tricky dicky

Sheffield & Hallamshire have a dead easy route which is new for this year. Next trial isn't until late April though. Most clubs seem to run 3 routes now at least. Macclesfield club run 3 routes with a 50/50 option between each route so they have 5 courses!

Putoline amongst others sell a helmet sanitiser which is foam in an aerosol. That works well but the lining still needs removing regularly and washing.

search for DSB Trial on Facebook. Spanish site with videos of quite a few of the good young riders practising this weekend

I'm quite sure it will tie in nicely with the Gas Gas announcement of who their team is

It isn't too difficult on Facebook to find a video of Busto training on a new Gasser. Jeroni is also GG. Dibs is number 1 on Beta next year. Cabes is the only questionable one as to what he is doing next year.

Dibs doesn't ride for GGUK and isn't contracted to ride in the UK. He is changing machine for next year and it will be announced soon. Cabes is the only uncertain one but he is out of contract at Sherco so who knows where he will be.

There always used to be the Elite Youth class at adult BTC rounds and they rode the expert class and it was limited to 5 riders but wasn't an actual championship. I am all for the top youth riders having a class at the adult BTC but I think it should be for experience and shouldn't be an actual championship. Maybe even have an option for the youth elite on the Championship and Expert routes as Billy Green etc want to ride the harder stuff so lets give them a chance. At the end of the day it wont do any harm. I agree with some of the comments that there are already too many ACU championships across the board and this adds another to the mix. The impact it will have on the clubs running an Acklams Youth round is yet to be seen. I personally think that the Acklams Youth championship should be the one where you are classed as champion as at the end of the day the Keedwell BTC is for adults. Just my opinion

hmmm I'm not so sure

Grattarola will be on a Mont of some variety next year and I think GG will be fielding a pretty strong squad. Watch this space.

I agree that Dibs rides the Gasser really well but he did actually have his best season on Beta and it's all to do with £££££££'s at the end of the day. Fajardo definitely not Vertigo next year.

There always used to be the elite A class at adult BTC rounds and they rode the expert class and it was limited to 5 riders but wasn't an actual championship. I asked to run A,B,C & D all on one day as I thought it would be better for everybody and we have been given a round which I'm very happy with as we only have to run one trial rather than 2 and it saves money for the poor parents. I see we actually clash with an adult BTC in Devon so it'll be interesting if that impacts the entry at all in A class.

Busto is the only one not confirmed yet out of the 3 riders mentioned and its no secret that Miquel Cirera doesn't like him because he doesn't like all the corporate stuff and would much rather do jumps in sections and wear his cap backwards on the podium. The other 2 are definitely moving.

who knows, maybe I'm right or maybe I'm wrong! I know at least one top rider will be on GG who isn't currently

A British rider will be the Beta number 1 rider. Fajardo will be moving brands too.

I think that there should definitely be some sort of system in place similar to how it used to be so riders have a rough idea on the severity of the events. This used to be closed to club, restricted to centre, open to centre, national etc etc. Obviously this is unnecessary and can be simplified massively nationwide and not just in each centre as I know this is a problem all around the country. My suggestions: Closed to club - straightforward sections with a variety of routes for abilities. Should be pretty easy for the top riders on each course. These are where you would go for your first trial. Centre Trials - tougher sections on all courses but still with the variety of routes Centre Championships - basically the same as centre trials but this varies from round to round and is venue dependant. Nationals - doesn't really need explaining although some nationals do have sections which are too severe at times but this is not every section. The idea is that the new riders progress upwards if they want to. If the riders don't want a challenge then they can stick to doing closed to club trials and at least they know what they are getting before they go. No point turning up to a centre trial and moaning its too hard if the severity is above them and they know it will be too hard. I think the ACU could get onboard with this too so a system is brought in across the board so it makes it easier to understand for all riders - not just the newbies. Slightly different but yesterday my club, Sheffield & Hallamshire, ran a charity trial with only one route and 16 sections per lap over a 4.5 mile course. We had 90 entries which was unbelievable to say there were 5 other events on in our centre alone but also shows we must be doing something right. The sections ranged from usual white route sections (very easy) to expert sections with 3 graded climbs. The idea is that the usual white route riders will struggle on probably half the sections but they only do 2 laps as the inbetween going can be tricky for them. We gave a choice of either 2, 3 or 4 laps and the experts and the majority of the good clubmen (middle course) riders did 4 laps. I think the overall winner doing 4 laps lost around 10 marks doing 4 laps of 16 and he had to ride well but there were no sections at all that an absolute beginner couldn't have a go at. Obviously it won't have suited everybody but it was something completely different to normal and yes a few sections churned up a bit more than expected (especially with 90 riders) but there were no real moans and everybody had a good day out on the bikes. I'm not suggesting this is perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it worked well. The biggest problem I see is that there is no challenge and no thought in the sections at a lot of trials. Nobody seems to want to lose marks anymore which I find is very odd seen as the event is called a trial. Would you expect to turn up for a round of golf if you are a newbie and go round on par or under par? No you wouldn't so why should it happen at trials! It should be a challenge but shouldn't be dangerous at all. That's my opinion anyway!