Enduro: Points vs. Time
To me, enduro racing is all about finding the best all around rider. I am all for climbing stages, downhill, and even a chainless stage. Even for typical enduros there is quite a variety where one stage often outweighs the rest. For example, the Sea Otter Classic Enduro was a 2 minute DH, a 6 minute single track, and then an 18 minute climb. I personally was one of the top finishers in stages 1 and 2 and then lost it all in stage 3 coming in 7th place overall. When there is only a few second spread in one segment does that give unfair weight to a longer segment?
What if enduros were scored differently? What if, instead of stage times combined for a total time ranking, we did it by points? WC points (or any point system) would be given per stage and the total combined points determine the winner. In the case of a tie, the time total would come into play.
I see this as adding to the strategy of the game. We could have a much greater variety of stages in one race. I can imagine there would be a greater variety of bikes and gear depending on the course. Of course, this could shatter the idea of "enduro specific" choices, but maybe it would be good for the sport. What do you think?
![Team Trail Head Racing charges strong through the 2014 season. trailheadracing Photo by Aaron Blumenshine]()
Trail Head Racing loves pushing the envelope and doing things differently. Charging through the 2014 season, we look forward to all of the changes emerging as we head towards 2015.
![Photo by Aaron Blumenshine Team Trail Head Racing from San Jose CA was once a dream and is now a reality.]()
What if enduros were scored differently? What if, instead of stage times combined for a total time ranking, we did it by points? WC points (or any point system) would be given per stage and the total combined points determine the winner. In the case of a tie, the time total would come into play.
I see this as adding to the strategy of the game. We could have a much greater variety of stages in one race. I can imagine there would be a greater variety of bikes and gear depending on the course. Of course, this could shatter the idea of "enduro specific" choices, but maybe it would be good for the sport. What do you think?
Trail Head Racing loves pushing the envelope and doing things differently. Charging through the 2014 season, we look forward to all of the changes emerging as we head towards 2015.
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There's a 2 stage Enduro.
Stage one is a 90 minute pedally stage that would be best on a 100mm travel bike.
Stage 2 is a 1 minute absolute Savage DH course.
No matter how good you are at DH, your DH time is rendered useless in winning overall.
Even if you won stage one by a huge (10 second) gap, it would be worthless compared to the time spread of the 90 minute course.
If your time on each stage was treated like a single race and then all the points were added up ( like a series)
Then now you DH run holds weight equal to the XC stage.
Please tell me you now understand....
Now doing this we could have races with EXTREME variety that will make all stages equally weighted. So now it's up to you to figure out where you can make the most points.
Before, everyone would have take the XC bike and went slow down the DH course. But NOW maybe it makes sense to take the DH and win stage one and suffer on the other. Strategy!