Our rides are not races, they are reliability trials for solo riders riding a bicycle without any dedicated assistance.  There are no entry fees and no prizes.  There are no officiators, no marshals, no ride leaders, no rescue services.  There is no support.  

Only turn up on the start-line if you agree to abide by the following rules:

  1. Strive to be a good ancestor.  Riders are encouraged to go beyond 'Leave No Trace' principles when riding/camping by extending these principles to other aspects of our lives e.g. take the train/public transport/carpool/ride rather than driving solo to/from a ride; and B) become a member of Trees For Life who are restoring a large area of Scottish wilderness and attend one of our club tree planting days.
  2. Every rider is responsible for his/her actions. Riders acknowledge that The Racing Collective is a not-for-profit club run by volunteers with no experience in event management/risk mitigation and the GPS routes are untested prior to the event.  As such, the rider is responsible for his/her actions; the collective itself carries no liability. Riders must register their contact details ahead of the ride via the form on the Trials page.​
  3. Riders should always consider safety first when making any decisions. Riders acknowledge they are riding on open roads/public rights of way often in the dark.  ​Riders must know and observe all local traffic laws and act responsibly with regards to other users, especially pedestrians who may feel vulnerable to fast moving bikes.  Our rides are Reliability Trials not races, designed as training rides to test mind, body, and equipment for upcoming ultras. Drafting is not allowed and you are strongly encouraged to report foul play/unsafe riding.
  4. Cycling insurance is mandatory.
  5. Cycle helmets, lights, reflective gear and fully functional bicycle with brakes are mandatory. 
  6. Dress appropriately for the conditions at all times and carry enough equipment to cope with unexpected stops/mechanicals.
  7. ​No 3rd party support, private lodgings or resupply. All food, drink and equipment must be carried with you or acquired at commercially available services.  Riders should ride in the spirit of self-reliance and equal opportunity.
  8. Riders agree that social media content posted in relation to the ride can be re-used by The Racing Collective in online posts and the club Yearbook, with the intention of promoting the activities of the club, without prior consent of the rider. ​We're also keen to hear your stories from the ride (highlights/lowlights/anecdotes) to go into our Yearbook - within a week of finishing the ride, please send us a short (100-500 words) piece together with full resolution photos with captions.
  9. Riders must show evidence of their ride.  For 'Trans' trials, riders must tweet a timestamped photo at the start, each checkpoint and the finish including the designated ride hashtag; you must have tweeted the start and checkpoint photos before you take your finish photo; the finish photo should be posted immediately [see full guidelines in section below]. For 'XDURO' trials, upload your ride to Strava as soon as you finish your ride (ensuring privacy settings are set to 'everyone can see')​; results will be collated a few minutes before midnight on the day of the trial - no upload, no results [see segment pitfalls to avoid below; if your segment fails to record you will be assigned the time of the slowest segment recording of the day]. 
  10. Buy your fellow racers a beer.  Tradition has it that the first home buys the second place finisher a drink; the second place rider buys the third place rider a drink; and so on, until the whole field of finishers are catered for.  That is, all apart from the rider first home.​

Trans

Before the day of the start:
  • Download an app like 'Timestamp Photo and Video Free' for Android or iPhone and practise using it before the event! You want to configure the timestamp so it is visible in the twitter feed without having to click on the photo to see it and it should be in the format "d MMM y H:mm:ss"
  • We encourage riders to post a #rider&rig (ala bikepacking.com) shot on instagram - tell us a little bit about you/your setup and remember to tag The Racing Collective.
Start:
  • Take a photo at the start, timestamp it, and post immediately on Insta or Twitter.
Each checkpoint:
  • Take a photo at each checkpoint to show proof you were there, timestamp it and post it to Insta/Twitter. You should post the photo as soon as you can.
  • You must post the checkpoint photos before you take your finish photo. That way the timestamp of the finishing photos can be compared on a like-for-like basis.
  • We will be travelling through remote areas without phone reception but this is not an excuse for failing to post the photos before the finish.  Being organised is part of self-supported riding. To paraphrase the late Mike Hall, if you get lost, get un-lost… if you have no phone reception, get some phone reception.
End:
  • Take a photo at the finish, timestamp it, and post immediately on Insta or Twitter.
Post-ride:
  • If you do have to scratch, please also post using the designated ride hashtag, or send us a DM via Twitter/Insta.
  • If you don’t agree with the published results, check that you’ve followed the rules above.  If there is still a discrepancy and you feel passionately robbed then contact TRC privately (please don’t use a public forum).
  • Please share your strava ride on Twitter/Insta asap after finishing; it's fascinating to see where people went and we can make a flyby video if you upload straight away. 

xduro

  • During a segment if you go the wrong way (~50m perpendicular to the route or going in the wrong direction), Strava will discontinue the segment recording and your only solution is to go back to the start and restart the segment!
  • It is the rider's responsibility to be super careful and alert to turnings etc and navigate appropriately. You will need a designated GPS device fitted to your bike.  Phones attached to the bars can get knocked off and a phone in the back pocket is next to useless on complex segments.  If you are using a phone, Maps.me provides free offline mapping.
  • If you know you have to deviate from the route you can stop recording, go get some food or whatever you need to do, and restart the recording in exactly the same place you stopped it, the segment will still be recorded (elapsed time so you gain no advantage by stopping it).​ 
  • Make sure you have enough battery capacity in your GPS/phone for continuous use over the race (external batteries are a no brainer).  For multi-day rides you can upload to Strava at the end of each day or pause the recording during the night.​
  • Upload your ride to Strava as soon as you can after finishing the route. You must save your ride with privacy settings so that 'everyone can see' or it won't be picked up in our results. Results will be taken at 11.59pm on the day of the ride so make sure you upload promptly. 
  • If your segment fails to be picked up you will be assigned the time of the slowest segment recording of the day. 
  • You are advised to record on multiple GPS devices in case a segment isn't picked up on your primary GPS.