Frequently Asked Questions
Who are 
?
Strictly speaking, that should be "who is?" My name's Seb Frost, and some of you poor people will know me already. For the rest of you, let me introduce myself. I am, first and foremost, a DH MTB racer. I went to my first race wayyy back in 1996, a SAMS at Stourhead. 14(!!!) years on and I love racing more than ever, and am unashamed to say that it's a big part of my life. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that every race weekend is like a mini-holiday. You look forward to it all week, and once it's over you're thinking about the next one already. Racing is like going on holiday 10+ times a year. This may be a sign that I don't take it seriously enough I suppose..!
Secondly, I'm a web-designer/developer by trade, and a couple of years ago I quit the cosy world of Employeeville, and decided to go it alone, self-employed. The upshot of this is I can ride when I want, and I can spend more time working on pet projects like this one.
Thirdly, I'm a bit of a geek. I know Excel inside-out and am the kind of guy who likes to keep track of his (not fantastic..) race results.
So, I'm pretty well-placed to bring this site to you, the UK DH public. It is a shame there's only about 37 of you, hardly the most lucrative market in the world is it. Ah well! While we're on that subject... ;)
How did you import all those race results?
Good, old-fashioned hard graft! It wasn't easy, since every organiser displays their results slightly differently. Some in excel, PDFs, some in HTML, some just plain text on a forum. Then in each of those formats there's variation too - some show sponsors, some don't. Some races have split times, others don't. Is it Firstname Surname or Surname Firstname? Etc etc...
I've coded a parser that does it's best to cope with all eventualities. It still takes some coercion at times, nothing that's worth doing is ever easy though!
You would not believe the amount of names that get misspelled, or put down as a variation, eek! :(
I've been sponsored by XYZ for the last year, but they're showing on some of my race results from previous years?
I've recently become aware of this problem. It seems there was a bug on the SDA website when I loaded their results. The bug seems to have been fixed now, but previously when you looked at a historical race (say Inners 2007), it would show the sponsor that each rider had put down on their most recent race. Will be a pain to fix, but not impossible. I'll update the site when it's done.
What about common names, two riders sharing an identity?
Biggest .. pain .. in .. the .. backside... Ever :'(
I certainly can't pretend there won't be instances of that on the site somewhere. I've done my best to detect them, going off of sponsors, licence numbers (rarely present) and category, but often it's just not possible to be sure. These are minor fringe cases though, and if you've come across one (or anything else for that matter), please email me at ku.oc.niardnastoor#retsambew| and I'll set it right as soon as possible.
How can I remove myself from the site?
No point duplicating this information on this page; please read my privacy/opt-out policy.
Doesn't the BritishCycling site already do rider histories?
Not really. They do provide a history of sorts, but firstly it's only for licence holders, and secondly the only information they show is the rider's category finishing position. No run times or any other information.
Do you have permission to do this?
Certainly do, I've spoken to all of the race organisers involved and have their full support and backing in bringing you this site. They appreciate how much hard work I've gone to to collate all of this together, and think it'll be an invaluable resource, both for you as riders, and for them as race organisers.
The tables of data seem to break the design of the site?
Often a table will spill out over the right hand side of the page. This behaviour is intentional, as in my opinion it's better than the alternatives (showing less data, using a smaller font, adding an annoying horiznotal scrollbar within the page). Any other suggestions to cope with this are welcomed!
