How a ride ends depends on whether you're in an event or on a Just Ride.
Ending an event ride
How an event ride ends depends on the event's format. Race and time trial are ranked; sportive and point-to-point are timed but unranked; a meet-up is untimed. Unranked doesn't mean DNF-free, though — a sportive or point-to-point is still a challenge you can fail to complete. See event types.
Race and time trial (both ranked) have a real finish line, so ending is either decided for you or deliberately protected against a pocket-tap:
- You cross the finish line. The app detects the crossing from your position and finishes you automatically — no button to tap. You'll see a finish banner on the tracking screen, then a results screen with your time, distance, average speed and, on a multi-lap event, your lap splits.
- The cut-off passes. If the organiser set a cut-off time, anyone still out past it is closed out automatically — recorded as DNF or as finished, whichever the organiser chose. Athletes who are paused aren't caught by the cut-off.
- You abandon. If you need to pull out early, tap Abandon and confirm by typing a 4-digit code shown on screen. You're recorded as DNF (did not finish). This is deliberate friction so a pocket-tap can't end your ride, and nothing in the notification tray can end it either. On a time trial there's no pre-start grace period the way a race has before its gun — Abandon is the only early exit from the moment you tap Start, and it's always a DNF.
Sportive. A sportive is timed like a time trial — your time runs from crossing the start line to crossing the finish, and crossing the finish line ends your tracking automatically, the same finish-line detection as a race or TT. It's unranked — no positions, no podium, personal times only — but unranked doesn't mean DNF-free: a sportive is a challenge, and if you stop early instead of reaching the line, that's recorded as a DNF, the same as abandoning a race. If you'd rather not wait on the app to catch your line-crossing, or you're stopping early, use the slide-to-end control.
Point-to-point. Timed the same way as a sportive — your elapsed time runs from your first checkpoint to your last — but with checkpoints instead of a route line. Reaching the final checkpoint ends your tracking automatically, the same as crossing a finish line. Stopping before that is also a DNF, for the same reason as a sportive: it's a challenge to complete, not a race to rank.
Meet-up has no finish line and no DNF — no gun, no gate, no course end to detect. You end it the same way as a Just Ride: with the slide-to-end control on the tracking screen — slide to end ride (or run) — whenever you decide you're done, and it's always recorded as Finished. (An organiser can still mark you DNF by hand from their dashboard, or by a cut-off if they've set one — but nothing about ending your own meet-up ever does.)
Depending on the event, you may be able to rejoin after abandoning — start again from the event page. See Register for an event.
Ending a Just Ride
A Just Ride ends when you use the slide-to-end control — slide to end ride (or run) — that's the only thing that ends it. There's no finish line and no cut-off. Your ride saves to your history with its distance, time and average speed. See Just Ride.
What "finished" means
The instant a ride ends — line crossing, cut-off, DNF, or sliding to end — it's frozen everywhere at the same moment. Your distance, time and position lock in. That's true on your own screen, on the leaderboard, and in the replay. No timer keeps ticking, and no later GPS points extend your trail past the finish.
On the live spectator map, a finished rider's marker fades out over about 2.5 seconds and then clears — the live map is there to show who's still on course. Your result itself doesn't disappear: it stays frozen on the leaderboard and results, and in the replay. See Why your distance and time are accurate.
Finishing offline
If you finish or stop with no signal, the app records the exact moment you finished on your phone. Hours later, when signal returns, your ride uploads carrying that original finish time — so your result reflects when you actually finished, not when your phone reconnected. Any points your phone recorded after you finished are discarded, so your trail ends cleanly at the line, and any points from before the finish that were still queued fill your trail back in.
Troubleshooting
- I crossed the line but it still says I'm racing. Automatic finish needs a moment, and if you're offline it can't confirm until you reconnect — reopen the app with signal. If it still hasn't fired, the organiser can finish you from their dashboard.
- My save failed with no signal. You'll see a retry prompt. Your finish time is already safe on the phone; tap retry when you have signal and it syncs with the correct time. Nothing is lost in the meantime.