mich lin

Trials IS just like any other sport! We pick out favorites and boo the others! It's been that way since the beginning of time. To try to create something else is unnatural! Sportsmanship is in the heart, not in the stucture of the game.

I've got to give Craig some slack, Here's another perspective. He's in the tough position of building up a team to tip Geoff off the top perch of US Trials. I believe team Smage are the first really serious team to come along for a while who could just do that. It takes a tough mindset to beat the champ and he has to build up the fighting sprit to beat the long time king of USA trials. There is always a certain amount of mental toughness and edge between two rival teams. Just look at college football or a hockey game sometime as an example. This looks like nothing more than that. If that simple comment was the worst thing people ever said about me when I was national champ, I'd have been a very happy fellow. Remember if your at the top, people will try to tip you off from there. It goes with the territory. If "Geoff couldn't take the heat, he would get out of the kitchen long ago. I'd give Geoff some credit, he's got to be tough enough to take it after all those years at the top. Craig also will have to become a very tough guy, along with the rest of his team to win. To me this is simply my football or hockey team is better than yours.

Good Point Trialsurfer! I've pondered this situation for a while now. How many American Pro riders can She pick off? What if she beats all of them? If I was a US Pro rider I'd be out practicing so a girl wouldn't beat me! Do you suppose somebody planned this as a promotional stunt? Why else would our best US riders be put down a class with the ladies world champion?

Interesting question Ishy! How would the 125cc world champion do against Geoff and the US pro class? There is little doubt that the big bikes perform better in experenced hands, otherwise Dougie, Fugi, Raga or Cabby would perfer a 125cc machine. I can't really think of a time that smaller bikes ruled the day except the 200cc Tiger Cub winning the Scottish. Or maybe the 250cc Sherpa, Cota or OSSA during the late 60s early 70s. That does bring up another interesting question about our current US Pro class? They will be riding the same line as Woman's world champion Sanz at the US world round, how will our best Pros do against her? Will she beat some or all of the best USA men's riders?

Good conversation men! Craig, pointing out it is imposible to ride a 125 in the US Pro class is important. How can Patrick beat Geoff with a butter knife "125cc bike" when Geoff has a 280cc machine gun? Nigel pointing out that an American will not be a world champion contender unless he is on a 125 at Patrick's age is also important. I'd call that catch 22 and the pickle that the NATC has created for the best US youngsters. Remember my claim that the NATC did not want US riders as world round contenders anymore! Unless they "NATC" change their actions, they are the main roadblock to the best US riders getting back into the world games. I also agree with Sting that sadly we may need to throw away this generation of riders! If Patrick dose not win a 125cc World championship round in the next 2 years, he's done! The NATC forcing him to move up to a 290cc bike creates a huge handicap for Patrick to overcome and he may become one of the lost generation of riders also. Clive, I believe your idea is a sound one. In fact that was the foundation of the El Trial De Espana. The focus of the event in the beginnig was to send young riders to the Spanish round of the world championship. The program was a huge success and layed the foundation for Bernie winning a world title and several other Americans scoring world points. It was a very tight program, with pre-planned trips and tours of the factories, training and even dinners with Mr. Bulto. Some years the program was so successful up to 7 riders went from the proceeds. These organized overseas trips made a large number of US top riders aware of international competition. They saw the international trials culture and the riding levels they needed to rise to. Because a large number of US riders saw first hand where the bar was set by the Europeans, they brought that insight back into our community. Which forced everyone to kick it up a few notches instead of simply coasting year after year like we see now. Consider when one rider goes to Europe to do a world round, they come back and tell stories about World Trials yet the impact on the US community is small. When several riders go and come back with the same story, it has much more impact on the American trials culture overall. Now, recreating the original El Trial atmosphere is a good idea. This is not enough however. We need the cooperation of the NATC to remove the catch 22 roadblocks they have created that keep American's like Smage at an international disadvantage. Unless he is encouraged to remain on the same 125cc machine as his world wide peers, he will be at a huge disadvantage and fall behind very quickly from the rest of the world. So the NATC is still the main roadblock on the topic of having US riders as world round contenders.

Kinel, I apologize for my poor writing skills! What I was trying to point out, is that top riders of the past mixed more than today with other good riders. Now Dougie, Fugi or Raga are not available as much for the best local experts or the up and coming riders to train and ride with. This is good for Dougie, Fugi, Raga or even our national champion because it isolates them from the pack and makes them tougher to beat. It's not good for the up and coming riders for figuring out the techniques they lack. The principle is simple, if you hang out with good people their good habits rub off on you. If you hang with people with bad habits, they rub off also. Simply it's harder to beat the best when you can't ride with them often.

Nigel, I agree with your view that Patrick should be on a 125 and training for the 125cc world championship. Not on a 290, where he might destroy his timing for the 125cc world title rounds he's almost of age for. Here's the rub, to remain sponsored in the USA, youngsters must move into the pro class where a 125 would be a BIG disadvantage agaisnt the 290s of the older established riders. If his results are very poor because of the 125cc bike he will not recieve the support he needs to get around to the US nationals! The just proposed but rejected 125cc national championship would have addressed this problem to a certain extent. Someone like Patrick or Andrew would have had a reason to stay on a 125cc bike and train for the 125cc world title. Which is the first step today toward a World Championship against Fugi, Dougie and Raga.

On the topic of kids riding, the two riders that I think have what it takes to get to the next level are Patrik Smage and then behind him is Andrew Oldar. These two are our best prospects for the moment, both have talent, drive and good support from their parents. What these young men need is a bunch of good young riders around them to push them and beat the tar out of them if they don't concentrate and focus every moment. I think it's to early to think any one of the other young riders has the drive and determination to score world points.

Clive, your right there is room for Ying and Yang of attitude in the sport, we need both. It's the differnce between the weekend warrior and the guy living the dream like a Tiger Woods vs the duffer golfer. Tiger would not have a job without the duffer buying Nike golf balls! Our topic is the USA as a world round contender, You and Steve simply showed the differnce between the two! It's not a crime to be a weekend warrior, in fact the sport thrives on being fun and having a strong grass roots like yourself. The observation I'd make is simple, how often do you see Tiger practicing with the duffers? You simply do not see him making it a habit of training with weekend warriors. Why? Because their bad habits and attitude rub off onto him and it will destroy his game.

Martin, thanks for the UK Trials update, times have changed in England! American trials has has some influence on your sport. I beleive Ishy is right, we adopt the ideas from everywhere that work for the best. Times change, land use changes and so does the vehicle codes. My last UK trial was 1980 and there is bound to be some evloution of the sport.

Wayne, anything worth doing is always worth the effort and your right that's exactly the type of dedication it will take. I've lived that life, it's tough and exciting at the same time, I simply didn't have the success due to my own mistakes that Lance or Bernie did. Nobody to blame but myself. It does take good mentors around someone like Lance, Bernie or Dougie to keep them on track. Which is very important! That's something I lacked and would have loved to of had. In the end it's all about heart, individual drive and motivation, without that the best mentors in the world won't help. Trials as an Olympic sport is not out of the question, by the way. Which would indeed spark interest in trials and bring in some young tigers we would not normally get in this sport. A little side story, If your interested, a pal of mine who works for Ford Rally racing who used to ride trials. Maybe some of you remember him, Bill Kniege just sent me an e-mail and said he just spoke to Bernie. I've invited bill out to one of Bill Markem's events for a day of fun. Bill works for Ford racing and went to LeMans in the 60s when Ford kicked everyone's rear with the Ford GT and the Cobras.

Great Plan Ringo! There has to be a world class rider in the country someplace. A little advertizing should help a lot. Just don't tell them what the job pays! They may unvolenteer to fly the flag at the world round and return to service in Iraq with the US Army. For sure stop by and see Dan, check to see if our entry has been accepted, We can flip a coin and decide if I minder for you or you for me. Lucifers is the local bottle shop, get there early or they will be closed, it's right next door to the Winn/Dixie, Geobels market or something classy like that. A good bottle of wine will soften up old Dan for sure. Alan did I mention that the trials bikes in England are street legal? That a lot of trials start right in the middle of town? That the local stores will sometimes have posters of the events in their windows? That all the young single women are along side the start area to check out the sportsmen in town for the trial? That the local marching band comes out and plays along with the majorettes for the welcoming of the trials riders? That everyone goes for a p*** up in the pub afterwards? Just thought you needed to know!

Like you said Ishy! We posted at the same time. By the way do you still drink cheap beer? Or do I have to feed you the Expensive stuff now?

Two or more witnesses Alan! I've always been a fan of doing trials the English way in the USA. They still use the classic rules at most of their events, so does the Scottish Six Days. For the most part all events in England are mail entries only, you cannot come and sign up the day of the event. You must pre-enter by mail, similar to the US nationals, only most don't allow late entreis the day of the event like a US national does. Most of their trials also start riders one per minute like a US national or an enduro. The entry numbers are often given by reciept of the entry, the first gets number one, The last entry accepted gets the last number. No mass starts there either, with differnt classes starting at differnt sections. Everyone starts at section one and goes through the course in section order. Rider number one starts first, then one minute later rider number 2 starts and so on. Often there will be no splits in the sections, everyone entered rides the same course. That was almost always true in the past, today there has been some American influence in England, they now have a split or two sometimes. Big events like the Scottish Six Days however, everyone entered from you to Dougie Lampkin ride the same line in the same sections. Their award structure is also much differnt. Ask Ishy, for more details please. Everytime I bring up how they do it in England I get yelled at, just like you did in your last post. Remember Dan Brown's post? He mentioned that in Trials and Moto-Cross news there was 30 events over one weekend to choose from. If someone has to drive much more than and hour to ride a trial every weekend, they begin to complain about all the driving. When I've spoke of trials getting popular in the USA, I've always meant that it was as popular as it is in England. Where you can ride an event or two every week if you please. Sometimes even three a week if there is a trial on Wendsday evening. Of course within an hour or two drive of your house for the three events, just like in England. Did I mention they don't use scorecards, the observers use a clipboard to keep your score?

Ishy is correct, this is the way it has been done in England and the Scottish Six days since the beginning of the sport. When I started in the very late 60s riding in the USA, this was the only way we did it as well. Punch cards came into fasion in the early 70s in the USA. Like your sections markers Ishy, they seem very practical! The system Bill uses for his grass roots events, is starting the trial at 6pm in the summertime. He runs three loops of 5 sections for his Sat. events with or without observers. When he finds observers he pays them $20 for the two to three hour event. If he dosn't have enough observers, the show must go on so he will have a punch on a stake at the end of the section, you punch yourself. His wintertime events start at 1pm on Sat and end about 4pm. These events are a blast, are a great place to start and are excellent practice to keep your skills sharp. We find that the kids get together and practice before and after the event really hard. When you add a competition in the middle of two hard practice sessions it makes for great rider development. Afterward it's a tradition we all go out for dinner! Sometimes I think the kids enjoy the dinner get together just as much as the riding. Sizzler is the usal stop. We call it the "awards banquet" for the fun of it. The partents also really enjoy this social time with everybody. What Ishy is talking about and what Bill Markem is doing truely is a great beginning to grassroots success for trials.

Ishy, that event sounds fantastic, very similar to what Bill Markem does with his Sat. events. They are my favorite trials because they do not consume the whole weekend. Steve, your right! Of course I don't have enough personel resources to do it alone but I do have a lot of background for helping get Americans back into the world hunt. In fact I have been working with the So Cal Youngsters and the team is going well. We just presented an overhaul Steve to the NATC requested by the head of the organization. To create an atmosphere where our young riders could begin to go foreward in world competition, Yet at the same time retain the sportsmen age groups which is so important to the NATC. Maybe next year it will get some traction. Something in your last post really struck me Steve! The way you said you always wanted to be the best. That's attitude, of the right kind that rubs off on other people around you. Clive also just showed the opposite kind of attitude, the one that's negetive and tears down people around them. That is the ying and yang of attitude. When there is a large group of people in a sport with Steve's kind of attitude, riders get better, the sport grows, people have fun, more bikes are sold, new products pop up because people are excited about the sport. Keep people with the wrong kind of attitude away from anybody that is hoping to be national or world champion! They are the poison that destroys riding levels, the fun factor, bike sales and our hopes for a bigger the future.

Agree Steve! Why did Bell pack it up by the way? O, and I did ride some sections at the nationals! I also commuted 3 and one half hours back to LA after day one of the nationals. Worked a 10 hour shift that night on the job, drove another 3 and 1/2 hours back and rode the national the next day. I was exsasted not from the trial but from working all night and the commute back and forth. Agree with the building the local clubs! Agree about the regional events being a great idea. I also would like to see the roadblocks put up by the NATC taken away that hold our youngsters back.

First let me say what an intellegent and thought provoking conversation we are having. Ishy, everything is relative, compared to some I ride well, compared to Adam Raga I ride like cr@p. That's really the topic, the USA as a world round contender. Comparing our best now with the world's best! Simply put, I know my limitations and will not go beyond them. I also know that our riders often sell themselves short, with a little differnt approach to the world championship we could again score some consistant world points for the USA. Not just because nobody shows up from Europe but because our guys and gals earned them. maybe not with this current generation of Pro riders but with the news ones coming up like Smage and those right behind him. Alan, I'll name names for sure! Realize however I believe these men did what they did because they believe it was what was best for the sport as a whole. They devised an amazing plan, followed it through and created the sport they felt was best for everyone. Now, not everyone agreed with them but at least they showed me the respect to lay the plan out for me. Then let me decide my own course for the future, which was to stop riding and get on with my life and career. I respect them for that. They were Wiltz Wagner, Bud Mylerburg and Dave Russel if I remember the situation right. Wiltz did 99% of the talking while the others just lisened. It was at breakfast on the Sunday morning of my last NATC meeting. The laying out of a new direction for the sport has happened, that's really the best indication that the conversation and plan really happened. Today sportsmen age groups drive the US championship, not the Pro class as it did during the time of that meeting. None of these men ride anymore, now simply what course do we take? Or do we keep the plan exactly as it is today?

Sting Your observations about trials being on life support is right on and very perceptive. I agree with a lot of your points but not that my solution to the sick sport is Pro riders only. The solution is the sport having something for everyone like Soccer, football, golf or any other sport you might want to pick that is popular. Remember my claim that the NATC by design wanted a sport to be for old guys on Oxygen! Sorry I couldn't resist your visual picture. Take away the senior age groups and you might not even have a US national championship today. It was not always like that if you look at the Wagner report on the NATC webpage. In the past the Pro class was the backbone of the NATC championship. Their goals was to have a sport that they didn't have to deal with local club politics, have sportsmen age group champions at well organized events that they could enjoy. Then not have to deal with the Professional teams that made the nationals no fun because of the intense struggle between them for the top spots. The leadership of the organization laid out their plan for me at my last NATC meetng. It included a no growth policy, not having to deal with the local clubs, a secret sport that they could win their age championships and enjoy without the Pro riders and teams always creating a stir in their fight for the top. Their plans succeeded amazingly well, they now have the secret sport for senior class riders they planned for. Today, none of these people ride anymore. Now those of us left here have to decide if we continue in their senior program or do we go a differnt direction and design a sport that includes all types of people. One that has a grass roots, a semi pro regional level and also a Pro level with people living the dream like Tiger Woods or McGrath? I'm simply pointing out the fact that by NATC design, we now have what we have in this sport. Simply do we change the direction and try to include a wider interest for trials or do we leave it like it is? It took years of work by the NATC leadership to create todays trials. Do we upset their plans or do we keep US trials a secret sport geared for senior sportsmen riders who can afford to or have an interest to drive and ride all over the country?

Terry, I ride like cr@p! Remember when I rode for a living, it was on the bike everyday and in the gym 3 times a week. Today I've not been on a bike in several months. I've got a business and family to run. Plus I'm 55 years old. If I trained like I did back then I really don't know how well I would do. To figure out what class I would ride in your area is simply impossible, how can I compare myself to anybody? Simply because we don't have standardized classes in the United States so naming a class has no point of referance. All I know is that when I entered the top US Pro class there was only six riders who would have beaten me. So that's all I have to compare to. There are 3 rules to championship trials, Score points, have fun or be paid a lot of money and learn something every event. I succeeded in achiving these 3 vital goals to maintaining championship success. So for me my goals of riding the US pro class championship was a achieved. No matter what anybody else thinks.

Good stuff guys! The topic was the USA as a world round contender. So attempting a championship is VERY much "on topic." My point on that subject is from a very credable position. Having scored more world round points than the whole current USA Pro class combined. Also remember I had to compete agaisnt the Adam Raga of my day, Bernie, not just float along like our current Pro class can without having to ride at a world class level. My point is simply that attitude and your mindset is what makes you a contender. As long as you believe you can be a contender you will be one. When that mindset is broken and you can no longer see yourself being world or national champion you will not be the champion. Look at Ryan Bell, He was a great rider, he came so close but gave up! Why? He lost his faith and vision! He could no longer see himself ever beating Geoff, so he lost his enthusiasm for the fight. Then simply gave up! Attitude is everything, my point about attitude on this subject is this. Are you going to look to people who have never even placed in the top ten at the US championship and never scored any world championship points to lead the way toward more Americans getting into the world championship points again. Or are you going to lisen to someone who has fought the fight, taken their hits and won a few and lost a few?

Alan, If the NATC had not banned me from competing I would have beaten every rider in the USA but six. What was your highest national number ever in the US Pro class? In fact I'd ask that of just about everyone who decided to not let me ride this year. Did they ever do that well? Winning National number seven at 55 years old would have been something I would have been as proud of as winning the 4 national titles and then giving one of them away. Setting personal goals is important! Without them you cannot have enough enthusiasm to do a championship. My goals were to study and learn about todays national championship. Watch our best riders and study their styles, have fun and score national championship points. Then next year come back and do my age group championship! After that I was going to sponsor a team of young riders for the nationals and world championship. Ringo riding the Endurocross is another example of someone reaching for a personal goal. A lot of people may have thought he was crazy but he reached for something most people would not have dreamed of. I respect that! For me the goal of being national number 7 Pro seemed like a worthwhile personal goal to work hard toward. It motivated me enough to train in the gym everyday and practice on the bike everyday as well. I knew that the sections were over my head and that I'd have to really improve to manage to ride some of them. I was hurting nobody and improving myself a lot which is what personal goals are all about. Dispite what anybody else thinks! I had submitted my entries, which were accepted. Arrainged a machine from the importer for the eastern events. Had purchased my airfare, Rented a car and planned to travel with Bill Markem. Everything was in place and ready for my first eastern nationals in 25 years. I didn't cut and run Alan, I'd never do that, the NATC pulled the rug out from under me! They accepted my entries then at the last minute took my entries away. I'm still out my airfare of $350 because it was not refundable. What a waist of money because of their give an entry then take it away policies! I wish I had the $350 now for Christmas presents. In retrospect the NATC didn't and still don't have much vision or understanding of what motivates people to spend the time, effort and money to compete at a national or world championship at the top levels. Perhaps that's why it took my organizational vision for an American rider to score world championship points for the first time since the middle 1980s, that was Spain in 2000. That's another example of setting personal goals and making the effort, no matter what anybody else thinks. Goals, goals, goals! Worthwhile personal goals Alan. Lead by example! Just do it! Aim High! Go for the Gold! Step into the arena, win lose or draw. It's better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all. At least I tried, I won some championships! Scored some World championship points. That's better than not trying at all, Not entering, being a spectator all the time in life. Heck I'd ride the world round this year if they would let me! Who knows, maybe only 14 European riders might show up and I could score a world championship point. None of the other Americans are in a position to do so. I would be if they would let me. If I'm differnt than most people fine, at least I'm being true to myself. Sorry if this offends anybody! It's meant to be an inspiration for somebody to get out and simply participate in life insted of being only a spectator. Remember there are two types of people in the stadium, those watching the game and those playing on the field. Which will you be? I prefer being on the field insted of in the stands. If I can't be in the game as a coach or player, I'll find a sport where I can participate. Not just be a spectator. Ishy brought up the point of sponsorships and money in sports. Sports is a business and the sponsor always must get something for their investment. I feel that Trials does not give back to its sponsors! Ishy sponsored youth trials in his area, yet did he get back his money's worth? We sponsored the Trial De State, did we get our money's worth? To ride the nationals, to sponsor riders, people have to get their money's worth. I feel that the NATC ripped me off for my national efforts! I'm $350 bucks in the hole with my lost airfare and I'm reluctant to invest more, either as a rider or a sponsor. If I feel this way, other potentual sponsors might feel the same. Just some personal observations! Until this atmosphere changes, nobody will bring any money into this sport.

MLawson Your barnstorming point is a great one! Todays top riders are not made available to the general riding public as they were in the 70s. Not having Adam Raga or Dougie come on tours of the United States makes them more mystical to our top American riders. Which means they never get to practice with them, learn from them and most importanly have a shot at beating them. So they become legendary, insted of simply someone to beat. The same is true with the US top riders, they are insulated from the general trials population are are not available to practice with, learn from or have a shot a beating as much as Bernie, Marland or myself were. It creates sort of a closed shop atmosphere. When we build name riders into mental giants as we have Geoff on a national level and Dougie or Adam on an international level we see a climate where young riders cannot even imagine beating them. If youngsters cannot see themselves beating a Geoff Aaron they never will, just like if the US champion cannot see himself beating Adam Raga he never will. It might be true that the top riders perfer it like this because they do not get as much pressure from the young lions coming up. It just might keep their place at the top more secure for longer peiords of time. So doing anything to open up the top ranks of the sport on a national or international level might get some resistance from the current champions. Simply a thought! Barcota was right to some extent of his appraisal of my goals for riding the nationals in 05 but I disagree with his contempt for it. My riding the US Pro class was to prove a point and of course have some fun! My final overall national number for the year in the US pro class championship would have been national #7. I wanted to show the youngsters that if you don't compete with Geoff you cannot even figure into the results or ever hope to beat him. The point was simply just do it, jump in and get involved! If you wait to long, your going to be to old to beat Geoff and for sure Adam Raga. I was pleased to see Patrik Smage take my challenge and move up to the Pro class and face off with Geoff and crew mid season. What he did was what I was hoping all the young tigers would do, jump in and join the Pro class fight! A US Pro class with only 6 0r 7 riders is really sad! Seeing all our best youngsters in their most important formative years segregated from the best American Pros is counter productive to their development. It derails the time table they need to follow if they ever hope to beat someone like an Adam Raga. So your observation of barnstorming really is a good one and perhaps the reason we have Geoff and Dougie winning such a long string of championships?

Great dialog and quite a theme here! I beleive we cannot live in the past and bask in the glory of what we did to put an American on top in world trials. Or marvel at the huge numbers of riders we had back then. We do need to be aware of history, understand what worked and what didn't, then be clear if we really want a bigger sport and world class riders again. I asked this question and requested a clear set of goals at my last NATC meeting in 1980. Without clear goals you cannot move in any kind of a direction. The NATC responded by stonewalling my requests for open clear cut goals, yet they did give me enough respect to pull me aside and make it clear what their goals were for the sport. The goals of the organization was to have no more world class riders from the USA because they created too serious of an atmosphere at the US nationals. This race face atmosphere mentioned above does indeed come with Professional riders "fighting" it out to be top dog. Yet without feeding that dog, riders cannot mature into winnning fighters/riders on an international level. Next their other goal was to keep the sport small! The NATC didn't want an enviroment where you had to lock your truck between laps or create a situation where sportsmen riders couldn't ride the nationls because the entries where filled with young riders wanting to be the next Adam Raga. They wanted well organized events they could ride in their senior class divisions and have fun at. So the stagnation and direction that our sport went was clearly planned by the NATC and they successfully created the sport they wanted. Today none of these people are still riding anymore! So we really do have an oppertunity to reconsider the course of the sport. Now if the NATC is content to keep things as they are, we can go with the new organization just created and set some new more progressive goals for trials if we want. Provided sport growth is indeed something we want. I believe that the sport stands at a crossroad, we can go anyway we choose. There is no reason why a new professional series cannot be created in the Oktoberfest model,maybe an indoor series, a youth series, a set of regional championships or anything else that can be imagined. Or we can continue with the NATC model designed to keep the sport small and targeted to senior class riders to have fun. The decision of the movers and shakers of trials is simply this, do we leave this a sport for senior riders only? Or do we figure out a way to include new riders, youngsters and potentual Adam Ragas? Today trials does not give oppertunities for all possible interests. Yes we provide excellent entertainment for senior class riders but other age groups or interest levels are not given room to participate. How these riders are included I'm not sure about yet but the untapped potentual is there provided we really do want sport growth today.

Ishy, in the Sammy Miller book the key point I came away with was this. Sammy asked someone what the secret to being a great rider was, I can't remember who he asked but it must have been someone Sammy respected. The answer he was given was enthusiasm. Sammy stated he didn't think much of the answer but the more he thought about it the more he realized it was the most important thing about trials. Each individual is exceited by something a little differnt, the old "differrnt strokes for differnt folks" concept. I really don't believe that US trials offers differnt strokes for differnt folks! When people have enthusiasm for something they get involved, when they don't they stop. I've experenced that if you don't conform exactly to the mold or program set foreward you get resistence in this sport. Your expected to be a cookie cut trials rider or promoter in the USA. Otherwise your given a hard time and run off. It's hard to have enthusiasm for trials for long when your put down for having a little fun, set high goals or simply be yourself. Since I've been back in the sport I've gotten flack for taking a team to Europe, organizing the Trial De State, for riding the US Championship and having an interest in trials growth and US riding levels. Simply, I've lost interest and hope for the sport. I would have loved to get involved on a BIGGER level. Helped more riders, organize more events, donate more money but everytime I did some of that somebody had a bone to pick. Simply because I didn't want to play their game, or be happy as it was. When I organized an event "the Trials De State" which favored states with big youth programs there was flak because states with small youth programs didn't have a chance. Why didn't they simply get off their behinds and build one? You begin to ask yourself why lisen to all the complainers? The do nothing croud. I'm sure you can relate in some way after organizing the kids program for the PNTA, investing your own time and money. That's exactly what I did only in a little differnt direction. We simply lose enthusiasm. A couple of last examples of differnt strokes, gone bad! Two girls rode the Donner Youth National agaisnt the boys that you and your son did a few years ago. Your son won 2 of the 3 days but didn't ride the third day because of needing to return home. A girl rider won the overall agaisnt the boys because of your sons absence at the last round, yet she was not allowed to stand with boys on top of the boys podium. She has had no interest of riding since! Another older girl also finished on the podium against the boys in a higher class yet she was also not allowed to stand on the boys podium. She also has not ridden a single event since then. Their goal was to place with the boys, yet they where not allowed to. Again differnt strokes, yet their hope and dream of competeing with the boys was taken away along with the enthusiasm for trials. Sorry for the negativity, I'm generally a possitive person! I've simply lost enthusiams for riding and the sport. Only because there is no diffent strokes for differnt folks allowed here.