Group Test: Going against the clock!

If you enjoy the thrill of competition, there is nothing better than dropping into a race stage knowing that the course is yours, you can go as fast as you can and put down your best time without any distractions. But let us not forget the real joy of mountain biking, getting one over on your buddies! With just simple timing gear and a finish line scratched into the dirt, you can turn your own home trails in some of the best race stages in the world. It is a great way of improving your riding over the winter or just having a great day with your mates. Just make sure you keep safe and ensure there are no obstacles or walkers on the trail.

You don’t have to spend a fortune either, we have been looking at some of the more affordable ways of adding a bit of competition to your riding!

STRAVA has become a monster. If you have any form of GPS enabled device such as a smart phone or GPS bike computer you will be able to download STRAVA. This is a free app that lets you upload your GPS ride data and compare pre defined segments against your buddies or the world. You can compare your times for climbs, descents or even whole loops against other riders that have ridden the same trails. You can even set up your own sections and private groups, it’s a great way to get your buddies riding more, and the best thing is it is totally free for the basic version.

We have been using STRAVA for a few years now and is has rightly grown into a very popular app. But it does suffer sometimes with poor accuracy in tree cover, especially when used with a weak GPS antenna such as those found in a smart phone. It is a great way of finding new trails and having a laugh but when your timing comes down to the second it can be a little unreliable.

There are a number of these simple stopwatches that come with a tidy bar mount. Having just one button on the face makes it easy to operate properly, as when you hit the bottom of the trail the last thing you want to be doing is fishing round for the stop button, watching precious seconds tick by. The Sportcount is designed for swimming so is not super user friendly, but it does offer a very slimline light solution that you can leave on your bike. With only one button, starting and stopping are easy, but it takes a bit of fiddling to cycle through the modes to find the lap times and it will be confusing at first, but with patience can be used effectively. The unit is waterproof so you can leave it on you bike with no worries, so it will always be there if you want to check your progress on a favourite trail.

If you are getting serious and want to time yourself to the millisecond, then its best looking to the world of Motocross. The DRC timer was developed with motocross bikes in mind, but it has become legendary among DHers, with its reliable timing providing an excellent tool for accurately measuring progression. With a large display and big start/stop remote button it offers the most reliable timing system short of full on electronic transponders and is an excellent way of keep tabs on your progress. DRC offer an optional top cap mount to keep things tidy and the remote can be mounted either side. The only downsides are that the unit is quite large, but for accuracy, ease of use and performance it has no equals. The unit and remote are waterproof and have held up well in 3 months of use!

But you don’t have to buy special gear, there are plenty of innovative ways of turning your favourite trails into fun races for you and your mates. It takes nothing more than a stopwatch and a bunch of buddies to set up your own private World Series in your woods. Get inventive, get out there and have fun!

Article: Trev Worsey

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