Testing times

James Shrubsall speaks to competitors, organisers and the CTT about the challenges facing time trialling in the modern era

- James Shrubsall

Just as a picture paints a thousand words, in the sporting world the numbers often say it all. In snooker, 147; in cricket, a century; in golf, one. Time trialling, more than most branches of cycle sport, is predicated on figures – the key distances are 10, 25; the key times are 50, 20 minutes; and when it comes to pinning on a number, 120 are the coveted digits. If you have that printed on the square piece of flapping plastic safety-pinned to your skinsuit, it means you are the fastest rider in a full field – the one to beat.

Most riders will never get to wear it, and for the time being at least, the opportunities to do so are dwindling. The current trend for low entries means full fields of 120 riders are becoming increasingly rare, with the usually oversubscribed National Championship 25 being one of the most recent – and high-profile casualties.

There have been changes at the top of Cycling Time Trials (CTT), the organisation overseeing the sport, including a new chair for the first time in 13 years, and it has taken the unusual step of surveying its members to find out exactly what is going on with the low turnouts.

There are a variety of theories as to why numbers are down, most of them linked directly or indirectly to the Covid-19 and cost of living crisis – though a number of riders and organisers CW spoke to suggested these factors had only served to accelerate an issue that was already present.