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The M17 Club is predominatly involved in the following type of events: This section covers the events that the Enduro side of the club are involved with, please refer to our Trials specific web site for the low down on how to have fun off-road and stay (relatively) clean. _____________________________ HARE AND HOUNDS A Hare and Hounds event is a run on a course varying from three miles to six miles, with some even longer. Lasting between two and four hours the course will be made up of natural obstacles designed to offer a challenge to the rider. Most events are run on farmland so the type of terrain covered would be hills, stream crossings, small tracks, boggy ground, woods, rocky sections and open fields. The riders are split into groups depending on ability and the groups started at one minute intervals to avoid jams. Once started, the race continues until the finish flag comes out. There will be a pit area near the start for refuelling and having your pit box with spare gloves and goggles etc. The winner is the rider who completes the most laps in the allotted time. These are easy, straight forward events. You do as much as you want and can stop for a breather anywhere on the course. There are lots of clubs running these events every weekend and there’s usually no restriction on bikes or tyres. If entering an event for the first time try to get a bit of advice, though not needed it may save making a simple mistake or give you some handy hints. ENDURO These are an older type of event and often referred to as a ‘Time-card Enduro’. Most events are run in forestry and moorland with the emphasis on a challenging ride. Course lengths vary from sixteen to thirty miles with some even longer. The course is split into checks and the organisers give you a specific time schedule to ride to. Penalty points are incurred for arriving either early or late. The class you enter will determine the number of laps you ride. There are so many things to know about these events I could fill pages but I’ll give you a good idea without going into too much detail. For my description we’ll imagine the lap is twenty miles with one refuelling area at the start / finish. I’ll start with a brief description of what’s there: - The course: 20 miles of mixed terrain, mainly forestry. Parc Ferme: The holding area for the bikes prior to the start. Timecard: A card that you write down your start time and arrival times on. Check: A time control point with a clock and officials to note your time of arrival. The Going: The course itself, not including the special test. Special Test: A section of the going where you are timed to a 1/100 of a second.
Staying clean: Incurring no time penalties on the going. Tight check: Where you need to ride at a fast pace to arrive at the next check on time. Riders are set off at one minute intervals in groups of two, three or four. They will have a set start time and a set time to arrive at the first check. It continues like this for all subsequent riders untill the entire field has departed. I’ll try and describe it and give you some check time examples. Imagine our lap as a clock, 12 is the start, 6 is check one, back to 12 to complete one lap. We’re set for two laps so we repeat this again. Here it is with the checks put in. Start (12), Check one (6), Check two (12), Check three (6), Check four/Finish (12).
I won’t explain the times too much as it will be confusing without being able to either draw it or write for a page. However I’ll give it a brief explanation. The time from the start to check one is 50 mins, then to check two is 55 mins, to three is 40 mins and to four is 55 mins. That’s a total ride time of three hours twenty minutes. If your start time was 11:00 am your finish time would be 14:20. (The man who starts at 11:01 will finish at 14:21). As were doing two laps we can see that check one and three are the same piece of land as are checks two and four. The only difference in times is check three which gives us ten minutes less than on the previous lap to cover the distance. If on our first lap this took forty five minutes, on the second we know that we have to do it even quicker to stay clean on time thus making it a tight check. Check two and four stay the same and most likely would include the refuelling and the special test. The Special Test is designed to find a winner should more than one rider stay clean (arrive on time at each check and incur no time penalties). You are stopped at a timing light and when it changes to green you ride as fast as you can. Most tests are about five minutes in duration and usually quite technical. When you exit the test you can slow back down again and carry on to the check. Enduro events are most often harder and more challenging than a Hare and Hounds. This is their appeal to many. Partly due to the lap length and more technical riding, but there are other benefits. With every rider on a time schedule, you’re only ever riding with riders of a similar ability and not being constantly overtaken by faster riders as in a Hare and Hounds. A certain level of commitment is needed to finish and stay clean on an enduro, you can stop and rest if you wish but may loose time and that’s not what you want. The sense of achievement is far greater for finishing though. For a more detailed explanation and guidance of what to eat, bike preparation and what to have in your pit-box come and see us at the club and someone will be happy to help you.
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