Eventpost 42 - Nostalgia Trial Kendal

Saturday was the annual Nostalgia Trial held in Kendal, Cumbria. This was the first time I had ridden the event and it was one of the best trials I have ridden for ages.

There was an entry of 200 at the event split between pre 65 and twinshock bikes and the trial consisted of 2 groups of sections, 7 on the rocky hillside and the other 8 sections in a woodland area so there was everything from loose rocky jumbles and slippery rocky, rooty gullies in the first group to steep climbs, slippery cambers and rocky streams in the second group. In total 3 laps of the 15 sections.

Riding in the unit pre 65 group I started at section 1 and almost immediately realised that the lack of trials that I had ridden this year along with the general lack of riding on rocks for ages had taken me by surprise. The sections honestly were harder and more severe than I had expected and in due course I started holding on too tight, trying to make the bike do what I wanted rather than riding loose and the result was far too many marks lost through my lack of conviction and not believing that I could clean them!

A five on section 1 as a result of losing the front wheel on a loose rock and ending up on my ear and a couple of 5's from a stall and not enough agression on a cambered climb were the specific lowlights of a first lap that cost me 30 marks, however during the lap there were some good rides, specifically on section 7 a pretty difficult section that started up a rocky gully then turned up a slippery cambered bank over more jagged rocks then back across the stream up some rock slabs and big roots - that ride at least gave me some heart that I was able to do OK.

The second lap improved with a loss of 18 marks which included a 5 on the last section, a steep long climb that got steeper and looser at the top where I just broke grip and had to bail out.

The final lap, with sections becoming more bedded in and a clearer line through some of the rock fields was better and a lap without a 5 was a better result but still returned a lap of 17, many of which were lost because I was knackered to be honest! (note to self - go to the gym!!!)

There will be stories and reports of long queues but I didn't find them too bad and I think the longest waits were only at about 4 or 5 sections and I found the rest a bit welcomed to be honest.

The trial did tell me that I need to start to venture out and ride some more severe sections as they did take me a while to get my eye in. I think I was riding these sort of sections regularly when we lived in Lancashire but in the last few years I have not been used to the severity and it is suprising how it makes you ride so rigid on the bike when you are not so confident.

I must say though, the top guys are in a different class. The trial was won by Paul Hays on 4 marks and even thinking about it after the trial, I think without any errors the best I could have managed at my ability level would have been about 9-10 marks per lap, which puts his ride into perspective!

My total of 65 was not great but I am happy with how things went and how I rode towards the end of the trial. I will certainly be trying for an entry again next year as it was a really great trial.

Update - I have just found the results from the trial and perhaps I didn't ride quite as badly as I thought I did, considering some of the names that were on similar marks. It appears that I was about half way down the entry so I am a bit happier than I thought! See the results here

Beezerpost 15 - a wet close shave

Got the bike ready for next weekend yesterday - all spannered polished up and ready to go so I decided to give it a quick spin over on Steve's farm (on the dry sections to keep it all clean and shiny).

All was going well and good and I went to practice on a steep little bank next to the stream to try pulling 2nd gear from no run up. After a couple of attempts, getting closer and closer to the foot of the bank I had an attempt with a big handful of throttle when almost at the top I knocked it out of gear and the next thing I knew I was under water with the bike on top of me. I swam for the top of the water to find it about chest deep and the bike completely under water!

Once adrenaline had helped me drag it out of the water and up the bank onto dry ground I started to empty the water out! I stood it up on its back wheel and the water poured out of the exhaust for what seemed like ages. After emptying the float bowl and whipping the plug out to clear the water out of the barrell I put it back together and thank god it fired up 1st kick!

I can tell you I had images of engine damage but I guess the engine had either stalled by the time it went under water or it stopped pretty quickly!

So I guess it is back out with the metal polish before the Nostalgia trial on saturday. I certainly had a close shave and will think twice before practicing alone again!

Llangollen - And More

I mentioned below that we stopped during the trial at a bike show and did a timed section in the main arena - here's a short video clip of the arena whilst we were waiting for our slot in the proceedings....

Eventpost 41 - Northern Bike Championship Llangollen

Yesterday I went to llangollen for the round of the Northern Bike Championship..... What a good trial. The countryside in that area was superb and the route managed to take in scenic views of the valley as well as some excellent green lanes and single tracks to join up the various groups of sections. Plus the weather was good too after the recent rain. The only dowside was that the sections in the first half of the trial were possibly a bit on the easy side.

It was a bit of a long day in the seat though considering we started just after 10.30 and were the first to finish at around 5 pm. No idea how late some of the serious rock kickers would have taken to get round.

We were set off in alphabetical order so I was off near the front and as I didn't really fancy sitting about I knew it would be a day of trail blazing and scrubbing the moss and slime off the fresh sections that would undoubtedly have eased during the day. This didn't seem too bad for the first half of the trial because as mentioned before, the sections were not too difficult.

After about 6 sections we arrived at a quite large motorcycle show and the central show ground which was housing a trials demo and freestyle motocross show has an arena style section laid out (tyres, barrells, logs and a zig zag between some poles) and was also timed to decide any tie breaks on score. This slowed up proceedings a bit as we had to wait for almost an hour for our 'slot' in the show. Not too bad though, a free burger and a chance to take a look around and say hi to my old friend Jason Rennie who was performing a 150ft jump with his show that he takes round to this sort of event.

On with the trial and soon a few odd dabs slipped away on slippery rocks as we were now at the front of the field and first through the sections. I had a single dab out on the moorside on a loose and slippery slate climb which was certainly going to catch others for marks and another couple as the sections began to get more difficult just after half way. Still riding well and the bike performing like a dream I was on just 5 marks when I got to about section 22 (of 30).

We then came to some sections in Dodd's Wood that were not too difficult, just some rocks up a steep gully followed by a couple of sections on the banks in the wood, all normal stuff that we ride every week, yet I then just went through a bit of brain fade, I had been riding most of the sections all day in 1st gear and finding good grip but I guess I just needed more speed and a bit more agression rather than trying to finesse it and lost 3 on the first gully followed by 5, 5 and 3 on the next 3 sections on the banks. I think if I had just pulled 2nd gear I would have used the momentum to get up rather than losing grip on the steep parts of the climbs which resulted in failure. The extra 16 marks on the card resulted in a reasonable score that I was pleased with turning into a pretty average one!

Once the score had gone I started trying other approaches and used 2nd gear in the next couple of sections with dramatically different results and finished the trial for a loss of only 1 more mark for a total of 22 marks. I think this will be miles off the pace but I am actually quite pleased with the bike and how I am riding it and I guess you just have to put these things down to experience!

I will certainly try and ride this trial again though as it was a great event and a good day out! Will post results when I get them and the rather blurred picture was taken by one of the spectators at one of the last sections of the day.

Thanks to Steve Thompson for being the chauffeur for the day - especially the slow drive home! (Not every day you get to overtake a Ducati roadbike on the country roads in a van - eh Tommo!!!!)

Just found the results on the web - took some time to get them posted on their website.... anyway 8th in the Unit class and just as I thought, the disasterous run on sections 23-26 turned a pretty good ride into an average one, but a good learning experience! See the full results here

Beezerpost 14

A couple of slight enhancements done to the bike this week....

1. The location of the chain tensioner was a little dubious as it was mounted near the swinging arm and was located inside the chain quite close to the tyre. I was always a little concerned that in muddy trials this would be prone to being caught by mud on the tyre and potentially being dragged downwards. Mechanic Pete had the bike this week and changed the location of the mounting point to the inside of the frame where the footrests are located and this has allowed the chain tensioner to run outside the frame and cranked inwards. I have added an X Block tensioner pad and will give it a try this weekend in its current rough form to make sure that it works before tidying up the welds and painting it up.

2. The NJB rear shocks were OK but I found them a little dead in action and wanted something a little more adjustable and lively on the rebound. After taking a look around I decided to give the latest Betor pro shocks from Sammy Millers a try. The certainly look good and initial thoughts are that they have achieved what I was aiming for but proof will be in the riding so will update the BLOG tomorrow night - will let you known how they perform. Note - I was intending to give the 'Magicals' a try that Mick Andrews is doing with Alan Witton, but none are available at the moment and as you know if you regularly read my BLOG, I didn't have the patience to wait a month at least for them!

3. The Sammy Miller footrests that I put on when it was built were used because, to be honest, they were the only ones I could get hold of at short notice when the original Hebo ones didn't work because I had ground the backs down to fit the old frame. They work OK but aleady have started to point downwards. This week I went to BVM in search of something new.... I was tempted to buy some Raptor's but at about £170 I found it had to justify the cost! After checking out all that was on offer I chose the S3 pegs that you see in the photo. They are very similar in size and shape to the Raptors but not made from titanium and at a reasonable £45 they look like a bargian if they hold up OK. They come with 2 red shims to allow a small amount of movement in the positioning on the mounting bracket which means that you can adjust the height by about 5-6mm depending on where you place the shims. I have them at the lowest position with just 1 shim being used on my mounting brackets.

Tomorrow (Sunday 2nd Aug) I am going to the Northen Bike Championship trial at Llangollen. First time on a road trial since the Sammy Miller trial last year on the Ariel. Hopefully the rain wont be too bad! Will update the BLOG tomorrow night....