wishing to open up a whole different debate, I must admit that almost everyone I see at a sportive has a bike computer so I'm a bit unsure about why they even bother timing those events. It's not like you can compare yourself to anyone else anyway as you have no idea how hard people were trying, who stopped for lunch, who didn't etc etc...