Eventpost 31 - Dudley MCC - Mamble

On Sunday I rode a local ACU trial at Mamble and after burning myself to a crisp at the beach on Sunday I probably should have stayed at home because I just didnt feel right all day.

I felt like I was not actually in control of the bike and it was all too much effort, holding on too tight and trying to make the bike do what I wanted rather than flowing through the sections and it showed in the results as I found myself struggling where I really shouldnt have.

Anyway, I was wobbling around OK and picking up a few cleans here and there until the 3rd lap when I went for a dab on the bank of a rocky stream that wasnt there and ended up falling off the bank about 6 foot down into the stream on my head with the bike on top of me and a sprained wrist and knocks and bruises all over me!

I wonder if my body is telling me something??? It made me think that my head is telling me that I can ride the hard route and my body is telling me to be more careful..... time will tell.

Needless to say I didnt finish the trial as I couldnt put any pressure on the bars with my right hand - nothing too problematic as I am writing this on Tuesday and the pain has almost gone.

My next trial will be the AMCA Exmoor 2 day trial on the weekend of 9/10 Aug. I have decided to ride the clubman class to should be more sensible.

Will update with report and pics following the event..

Eventpost 30 - Stourbridge TC Cleeton Court

On sunday I rode at Cleeton Court, a venue that I last rode about 12 years ago in one of my first classic trials. The venue is generally a shallow rocky stream with sections that weave in and out of the stream.

The sections were marked out quite tight requiring good concentration and the ability to move the front and rear wheel also helped!

The hardest section was the last section in the stream with tricky exits from the stream across roots and a tight exit over rocks which caught most riders for some marks. A dab and a 2 on the first 2 laps were my total on this section with very pleasing cleans on the last 3 laps (see video clip of the section below). I understand that only myself and Simon Anderson recorded cleans on this section.

Overall I was pleased with how I rode and yet again my best lap was the last of the trial which I cleaned, this is new to me as I have previously had problems maintaining concentration and energy levels for the whole of the trial.

The one problem was once again a sloppy 5 on section 6 when I tried to clean the section and managed to stall the bike rather than taking a single dab to get back on line and save the score. This resulted in me losing the trial by just 1 mark but a good improvement and certainly getting used to riding the modern bike and the different techniques required to make it work.

Result - Hard Route

1. D Morris 12

2. D Dawson 13

3. S Anderson 16

4. J Pickering 27

5. B Woodcock 29

6. N Beddoes 35

7. E Thompson 37

8. N Wright 41

Eventpost 29 - Shatterford Dead Easy Trial

On wed 9th July I rode a beginners trial at Shatterford put on by the Bewdley Club. The even was one that I shouldnt have really ridden however I had promised to go along with my friend Steve in order to give him some trials practice on new ground and felt that whilst there it was better to ride than to watch.

Anyway the trial was completed on clean and it gave Steve some good experience so was worth it overall. It also gave me some more practice on the bike and a chance to ride the bike in different gears to understand what it is capable of. In fact I rode each lap in a different gear including the last lap completely in 4th and was amazed at what it could do!

Eventpost 28 - Wye Valley John Langford Trial

On Jun 29th I rode the Beta in its first trial at the Wye Valley Trial. The event was laid out in great woodland surroundings with good rocky streams and banks.

The biggest change was getting used to the capability of the bike which felt bery twitchy compared to the classic bikes and also the sections appearing to be much more difficult, however once I started to ride the sections the capability of the bike made life much easier.

I got off to a very shakey start with a couple of 5's from stalling the bike resulting in 17 marks lost on the 1st lap. Fortunately I soon got up to speed with the bike and began to learn how to ride it again. The following 3 laps were completed for an additional loss of only 5 marks to finish on a total of 22.

Although the damage was done I frlt that I had made good progress and ended up in 6th place on the hard route which considering the shakey start, was not a bad result.