How can you race bike park trails outside of organised races?
Outside of races you have three routes: time yourself (stopwatch, GPS watch), compare recorded tracks in a training app, or join a league where everyone rides the same trail from the same gate to the same finish. No Last Run is the third route: a free gravity league on your phone, with a separate leaderboard for every trail. Here is what each option gives you and where it falls short.
A stopwatch and a friend at the finish
- Pros: free, instant, no app needed.
- Cons: someone stands at the finish instead of riding, reaction time is part of every result, nothing is saved.
- Good for: one afternoon with your crew.
A GPS watch or bike computer
- Pros: the full track, speed, comparing your own runs.
- Cons: you set the start and finish yourself, and comparing with others means swapping files and agreeing on the same section.
- Good for: analysing your own riding.
Training apps with segments
A segment is a stretch of trail defined by users. The app times your pass through it from the recorded track.
- Pros: lots of people already use them and there are segments on many trails.
- Cons: times are worked out afterwards, so the result depends on how well your track hit the segment’s start and end. Users create the segments themselves.
- Good for: comparing with a wide crowd if you record every ride anyway.
Fixed timing at the bike park
Some parks have a permanent timing gate on a chosen trail.
- Pros: accurate timing with no effort.
- Cons: only where the park installed it, usually on one trail.
- Good for: if your park has one, use it.
Amateur races and timed training days
- Pros: real timing and a race-day feel.
- Cons: a fixed date, entries and fees.
- Good for: testing yourself against others in race conditions.
A league app: No Last Run
Pick a trail at the bike park, put the phone in your pocket and ride. GPS times you from a virtual start gate to the finish and the verified time goes on the trail’s board. Details: How the gravity league works.
- Pros: racing every day of the season, on the same line for everyone. Today, weekend and season boards, a podium on every trail. Only verified runs count and practice stays separate. Challenges for friends go out as a link. Free.
- Cons: phone GPS is less accurate than a chip. The ranking needs background location permission. The trail has to be in the app, and if it isn’t, someone has to record it first as the Pioneer. Under dense trees the signal can be weak.
- Good for: ongoing racing on your local trails, with your crew and with strangers.
In short
- Most accurate: races with chips and fixed timing at the park.
- Simplest: a stopwatch.
- Most data about your own riding: a GPS watch or bike computer.
- Racing others every day on the same line: a league app.
These don’t exclude each other. You can ride the league on your phone and test yourself at a chip-timed race once a season.
Stay safe
Racing the clock tempts you to ride beyond your skills. Don’t. Wear a helmet and pads, check the trail before you ride it, follow the park’s rules and trail signs, and never use the phone while riding.
How to start with No Last Run
- Get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
- Create an account with your email and a one-time code.
- Pick a trail and ride practice. Once you know the line, go ranked.
- Send your friends a challenge and settle who’s fastest.
Get No Last Run for free
Read next
- How do you time an MTB downhill run with your phone, without chips or timing gates?GPS timing on a phone step by step: virtual gates, run verification, accuracy and its limits.
- How does the No Last Run gravity league work?Season, trail leaderboards, the podium, ranked runs vs practice, verification, Pioneers and fair play.
- How do you add a bike park and a trail to No Last Run?A bike park and a trail step by step: submitting the place, the Pioneer’s first run, trail statuses and what is public.