I. Y-R Divisions
Rides are categorized in 7 divisions:
- Organized Long Division
- Organized Century Division
- Personal Long Division
- Personal Century Division
- Indoor Long Division
- Indoor Century Division
- Combined Division
More Specifics about the divisions:
Organized Long Division: Organized rides of >150 miles. You must complete at least 150 miles of the ride to receive credit. You will receive credit for your actual, on-route mileage.
Organized Century Division: Organized rides of >90 and <150 miles. You must complete at least 90 miles of the ride to receive credit. You will receive credit for your actual, on-route mileage.
Personal Long Division: Personal rides of >150 miles documented by receipts, tracking graph, and/or witness verification. For credit, you must complete at least 150 miles in an 18 hour period (and maintain an 8.33 mph average after that).
Personal Century Division: Personal rides of >90 and <150 miles, documented by receipts, tracking graph, and/or witness verification. For credit, you must complete at least 90 miles in an 11 hour period including off the bike time (and maintain an 8.33 mph average after that).
Indoor Long Division: Indoor rides of >150 miles documented by valid electronic rides using Smart-Trainer, and actual power. For credit, you must complete at least 150 miles in an 18 hour period (and maintain an 8.33 mph average after that).
Indoor Century Division: Indoor rides of >90 and <150 miles, documented by valid electronic rides using Smart-Trainer, and actual power. For credit, you must complete at least 90 miles in an 11 hour period including off the bike time (and maintain an 8.33 mph average after that).
Combined Division: Combined mileage from the all 6 Organized, Personal, and Indoor divisions above. Overall Y-R standings are shown in order of Combined Division mileage. However, excelling in a given division (for example, the Organized Long Division) is a worthy goal, and is recognized as such (see below).
Special Note on Indoor rides:
Indoor Division: Any indoor rides of 90 miles or more that are completed on “virtual riding platforms” such as Zwift, Rouvy, or “similar” (with the use of a smart trainer that can register real power output) where actual riding conditions mimic real world in relation to effort and road grade, can be counted for Year Rounder Indoor Rides. Actual Power measurements must be included, and the ride results must be submitted in some format where mileage, distance and avg power are displayed. Note: The only deviation from this rule is that anyone is still allowed to submit 6-hours of indoor riding without power and have it count for the Larry Schwarz award. 6 hours = 100 Miles (just notate that in your submission)
II. General Rules
WUCA Membership: To get Y-R credit for a ride, a person must be a WUCA member at the time the ride was completed or submit a membership application postmarked within 14 days after the end of the ride.
Y-R Year: The Y-R year runs from January 1 through December 31. Because up to two make-up rides are allowed for the Larry Schwartz award, riders can still start as late as March.
Tandem Mileage: Rides may be done on a tandem bicycle (or triple, etc.) and the rules for the above divisions apply. A tandem rider accumulates tandem mileage independent of partner(s).
A rider may do different rides with different tandem partners, and the partner need not be a WUCA member. But a given tandem ride must be ridden with no more than one partner, except for reasons such as illness, injury, or logistical which are approved by the Y-R chair.
Indoor Mileage (non “virtual riding platform: option):: You may ride indoors “centuries” (six hours) for credit in the Y-R, so long as they follow the WUCA Indoor Challenge rules. You may ride up to twelve a year (viz., enough to qualify for the Larry Schwartz award). Indoor centuries are submitted in the normal way as Personal rides, or as Organized if ridden as part of an organized indoor event, publicized as per the Y-R rules.
Indoor Mileage (“virtual riding platform: option): Any indoor rides of 90 miles or more that are completed on “virtual riding platforms” such as Zwift, Rouvy, or “similar” (with the use of a smart trainer that can register real power output) where actual riding conditions mimic real world in relation to effort and road grade, can be counted for Year Rounder Indoor Rides. . Actual Power measurements must be included, and the ride results must be submitted in some format where mileage, distance and avg power are displayed. No minimum time, but actual speed must “make sense” with reported power reading or your ride may be denied.
For credit in the Indoor Challenge you must submit the ride separately to the Indoor Challenge.
Other Rider Classifications There are no gender or age-based divisions in the Y-R because cycling speed and endurance are not major criteria in the Year Rounder Challenge.
III. Recognition & Awards
The WUCA recognizes one consistency-based award and three distance-based levels of accomplishment. (The rider’s award will reflect the highest distance level achieved plus Larry Schwartz award if qualified.)
Larry Schwartz award: completing at least one Year Rounder ride in each calendar month, with up to two make-up rides — award is a medal.
Gold: 3,000 miles or more in the Combined division — award is a medal.
Platinum: 5,000 miles in the Combined division — award is a medal.
Who’s Who: the top five Platinum riders in each division – award is plaque (or medallion if desired) and mention in our Social Media accounts and online magazine if available.
Standings: are published daily on this website: on this site. In addition, Y-R participants can receive standings updates via e-mail. To be added to the distribution list please Contact Year Rounder News Team
Note: Starting in 2019, riders will earn awards, but since we are not charging for the YR challenge any longer, each rider that earns an award has the option of purchasing it from the award company. If you paid $10 for 2019 YR, you will receive a credit of that amount for your award (or you can request a refund).
IV. Organized Rides
Organized Events: “Organized” means that the event must have: a name, start/finish location, starting time(s), route plan, registration or sign-in, an organizer, and advance publication.
Publication of Organized Events: Publication can take the form of flyers (distributed to bike shops, for example), announcement in club newsletters, advertisement in local papers, publication at the national level (e.g, in American Randonneur), etc., or — if the ride is part of a ride series — publication of the ride series (see below). The ride or ride series must be publicized at least 14 days in advance. The organizer can provide some ride details later or change them as circumstances require (for example, change of route, change of start time)… so long as the organizer provides a means for participants to learn of details and changes in a timely manner.
Electronic Ride Publication: Publicizing an organized ride or ride series on a website or by e-mail is sufficient provided:
- the existence of the web page e-mail distribution list is publicized as above (e.g., club newsletter), and
- interested riders will be provided with a physical notice, if they request.
Sending out notice of a ride to a personal e-mail distribution list or posting the ride on a web-page is not by itself sufficient.
Publicizing a Ride Series: Individual rides in a ride series can be publicized electronically — so long as the ride series as a whole is publicized as above.
Ride Submission: You may submit your ride in any of these ways:
- Online form from the rider is preferred including event name, date, actual distance ridden, and results-page web link for the event; The “evidence” can be a link to your electronically-recorded ride data on such sites as (but not limited to) Polar, Garmin, Strava, MapMyRide, or DailyMile. (Note: the page should be public and not require that we create an account.)
- Single-ride printed form (for single-stage events) signed by an event official, plus the event’s flyer or route sheet mailed to the address shown on the form,
- Multiple-stage printed form for multi-stage events), with info as above
Ride Submission Deadline: Rides must be submitted within 14 days of the completion of event. (For multi-week tours, riders are encouraged to make weekly intermediate submissions if convenient.)
The Organizer: Remember that most events are not organized with the WUCA in mind, and most ride officials have a lot to take care of during and after an event. Remember also that it is your responsibility — not the WUCA’s or the ride official’s — to assure that the ride submission contains the proper info and is sent to the Y-R chair within the deadline.
Add-On Mileage: A ride organizer may provide add-on mileage options to allow the ride to qualify for Y-R credit.
An individual may also add mileage to an organized ride to make it a longer personal ride provided:
- the rider documents the personal part(s) of the ride as per the rules,
- the total distance puts the ride in another distance division from the organized event.
Examples include a 60-mile club ride as part of a 90+ mile personal century or riding a 200K brevet as part of a personal long ride. However, riding a 300K brevet in the midst of a personal double century would count as a 300K organized ride.
90-Mile Minimum: The 90-mile minimum is meant to take into account organized rides billed as a century in concept, but which, because of routing constraints, etc., fall slightly short of 100 miles. It is not meant to suggest that 90 miles constitute a century per se.
Unusual events: The Y-R chair will consider giving credit for exceptional events which do not meet the rules. E.g., a) if an event is shorter than 90 miles and the terrain and cycling conditions are exceptionally difficult; or b) if the distance meets the rules but the event is so difficult that it doesn’t meet the average speed requirements. Include an explanation of the details with event submission.
Multi-Day Rides: A ride extending beyond 24 hours or across day boundaries will count as a single, extended ride as long as an average speed of 200 miles per day (8.33 mph) is maintained. For example, Paris-Brest-Paris, with a 90-hour cut-off for its 1200km distance, requires essentially that average speed.
Multi-Stage Events: A multi-day series of stages (for example, a multi-day tour) counts as a series of individual rides and each ride will be eligible for an organized ride as long a each ride meets the greater than 90 miles rule.
Mileage Deviations: You are credited with your actual on-route mileage (no credit for riding to or from the event, or getting lost en route). The actual distance may differ from the published distance because of last minute route changes (including detours for safety reasons), inaccurate measurement of the route, add-on mileage options provided by the organizer, etc. If your actual mileage differs from the published, you can note the reason on your submission.
V. Personal Rides
Time and Distance: Riders on Personal rides must average at least 8.33 mph including off-the-bike time. Distance must be 90 miles or greater at an elapsed average of at least 8.33 mph, i.e., 90 miles within 11 hours, etc..
Personal Ride Documentation: Personal rides are documented via “verification points” using the Year Rounder form. Verification points must indicate location, date, and time. Verification points must be made, and:
- within 10 miles of the start and 10 miles of the end of the ride, and
- approximately every 50 miles in between, except that:
- if the total mileage is less than 15 miles beyond a 50-mile mark, an additional verification point is not needed.
The preferred method of verification is by electronic submission. You may use an automated tracking device that provides a record of mileage ridden over time, such as certain integrated heartrate monitors or GPS-based systems. The submission must show a graph or map of distance over time, plus total distance (rather than, say, a list of GPS coordinates and times).
On the online form, you can submit “evidence” of your ride by pasting in a link to your ride data (uploaded from your GPS or other device) to such sites as (but not limited to) Polar, Garmin, MayMyRide, or DailyMile. (Note: the page should be public and not require that we create an account.)
An alternative method of verification is by receipts (store, ATM, or other receipts) showing location, date, and time. If a receipt cannot be obtained at a given point, then a witness may sign the form and provide an e-mail address for electronic verification.
Ride Submission Deadline: Rides must be submitted within 14 days of their completion.
Ride Submission: Submit your personal ride as follows:
- Online (preferred) which includes a link to a web page that shows your ride data (uploaded from your GPS or other device).
- Single-ride printed form plus your verification receipts (or tracking device log) mailed to the address shown on the form.
Mileage Measurement: Use your bike’s odometer/computer to ascertain mileage, if it is accurately calibrated. Otherwise, or if your computer fails en route, you may use map mileage.
Record Attempts Time or distance-based WUCA-sanctioned individual record attempts count as Personal Division rides. Submit the official’s log and results for verification. Examples would be a 24-hour record attempt or a border-to-border state crossing.
Permanent Randonnées: A “Permanent” is a randonnée run under brevet rules, etc., but ridden on a date agreed upon personally between rider and organizer. Therefore, riding a Permanent counts for Personal Division credit.
Support Crews: If you have a support crew for a Personal Division ride, your support crew may obtain or provide verification on your behalf.
VI. Larry Schwartz award rides
Participation: Year Rounder participants are automatically included in the Larry Schwartz award.
Ride Submission and Tracking: A Larry Schwartz participant simply submits Year Rounder rides in the usual way. The rider does not need to denote that any particular ride counts toward a given month’s Larry Schwartz credit or make-up.
Make-Up Rides: Larry Schwartz award aspirants are strongly encouraged to ride at least one Y-R event every month. However, since severe weather or injury may prevent that, a rider may make up at most two missed months per year, by riding extra one(s) earlier or later that same year. For example, if the rider completes no ride in February, riding two in March can make up for February.
Indoor: Any indoor ride of greater than 90 miles counts as Y-R rides earn credit for the Larry Schwartz award. This can be the 6-hour (Century) non-power register ride or any indoor ride using power that is greater than 90 miles.
Calendar Month Credit: A ride that span months is credited to the month in which the ride starts (for example, a 400k brevet which the rider starts on May 31 and finishes on June 1) – or, if a make-up, to the made-up month.
Sign me up! You do not need to sign up for the Year Rounder any longer. Just be an active WUCA member. Simply submit your first ride and you will “be in”: Submit a Year Rounder
Questions?
Contact Year Rounder Team