Rule Book

Purpose and Mission

The Online Winter League has run during the first part of the year since 2020 as a way for local riders (and friends of local riders) to come together and have fun during months when training is boring and outside weather is unpredictable.  We aim to bring people from across multiple cycling disciplines into events where they can compete against one another and enjoy both camaraderie and competition.  There are no USAC or UCI points on offer, and so while we want everyone to compete hard and train for their upcoming seasons or goals we still emphasize the fun of racing.  

Platform

New for 2025: we'll be racing on the TrainingPeaks Virtual app.  Previously we had been using Zwift, and while there can be debate about which cycling app everyone prefers it is objectively clear at this point that TPV offers more options for race diversity and more tools for race organizers.  Additionally, TPV is currently free and will be until at least the end of the first quarter in 2025.  (After that, an annual TrainingPeaks Premium subscription--which provides both the analytic software and the TPV app--is still cheaper than Zwift's annual cost.)  We understand the inertia to leaving Zwift, even if only for a single series, but the level of confidence that this will improve the series is high.  (We have, as of writing this rule book, personally invested 63 days and 17 hours of time riding on Zwift; are at the maximum level of 100; and have exceeded 52,000 kilometers and 367,000 meters of elevation on the platform.  So the decision to move the series was not taken lightly nor without understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the two platforms to conduct this specific series.

You can download the free TPV app here: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/virtual/

Scoring

In each event points will be awarded based on an individual's finish.  There are no team scoring events for the 2025 series.  While riders may race and compete as a team, all scoring is based on individual results.  Series standings will be based on the cumulative score for the series, tabulated after each event.

Criterium Races

Road races on criterium courses will be scored the same as in past years.  First place will be awarded thirty (30) points, second place will be awarded twenty-nine (29) points, and so on all the way to a single point for thirtieth place.  In the unlikely event that there are ever more than thirty riders there will be zero points awarded for each place after thirtieth.  This will be the same for both scratch races and points races.   

Omnium Events

New in 2025 will be omnium weeks.  These weeks will include several shorter events in one night, and each event will be scored individually and will also accumulate omnium points for an overall winner.  We believe this system fairly rewards individual prowess in an event and also all-around excellence for the omnium.  Additionally, riders who are specialists now have more avenues to compete across the series rather than all six weeks rewarding the same rider strength profile.

Series Points: Each individual event in an omnium will award ten (10) series points for first place, nine (9) for second, and so on all the way to a single point for tenth place and each place thereafter.  So on a night with three events in an omnium a rider who wins all three events would accumulate 30 points for his or her series standing.

Omnium Points: The omnium itself has cumulative standing, and riders accrue points from each event toward the overall omnium.  To that end--and especially to keep things easy during the evening of the omnium when posting standings in real time during short break windows may prove difficult--omnium points will be awarded in the same fashion as the series points.  So if a rider finishes third in the first event (8 points) and sixth in the second event (5 points) they would have a cumulative of 13 omnium points going into the third event of the evening.  While we will try to post the omnium standings in real time, doing so is dependent on TrainingPeaks Virtual reporting them in a timely manner and our ability to tabulate and publish them during breaks that may be as short as five minutes.  This may make keeping track of your competition's standing difficult, but we will do our best to keep information as available as possible.

Omnium Overall Winner Points: As stated, individual omnium events will award points for the Online Winter League overall standings.  Additionally, the overall omnium placement will also award points.  First place in the overall omnium will be awarded seven (7) points, second will be awarded six (6) points, and so on all the way to a single point for seventh place.  So the maximum total score on an omnium week with two events would be 27 (win both events and also receive the 7 points for the overall win) or on a week with three events would be 37 (win all three events and also receive the 7 points for the overall win).  

Leaders

We will track the overall leader in the series.  Additionally, we will keep separate leader standings for Women and Junior as categories.  A rider may lead in more than one category.  Leaders for the series can be found on the Results page.

Event Rules

Expectation of Integrity: You are expected to race fairly and honestly.  There is no handicapping this year, so all riders are expected to compete with accurate height and weight information.  (We don't require day-of weigh ins, but if you're still using a weight from four years ago and just assuming it's accurate you might need to consider finding a scale.)  It is recommended (but not required) for race integrity that you weigh yourself at least once a week.  Ensure that your equipment is properly calibrated and in good working order. The TrainingPeaks performance verification will be set to a minimum to allow wider participation (no heart rate required, no second power source, etc) but because this series is meant to be both friendly and fun we ask that you race with integrity.  You're on the honor system.  You are required to race on your own account, unless a minor/junior racer needs to race on a guardian account for privacy reasons.  

Contesting or Amending Results: If an on-course result needs protesting or there is any reason to contest the results of event you have one hour from the conclusion of that evening's event to contest an in-race occurrence.  Once results are posted you will have until noon on the following day for corrections.  So if the results/scoring is posted the Thursday evening on the same day as the event, you will have until noon on Friday.  If, for some reason, the results are not published until Friday you would have until noon on Saturday to protest or request corrections.  We try to be accurate--and it should be easier this year with TrainingPeaks providing a CSV of all results--but we have made mistakes in the past.  Please check your results to ensure accuracy.  If we discover an error on our end we reserve the right to make corrections without a racer's initiation until the beginning of the following week's event.  

Schedule

See the 2025 Schedule  page for dates and a list of all events, including formats.  Please note that racing begins at 7:00 PM Central Standard Time each Thursday.  The starting pens for the events will open well before the events, but close one minute prior.  So for a 7:00 PM race you must be in the pen no later than 6:59 PM in order to race.  Each omnium event will have its own pen and start time. 

Registration

Registration can be done via the TrainingPeaks Virtual app.  Events for the Online Winter Series will be listed on the dates seen on the Schedule page (see above).  You will need a code (061745) to register if you are signing up via the TPV app because these events are not open to the public.  Registering for the events via the links requires no code input.  Each event in the omniums will need to be registered for individually. Discussion and interaction over the series can be found on our Discord and on the Facebook Group for the series, which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/theonlinewinterleague