Understanding British time trial courses is renowned by the uninitiated as being something of a black art. Events are listed in an annual handbook published by the CTT where dates, times and organisers details are listed for riders to enter. All seems clear enough... but the actual courses to be used are only described by cryptic letter number codes such as A25/16 or K16/25. For the uninitiated we've tried to list some of the popular local courses as an introduction.
First up, and very importantly, the first letter always indicates the geographical region in the country.
A - is for the Central district, this is the district that includes Derby.
K - is for the Midland district which includes Burton, Warwickshire, Coventry etc.
O - is for the North Midlands district which starts north of Matlock and Bakewell.
J - is for the Manchester district which includes Cheshire and courses west of Uttoxeter.
Dual Carriageways / Drag Strips
These are "fast" courses that are favoured by riders who are looking to set Personal Bests, compete
in Open BAR competitions, or just plain don't like hills.
| 10 miles | 25 miles | 50 miles | 100 miles | ||
| Long Bennington (A1) | A10/14A | A25/4 | |||
| Etwall (A50) | A10/19 | A25/11 | A50/6 | A100/4 | |
| Carlton-on-Trent (A1) | A10/21 | A25/25 | A50/25 | ||
| Princethorpe (A45) | K10/10 | ||||
| Burton (A38) | K16/25 | ||||
| Ranby (A1) | O10/2 | O25/10 | O50/6 |
SPOCO / Sporting Courses
Whilst these courses don't include any real hills the roads typically are rolling and twisty, often with a rough or "grippy" surface. Not conducive to fast times but popular with those who don't want to ride drag strips. The DMRC BAR competition was introduced to encourage those who prefer this sort of course.
| 10 miles | 25 miles | 50 miles | ||
| Griffydam | A10/17 | A25/16 | ||
| Goostrey | J2/3 | J2/9 | J4/16 | |
| Wolvey | K41/10 | K41/25 |
Hillys / Hardriders
These events are typically early in the season and are often favoured by road racers looking for some hard miles to polish their form. The distances are often "non-standard", so not the 10, 25, 50 miles etc. used by the Open BAR competitions.
| AH/2 | Matlock Hilly | 25 miles | |
| AH/8 | Windley Circuit (2 laps) | 21 miles | |
| J8/3 | Buxton Mountain TT (Longnor) | 33 miles | |
| J8/4 | Adoria (Tour of Kinder) | 26 miles |
Hill Climbs
Strictly for the masochistic, the shorter they are the steeper the gradient.
| AHC/1 | Riber (from Matlock) | 1308 yds | |
| AHC/6 | Bank Road, Matlock | 850 yds | |
| J9/5 | Snake Pass (from Glossop) | 3.2 miles | |
| J9/7 | Cat & Fiddle (from Macclesfield) | 7 miles | |
| OHC3 | Monsal Head | 645 yds | |
| OHC8 | Beeley Moor | 2.3 miles | |
| OHC5 | Curbar | 1,796 yds | |
| OHC6 | Rowsley Bank | 970 yds |
2008 CTT Handbook
