I showed up on saturday and promptly went over to the trials demo where the man Ryan Young wooed the crowd while i fumbled and stumbled on every stunt I tried. John and Gilbert were right on the money and Ryans Pop Mr Jerry pulled out the heavily modified triumph to lend a hand. We had a blast.
The weather was great and in true mid ohio fasion it was hot and muggy but then the breeze started to pick up.
Due to some questionable communication practices in the organization there was a lack of checkers and the cross country that was run on friday ran the same loop as the trials so setting up sections was a bit of a chore. After several plees for checkers went out over the loud speeker we all gathered at 9:30 for the riders meeting wondering if it was a go. Sure enough Scott Beatie got up and started the meeting. Ok this is positive i thought.
Every single section had checkers that were right on the money and we had plenty of volunteers. I would like to thank all of the volunteers who came out to make not only my day but everybody else's day as well. I had a 2 point day and barely nudged out Ginder who is a very very hard competitor to beat. Last year he womped me by a good 20 points. Next year who is to tell? I will be sure to come back.
If any Ahrma reps read this. Plan ahead next year and we will all be able to pitch in.
I will probably be shot for this but you can "post enter" for double the price. 200 bucks per event. (ouch) I have seen people show up to a national with money and post enter. That may be an option for you. Now i know NATC discourages this but if you drove all that way and you are willing to pay then I dont know why they would tell you to go home. I am not as savy with the inner workings of NATC but i know this has been done in the past. As for trophies... I don't think that is the reason for preentry. I think they want to make sure who is comming and what your riding plus they have more opprotunity to make sure that you know the rules of Jersey regulations and number plate regulations. If you decide to go make sure that your bike is in working order with kill switch ball ends on levers no torn grips ect.... and that your jersey is proper.
As for where I have been the past couple of weeks.
Believe it or not i still have a job and am buissier then a one legged man in an a$$ kicking contest. (sorry jim that was not directed towards you)
Jim,
I went up there to check out the enduro cross while those guys were setting up the event. There is one bridge jump off that you might have a problem with on one leg. Call Jeremy to see if you can have an walk around or a ride around. As one of your competitors i want to see you walking and riding so if you are given an opprotunity to ride around something versus hurt yourself i am all about it. Besides you on one leg is still better than me on my two clumbsy ones.
As for the event I have to work on saturday with no way around the issue. I will come to work loaded and be riding with you guys on sunday.
This weekend i rode mid ohio and kicked major butt! I beat Ginder and that was no easy feet.
Our own Scott Beattie put on an awesome trials down there and hats go off to him.
I missed vermontville as i was on my way up to northern canada that day to spend a week in a cabin fishing and water skiing. I think that with all of this missing events stuff Mike may beat me.
Final note:
Almost every other trials organization here in the states has a senior a and senior b for the good and for the great senior riders. Are we big enough to have this? Do Cap and Keener want to ride sportsman stuff? << because at the end of the day its all about those two in that class.
I will be down Friday night and around all day saturday. I really dig that the trials is on sunday this year. I will be riding in it but I will also have the gasgas on hand. Look me up in the MOTA book. My number in there is my cell and i will have it on me. See ya down there!!!!!
If you dont know Mid Ohio race way is the perfect vintage days event (in my humble opinion) From one spot you can see road racing, motocross, glimpse into the woods and see trials and cross country. Stop on by the trials demo and cheer me on as i take on the trials guys from TI. (hope they are there again) Also spend the day walking the huge swap meet. Last year i counted 25 vintage trials bikes for sale from pentons to bsa to ossa to bultaco to ty's to tl's to kt's. What ever it is you need they will have it. Only problem is can you find it....
Sunday dad and i are on the Greeves. Can't miss those.
In reading a post in USA "Can't drive 55..." I thought of an interesting question to ask the Lot of you.
How many people organize/build/mark out/ride in/setup your local trials events?
When I was a kid in Western New York the event was organized and layed out by 1 maybe 2 or 3 people. There was a trials master who was also usually the property owner and they did most of the work. Some workers would show up maybe a week or two ahead of time to ride stuff in and give their two cents but it was usually the responsibility of one or two people. For nationals and world round events this was not the case of course. I never had a problem building 8 interesting sections and two pains in the a$$. Checkers would show up the day of the event and get pointed to the section they were given.
When I showed up to start participating in Michigan I found that there were about 6 clubs and members from each club all showed up at their club property about 2 to 3 times before the event and each member built about 1 to 2 sections a piece with a total of about 8-10 sections. We would ride each others sections in while giving our thoughts on what we liked or disliked. I considered this better but have found that this makes a lot of Chiefs and not too many Indians. (translation too many bosses not enough workers) However i still prefer this as it requires a lot less attention to the whole event for any one person to handle. Checkers checked the sections that they built so if some one complained they were to hear about it first hand.
So how do your local events get put together? One master does it all? Couple of people get it done over a pint? A large group puts it together?
Setting sections for a 2 day event can be a massive undertaking for a trialsmaster!!!
Think about it!
Typically here, we will run 8-10 sections per day, 3 times, then another 8-10 sections for the afternoon(advanced) riders! Then try and flip the sections for the second day! A real job for even one plus a helper! Try it sometime!
Thats leads into another question (probably another topic)
Acutally after thinking about it i will post the question in another section. Under General look for "How many people put on your local events?"
If your going for a mac look for 700 mghz or larger. Emac or imac g4 are great and cheap these days. Laptops are expensive. Towers are great but nobody gets rid of em untill they are too slow to do what you want to do. mac mini's are a bit new to get deals but if you can get one for 100 to 150 lbs you have found a deal. Search your local craigslist. That way you can go see it fire up and pay for it on the spot if needed. Look for os 10.4 to 10.5 at minimum. 10.4 is still a really strong platform and 10.5 had only a few improvements that as a new user you probably wouldn't really utilize.
Times are tough with this fuel price. It seemed like yesterday I was only worried about where I could go riding. Now its weather or not I can afford to go riding. I have to drive atleast an hour away to get to practice and some events are farther than that. We have been riding about 15 mins away but thats in an abandoned park here in detroit. Cool place but sketchy.
My father drove his 04 cummins to West Virginia from New York a couple of weeks ago and kept it at 62 mph and was getting about the same millage as you Cope. However he found it supprising that he was not the slowest guy on the road. At 80 i can get about 22 in the miata towing but at 70 I am getting 25 so i have slowed down a bit too.
I bet you can't guess which vehicle i took into work today. 100 mpg! Sure i look silly in my NZI trivent and can only go 25mph but F it i dont like spending money.
Beware of overseas users. SAE from the US of A ain't going to have much clout with the Royal Mail...
Andy,
Was there an issue in the past with Trials central decals? I remember a time when they were all over the place even on world round bikes. They fizzled and now they are back. I totally dig trials swag and really want some tc swag more than just decals. I have been known to ride trials in flip flops (kids dont try this at home) I would totally dig some tc flip flops, flags, shirts, umbrella, beer cozy, beer opener, ooooo how about tc micro brew.... Ok now my brain is on beer. Thoughts? Its probably way too complicated for all of that but more decals here in the states would be nice.
I have Macs because i hate Microsoft. Current Mac osX is based on Linux. That being stated...
Macintosh makes their money not only from software but also from their hardware. If you want the Mac os you need to buy the Mac hardware. There are very few exceptions to this.
Microsoft makes their money from software and a majority of their software is marketed to businesses. I personally think that they are too big of a company now and have over complicated their system. Average users need to stand up against software failures.
Linux is free because developers have taken several basic principals (GNU Kernel) to build upon and grew off of it. There have been several directions where linux has grown. Red Hat, Gentoo, and tons of others. Each one works a little bit differently. Thus the problem with free Linux. If you make a program for it you have to craft it around tons of actual operating systems. Plus since it is free people who use it dont want to pay for development costs. Most developers use it for their own personal needs and give it away.
If you like Linux. Try a Mac so you have some standard support. I have 4 macs in my house (yep i am a nerd) 3 of them are 8-6 years old and are using current supported mac osx 10.4 and 10.5 operating systems. I only use them for internet, video, music. I dont play video games and one in the garage for looking up gasgas stuff. I dont know when i have had a crash last. I am forced to deal with microsoft at work.
Andy,
You use these things on a daily basis. Whats your thoughts?
souded ok went well enough, cobos has a clip in kill button to prevent theft I believe.
Biggest change I saw was the linkless rear end and paoli beta shock. Pretty sure its the Andorra bike with re welded swinging arm.
Its gonna have to be cheap to sell in any quantity......
I heard a rumor from some beta people stating that the true beta rear shock is around 1200 to 1700 dollars. If this really has the same shock then thats going to be expensive to add but i prefer it over whats currently available. The gasser header pipes are strong so that looks like a plus. Sherco style rear muffler is also a plus.
This bike is starting to look like it might be worth something.
If they can keep quality up and price down it might be a trend for current manufactures.
I will be looking for a location to park the RV for a week near Vancouver from 8th August to 16th whilst we take a cruise from Anchorage back to Vancouver.
Hope to make the trial on the 2/3 August and possibly the 3 day after the cruise too.
PA.
If you are camping in Vancouver before the cruise ask the place where you are camping for storage ideas. They will usually accommodate you as most of the privately owned camp sites have storage for their seasonal renters. The national parks wont do this mainly the privately owned ones will. When you get into LA make sure you pick up a woodalls directory. You can find them at most book stores (Barnes and nobel Book stores or Borders books are big chains here in the states) or if you purchase an rv from an rv dealer they can help you get one. It is a directory of places to camp all across the US and Canada. That should come in very handy for you.
Lane or no Lane..... I never really gave him any real internet credit and I doubt that he would give me much trials credit. (Not a fan nor an enemy) Be that as it may. My life is trials. Sure i have a job that has become hectic as crazy. Had to mow the lawn and paint the garage this week. My car needs an oil change but i am not out there doing it.
Instead i worked on the gasgas. Clean the air filter.... Contemplated replacing the grips that have really done me well. Bled the rear brake because i had an incident at my last event. My girl friend is coming out from Buffalo this weekend and i told her about an event we are having. I offered her to come along and ride. (It will be her first event and she is super psyched) My 76 year old father is back in Syracuse and will be riding with my present land lord in an event out there this weekend. On friday i have a company picnic and right after that my roommate/coworker and i will be riding our gasgas's on the north side of Detroit for a couple hours until my girl friend arrives. The only reason why I landed on trials central tonight was to wish one of my best friends/trials buddies a happy birthday. (Tell him he is old for me in anything goes). We had a lot of mud at the last event and i really enjoyed that part. They also had a splatter wall that i never made up and wish i could go back to try it just one more time. My incident cost me several points but i over came and worked past it.
Now place yourself in the Pits on Sunday...... Could you see me or some one at your local events telling you a story about their week? Could you also see me or some one else telling your about how they were disgruntled that they could not finish the previous event because of someone or something? I roll my eyes at those people because i didn't come here on this Sunday to hear about how you have been wronged in this world.
I personally come to find myself on the internet regarding trials in waves. During the summer I mainly come when i am not on the bike. If an event is coming up or if i want information regarding nationals or world rounds i am here. (selfish but very valuable to me personally) During the winter months i am here because i physically can't be out there most of the time. (bummer of living up north)
I don't come to the internet to find people who want to vent about someone or something who prevented them in their lives. I once had a post about my national trophy that had an error on it. My orginal intention was to have a shoulder to lean on but i found through some harsh remarks that it came across as airing dirty laundry. Thus the problem with this form of communication.
Which brings me to my point.... (damn Biff your long winded) This website absolutely rocks only if you use it for its intention. Its intended use is for trials people to come together in a trials setting more than the saturdays and the sundays during the year. This place is the virtual Parking Pits for any day of the week. I only spend a couple of hours in the real pits at any given event and i love every second of it. Trials is not fun when politics are involved non related to trials and sometimes is not fun when the trials politics need to be addressed. Same thing goes for the real Pits! If you want the sport to grow then show others why you are doing this.
Last week i showed a newbie around the loop at their first trials.
This week I am doing this to show the love of my life why I ride trials.
Next week i will find another reason to ride trials.
Hahahahahahahahaha much like trials getting to the end is not the object of the game if it was then you would beat ME! I am glad you are winning the race you old fart. Lets keep on the pegs for another year.
If you are comming from the states be aware! i 75 south bound is closed off in detroit for repairs. Take i 94 to i96 and follow the signs to the ambasador bridge and you should be fine. You can not take bikes fuel or lubes through the tunnel. Bridge only.
Checkers would show up the day of the event and get pointed to the section they were given. 
New To The Forum
in Introduce Yourself
Posted
Welcome Mannyv!
There are several of the new england boys on the site. Nothing like a first kick start. Nothing like a second or third kick start to make you wonder
Keep those feet on the pegs and welcome again.
--Biff