Andy

This is up on the front page, but for those who don't venture out of these forums, it's worth a repost here... Goodness knows when I last wrote a column for Trials Central, but whenever it was, it’s time I wrote another – especially as I have a subject that is currently of concern to me as an enthusiast for the sport as well as an organiser. I’m talking about the huge number of riders who have entered a trial in advance but then fail to turn up on the day. In case you think this is of minor importance, let me just give you a few facts. At the Jack Wood S3 Championship Trial on March 29, of the 156 riders entered there were 29 non-starters. At the Powys Trial a week later, also a round of the S3 Championship, of the 73 entries, 17 failed to take part and then on the following day at the Lomax also an S3 round, there was an entry of 120 – the maximum the club were prepared to accept – and a massive 34 preferred to stay at home. You could argue that the only losers are the riders; they have paid their entry fee and the club have received the money and with no organising costs to pay for those who have failed to take part, the club has the full entry fee added to their coffers. But I consider the problem to be one greater than simply not turning up and effectively giving the club a private donation, as in some respects these non-starters are depriving others of a ride they may have wanted. Take for example the Lomax. The organising Llangollen Club put a maximum entry of 120 riders on their trial, as the length of their course means they couldn’t take any more and as a result the entry was filled. However, with 34 non-starters one could argue that they should have accepted 150 in the hope that 120 actually started. But that’s a risky business if more turned up than they could handle. I’m pretty sure that once upon a time there was an ACU ruling which said that non-starters should always provide the club with a valid reason and if they didn’t then they would be reported to the sport’s governing body. However, as far as I can see that regulation no longer exists – though if it does I’m happy to be corrected – so there is simply no incentive for a rider to take part – except for the loss of his entry fee. One of the apparent reasons for riders declining to ride is that when they receive their riding numbers, if they are an early number and the trial is known to be slippery early on, then to many it seems not worth the effort to attend, knowing that there’s a good chance his result could well be worse than he expects. So, is there an answer? I was ACU Steward at both the Powys and Lomax and between the two trials I stayed with my good friend and well-known former enduro rider, Geraint Jones, and he came up with what I think is a good solution. He told me that when he sends animals to market (he’s a farmer as if you didn’t know), he is allocated a lot number for the sale and no matter his lot number he needs to be at the sale from the start because the auctioneers frequently start the sale at a middle order number, perhaps sell 50 lots then revert to another lot number, so there’s no way the seller can know when his lot comes up. Sale prices vary during the course of the day – early sales may achieve a higher value than later sales and vice versa – so it’s fair for all; no matter what the lot number, you take your chance along with everybody else. Move that analogy to trials and I suggest all entrants receive a riding number in advance and the starting order is balloted on the morning of the event, then, no matter your riding number you take your chance along with everybody else as to whether you get an early start time or a later one. Snags? Of course there are, but I reckon they could be easily sorted. Riders who want to ride together get both their riding numbers balloted at the same time so they can be together. The only real problem I see is that everybody needs to be at the start by the time the first man is due to leave. So there you have it, a new column and with the Scottish soon upon us, no doubt I will again have something to write about in the near future.

http://www.trialscentral.com/headline-stories/16963-2015-ssdt-full-entry-list-announced

All news posters were told at the beginning of March not to post events to the TC calendar until further notice as any posted after the date of notification would not be carried across to the upgraded news side of TC. Some didn't adhere to that and carried on posting events. the upgraded front end was put in place this morning hence why events posted between the cutoff date and today are now gone

Clickety - http://www.trialscentral.com/headline-stories/16946-2015-factory-sherco

http://www.britishworldtrial.co.uk/

This is being fixed as part of the news side upgrade that's going on at present.

It's going to rain.

Deleted topic restored.

I know the inverter I have in the motorhome gobbles battery even just charging the laptop off it and it's not drawing anything like 13A. You might want to consider a second "leisure" battery for this, wired up appropriately so it charges when engine running. Alternately, if you're going to have to run the engine, then a cheap generator is probably a better solution. I have this one - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004CRP1K6/ref=pe_217191_31005151_3p_M3_dp_1. Good reviews, been totally reliable, pretty quiet, runs for ages on a tank of petrol and many times cheaper than the Honda equivalent. They do a bigger 2.2kw version - https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/clarke-ig2200-2-2kw-inverter-generator?da=1&TC=GS-010612200

Ach, go on then...

If it's the same format as last year, the Enduro event takes place on the same evening with the Enduro and X-Trial interspersed.

Update on situation

Exactly. I think it's time to clamp down on all the bollocks that is taking over these forums. ..

We've had this conversation before, more than once. In some places it is free because they get support from local authorities, tourist boards etc. In others it isn't. Some places don't have to go through all the red tape, risk assessments etc etc that we have to go through here - all of which cost time and money. Could it be done free using volunteers? Not a hope. Most of those who help out at these things are volunteers anyway, but the cost isn't the people, the cost is the demands placed by the FIM and all the other things that have to be paid for. If it could be done cheaply or even free you'd have people queuing up to run them, but we're not exactly seeing that happening, are we? I'm with James on this one. If someone is going to all the hassle, time and effort to put these things on then why shouldn't they walk away with a few quid in their pocket?

£50 actually. Adults, 2 x £15. Kids 2 x £10. In the grand scheme of things, £50 isn't bad for a family day out.

At a guess because that's the bike he used for the Tundra Trial video so the one he's comfortable with riding on ice.

You don't think I actually read this s*** do you?

Researchers for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority have found over 200 dead crows near greater Boston recently, and there was much concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Bird Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be vehicular impacts. However, during the detailed analysis it was noted that varying colors of paints appeared on the bird's beaks and claws and by analyzing these paint residues it was determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, while only 2% were killed by an impact with a car. MTA then hired a group of well-known Ornithological Behaviorist to determine if there was a direct cause for these disproportionate percentages of truck kills versus car kills. The Ornithological Behaviorists very quickly concluded the cause: Seems that when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of any impending danger. They then discovered that while all the lookout crows could shout "Cah", not a single one could shout "Truck."

I sent a test message to jj65 via OFFROADMART.COM asking him to respond. His response was received, though it was flagged as spam and put in my junk mail folder. There remains nothing in the mail queue on the server and no bounce reports so all appears to be working as it should. It should be noted when a seller replies to a contact message, the potential purchaser cannot just reply to that message as it comes from an offroadmart.com email address. The only way to reply is via registering on the site (or using the "contact seller" form again). That is by design to stop the seller's email address being made public, though this behaviour can be changed via "message settings"

Can you check your Junk/Spam mail to see if there's anything there? I looked at this yesterday to check if there was anything wrong at my end but there are no mails sitting in the queue and no reject/bounce reports.

If you know how to use whois, it's not hard to work out who it is.

They used to do instruction sessions on a Saturday, but not sure if that is still the case. I'd be surprised if they've stopped them as part of the purpose of the place is to encourage new riders who, obviously are going to need a bit of help and guidance. Ask Iain or Jim down there.

Another local. What did you reckon to the Academy? It's a fair spot.

There you go - http://www.trialscentral.com/headline-stories/16779-2015-factory-beta-unveiled Have asked for more pics.

Think you got that the wrong way round....