mich lin

There is ONLY one reason for the 125cc bikes, So the kids can compete with the Europeans! Otherwise I don't really care what size bikes they ride.

Call Sammy Miller and ask about the new Works Performance trial shocks. 100% rebuildable but you will never wear a pair out! Triple rate spings, large bend resistant stainless steel shafts with ultra plush damping. You will love these rear shocks. I have a pair on my personal Sherpa, It rocks!

Steve Colley will win the US title in 07! He's just finalizing his deal as we speak.

Naw, the best team ever was Team Bultaco in the late, 1970's! They dominated most nationals championships in every nation and won every round of the World Title.

Have they done anything to the 07 80cc bike? Have fun with your new toy, best of luck in 07! Mich

Excellent job! I can't remember ever reading such a concise and orderly presentation of a complicated process.

What a great champion she was, we did a Nike add with her in 1998! The add was her in a wheel chair in a hospital, we ran her down stairs on a rig and blasted her through the hospital like she was in a downhill race. She was nice enought to sign a racing poster of her when she won the Olympics. It graces a wall in our Ski Chalet. Have fun men, I simply love that area and have not ridden there since 1978.

The base of Mt Hood, that's my favortie place in the whole country. Are you going to Zig Zag? Or has that area been given over to the enlightened ones who realize that trials bike cause global warming and sonic agitation of the cosmic vibrations. Out of all the places I've been, the base of Mt Hood is the coolest. Hey, if you see Peekaboo Street at the local store, say hi.

Go online and look for the Bell Helmet website. They may still have this cool little hat.

God Blessed Fred Belair! This was a fine man who gave a great deal to the sport and added great joy to many of our lives. Our prayers are with his family. I can't think of anyone in the USA who did more to nudge the youngsters in our country to aspire to beat the Europeans at trials. Fred's dream for the El Trial De Espana was to bring young Americans to Spain, see the factories and ride with the best in the world. Then someday beat them, which they did! It was Fred who took not only his sons but many young riders to Spain who later scored many world championship points. Then finally one of his adopted trials kids named Bernie Schrieber became the World Trials Champion. Thank you Fred for all the loving and wonderful times we all shared together. Godspeed!

It was announced at the riders meeting at round one of the ATA Championship that 10 time national champion Geoff Aaron will be going for title number 11. This is great news for our US sport! Not only do the youngsters coming up like Cody and Patrick need him around to push them. He will also be a great foundation for our TDN team for the coming years as they fight their way up the A group. Face it, the fight to the podium in the World Championship group will be a tough one. I believe it would be a mistake to underestimate Team GB, Japan or Spain! One of which we are going to have to knock off if we hope to someday climb up onto the World Championship podium. Having Geoff on board will bring maturity and stability to Team USA. Having all these young tigers around is wonderful but it would not be the ideal situation for our team if we didn't have at least one old soldier like Geoff in the battle. In Nepoleon's book on the art of war, he was very clear that having old soldiers around was one thing an army/team needs. They bring stability and wisdom to the group! When times are tough and tough times always come, it's the old soldiers who keep the youngsters going. Geoff IS an old soldier now and just like Nepoleon noted, we need him now more than ever! Opps! Please forgive me I meant to put this in my little section of TC "lane's world." I'm sorry if you stumbled onto it where I posted it by mistake.

Man, sounds like a good trade! I'm a dumbo on the computer, I'll recruit my son to scan the photo, it's a good one but only a 5 by 7. I'd love one of the posters as well after they are done. My email is leavittation@aol.com, send me an email and I'll have Steve scan the photo and get it out to you. Man, sounds like a good trade! I'm a dumbo on the computer, I'll recruit my son to scan the photo, it's a good one but only a 5 by 7. I'd love one of the posters as well after they are done. My email is leavittation@aol.com, send me an email and I'll have Steve scan the photo and get it out to you.

Mike, I have one picture from this event and what a good event it was! The club did an outstanding job putting it together and pioneered a lot of the skills that would be required to make world championship trials possible in USA. One innovative idea was the running of the trial on the roads. The organizers hired off duty police officers to direct traffic. Not a single bike in the event was street legal but because of the cops on the street nobody ever asked any questions about the dirt bikes on the road. It was a brilliant idea. I remember the observing being very fair, the course well marked and the US crouds being very pumped up for the trial. Yes it was a long event and being before minders the riders had to carry their own tools and water. So if you got in trouble on the course, you were in BIG trouble.

It would be interesting to see how a 125cc bike goes in the US Pro class.

When I drove two years ago with lower gas prices, it cost us $1200.00 for gasoline. Then we blew a tire that did another $2200.00 damage to the fiberglass wheelwell on our duelly rear tired truck. If it was not for the enthusiasm of Mr. Bill to haul his trailer all the way out there, Team Califorina would be a very small team insted of the biggest in Tennesee. Dan, the trals central staff has me locked up with an electronic leash on the middle of a moor in Scotland. But according to the Geneva convention they must let me out of Lane's world for one hour of exercise everyday. That allows me to post on my blackbury, then think I'm jogging!

Why, limit it to 18, allow anybody to compete!

ACTUALLY trials on TV could be done well with proper camera work. It takes a lot of work and a good eye for the action. It also takes multiple cameras on each section, plus some great editing. Most of the trials I've seen on US TV is wham, bam thank you mam! The outdoor Trials GPs I saw on SKY TV in Mexico was a full half hour show and was pretty good... Yes it could be made even better but that takes time and money. The reason Golf is sooooo popular on TV is the weekend player factor, they have a built in fan base! Football and basketball or any other ball sport is the same. The facts are it's a big money sport simply because CBS executives who played golf wanted it to be a big TV sport. That's why golf is now a multi million dollar per year professional sport for the players, also realize that professional golf did not destroy the pleasure of the game for weekenders. A fear common amoung trials riders, that is unfounded! If somebody wanted to put the time, effort and money into trials the way it was for Golf. Trials would be a great TV sport also. We would see many more private and public owned trials areas like we do for golf to live and ride on as an added bonus. Think about it, private clubs for trials like we see for golf and hunting! But that takes a fan base.

I'm with Dan on this! We have failed to make the sport grow here in the USA by design! It's our own fault we are a 3rd world trials nation. We not only let down ourselves we let down the whole world and the manufacturers, the USA was potentually the biggest market on the planet. Yet the NATC decided on a NO GROWTH/NO SALES program for the sport in the USA. Now the FIM is forced to look elsewhere for trials growth, to China and other developing nations. Hey, at least in central America I can watch Trials GPs on Television. All I see on US television is NASCAR. All you guys who want to keep the sport small can take the fall for not having a US trials GP every year. I do agree with Dan that 2 rounds outside the United States of Europe dons't really make a world championship. The EU is one country, like the United States is one country with differnt states joined together. Why are the Europeans allowed a round in almost every state each year. There should only be only one United States of Europe round per year. Then the rest of the rounds spred all around the world. Even if the number of rounds is reduced. I find the unfair advantage the FIM has given the riders of the United States of Europe a little short sighted.

The non-stop rules have worked well at the Scottish Six Days! As unpopular as the idea is to many modern trials riders. It must be observed that all of the sports current problems with the world championship was started with the introduction of the new stop and hop rules. But we must also consider that only a handful of people in the world can ride a MotoGP or drive a Formula One car. So maybe the problem is not as big as we think because the levels in those sports has also gone up. TV must also be factored into the equation for growth and sales of the world championship. It's simply impractical to have more than a couple thousand spectators on an outdoor world championship course. TV is the only logical way to bring the action to the general public worldwide. Take golf for example, how many people traveled to the British open vs the number of people who saw Tiger Woods win it on TV? Consider we all have busy lives, yet love the sport. How else but major TV coverage can the need for a quick overview of a trials GP for the busy fans be filled? Then at the same time open up oppertunities for corperations to sell their products to these same hard working folks who have a sincere interest in the sport? Only TV coverage offers an open window to a Trials GP for most people. It also cannot be sold simply to those willing to show up in person for bigger sponsorship dollars to be produced for a TrialsGP. It takes a vehicle for the corperations to have a platform to sell their products on before more economic growth can happen. The vehicle has to be more TV coverage.

I believe James Lampkin is the guy to start with! After all he is the offical ACU British trainer. Trouble is that some US riders are so good now that they cannot learn from him, not because they know everything but because they think they do. Daniel had the oppertunity to go to his school, while I watched, it was good. The Spanish also have a great team trainer who did a school in Italy that Debbie attended. I had the oppertunity to watch that school, it was good. I can't for the life of me remember the riders name right now? He's a past top ten contender.

Agree with your overview of the training camp, its a great idea from what I saw. I must point out that dynamic was also present during the 70s, when we developed 2 world champions. A large group of riders rode together in and out of competition, which pushed the level up. Your observation couldn't be more correct. I'm not just saying that because you let me kiss you either, Alan. We agree. Competing is also important, it should not be downplayed, you might take a second look at that factor Alan. I also agree that getting large groups of kids to Europe is tough. Somehow we managed to do that as well in the 70s through the El Trial and the importers.

Ouch Steve!

Hey, what about a speical Mich Lin section on the board? You know insted of me posting on the across the pond or general trials talk, a segrigated Mich Lin place where people easily offended could avoid it altogether. Yet those wanting to cover the more controversial topics could exchange radical ideas together there. I've got a host of topic starters!

Thanks for asking about me, I'm lurking around but have not been posting much. I stopped posting because my views are so unorthodox that they shock and disturb a lot of folks. It has never been my goal to upset anyone, only express what my observations were. I thought it was better that I simply kept my opinions to myself and not risk upsetting anyone any longer. That's why you have not heard much from me lately. Hey, opinions are like behinds, everyone has one! Yet only a few folks actually show them, then when they do stick it out if it's differnt, they risk getting spanked. Hey, I'm tired of the wippings, that's all!

I believe the youth national championship is more than just the competition, it's a week long family camp on trials bikes! Most kids and the adults just love the week. Is it expensive? Yes, but any week long family vacation is. You can only decide if the vacation is worth the price by going. Every year we ask ourselves, why don't we go to to Hawaii? It costs about the same and we could stay in a 5 star hotel insted of being hot and dirty all week long. I believe only by going can you decide if it's worth the cost! This year I asked Daniel several times, are you sure you really want to go? He insisted that yes he did! It's a huge expense in time and money before during and after the competiton to attend. Even more expenseive if you are trying to win but that's your choice how serious you want to get. So a lot of the expense is really up to you! Yes the competition is tough, don't kid yourself. It's not much fun if your trying to win but that's your decision to put that much pressure on yourself! If you don't care about your results, you will have a blast competing, because you can ride whatever line you please but if you come to be US champion, Hey, things can get a little tough depending on your class! Think of it as college prep to a certain extent! Some of these kids will be the future US Olympic and TDN trials team! Only by going and testing the water can your son or daughter decide if they want to chase that goal. Now I'm going back to lurking agian!