Enduro Timing

This page is to help SIDRA racers become a little more familiar with the Enduro Timing used at the Idaho City 100. Written by 2x ISDE Gold Medal winner David Kamo, this guide is meant to help you understand Start Control/Restart (Reliability) Enduro scoring and does not supersede any Boise Ridge Riders, FIM or AMA rules. Please see the Boise Ridge Riders website for updated information!

There are two different things that affect your score/timing at a Reliability Enduro like the Idaho City 100. Special Tests and Check Point Times. Your times from your special tests are added to late or early starts of each check. The rider with the lowest score wins. 

Special Tests

Special Tests are short sections somewhere on the course that are timed. You are racing against the clock, not head to head with other racers. They vary in length and terrain. When you see the white flags, slow down and stop before you get to the yellow flags. The start of a special test may be marked with "Start" signs instead. Often there will be a few riders in line, waiting to begin the special test. Wait your turn and follow the course worker instructions on when to begin racing. Sprint as fast as you can until you get to the end of the special test. Your special test times will all be added together, with a lower (Faster) score being better.

Here is a video of David Kamo racing the Grass Track special test at the 2017 Idaho City 100.

Check Point Times

While special tests are easy to understand (Pin it between the start and finish of each test for a low score), Check Point timing takes a lot more work and is a little more difficult to understand. The basic concept is you need to start each section at an exact minute. If you start every check on your exact minute, you will have a 0 score. If you start all checks on time except you are late by one minute to one check, you will have a score of 60. Just like the special tests, lower is better. You can be the fastest racer at every special test and throw away your race by not beginning your checks on time. If you start a check late, you also need to adjust your times for the subsequent checks for the rest of the day. To figure out what time you need to start each check, you have some math to do in the morning when the schedule is posted.

The Idaho City 100 Race Schedule will be posted each morning of Idaho City at 7am. The Times and mileage will usually be different each day! Below is the 2018 Race Schedule from Day 2. It tells you what time the start is, how many miles and how many minutes you have to get to each check. 

• Using the race schedule above, you need to figure out what time to begin each section. The first one is easy. If the race starts at 9:00am and your minute is 12, you need to start at exactly 9:12am. This means you can remove your bike from impound at exactly 9:02am. Once you have your bike, get it ready and push it to the start line - do not start your bike until your minute! When they wave the green flag for the 9:12am minute, start your bike and go!
• Using the race schedule above, a B rider has 89 Minutes to begin Check 2, which is 27.3 miles away. If you started at 9:12am and you have 89 minutes to begin Section #2, this means you need to start Section #2 at 10:41am. It is also helpful to know that means you need to average 18.4mph to get there at 10:41am. (Faster if you want time to take a breather/work on your bike)
• If you arrive at Check 2 at 10:32, this means you have 9 minutes to relax, eat, drink, work on your bike, etc. You should be lined up by 10:40 and ready to start at exactly 10:41am.
• Using the race schedule above, you should have started check 2 at 10:41am. Check 3 is 19.4 miles away and you have 74 minutes to get there. This means you should start check 3 at 11:55am.
• Do not start a check early, you will be penalized. If you start a check more than 15 minutes early, you will be disqualified. If you accidentally start a check 2 minutes early, it will be a 120 point penalty. You then need to adjust all subsequent checks to start 2 minutes early or you will get more penalties.
• If you arrive late, stop and note the exact minute you begin the section and then begin the section. Don't race through the check without taking note of the time. Every minute late that you start a check is a 60 point (second) penalty.
• If you start a check late, you need to adjust all of your subsequent check start times. For example, if you arrived to check 2 late and did not start until 10:49, you are now 8 minutes behind schedule and should begin check 3 at 12:03pm instead of the 11:55am you originally planned on. You need to add 8 minutes to all of subsequent checks. 
• You cannot make up the time. If you start check Two 8 minutes late, your new time for check Three is 12:03. If you start that check at 12:05, you are now 10 minutes late and will add 10 minutes to check 4. If you start check 4 with the time you determined at the beginning of the morning, you will get a 10 minute penalty. (in addition to the 8 and 2 minute penalties from check 2 and 3!)
• If you arrive to a check more than one hour late, you are considered to have "houred out" and it is a DNF. (This is where knowing the average mph is handy). You should continue racing in case a check is thrown out, just make sure you keep adjusting your times.
• If you arrive to your final check (finish line) before the minute you are supposed to arrive, wait for your minute to cross the finish line.
• After you cross the finish line, you have 15 minutes to work on your bike before impound. Your mechanic can only check and replace fluids, they cannot work on the bike.
• You may cross the final check up to 15 minutes early without penalty on your final day of racing.
• David Kamo has been kind enough to share his time and speed calculations from excel with us. You most likely will not have cell service up there so you will need to save this to an ipad, cell phone or laptop before you head to Idaho City. A few other tips David shared with us:
• When you figure out what time you're supposed to start each check, write them on a piece of paper or duct tape and put it on your handlebars. (see image below) Bring a pen or sharpie with you and leave some room to write down any adjustments.
• Find another rider on your minute (or just before or after) and compare times to make sure you did the math right.