Welcome to the 2024 September Team Tournament!

The September Challenge is an 8-team tournament. Four teams will be put into one of two groups.” The first 3 weeks will be round-robin matches within each group. Week 4 will bring the championship match between the two group winners. Teams will be formed automatically by the Club’s software, using riders’ 2024 GOGO stats to try make them evenly matched. The tournament starts on September 3rd and concludes on September 29th. Keep in mind that Mondays are rest days to view results and get ready for the next match; only rides Tuesday through Sunday count each week.

Tournament details:

Each team will play one match per week in your group during the 1st three weeks to determine the group winner. In week 4, the group winners will face off to determine the overall September Champion.

Teams not competing for the championship in week 4 are no longer in the competition. You are free to take a much needed rest, complete your individual riding points, and cheer on the championship match participants.

Group 1
Week 1: Team 1 vs Team 2      Team 3 vs Team 4
Week 2: Team 1 vs Team 3      Team 2 vs Team 4
Week 3: Team 1 vs Team 4      Team 2 vs Team 3

Group 2
Week 1: Team 5 vs Team 6      Team 7 vs Team 8
Week 2: Team 5 vs Team 7      Team 6 vs Team 8
Week 3: Team 5 vs Team 8      Team 6 vs Team 7

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK!
Week 4: The two group winners will compete for the Eagle Trophy.

Match scoring

All matches have 3 categories: miles, elevation, and days. For each match, the winning team will be the one that wins the most categories.
Each category will be scored similarly to how cross-country running meets are scored. In particular,

  1. First, calculate each individual rider’s sum total (distance, elevation, or days) for the week.
  2. Then, take the top 13 riders from each team in that category and rank them 1 through 26.
  3. Finally, add the ranks of the top 10 riders of each team together to yield the team score in that category.
  4. The team with the lower score wins the category. If two teams have the same score in the category, neither team wins the category.

In this system, there are potential match ties: 1) each team wins one category and neither win the third, or 2) no team wins a category. In the event of a match tie, we will add the scores from each category together and the lowest aggregate score (adding together the distance, elevation, and days categories) wins. If there is again a tie, all category results will be recomputed by scoring the top 11 riders per team and repeating the process. This will continue up to adding riders 12 and 13 from each team until a clear match winner is revealed. Should there still be a tie after recomputing scores and tie breaker with 13 riders per team, the team with the most mileage (using 13 riders per team) will be declared the match winner.

At the end of the group matches, if there is a tie for most matches won within a group, we will take each team’s event scores (distance, elevation, and days) from the first three weeks, add each category together and the lowest aggregate score (adding together the distance, elevation, and days categories from all 3 weeks) wins. Should there still be a tie, the team that won overall distance for the first thee matches will be declared the winner. If that doesn’t result in a winner, we will move to elevation, and then days ridden.

Important rules:

  • Rides must be uploaded to Strava before 4AM (4 in the morning) California time of the following day in order to get credit.
  • To get credit for a day, a rider must total at least two miles.
  • Manually entered rides are not permitted.
  • All rides must start and finish on the same day. The Strava end time of the ride must be before midnight in the local time zone of the ride.
September GOGO points for team participation:

In addition to individual riding points (see here), team members receive additional points
as follows:

  • 10 points for being a team member
  • 5 points for each match win
  • 5 points for competing in the Championship Match
  • 10 points for being the Champion team

The Eagle Trophy:
The Champion team will be recognized on the front of the Eagle Trophy. In addition, the teams with the most overall distance, elevation gain, and days during the first 3 weeks of the competition will be recognized on the side panels of the trophy.

September GOGO points based on individual riding:

  • 25 points for riding 100 miles or 5,000 feet
  • 50 points for riding 200 miles or 10,000 feet
  • 75 points for riding 300 miles or 15,000 feet
  • 100 points for riding 400 miles or 20,000 feet
  • 150 points for riding 500 miles or 25,000 feet
  • 200 points for riding 600 miles or 30,000 feet

Whether participating on a team or not, only rides on “competition days” (Tuesdays
through Sundays, Sept. 3-8, 10-15, 17-22
, 24-29) count toward the GOGO point levels above. Mondays do not count toward September GOGO points.

Limits on credit for E-assist and trainer rides

E-Assist: For all riders, whether on a team or not, the use of ElliptiGOs outfitted with E-Assist is permitted but limited in September. E-assist rides will be credited no more than 12.5 miles per hour of moving time, and no more than 750 feet of elevation gain per hour of moving time. Thus, an E-assist ride posted to Strava that covered 30 miles and gained 3000 feet in two hours of moving time would be credited with 25 miles and 1500 feet of elevation.

Trainers: Properly measured trainer rides are permitted, but will be credited with no more than 12.5 miles per hour of moving time and no elevation.