Time trial races in cycling events is an interesting sport to be timed with RaceGorilla. A time trial can be both individual as well as in teams. As the distances covered are often rather large, it can be very nice to have volunteers or race staff taking splits along the course. The good thing is, with RaceGorilla you can virtually have as many splits as you want, just as long as you have enough volunteers with connected smartphones along the course.
How to use RaceGorilla in time trial?
Time trial cycling is an individual sport and mostly the competitors start at a fixed interval time of about 30 to 60 seconds. As the cyclists start at a fixed start interval, it is always possible to manage the finish density to a certain extent, in order to be able to provide accurate timing. The top riders for example, could be granted a bit more start interval time.
It is also possible to have multiple finish devices available at the finish. Live split time updates can be interesting for the spectators as sometimes large distances are covered along the beach and can be hard to follow the race.
When timing a time trial race, it is possible to use just use manual timing. If the times have to be more accurate, it is possible to connect the finish button to a Alge Timy or a Tag Heuer CP5xx and send the times to the smartphone at the finish using the RaceGorilla Bluebox, the exact time will be online in a matter of seconds.
See also MTB downhill as another possible cycling discipline.
Have a look at this example results from the Koppelkoers
Time trial formats for cycling
For Cycling, there are basically two formats available: Time trial and mass start. In a time trial each competitor can be started individually, in a mass start the racers are started per category. It is possible to start multiple categories or start groups at the same time (for example the juniors and the elite).
A simple race only contains a start and a finish. To give more insights of the race to the supporters, a number of split points can be added. In RaceGorilla there is a default face format available for cycling.
It has a start and a finish, and a category of men and women. In the RaceGorilla online dashboard, you can change to any other setting you need for your race.
Photo credits: Team Jumbo-Visma
