maco

I'd guess that Stanley decided to run the trial because of the distance people had to travel to get to your Sunday trial. Possibly thinking they would get good numbers. I was away for that weekend so couldn't attend either, but with Seaton delevals trial being 70 mile from myself & Butsfield been around 15 mile I would of rode the Saturday & not the Sunday. Stanley ran a tuition day one Wednesday night a few month back & had always planned to do more throughout the year because they got a good turn out. Around 15 of us if I remember rightly. Like you say, more beginners trials to get people into the sport the better.

You say the only reason you showed up on Sunday was because it was 'conducted'. Can I ask what stopped you going to the Butsfield training day on the Saturday? Slightly different principles, mark sections out with Colin & Micky & ride them until every cleaned them. After this a full trial occurred. Was it just not advertised right?

So Baldilocks ( Glen ) has put on the NE centre Facebook page that only 3 people rode the conducted adult route today.. Probably a lot of time and effort for what seems like rubbish reward.

John, do you think you would get many to take part? Whenever Weardale runs a Saturday trial & has a Very easy course isn't it 95 or even 100% kids on Osets riding it? To many people are worried about what others think of them, so could possibly stay away from doing a conducted because it's associated with kids. Going back to what Glen was saying about trying to get people to progress, instead of the Green course for half clubman half expert. How about something for the easy course which allows them to ride half the clubman? At least that way you can build your confidence up bit by bit eventually progressing onto riding fully clubman level. Not sure if this is something already been applied else where, but it's not in the North east.

Yeah I'd agree the ability range is huge, for you looking at the clubman & easy you probably think it looks far to easy. But for me as an easy rider looking at clubman sections & clubman riders they just look well above my ability. One thing I will say is when I've helped one certain NE club mark out, the sections always start with the Clubman course & then the easy & expert is derived from there route. So it may not always been down to making exceptions for the easy lads.

To me the easy course is fine as it is, I can go to weardale & lose probably 30+ marks but still enjoy myself and at the other end of the scale I can go to Stanley/consett & lose less than 10 marks and be in with a chance of winning. I just understand where the learners are coming from because it's friggin hard!! Like you said though Glen, the gap between Easy & clubman is vast. If a ranking scheme was in place would I be forced to ride clubman because I've had a good few rides on the easy course? I probably wouldn't turn up to a few certain clubs because I know there would be no chance of me doing most of the sections. At the end of the day it's impossible to please everyone, you'll still get clubman riders on the easy course complaining it's to easy & learners complaining that it's to hard. I'm just focusing on the easy course because i can't comment on the clubman or expert courses. Also like you said Glen, it's very much down to the clubs. Entries vary from club to club, we all know Weardale gets less than half the entries of Consett/Stanley & we also know that the latters sections are much easier. Coincidence?

Personally the main factory is section severity. I'm a bang average rider & could still be classed as a beginner. In the NE club trials you normally have Easy, clubman & expert course but I don't know how you can call the easy course easy. I've managed to drag a few mates along to try out trials & they've all said the same thing, an easy course should be for beginners & learners who want to turn up to there first trial and get round for a finish without killing themselves & never wanting to return. Sometimes you get to a 'easy' section and theres been no thought gone into it at all. The worse thing is you've got people riding the easy course & winning it on 0 marks then going to national trials where there's no Easy course & riding clubman level. Then coming back to a club trial marking the easy out more difficult because they don't want to ride the clubman & not win it. Some sort of ranking needs to be in place, forcing the better riders onto the clubman so the easy can actually stay easy for people wanting to get into the sport & learn. No one wants to turn up and kill themselves, be absolutely shattered & not enjoy it when they could probably go practising for £10 or even free. Which by the way is what a lot of my mates do because of exactly what I've just said. One other major factor is I think trials could be branded as a 'older man sport'. Youngsters would rather be on a Ktm flying around a track flat out instead of tickling a bike through a stream. I don't know how you go about conquering that one though.

Just had one of these letters through myself but I've never owned a road registered bike? It says it's for a 2008 bike, which I know for sure I've never owned because I started on a 2009 beta & worked my way up. The letters for a Gasgas so can't be that bike.

Am I right in thinking that the E4 isn't a 2018 bike? Isn't it just the 2017 racing that's been tweaked to meet with European emission restrictions? I spoke to a shop in Spain & he said he had decided to not even stock any E4's until all his normal racing bikes had sold out because they where basically the same with different emissions testing.

It's unrealistic to look at most of the top riders bikes & think that riding there bike would make you a better rider. Obviously certain bikes are suited to certain people differently. Height & weight been certain factors.. Its rumoured that Bous bike costs the other side of £250,000. Personally I can't see it, but if it's correct he's riding around on a bike worth quarter of a million to make the novice rider think a £6000 bike will make him improve. If you've ever been upclose to Toni's bike you can easily tell it's no standard 300cc engine from the RR, it's more powerful. Same probably goes for the TRS, Gasgas, Sherco & vertigo riders. The top riders for them teams will have extremely expensive bikes to tempt the public to buy them. Not taking anything away from the skill of the guys riding them.

If that's aimed at me, instead of a button send me a private message. I won't be offended

You would of just lost your money, but I'd certainly make sure I always pushed in front of you if I rode a trial with you and revved the a*** off my bike. Hopefully leading to going home crying like a girl

Not been funny but no man and his dog would be able to make me cut my bike out and push it just because the bloke behind is a twisty git. If your so concerned about your health or the environment because of 2 stroke fumes then Surely this sport isn't for you. Like I said earlier, if it's such a problem move to one side.

What a stupid complaint. If you don't want to be surrounded by 2 stroke fumes then get a different hobby.. It's not hard to move your bike slightly to one side to move away from direct contact with the fumes!

Stanley AMCA Bedburn trial, All classes. Start time 11.00am. No burger van. Thanks