Yesterday I travelled with Steve Thompson down to Monmouth for a Gwent Classic trial at Rockfield.
We had been told that the event was laid out for classic bikes but there would be a number of modern bikes that turn out for the ride around, so off we went expecting a good traditional classic trial.
The surroundings were very picturesque, set in the rolling countryside near Monmouth with rocky streams and banks along the edge of the farmland. Certainly a great part of the countryside and a farmer who is very pro trials as his son is apparently a useful rider himself.
The trial got underway at 11am with a format that was quite different to normal trials that we ride week in and week out. Essentially there was one route marked out for all riders (more about this later) and the entry was split into 4-5 groups of riders. Each rider was given a scorecard and each group was given a couple of hole punches and the idea was that each group of riders rode the trial together and observed themselves (similar concept to a round of golf I guess).
This meant that no observers were required and more sections could be laid out across the land available.
So far, so good - a great idea...... However in practice there were a few flaws to the plan.
Firstly - nowadays with such a variation in bikes and abilities I think it is amost impossible to hold a trial with a single route - the sections on the day were just too easy (for me and the majority of the group I roe with anyway). This is not necessarily wrong but I managed to complete the trial without losing any marks and others that did lose marks (going the wrong side of markers or the odd slip) had nowhere that they could recover the loss. I am sure that many enjoyed the trial as a fun day out and many will have lost marks and found it a good test but with such good land on offer slight variation on some of the sections to add a test for the more experienced riders would have made it more interesting and possibly attracted more riders to the event.
Secondly - the self scoring approach, although good in concept, just didn't feel like it worked. This may have been because the groups were a little too large but it never felt like I was riding a trial - more like a practice session with some other riders and a few markers dotted around for good measure. It always seems to add a little bit of pressure when an observer calls you into the section and you know you are being watched, this felt like I could go when I wanted, never sure who was actually observing (most of the time I think it was down to rider honesty) and there seemed to me no order to proceedings. We even had a couple of occasions where more than one rider was in the section at the same time.
Finally, it was all over in about 2 hours (2 laps of 15 sections with a £15 entry fee - perhaps not the greatest value for money?) and by the end we were just riding sections by ourselves and filling in the scorecard afterwards. I think the format needs some work, perhaps no more than groups of 4 riding together and nominated oberver from within the group observing each section on rotation?? Maybe I will give it more thought and try it at one of our trials in the future because it has the potential to work really well and be less reliant on helpers and volunteers to observe?
Anyway, as I said, I rode the trial without loss and it's not very often I have ever done that - even with pretty easy sections you still need to concentrate for the whole time to save any little slips. More importantly the bike ran really well and no bogging on opening the throttle - maybe because I was never in any real trouble and needing to snap the throttle open but I also conciously kept it running warm all day and it performed flawlessly.
It was a good day out in the sun and good to have my Dad riding for the first time in a while too! I am sure that Steve would have preferred to stay home and play golf though after a directional mishap and too much air in the rear tyre gave him 9 more marks that he ought to have dropped!
No pics or results but will add some if I get any..
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