Timing rules for enduro racing

nexusfish

El Mariachi
Hi all. IM getting into gravity enduro and have a few questions about the format of timing. I understand that your decent sections added together dictates your finish position. But what about the climbs? Is the a max time limit for the climb sections? Or do you have a total time to complete the course and you are not penalised if you are a little slow on one of your climb sections? Do you get penalised if you are 2 mins early/ late for your start time on each secent stage?

Could someone give me a outline? Just trying to decide if i should be maintaining my strong XC race season fitness or just chuck it all away and start drinking beer and smashing shuttles.

Cheers..
 

hellmansam

Likes Bikes and Dirt
If you've got some fitness, don't let it go ! I haven't and would struggle to ride/push to the top x 6 stages and still have some strength to give it my all on the way down. WAGE is fairly easy going about the untimed climbs, but do require that you get on with it in a timely manner
 

The Duckmeister

Has a juicy midrange
Depending on the particular event there may be time limits for starting each stage in order to prevent the day dragging out too long. Sometimes it may be due to needing to move timing equipment from one stage to another so they need to put a cutoff on one stage so they can move the gear to another and not have riders waiting to go.
 

nexusfish

El Mariachi
So they are not as strict and Dirt bike enduros where you have your minute you have to be ready to leave on and be sure you dont arrive early or late for the next timed section?

I just wanted to see if cranking up my fitness to the max for the climbs is going to be worth it. If the uphills were designed to be hard to get there on time, there would be benefit in being climbing fitness as well as descending fitness.
 

cokeonspecialtwodollars

Fartes of Portingale
If you plan on racing EWS level events then yes you have an allocated start time that you must be in the gate for, I'm not 100% sure at the MTBA national level but most of the state events are a little bit more relaxed and if there are any cut-offs they will be communicated during the rider briefing. If you are looking to place at the pointy end and you already have a good fitness base then you would be well advised to maintain it, it will make the transitions easier and mean that you feel less fatigued during your race runs.
 

T-Rex

Template denier
Enduro works like a car rally. Your race results are based on cumulative times over the stages, and you have to ride between the stages under your own power on the so called liaisons. The more “serious” events like EWS or Contential will require you to be at the start of a stage at a specific time, meaning you need a certain level of fitness to ride up the liaisons to hit your start times.

For local events the rules are a lot more relaxed. Even at National level in Aus if you are a half decent XC rider you will not have any difficulty over the liaisons getting to the start of each stage.
 

JimmyYoungPT

Cannon Fodder
I have seen a number of local (SEQLD) events that give an overall time limit. By that they mean you have say 4 hours to complete a run on all the timed stages. Sometimes you can even complete them in any order you like. I feel that is a good (amateur) format so you can grab your mates and work out which stages you want to hit first/last and enjoy bulk banter on the liaisons. Provided they have adequate volunteers and timing equipment.
Regarding fitness, the more gas you have left to descend the better your times will be and less chance of any mistakes.
 

moorey

call me Mia
I’ve done dozens of state Enduro’s and one EWS qualifier.
Only a couple have had a specific allocated start time (Bike Buller and EWS), others have just been either category waves, or start at leisure after elite have gone.
There’s never been an issue getting around in the allotted time aside from the EWS qualifier that ran one shuttle mid race, that had bus issues and we were all held up.
There’s never been stage start times. Get up as fast or slow as you want, and join a queue of there is one. Aside from the Albury Wodonga Vic round that starts with a big climb for all, but sometimes let’s all elites go first at the top. (Though I got up before most elites last time, and just joined the queue..short first stage, and asked for a little more gap).
Don’t sweat running out of time. You won’t.
Getting up early at the start is great if you can manage it. Prevents longer waits during the day.
 

nexusfish

El Mariachi
What about the benefits of getting up faster for less chance of being stuck behind people? I my mind, I like the idea of making people work hard to get up on time and if they slack off, get penalised for it.

I was hoping it would be more strict, not just a few hrs of self shuttling downhill races. I like the idea that the uphills become a factor to consider in bike choice and training. I rekon a race where your uphills are timed as well as the downs would be fun. Make the uphill really hard to get up on time so it becomes about damage control for penalty time or some sort of scaled time reward for working hard to get up under certain times according to strava or something.

I suspected the races would be organised as they are and almost bought a old intense M6 downhill bike to whack a big cassette on the back.
 

caad9

Likes Bikes and Dirt
At a lot of Enduro events, a big chunk of the field walks anything remotely uphill for liaison stages. If you can ride up comfortably, this will give you a bucket load of time to relax and recover before your timed runs.

Fitness definitely helps with Enduro, but more for surviving the day rather than making you any faster on stages. It’s the ability to ride at your limit comfortably and manage your efforts which will gain you seconds on the timed stages.
 

Stinky

Likes Dirt
What about the benefits of getting up faster for less chance of being stuck behind people? I my mind, I like the idea of making people work hard to get up on time and if they slack off, get penalised for it.

I was hoping it would be more strict, not just a few hrs of self shuttling downhill races. I like the idea that the uphills become a factor to consider in bike choice and training. I rekon a race where your uphills are timed as well as the downs would be fun. Make the uphill really hard to get up on time so it becomes about damage control for penalty time or some sort of scaled time reward for working hard to get up under certain times according to strava or something.

I suspected the races would be organised as they are and almost bought a old intense M6 downhill bike to whack a big cassette on the back.
As has been mentioned, at EWS level your start times are pre allocated and you must be there ontime. At a local level of racing this just puts an unneeded strain on volunteers to police this and invariably makes for a longer day both riders and volunteers. A good Enduro course should have some pedalling stages to counter your M6 idea.
 

Ultra Lord

Hurts. Requires Money. And is nerdy.
I suspected the races would be organised as they are and almost bought a old intense M6 downhill bike to whack a big cassette on the back.
All the races I’d been to had plenty of flat and undulating sections that will suck arse on a dh bike.

Sounds like you just want to stick to xc mate. Or take up road riding?
 

moorey

call me Mia
What about the benefits of getting up faster for less chance of being stuck behind people? I my mind, I like the idea of making people work hard to get up on time and if they slack off, get penalised for it.

I was hoping it would be more strict, not just a few hrs of self shuttling downhill races. I like the idea that the uphills become a factor to consider in bike choice and training. I rekon a race where your uphills are timed as well as the downs would be fun. Make the uphill really hard to get up on time so it becomes about damage control for penalty time or some sort of scaled time reward for working hard to get up under certain times according to strava or something.

I suspected the races would be organised as they are and almost bought a old intense M6 downhill bike to whack a big cassette on the back.
Spoken like a noob. Sorry.
 

T-Rex

Template denier
Pretty sure he ain't a noob, just late to the party bagging #enduro.

He hasn't worked out yet that #enduro is just a race format for people that can't ride up a hill for shit but don't have the balls to race downhill.
Ha ha ha! I refer to Enduro as "downhill racing on a trail bike"

OP, you are over thinking it. Turn up to a state level race with whatever bike you have and give it a run. The really fit guys with lots of downhill experience do well even on flat courses, eg Tim Eaton only five seconds behind Josh Carlson at the Superflow at Stromlo last weekend, and that was a very pedally 17 minute course with plenty of uphill in two of the three stages. So if anything work on your technical skills.

If you want to get really serious, keep your fingers crossed that the EWS comes to Derby again next year, and get yourself an entry into the 100.
 
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