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ENDURO TIPS
HOW TO RIDE THE LITTLE BROWN JUG
AND MOST OTHER START CONTROL (AKA KNOWN CONTROL, RESTART) FORMAT ENDUROS
Short version: check crew says go, ride as hard as you can or want to for 10-15 miles or so, check crew scores your card, take a break, ease on down to the next going in check and repeat about 4 more times. Go home tired, happy, maybe with a little brown jug.
A little more detail from start to finish:
Sign up. Sat night/Sun morning. One cool thing about enduros is that if you pre-entered, completely and legibly, all you have to do is go to the pre-entered table, provide your name, sign release and walk away with your rider pack.
From the rider pack, tape the scorecard to you front fender. Be sure that all of the info on it is correct and visible. Put the Number sticker on your front # plate. Put the gas tag on your can. Put the route sheet in your holder, on your bars, or in your fanny pack.
Race morning: Tape/tie a jug of water and a snack to your gas can. The gas truck crew is gonna love this. Put the can on the gas truck on the way to the riders meeting. ATTEND RIDERS MEETING. Eat a banana while listening intently. Note key time, posted at sign up.
Race starts at 9:00. 9:00 plus your row number equals your start time. Row 25 leaves at 9:25. Head to start 10 minutes before your start time. Beg, elbow, and muscle your way through all the riders that headed to the start 30 minutes before their start time.
Meet your row, your riding buddies for the day (assuming that you didn’t all sign up to ride together). Introduce yourselves to each other and note the class, written on the scorecard, that each person is riding. If you’re new to this say so and don’t be afraid to ask questions. This is a friendly crowd.
Now the start: The clock shows your minute, the flip chart shows your row #, the check crew says go and you drop the hammer. Now, this is no moto-x. If your row’s classes vary from 250A to 45C, etiquette dictates that the 250A rider is offered the chance to lead the way when the 5 wide start turns to singletrack. By the end of the first section your row will have sorted out the natural running order.
You and your riding buds for the day have miles of primo singletrack all to yourselves for a few minutes and then it’s time to discuss passing. The rider hooting and hollering behind you wants by. He (or she-implied for the rest of this discussion) probably isn’t in your class, and if he is, he’s already beat you by a minute because he’s caught you. The right thing to do is to not hold him up. It’s not required to stop abruptly and completely pull off the trail to let him by. Ride to one side at the first opportune wide spot or pick a convenient “detour” that doesn’t require a complete loss of momentum on your part. You’ll get the feel for it. It’s amazing how quickly and smoothly the truly talented riders can get by with just a little leeway given-take it from someone with a lot of experience getting passed. If someone’s holding you up remember that your most likely not in this for fame or fortune. Enduros cease to exist without the entry fees of the C rider out for an “On Any Sunday” good time and an on-time start to work Monday morning. A rider being a real jerk while passing could turn someone off of enduros for good.
You’ve had primo single track to yourself, freight trained through tight stuff, ridden as hard as you can in a futile attempt to maintain the speed average specified by the route sheet author, passed- been passed, roosted-been roosted. Now you come to your first TIMED CHECK/SECRET CHECK/EMERGENCY CHECK /KNOWN CONTROL (going-out check). There are about 5 people standing around waiting for you and your buds with a set of flags, a clock, a flip chart, a backup book, and ball point pens. When you passed the flags, your minute (and seconds at an EMERGENCY, aka tie-breaker check) was noted-not when you got to the clock, the flip chart, or scorers. You are LATE, unless you are a AA rider or a sandbagger of a high and aggravated nature. You need to: Gently (your time has already been taken) come to a stop at the LAST scorer in line-important when multiple riders hit the check simultaneously. Hold the front wheel straight ahead and still while the scorer marks your card. Remain quiet (bike and rider)-the scorer will need to hear the time called out by the guy at the clock-DO NOT yell out your number or time. Make sure that your number has been entered in the backup book-a little eye contact with the person filling out the book and a nod will usually do the trick. DO NOT get into a prolonged discussion with the check crew if you feel that there has been an error. Nothing is going to change in the deep woods. Address the issue at the scoring table during the protest period.
You are on row 25, left the start at 9:25, when the clock and flip chart read 00:25. The Greenville Enduro Rocketscience Association has done the complex mathematical calculations required to ensure that had you maintained the desired speed average-30 MPH in this example; the clock, chart and number on your scorecard would still read 25. Yours, mere mortal, reads 34. You dropped 9 minutes. Respectable, but it still hurts when you see that your 17 year old, 250A class riding, no mortgage toting row mate only dropped 2. Time for a break.
Shortly past the going-out check the sign on the tree and the route sheet says: “15.0 LGR, 9:30:00, RESET to 30.0, 10:00:00”. Translation: at 15.0 miles you turn left on the gravel road. Since you’re on row 25 you should do this at 9:55:00. RESET to 30.0 means that you roll you odometer forward to 30.0 miles. 30 miles=10:00:00. You lost 9 minutes at the going-out check and hit the LGR turn at 10:04:00. The key time at “RESET to 30.0” is 10:00:00. Add 25=10:25:00. It’s only 10:04:00, you’re now 21 minutes ahead of schedule! TAKE A BREAK. Hint: If, when your sync you watch to key time at signup, you subtract 25 minutes from the time, your watch’s time will exactly match the time posted on the route sheet and tree signs all day long-as long as you are on schedule.
At an old school enduro you would wait for your clock to “catch up” to the mileage and then proceed at the specified speed, being careful not to hit the next going-in check, for which you do not know the location, early. With the RESTART format, there is no penalty for arriving at the next START CONTROL/KNOWN CONTROL check up to 15 minutes early. So, catch your breath, shoot the breeze with your buddies, then ease on down the trail to the next going-in check. No need to pay strict attention to the time or mileage. No clock, watch, or odometer? No problem. Roll with the flow. Just hang with the riders a row or two ahead of or behind you.
IMPORTANT!-Ample resets mean there is no need to go blasting down the Forest Service/public roads, that connect trail sections, trying to make up for lost time. If you’ve lost more time than the RESETS give you back, you are out of trophy contention in any class. Enjoy the trail ride. PLEASE don’t endanger fellow riders, pit crews, the general public, the future of the LBJ, or your bank account (traffic fines in Federal court are STIFF) by disregarding traffic laws on the road.
You’ll be sent off to start the second timed section with a fresh start (RESTART-get it?) back on minute 25. Do it all over again, about 4 more times. We promise you’ll get your money’s worth.
There will be an extra long RESET at the gas stop for fuel, fellowship, and refreshment. You’ve been looking forward to that water jug and power bar that we told you to attach to your gas can for the last 20 minutes. Do at least some of the refreshment and fellowship part first. Allow your motor/header pipe to cool before refueling. Put your can back on the trailer when you're done.
The end is near. Coming back into the start area, GERA will remove the scorecard from your front fender. We’ll take the top copy and give you the bottom copy. KEEP IT! Do the math. Give us some time to post the scores. Verify that yours is posted and correct. IMPORTANT, if you wish to receive SETRA/FTR points: It is the RIDERS responsibility to be sure that his AMA, SETRA, FTR numbers are posted and correct. You must hang around until the protest period is over.
Go home tired, happy, maybe with a little brown jug.
THANK YOU!
GERA
PS- A few tips for a less than perfect day:
HOURED OUT-If you arrive at a check 61 minutes late you are disqualified. The check crew may advise you on a shortcut back to the start area. If you arrive at a going-out check 60 minutes and 59 seconds late (due to a specific holdup), but you’re still having fun, your day isn’t necessarily over. Remember, you’ll get some of that time back at the following reset. DO NOT speed on the connecting roads (you’re just trail riding now, remember). See how late you are at the next going-in check and ask the check crew to advise.
Mechanical-Stay with your bike! The crew at the going-in check will close the check 61 minutes after the last rider is due. They will then send in sweep riders to haul out any stranded riders. They are NOT obligated to get a riderless bike out! If a passing rider will notify the next check crew of the mileage where the rider is broken down, the crew MIGHT be able to assist before the official check closing.
Injury-This can occur far from help. A fallen rider depends initially on his fellow riders. First, NOTE THE MILEAGE NOTE THE MILEAGE NOTE THE MILEAGE! The first thing that must happen to get help on the way is for a passing rider to notify the next race official that he encounters of the location MILEAGE of the fallen rider. If it’s obvious that the downed rider needs some body to “keep him company” until help arrives, then it’s up to fellow racers to “do the right thing”. With a little luck and compassion, one rider can hang out with the wounded for a few minutes and then hand off to the next good Samaritan, and so on…on down the line. A little bit of first aid material, like something sterile to apply a compress or fight off infection, produced from a fanny pack, can really make a difference.
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