Seeding - How it works with some examples

[Ncayi]

15 hours ago, Charles71 said:

No idea but makes sense since it'll depend on how many people have entered that year i guess.

I think the number of entries does play a role. In 2024 and index of 19 got me into & batch but in 2025 I was in 1A with the same index.

In both years it was my DC time that improved my index.

[Charles71]

 

5 hours ago, 'Kaze Pete said:

Just ride, I mean, race licensed. No seeding anxiety at all.

This might be the best way to go but perhaps I'll just wait to see where I'm seeded instead of stressing over it. I'm sure I'll do close to a Sub3 time (if I don't actually go Sub3) - both of which I'll be happy with.

Edited February 11 by Charles71

['Kaze Pete]

3 hours ago, Charles71 said:

T

This might be the best way to go but perhaps I'll just wait to see where I'm seeded instead of stressing over it. I'm sure I'll do close to a Sub3 time (if I don't actually go Sub3) - both of which I'll be happy with.

Also then you race against your peer group, like-minded people, no hot headed youngsters around you

[Michael S]

Is there any advantage to doing a "official" seeding race for the CTCT compared to other events that are also used for seeding?
Or is it just that you know that they will actually use those results for seeding?
 

[MongooseMan]

13 minutes ago, Michael S said:

Is there any advantage to doing a "official" seeding race for the CTCT compared to other events that are also used for seeding?
Or is it just that you know that they will actually use those results for seeding?
 

Any race will do, there is no "preferential treatment".

With that said, more popular/"official" races generally attract better riders, meaning the "adjusted winning time" is often closer to the actual winning time, meaning there's less penalty there.

[Michael S]

I see. 
The difficulty seems to help quite a lot. 
I've only done Race to the Sea the last two years for seeding and that beta really helps quite a bit. 

[Skubarra]

4 minutes ago, MongooseMan said:

Any race will do, there is no "preferential treatment".

With that said, more popular/"official" races generally attract better riders, meaning the "adjusted winning time" is often closer to the actual winning time, meaning there's less penalty there.

Organisers not very consistent here, but some years they would apply penalties to the indexes of "non-official" events for your CTCT seeding ie your CTCT seeding index might not be the same as your "normal" seeding index

[MongooseMan]

8 minutes ago, Skubarra said:

Organisers not very consistent here, but some years they would apply penalties to the indexes of "non-official" events for your CTCT seeding ie your CTCT seeding index might not be the same as your "normal" seeding index

Fair, though I haven't seen many examples of the above (unless you do the shorter race at an event where the "marquee" event is longer)

[Charles71]

On 2/10/2026 at 8:26 PM, Charles71 said:

I think that's my dilemma, whether to do a Tour de PPA or skip it and hope to get a decent seeding for Cycle Tour. I'm hoping for a 1A-1D seeding for cycle tour if my current index is good enough, if not then I'll sign up for Tour de PPA and hope to improve it there.

So I signed up for Tour de PPA on last day of reg, and next day received my CTCT seeding, currently seeded in 1D - exactly what I was hoping for, so will go have some fun on Sunday and hope to improve seeding even more 😄 

[DieselnDust]

On 2/11/2026 at 12:00 PM, Ncayi said:

I think the number of entries does play a role. In 2024 and index of 19 got me into & batch but in 2025 I was in 1A with the same index.

In both years it was my DC time that improved my index.

DC...?!?! its very seldom used for seeding unless it's the only eligible event they can use to seed you

[Ncayi]

10 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

DC...?!?! its very seldom used for seeding unless it's the only eligible event they can use to seed you

2 years in row now. In that time I have always done Dischem Ride for Sight, Ride JHB and a few other races.

I just take it and ask no questions 🤫

[Skubarra]

26 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

DC...?!?! its very seldom used for seeding unless it's the only eligible event they can use to seed you

It used to be like that but last 2 years I got great seedings from the DC

[DieselnDust]

20 minutes ago, Ncayi said:

2 years in row now. In that time I have always done Dischem Ride for Sight, Ride JHB and a few other races.

I just take it and ask no questions 🤫

 

9 minutes ago, Skubarra said:

It used to be like that but last 2 years I got great seedings from the DC

 Oh i see, that's a change. I didn't know the PPA were capable of change.....

[dc85]

Any one know when our ppa seeding index will get updated with CTCT results?

[DieselnDust]

42 minutes ago, dc85 said:

Any one know when our ppa seeding index will get updated with CTCT results?

long after the photo bot verifies you were there and not a proxy