As you may know me and cody are taking over trials at cmw. it will be friday afternoon after the ride. we are trying to bring in some trials bikers and the trials bike rule system. so we have created a hybrid rule system that should be really fun. it combines our system of repeated tries with the 5 point and group system of bike trials. this system makes the competition alot more fun and organized.
heres the rules i have written up.
5 point hybrid trials rules.
Points-on any line a rider can receive between 0 and 5 points based on the number of attempts it takes them to finish the line; 0 being the best, 5 being the worst. For example, If a rider cleans the line on the first try they are given a 0, second try a 1, third try a 2 and so on. If the rider fails to complete the line after 5 total attempts they are given a 5, this is called “5ing out” and is the end of the riders turn. At the end of the competition each riders points will be totaled up and a winner decided.
Groups- riders will form groups of around 5 riders (depending on size of competition) that are divided by skill level ex. Expert groups, intermediate groups, ETC. Each group will be accompanied by a judge or judge each other, again depending on size of competition. Riders in each group stay together and take turns attempting each line until they have all attempted the line then they move on to the next line as a group. The course will contain 5-10 lines that the groups will make 2 laps around.
Turns-. A riders turn ends when they have cleaned the line or have 5ed out. Unless there is a mechanical failure a rider must not begin their turn until the rider in front of them has finished theirs. Riders may walk the line at any time but may not practice on the line before or after an attempt. If rider fails an attempt they must then return to the beginning of the line and begin there next attempt. Once all riders in a group have cleaned or “5ed out” the line they move to the next line as a group.
were using the same rules for cleaning the line, this is just a different point system. might sound kind of weird but i promise you this style of competition is alot better and really fun.
Thanks for posting a more detailed version of your new rules. It looks simple, fun to watch, and should work really well for small to medium-sized Trials comps, maybe all sizes. As with any Trials comp, it’s important that all riders have an equal understanding of the rules for each section; someone to make sure one group doesn’t interpret it differently from another. That’s something to keep an eye on. Also to make sure the riders in each group are keeping each other honest, and not “letting stuff slide” for accurate scores.
If you’re coming, don’t forget to register!
I plan to be there for the Trials (you guys need to set a start time), but my primary activity will probably be photography. Otherwise I’ll be able to help out some.
I feel like the comp would go a little faster if you had a try, and then it was the next persons turn. If I fall and need a minute, does everyone still have to wait? If I have horrible lung capacity and am about to have a heart attack after every attempt, does everyone still have to wait?
Other than that I like the idea a lot. I competed in my first bike trials comp yesterday and despite 5-ing out the whole course, I had a lot of fun.
That’s what I was telling Cody too, also I think it’s possible that the first one to go may be at a disadvantage because they don’t get a chance to watch everyone else try.
I think generally it is a good idea though. All of the newer types of uni competitions seem to be heading toward groups (flat battles, street zones and this if it catches on or becomes official one day).
Yeah we all talked abou that. It was just so much more simple to have one person go 5 times, less to write down on the score cards, and easier to judge. the lines are going to be short and there are only going to be 5 different lines that we are going to do twice as a group. Shouldn’t be a big deal really.
Ohh and John, I was thinkin about startin the comp at 2? few hours of some dh before the comp. Im prolly not gonna do much or any muni that morning if it takes to much to set all this up lol
WHAT? Each rider does five tries at a time? Sure it’s got to be easier to keep track of, but what a disadvantage for whoever goes first! Being out of shape aside (top Trials riders rarely are), it seems a lot more equitable for everyone to take turns. If people stay in the same order it should be easy to keep track. That way, each rider gets to learn the section a bit at a time, instead of having the first riders “demonstrate” where all the problem spots are.
2:00 pm sounds good for competition time. Leaves plenty of time for the event to take place, and maybe even enough for participants and spectators to take a final run down the mountain afterward! The lifts close at 5:00.
If you have the judge holding the groups scorecards, they could just make a tally mark every failed attempt, with some other symbol denominating that they completed the line. Or, like john suggested, make sure there’s a consistent order.
One thought is that it’ll take longer to add up the scores at the end. Most riders won’t attempt all the lines: reversing the scoring system with 5 points for a clear line and 0 for a fail will save you a lot of time at the end adding it all up… and everyone will want to know where they placed. I’m assuming the bike trials system is for serious competitions rather than fun competitions.
This is just the view of a lazy person…
it doesnt take long at all. you just quickly add up there points and give them a score out of the total. so if there are 5 lines with 2 laps and 5 total per line you would have a total of 50 points possible. then you just find the lowest scores and you have the winners.
also with the tries. the same person doesnt have to go first every time. we usually switch off. with this comp being small and not having official judges we thought it would be best to keep it simple like that. though in a larger more official comp a tally mark system like max suggested would work perfectly.
it was really fun. and it looked like everyone that competed had fun. we had some really cool lines but there was only like 15 people or so that competed.
results for the trials comp…
intermediate,
1 alden crowe
2 scott wilton
3… (cody has the score sheets)
expert,
1 joe campbell
2 kris holm
3 cody williams
4 jarin erickson
5 spencer hochberg
cody can post more detailed results and if anybody that competed wants to give there 2 cents on this trials idea it would be cool.
I think the format is interesting. I would definitely lose the idea of doing two laps on the obstacles; it’s boring going back and re-doing what you’ve already done. Other than that I think it can work.
ya the 2 laps thing is part of the bike trials rules so we thought we would use that but i dont think it fits with this 5 tries system. in bike trials you only have one chance per lap to do the line. so the second lap is there to give you another shot at it.
I totally forgot about the score sheets. I never really finished unpacking from Tahoe lol. The main problem we had was the size of groups. When every riders only gets one try in a bike comp, groups of 5-8 is perfect. When people are cycling through attempts, that many riders waiting causes too much of a time lapse. If we had groups of 3 riders, It would not have been bad at all and given plenty of time to finish the 2nd lap. The 2nd lap I do feel to be necissary(sp?) because by then you have learned the line, your nerves are settled you are more prepared, and it gives a chance to challange the other riders consistancy. It seems the best possible pairing would be; groups of 3 riders, each given 3 attempts on each line with 2 laps.
