> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.time2.bike/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Recording points
> Tell the screen where on the course you're standing, and the big input does that job.
A timing crew is spread around a course: someone at the start chute, someone at
the halfway split, someone on the line. Rather than giving each of them a
different little form, **each device says where it is standing once**, and the
one big input does that job.
Same keystrokes, same chips, same digit pad. Only the meaning of **Enter**
changes.
> !!-IMAGE-NEEDED-!! — The recording-point button row above the plate input, with "Halfway" selected.
## Two places to set it
| Where | When to use it |
| ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Above the plate box** | The quick switch during a race. Only appears when the race has more than one point — a race with just a finish line has nothing to choose |
| **Timer setup → This device** | Setting your post before the gun, or when the inline row isn't showing because this race only has a finish line. It always offers both ends, even on a race that doesn't use them, so you can set your post for the whole day |
Both do the same thing. The settings one is the reliable place to look, because
it's always there.
> !!-IMAGE-NEEDED-!! — Timer setup → This device, showing both ends selected.
## You can pick more than one
A criterium's start and finish are the same line on the tarmac. The person
standing there checks riders out and takes their finishes, and shouldn't have to
flip a control between the two on every pass.
So **tap both ends** and the screen stops asking. Each plate is resolved by the
rider, not by you:
| The rider | What your entry records |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------- |
| Not on course yet | Checks them in |
| Already racing | Records their finish (or lap) |
It's the same rule an RFID mat at a shared start/finish already follows.
**A split can't be combined with anything.** It's a mid-course point where a
plate read means exactly one thing — mixing it in would leave the rider's state
choosing between two records that are both plausible. Tapping a split replaces
whatever else was selected.
## The buttons
Showing only the points that exist for this race:
| Point | Enter records | Appears when |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| **Start line** | A rider checking onto the course | The race checks riders in rather than mass-starting |
| **A named split** | That rider's time at that point | You've defined split points for the race |
| **Finish line** | A finish | Always |
| **Lap** | One lap for that rider | The race is in lap mode |
If a race only has a finish line, no buttons appear — there's nothing to choose.
## It's per device, and it sticks
Your choice is remembered **on your device only**. Two laptops on the same timer
are normally standing in two different places, so this is deliberately not
shared — setting yours doesn't move anyone else.
### When you switch races
You choose what happens, under **Timer setup → This device → When I switch races**:
| Option | Use it when |
| ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Keep me here** *(default)* | Your races share a start/finish. The finish judge is at the same arch for the 9am, the 10:30, and the juniors — set it once for the day |
| **Ask per race** | Each race has its own points, and you'd rather say explicitly every time |
Either way a **split** never carries over. Split names belong to one race, so
carrying one to the next would name a point that doesn't exist there — splits
are always remembered against their own race.
Your choice also survives a reload, so a refresh mid-race doesn't quietly put you
back on the finish line.
The inline row appears as soon as you open the race — you don't have to wait for
the start — so a marshal walking to their post can set it while there's still
time to read the screen.
Set it once when you get to your post, then don't think about it again. The
submit button and the hint text both name what you're recording, so a glance
confirms you're still pointed at the right place.
## Setting up split points
Splits are defined per race by whoever runs timing: **Timer setup → Races**, pick
the race — or several at once — then add timing points.
Editing timing points across several races **replaces** them on all of the
selected races with the set you build. If the selected races currently differ,
the section says so and makes you opt in before it lets you edit, rather than
quietly loading one race's points and writing them over the rest.
Give each split a short name your marshals will recognise — "Top of the climb",
"Halfway", "Bell lap". Those names become the buttons, and the column headings
in results.
If you use RFID, each split can also be tied to a specific mat so reads from that
mat land on that split automatically.
### List them in the order riders reach them
The order of the list **is** the running order — use the arrows beside each one
to move it. There's no separate "order" field to keep in step with the list.
That order is what makes the race sheet readable: split columns run left to
right in course order, so a rider's row reads as their progress round the
course, and a gap in the middle of it is visible at a glance.
### "Every rider must pass here"
Tick this on a point you're actually staffing, and any rider who gets past it
without a time there is **flagged**:
| Where | What you see |
| ------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **The moment they finish** | A warning naming the points they have no time at — held on screen long enough to read at a finish line |
| [Combined finish](/timing/formats/combined-finish) race sheet | The cell goes amber, the rider's name picks up a **missed** badge, and a **Missed a point** filter appears in the header |
| Per-race roster | A **missed** badge under the rider, naming the points |
The warning at the finish is the one that matters: it's the only moment the
rider is still standing in front of you to ask. In a lap race it fires on the
lap that finishes them, not every lap.
A rider is only flagged once they've demonstrably gone past: they finished, or
they have a time at a *later* point. Riders who simply haven't reached it yet
are not flagged, because on a long course most of the field is between two
points at any moment.
**A missed point never changes anybody's result.** Their finish stands, their
place stands, and publishing is unaffected.
It is a prompt to go and look, not a verdict. A blank cell is far more often a
post that went unstaffed, a marshal who missed a number, or a radio that
dropped than it is a rider cutting the course. If you investigate and conclude
they did cut it, **DQ them yourself** —
[corrections](/timing/screen/corrections).
Leave it unticked for a point you're not sure you'll staff all day, and for
anything genuinely optional. Points that already existed before you touched this
stay unticked, so turning it on can't make an event that was running fine start
throwing warnings at you.
## Mass start vs check-in
Also set per race, in the same **Timer setup → Races** section:
* **Mass start** — the whole roster goes on course the moment you press START.
Right for road races, XC, criteriums.
* **Check riders in** — nobody is on course until someone records them at the
start line. Right for rolling starts and staged chutes, where knowing who
actually left matters.
Either way, **elapsed time is measured from the gun** (or from that rider's
[wave](/timing/screen/waves)), so a late check-in never shortens somebody's run.
**Checking somebody in starts the clock if nobody has.** Because elapsed runs
from the gun and not from the check-in, a rider checked in before the gun would
otherwise have nothing to be timed against — and every split recorded for them
afterwards would compute to nothing.
So the first check-in fires the race gun, and releases that rider's wave if
they're in one. It tells you it has, because it's guessing at when the field
actually went — if they left earlier, correct it with **Correct the start
time**.
## A worked example
A 50 km gravel race with a timing point at the halfway aid station:
| Person | Where | They set | They do |
| ------- | ----------- | ----------- | -------------------------------- |
| You | Finish arch | Finish line | Type bibs as riders come in |
| Marshal | Aid station | Halfway | Type bibs as riders roll through |
Both use the same screen, and both just type numbers. The results end up with a
halfway split and a finish time per rider, and you never told either person to
use a different control.
## Next
Staggered starts within one race.
Lap racing, target lap counts, and mid-race primes.