anderson750
I'm working on it Rose
- Location
- Price, Utah
I am not much of one of writing up ride reports, but with the recent discussions by a few people on this board about racing, I thought I would put something together on my recent trip to race the Idaho City 100 ISDE qualifier. For everyone who is not familiar with the enduro format, it is basically a trail ride that has timed special tests mixed into it. The field of riders for this event is broken up into 5 basic levels. LOI (Letter of Intent) is riders who are trying to qualify for an invitation to be on one of the USA ISDE teams, AA is Pro non LOI, A is expert, B is intermediate and C beginner. They also run a sportsman class. Each of those catagories also have some sub catagories for bike size or age.
The field of riders is broken up into minutes with 3 riders starting on each minute beginning at 9:01 am. The LOI riders were first off the line, followed by AA, A, B, C then sportsman. The first thing that happens each morning is the club puts up a schedule that tells you what time you have to be through every check point and the mileage to that check. For example if you start on minute 58 like we did the first day, and you have 102 minutes to be to check 1 and it is 32 miles, you know you need to be through it by 11:40. If you get to the check early you have the opportunity to grab a bite to eat and hydrate. There is penalty points for passing a check early or late.
The unknown factors of the event are the special tests that are scattered throughout the course. A special test is just a timed event where the goal is to get through it as fast as you can since your time is your points for the special test. The key is to have the lowest points. So, each loop is an unknown number of special tests that are connected by transfer sections.
For Idaho City you can sign up to race one or both days…….I decided to do both days and ran the Vet A (40 +) class. This is the first time I have ever run an enduro and have the good fortune of regularly riding with a few people who have qualified and competed at the ISDE. They gave me a lot of insight in how to run this type of format and the best advice was “you can’t win in the transfer sections, but you can lose in the special tests”.
The one special test you can preview is the grass track. Here are a few pictures of the walk we did of the grass track.
Grass track start
The grass track has a lot of elevation change.
All bikes are impounded the night before the race. You can retrieve your bike from impound 10 minutes before your start minute. So if you have any work to do, you can do it at that time. You have to do the work yourself. You can be handed parts and tools, but nobody else can touch your bike.
The race in Idaho City is 120 miles and takes it’s toll on your body. One of my friends who competed at the ISDE in Morellia, Mexico in 2010 learned hand taping technique that keeps blisters away. Since my hands were still a little tore up from the Cherry Creek National Hare and Hound, so I bribed her to wrap my hands.
Some pictures from the start of day 1.
Josh Knight, from Ogden competed last year and will probably get another invitation this year.
Bringing my bike out of impound
Waiting to start our minute
Start of day 1
Gas check
Getting early to the check is an opportunity to grab a bite to eat and hydrate.
Waiting for our minute to finish out day 1
After you finish you have 15 minutes to work on your bike before you have to impound for the night.
On day 2 it starts out pretty much like day 1 except you run the course backwards and some of the special tests change. This is a picture a course photographer took on the grass track on day 2.
Taking a breather at check 1 day 2
Leaving check 2 on our minute.
Waiting to finish our minute on day 2
My hand Monday morning as I was draining puss from the blister.
Overall this was a great experience. I will definitely be back next year. I earned a Gold medal both days. Saturday I finished 5[SUP]th[/SUP] overall in my class and Sunday was 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] and only 14 points out of 1[SUP]st[/SUP].
The field of riders is broken up into minutes with 3 riders starting on each minute beginning at 9:01 am. The LOI riders were first off the line, followed by AA, A, B, C then sportsman. The first thing that happens each morning is the club puts up a schedule that tells you what time you have to be through every check point and the mileage to that check. For example if you start on minute 58 like we did the first day, and you have 102 minutes to be to check 1 and it is 32 miles, you know you need to be through it by 11:40. If you get to the check early you have the opportunity to grab a bite to eat and hydrate. There is penalty points for passing a check early or late.
The unknown factors of the event are the special tests that are scattered throughout the course. A special test is just a timed event where the goal is to get through it as fast as you can since your time is your points for the special test. The key is to have the lowest points. So, each loop is an unknown number of special tests that are connected by transfer sections.
For Idaho City you can sign up to race one or both days…….I decided to do both days and ran the Vet A (40 +) class. This is the first time I have ever run an enduro and have the good fortune of regularly riding with a few people who have qualified and competed at the ISDE. They gave me a lot of insight in how to run this type of format and the best advice was “you can’t win in the transfer sections, but you can lose in the special tests”.
The one special test you can preview is the grass track. Here are a few pictures of the walk we did of the grass track.
Grass track start
The grass track has a lot of elevation change.
All bikes are impounded the night before the race. You can retrieve your bike from impound 10 minutes before your start minute. So if you have any work to do, you can do it at that time. You have to do the work yourself. You can be handed parts and tools, but nobody else can touch your bike.
The race in Idaho City is 120 miles and takes it’s toll on your body. One of my friends who competed at the ISDE in Morellia, Mexico in 2010 learned hand taping technique that keeps blisters away. Since my hands were still a little tore up from the Cherry Creek National Hare and Hound, so I bribed her to wrap my hands.
Some pictures from the start of day 1.
Josh Knight, from Ogden competed last year and will probably get another invitation this year.
Bringing my bike out of impound
Waiting to start our minute
Start of day 1
Gas check
Getting early to the check is an opportunity to grab a bite to eat and hydrate.
Waiting for our minute to finish out day 1
After you finish you have 15 minutes to work on your bike before you have to impound for the night.
On day 2 it starts out pretty much like day 1 except you run the course backwards and some of the special tests change. This is a picture a course photographer took on the grass track on day 2.
Taking a breather at check 1 day 2
Leaving check 2 on our minute.
Waiting to finish our minute on day 2
My hand Monday morning as I was draining puss from the blister.
Overall this was a great experience. I will definitely be back next year. I earned a Gold medal both days. Saturday I finished 5[SUP]th[/SUP] overall in my class and Sunday was 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] and only 14 points out of 1[SUP]st[/SUP].
