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Glad to see that an 18 year odl has been accepted for a ride. Great news!

I owned a Pathfinder in 1971 as I recall, having exchanged a Bultaco for it. It was awful in comparison to Monts and Bults of the time and I only kept it for about 6 months. My results on it were not very good, but I did ride it in the 1971 Welsh Two Day enduro of that year in the Otter Vale team and we won the best club team award. My fellow team members were Brian Higgins (now ACU Chairman) and Ian Haydon, though what they rode I can't remember. I exchanged it at Bob Gollner's shop for a Mk5 Montesa, which was also crap and kept that about 6 months before buying a Miller Bultaco in early 1972 ready for my first SSDT when I finished 64th I think. Just found the details, I bought the Pathfinder on March 8, 1971 from Windsor Comp Shop, it was

All the dates have been distributed to the secretaries of clubs who have been successful in securing rounds. For your info, the traditional series is: Feb 6 - Phil King; March 12 - Lancs County; March 13 - Bootle; March 20 - Bemrose; May 22 - Mansfield Maun; June 26 - Torridge; August 7 - Westmorland; September 11 - Sutton Falcons; October 2 - Otter Vale; October 30 - Hillsborough.

Try Carole Nash - my Evo is insured with them.

Unfortunately, the Barrow Club's website is not currently in use, but Northern Centre riders (and others) who want a really good trial on Sunday, August 8 should head for the Landrover Garage at Torver for the Zeke Myers Trial, one of the best Barrow trials of the year. It will be held over a two lap, 20(ish) section course plotted by Chris and Mike Myers and is the trial that runs alongside the banks of Coniston Water. It's a cracking trial and fully deserves a good entry to make use of a piece of Lake District territory that gets permission to be used just once per year. Start time is 11am with parking at the Landrover garage. Observers are wanted if you can help, so make your way into the national park for a great day of trialing.

Just fitted one last night ready for the Reeth Three Day. Easy peasy. Secret is to lubricate bead with WD40, it will slip on easily, put in a tyre worm or a partly inflated MTB inner tube, inflate and it will blow out very easily. WD40 may be an unusual lubricant to use, rather than soap and water, but WD40 is water based and when it dries out, it sort of glues to tyre to the rim. Certainly they will run for a considerable distance flat without coming off the rim should you get a puncture.

Absolutely superb Ishy, wish I could write like that, instead you have to put up with my humourless stuff week after week! Trouble is, he's absolutely dead right.

The first set of pictures are correctly captioned - I should know as I wrote them in the first place. The rear view picture is of Gadsby and Gaunt again. For the record, Colin Dommett's passenger is Eric Chamberlain - not Ian. Incidentally, I spoke with Henry Gaunt (Geoff Gadsby's passenger) at the Alan Wright classic show a few weeks ago. He's involved with the Dales Classic Club now and was very happy to chat over old times.

The reason we took a small number of guest riders was to ensure that the sections had been ridden by at least five riders before those in the Traditional Trials Championship classes arrived to ensure they weren't offered totally virgin sections. The guest riders were told they had to stay at the front for at least the first ten sections - after section 11 they would have already been ridden by the other half of the entry. We have put a lot of thought into this event - the way the sections are designed, the way the course runs to make for easier access into the more remote sections, and by splitting the entry into odds to section one and evens to section 11, with everybody in the same class starting at the same section made it as fair as is possible. And don't forget that what we are organising is a SPORT. Workdays are hassle enough, so we try to ensure that Sundays (or Saturdays in this case) are days where hassle is banned. Within reason, we will accept any number of entries because the course and the way we run the trial can cater for a large number. And it certainly seems to work as we got 148 (or whatever the total was) riders, round two laps of 20 sections, without any queues, all the route and section markers were cleared away and we had left the venue by 4.15pm. The riders say they enjoyed it, in fact everyone I spoke was raving about it and if there are any complaints, then do please contact me. It doesn't happen by accident, it happens because we have clear-cut demarcation lines with everybody involved knowing their job and leaving other problems to someone else. So let me end here with sincere thanks to the riders for their efforts in supporting us, and to the observers for turning out on a Saturday.

I see that the Colin Dommet trial has attracted an entry of 52 solos for the Traditional round, but for those interested, Lancs County who have the following round just a week later have an entry of 158 so far with two days to go before entries close. A few are non-championship section scrubbers at the front. Riders who supplied an e-mail address to Lancs County will get an e-mail with the trial details by mid-week and those who elected to send envelopes will have them posted no later than Wednesday morning. I would like to do it all a bit earlier but have a meeting both Monday and Tuesday night - the Monday meeting is with the Lakes MTA having their first meeting about the British Championship sidecar trial in the Lakes in July followed by the National Twin-shock team trial the following day. Tuesday's meeting is about piggin work!

I didn't think you were having a go at secretaries. As far as I'm concerned, the national has to be pre enter because of the logistics in doing a spread sheet for results and getting a programme out prior to the trial. We close exactly a week before and I try and get the entries done onto results sheet and progarmme as soon as Saturday's post has been, but then through tghe week there will be changes from folks who can't turn up and even those who have still to enter! Do I take their entries? Of course I do, but they get an early number. I'm a great believer in remembering that this is our SPORT we are talking about. There is enough hassle through a working week without getting into arguments on Sundays (or Saturdays). I try to accommodate everybody's requirements and requests, but you can only do so much. With regard to Sunday and Wednesday evening trials, all entries are taken on the day; knock out a results sheet on Sunday night (Thursday night), do the accounts Monday, trial over and done with.

Not sure what trial you are referring to but as secretary for next weekend's Angela Redford Trial, I bend over backwards to ensure that folks who want to ride, can do so. I appreciate that for many folks, knowing if they can have time off more than a week in advance is sometimes difficult, so we can take that into account. Not half an hour ago I agreed to refund a rider's entry because he can't make it to our trial - it's no skin off my nose, and I like to think that because we go the extra mile for our riders by way of a decent set of sections, observers on every section, a decent goodie bag for observers plus their usual tin of M&S biscuits, is the reason we always get a good entry. For what it's worth, Saturday's trial (March 13) has now topped 150 - far more than we expected in these financially difficult times. We do close our entries a week in advance, but that's more so I can get the names typed onto my spread sheet for the results and to produce a couple of A4 sheets for the entry list and details of the trial. What do I get out of it? Zilch, zero, nothing except for the fact for the past 47 years, secretaries around the country have been doing exactly the same for me, so that I can ride their trials. Lancs County have 13 trials a year and I'm secretary for all of them unless one clashes with a holiday. I do it because I want to and because I like to put something back into the sport that has kept me sane all my life. When I can't do it, then someone else will take over. Don't get me wrong, I'm no different to dozens of other club officials, most of whom have been doing the job for a lot longer than the ten years I have managed so far.

Drop the needle one notch, it improved mine significantly.

I had only been at TMX two months then, and as I recall the bike was awesome - then, but perhaps not now. It was also back in the days when I had a bit of hair. However, some 32 years on, still riding - and writing!

It's a secret no longer, see this week's Centrally Speaking.

Not for ages yet.

I trust you have noticed that the Colley picture is taken when the start was where Morrisons is now, or at least very close to there, can't actually remember what was being built, but it certainly wasn't at the West End Car Park.

Just looked at the link to the Villiers document - what a fabulous piece of work. Even though I have limited interest in Villiers, to know that such a document is readily available, must be a godsend to those that do want to know.

Just added the news that the trial has been cancelled following a phone call to me from Barry Robinson.

Been in Halfords today and a new version of a Garmin Sat Nav has just been introduced. As well as all the normal uses, apparently there is a trials riders setting, but of course you'll need a motorcycle clamp to fix it to your bike. It recognises the Begins and Ends cards of each section and a voice will say "enter section over rock; in two metres take right over three tree roots; in five metres sharp left downhill over rock ledge; take tight right hand turn up slippery climb to Ends cards - or whatever is required for the section in question. I haven't tried it yet, but I reckon it could be the bizz. Still got to keep my feet up in the sections though! Before I lash out for one, has anybody out there got one and tried it yet.

Big John, Haven't got round to understanding all the Scottish trials routes, but no doubt you'll put me right when I come up to do the Ian Pollock in a few weeks. Happy New Year to you and indeed everybody else on this site.

It has always been red to the right and blue to the left - for the past thousand years or so. Road route marking has always been the same, blue card with a L on it for left turn, red card with a R on it for right turn and a white card with a SO on it for straight on. Route variations for other courses are usually down to clubs, but either a pair of whites or a pair of yellows or one of each is probably the best. The best section marking stakes are made from window fitters 25mm D strip - it's what they use to cover up plaster damage when they've fitted new windows. The cost is around

I've had a long wheelbase van for nigh on 7 years and have done 136000 miles in it from new. Major problems have been a new injector pump at 112OOO, a starter motor at 126000, an alternator at 130000. It's had a hardish life, used every day for business and weekends for trials. Running gear has been trouble free, just one ball joint, though the rear brakes grind a bit occasionally but every time they are looked at there's nothing wrong. But I would buy another without any question because it's absolutely ideal for me and my sport.

Let me tell you a story about Sandifords, which I hope reflects the type of company they are and the type of family they are. Back in the early 'eighties, when I worked full time at Trials and Motocross News, Jim Sandiford lent me a Montesa of the day to ride around the trial to provide first hand coverage of the event. Those were the days when the Scottish commanded 16 pages per issue and perhaps over 50 pictures. At the back end of the week, the Montesa had been parked at the back of the Grand Hotel where I was staying, and on the Saturday morning, I went to collect it to ride it to wherever I had planned to go that day, only to find it had gone - missing, nicked, stolen, call it what you will. I was mortified; I simply didn't know what to do. The police were the first call, but they knew nothing, and of course I had to tell Jim what had happened. Truly horrified at having to tell him that the bike had been stolen, I found Jim in the West End car park and broke the bad news to him. "Don't worry Mike" said Jim, "it'll turn up and if it doesn't, it's only a trials bike". What a star! He knew that I was worried, and he simply put my mind at ease, for what was a major disaster to me, was but a minor irritation to him. Thankfully, the bike did eventually turn up late the next day, for which I was eternally grateful. But I'll never forget Jim's kindness that day, and because Alwyn, Jim's wife, Caroline and Martin have always been absolutely spot on with me, those who make derogatory remarks about the Sandiford family simply do not know them. Jim Sandiford was not called Gentleman Jim without good reason, and nothing, but nothing will ever give me cause to make criticism of them or their business. Mike Rapley

The reason Lancs County run on a Saturday is purely because Bootle run on Sunday, we've tried very hard to make the trip to the north worthwhile, at least you get two trials on the same weekend. In fact we asked if Bootle would change to Saturday and Lancs County would run on Sunday, thereby giving those who have a long way to travel an hour's less travelling time, the trial being very close to the motorway. However, Bootle wouldn't move, so it has stayed as it has been for a few years. We also have a small social occasion on the Friday night in a local Brewers Fare type place and whilst we don't organise anything special, folks can always turn up as normal customers and join us as a group having a chat.