Veterans Time Trials Association
Competitive Cycling for Life ^
Standards
What are Age Adjusted Times (AATs)?
Age Adjustments modify a rider's actual result by subtracting an amount of time according to their age and classification (open or female). This allows performances across ages and between classifications to be fairly compared. (Note in the 12 and 24 hour distance events the Age Adjustment works by adding an amount of distance rather than by subtracting an amount of time).
As well as tables of Age Adjustments for solo bikes the VTTA also provides tables for solo trikes, tandem bikes and tandem trikes. Riders on road bikes use the solo bike tables for comparisons within their category.
These two examples show how Age Adjustments work:
- Rider A, a 45 year old man, is riding a 25 mile time trial. His actual time is 58:55. His Age Adjustment for that distance is 55 seconds, so his Age Adjusted Time (AAT) is 58:00.
- Rider B, a 56 year old woman, is riding the same event. Her Age Adjustment is 10:00. She rides the course in 01:07:30, so her AAT is 57:30.
- Rider B while slower on actual time has a faster age adjusted time so would win on age adjustment
We update Age Adjustments to ensure that they are based on the performance of the current rider population. When we do that we publish new tables of Age Adjustments. Only the Age Adjustments applicable at the time of a result should be used. We do not change history!
As you age and hopefully keep racing, your Age Adjustment increases. This means that you can always compare your Age Adjusted Time or Distance to see if you’re improving against expectations.
Historic Note:
‘Standard’ times were the VTTA's method of calculating veterans' 'handicaps' prior to the introduction of Age Adjustments. If you beat the standard time for your age you achieved a ‘Plus on Standard’. Plusses were used to rank riders in our results up until 2022.