New Closing-Time Rule for the First 60 km
The interaction of control closing time with the start control’s one-hour open window has been one of the endearing, or annoying, or nerve-wracking rules of US randonneuring. Ride starts are always open for one hour. You may miss the starting time by up to 60 minutes and still begin a ride. But prior to this rule change, if there were a nearby control you may have been out of luck: The closing time for all other controls was calculated at a steady 15 kph pace* beginning at the official start time. For example, if the first control was at 15 km, it closed one hour after the start, at the same time the starting control closed! Besides challenging the perpetually tardy, this method severely penalized a random mechanical such as a puncture. This issue complicated course design when the early portion of a route might have required a control.
RUSA has adopted a modified closing-time rule for the first 60 km of a ride. The rule is:
Elapsed closing time = 1 hr + distance/20 kph
You now get the 1 hour start control window, plus the time it takes to ride to a control at 20 kph (about 12 mph). At 60 km the new closing time coincides with the old 15 kph rule. Beyond 60 km, 15 kph remains the minimum speed.*
Here are examples of the old and new rules. Times are elapsed time from the ride start.
Distance
(km)
|
Old
(h:min)
|
New
(h:min)
|
0 (start)
|
1:00
|
1:00
|
1
|
0:04
|
1:03
|
5
|
0:20
|
1:15
|
10
|
0:40
|
1:30
|
15
|
1:00
|
1:45
|
20
|
1:20
|
2:00
|
40
|
2:40
|
3:00
|
60
|
4:00
|
4:00
|
The new rule has been incorporated into the RUSA calculators, thanks to Lynne Fitzsimmons. The rule applies to ACP brevets, RUSA brevets, and RUSA permanents.
Control opening times are not affected.
Some of SIR’s permanent routes will need to be updated with new closing times for early controls. The new timing rule applies even if the route sheet and card have not been updated. If you find a route with obsolete times, let us know at permanents@seattlerando.org.
___________________________________________________________________________
*At long distances the minimum speed you must maintain decreases. For details see:
https://rusa.org/octime_perm.html
https://rusa.org/pages/acp-brevet-control-times-calculator
(the explanatory speed tables on these pages have not been updated with the new rule as of 3/21/18)