Eventpost 50 - BMCA Shatterford

Today was the 50th trial I have ridden since starting this BLOG back in Jan 2007 and quite a change of fortune from last week.

I felt last week that he bike was working well but the result was probably a little more down to me being a little ring rusty as I had only ridden twice since November and both occasions on bikes that belonged to other people. I spent an hour yesterday at the farm getting some practice on tight cambered turns to get used to the feel of the bike (not really one for practising but needs must!)

The only real concerns I had with the bike after last week's trial was that the front end felt like it was pushing a little on tight turns. I therefore felt that putting a bit more weight over the front would make it a little more planted. This week I tried dropping the yokes an inch down the forks to see what the difference would be. In order to achieve this I put some spacers under the handlebar clamps to allow the fork legs to come up through the yokes and also to keep the bars high in relation to everything else that had been lowered.

Well, it certainly worked! The trial today was in the woods of Shatterford near kidderminster and consisted of short steep banks, tight turns and cambered, rooty sections.

The going at Shatterford is usually quite slick and muddy however with the lack of rain over the last few weeks it was remarkably dry and grippy today so even though the sections were quite testing, the grip provided a close competition with scores pretty low.

I rode well with only one small mistake on section 8 on the first lap where I dropped too low on a cambered bank and needed a dab to get back on line. The rest of the trial went without any further mistakes and with a similar field to last week I was pleased with my first trial win on the BSA.

Results

Experts
1. Dave Dawson 1
2. Nathan Jones 3
3. Gary Hawkins 5
5. Ben Millichap 6
6. Jim Pickering 8
7. Laurence Alden 11
8. Alan Borton 12
9. Pete Reed 15
10. Arthur Browning 31
10=. Gerry Minshall 31