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All the final results are now posted at: http://trialstrainingcenter.com/YouthWomenResultsOverall.pdf dan

Day 2 is updated on the home page blog at www.trialstrainingcenter.com dan p.s., We'll get complete results up soon. When we do a world round we will demand that Andy post results and photos immediately and withhold beer if necessary until his work is done. And if Craig will post results on the front page I'm all for it.

Trial is just finished as of 2:30 CDT. Will get results up a little bit later. To answer your question, Louise is too old for youth anymore, as it is for 15 & under as of Jan. 1. Louise rode open class in the Women's Open, but has no competition there. She had a scary crash today on the last lap, as a thunderstorm caught out the late riders about 1/2 way around the 4th loop. When the rainstorm hit, a couple of the sections got so slick that they were nearly impossible. Louise hit her chin on a rock and probably needs a couple of stitches, but she is a tough gal. I think she punched 5's on the last 4 sections and Will's mom took her to the doctor. dan brown www.trialstrainingcenter.com

By the way, the Open class was TOUGH! The lines were set with several sections at about the level of Expert or ES for a national. Will Ibsen was clear winner with 10 pts on the day (amazing score!), Danny Allen had about 40, Ronnie Commo was around 60. There were 8 riders in the open class, but they all said they like it tough. The lines for the 13-14 year olds are about like the National support lines, and 12 and under kids are easier. Everybody is doing great! Day 1 was a bit slippery with several difficult sections in the rocky streambed and a couple of hillclimb sections that rode pretty easy. Day 2 is on the limestone ledges and hillside and will be very different terrain from day 1. dan www.trialstrainingcenter.com

Results from Day 1 are posted on the TTC website, along with many photos from the competition and the summer camp during the week. Dan www.trialstrainingcenter.com

one other note, at the end of the American Trials Training Camp on the weekend of July 9/10 will be a NATS national championship bicycle trial and a UBA/US National Trials Event which is the USA Cycling Trials World Team Selection Event. So there should be some hopping action that weekend! dan

We're pleased to announce the first American Trials Training Camp for our teenage up and coming American Trials stars, sponsored by TTC and RYP. During the week starting July 5 immediately after the Youth Nationals, the Trials Training Center will host a training camp for our top young riders age 15-19, to spend a week riding, practicing, pushing each other and generally hammering the rocks & hills at TTC. Cody Webb, Bruce LeRiche, Stevie Darrow, Louise Forseley and possible some additional Pro riders will be there (stay tuned for further announcements) to train with lots of the top young invited riders from the High School and Expert classes. We won't be pushing them, we'll let them push each other. This camp is provided at NO CHARGE to any of the participants. The cabins and campground will be available to the participants and their families and we'll keep them fed and will try our best to keep their bikes running. Thanks to Brad Baumert who'll be set up during the week with the Sherco Pits to help out any young rider on any brand of bike who needs assistance. Fran Webb has offered to help out with the "camp mom" duties. This is our trials version of the olympic training facility, and we want to help promote our best & brightest youngsters. Anyone who'd like to help out with financial contributions, donated parts, tires, gear, gas money for one or more of the kids, whatever, we would be delighted to accept. Call Catherine at the TTC lodge if you are able or willing to help in any way. We've invited about 15 youngsters to attend, specifically those in the 15-19 age group who are contesting the nationals and showing promise. All of these riders are at the EXPERT club level (although some are riding HS class in the nationals). If you have a candidate to suggest, please feel free to send us an email via the TTC website. Also, if anyone knows a contact or phone # for Max Malsbury, please send that privately via the TTC website or by calling us as I've been unsuccessful in reaching him. We're excited that many talented young riders will get a chance to practice together, and look forward to great things for the future stars of American Trials! regards, Dan Brown p.s., I'll post an attendee list when I have firm committments from the invitees. www.trialstrainingcenter.com

I will agree 100% to Ishy on this one. I've seen 7 WR's myself and this one was the best, no doubt. I'm sorry the rain probably hurt turnout among the casual spectator, but for the rest of us it made it GREAT! High praise is deserved for Steve Ahlers & the setup crew, as they hit it spot on with the sections. I know there was much running around and changing things at the last minute to accomodate the weather, which makes the result on thier behalf all the more amazing. There is no doubt that the most deserving rider won on each day, and a hard earned victory it was. Bruce LeRiche had the hardest ride of his life, but he is all smiles and was thrilled to have been a part of it. I was afraid he'd be discouraged, but quite the opposite. He & Stevie Darrow got back to TTC late last night and have been out practicing today on slippery rocks. regards, Dan Brown

To the best of my knowledge, we will have 3 riders from AMA competing; Cody, Chris Florin, and Bruce LeRiche. Not sure about Keith Wineland, haven't heard that he's planning to ride. Although Bruce is a native of South Africa, he rides under the AMA license now. regards, Dan Brown

Al, it was great! I liked it Saturday, a proper English trial if you ask me. I have a book by Sammy Miller from about 1969 or so, in which he said the trials season in Britain and Ireland ran from Oct. to May. Sammy said they didn't ride in the summer because it was too dry for a proper trial. I thought it was a perfect trial. But I've been told I ain't right. I also noticed the section 1 signs and had a laugh. Cheers! dan

Hey folks, be on the lookout for highlights from the TN nationals this coming Tuesday on 2-wheel Tuesday. Airs at 9PM EDT, with several replays later in the evening and the following morning. regards, Dan Brown

Andy, you will also be happy to know that the bright red Trials Central banner was prominently displayed at whichever section Al Bechard was observing! The event went really well, with a good turnout of riders and spectators and fantastic spring weather. Conditions were unusually dry, although there was plenty of water in Sawmill Creek for some slippery streambed sections (we remember our Scottish roots here in Tennessee). American viewers can look for some coverage on the 2-wheel Tuesday show on Speed Channel. Not sure it will get on this Tuesday, as they said the story is about the event and trials itself as much as about the competition. So everybody should watch the show for the next 2 weeks to be sure to catch it! Thanks to Craig for posting things promtly. We recently installed a wireless internet service at the lodge, which can be accessed around the grounds within about 50 meters of the lodge if you're not behind a tree. We are hoping to have a chance to host a world round in a couple years, perhaps by then we can have some nearly live photo coverage? We'll see. regards, Dan Brown www.trialstrainingcenter.com

Hey Barry, the TTC crew is planning to be there in force, Bruce LeRiche will be riding. So he & Geoff & Chris should give us all a great show! And I am sure to be good for comic relief. dan

FTA has a trial near Webster, FL about 1 to 1.5 hrs drive from Orlando on Dec. 12. This is a terrific riding place, an old limerock quarry. Take your swim trunks and maybe the guys will show you the place to do cliff diving into the lake. Mind the alligators, they are real, this is not Disneyland! If you go to the FTA page on the southeastern trials riders website at: http://setrialsriders.org/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&...161&m=822106107 then I think you can contact Barry Florin via that site and get a flyer and directions.

Couple of notes from the Trials Training Center. We've put up a bunch more how 2 ride articles on the website, along with some additional photos and video clips. Chris Florin will do a winter training class during the Christmas holidays on T-W-Th, Dec. 28-30. This will be a great training opportunity for experienced riders to train with Chris, and also to try out the new Montesa 4 stroke as well as other new bikes. Bruce LeRiche will return to TTC in January after spending the holidays in his homeland of South Africa. Bruce will be our resident Pro next season and will campaign a Sherco in the nationals next year with help from Ryan Young. Check out all the latest news & happenings at www.trialstrainingcenter.com regards, Dan Brown

Hey thanks Tim, that was pretty cool story. David & his son are like a lot of folks who come to see us, totally new to trials. David had only ridden street bikes and his boy was 8 and never had ridden anything with a motor. Trials can allow people who have never ridden off road to learn some basic techniques that are very useful with whatever type of riding they do. Just before David's visit, we had a visit by Mark Gardiner of Motorcyclist magazine, a street riding publication. Mark is writing stories on developing all around riding skills and took some trials instruction. He was quite enthusiastic! I recall he said that trials could really give you feedback on how the bike reacts to footpeg pressure. Look for the story about Feb. 05. I think if more kids started riding trials, they would have better skills and proficiency with all kinds of motorcycling later on. The most easily hooked guests are the 30 to 40-something enduro riders who have ridden a good while and are blown away by learning something totally new. The universal response is "I wish I would've done this years ago", often followed by contemplation of how to sneak another bike past the wife and into the garage. thanks to all the folks who help spread the word, and if you run across potential trials converts send them to us & we will finish the job! Dan www.trialstrainingcenter.com

We plan to offer to host a national in April, if that works out to be the opening rounds I cannot say. Nothing is decided until the NATC meeting on Oct. 22-24. FL or So. Calif., or TX sometimes offer to do a national in March, but TTC is at it's best in early April. Flowers & dogwoods are blooming, there is water in the streams but usually not too much, and temps are usually just about perfect. Like the Masters golf tournament in Augusta which has a long tradition, maybe we'll get something like that going with trials. We'll be doing the Trials Training Days event again, probably on March 19/20 but pending how the nationals schedule works out. Easter weekend is March 26/27 and needs to be avoided in scheduling. regards, Dan

Hey thanks Eric, hearing stuff like that makes my day! The week long camp was a big hit, and you can bet we'll be doing it again. Next summer will be the 6th annual youth nationals, hard to believe it has been 6 years. regards, Dan Brown

Ok Ron, now you have piqued my curiosity. I won't be back at TTC until later tonight, but tomorrow I will go weigh some of the bikes and see. I suspect that maybe the light feeling front end on the Gas Gas may have to do with the position of the pegs and maybe the relative position of the swing arm pivot point plays a part. I'll check that too, and also check the weight bias on the other bikes. My recollection from some of the vintage bikes is that the front end felt light on the Ossa MAR relative to the Bultaco or Montesa. But that is just a riding impression, I haven't weighed any of them. We have one vintage bike in the garage, Charlie's old TY250. It handles a lot like the Ossa, but that's not surprising since Mick Andrews had a big part in the development. Stay tuned, details to come! dan

When we did the bike weigh-in, the bikes were suspended from a calibrated scale hanging overhead. So there was no measurement of front/rear differences. Ron Milam & I did something interesting a while back with the 04 GasGas Pro and the Beta. Both bikes were new and totally stock. We weighed front and rear using a simple bathroom scale, which may not be totally accurate but we were only looking for differences anyway. I'm speaking from memory now, but we observed that the Beta was very close to evenly distributed weight, while the GasGas was a bit lighter in the front relative to the rear. We lined the bikes up side by side and noticed also that the stock footpegs on the GasGas were further to the rear by maybe a half inch or so compared to the Beta. The front end geometry looked identical. The Beta swing arm appeared to be a bit longer, with the pivot point slightly forward of the GasGas pivot. Of course, probably some of this comes from the linkless suspension on the Beta with conventional linkage on the GasGas, but the result is a slightly different geometry in the rear. Ron & I rode both bikes side by side, rode a section and then traded bikes and repeated the same thing. It was interesting. The GasGas felt nimble to me, and seemed to work best if you rode it more aggressively. The Beta seemed to work best for me if I went slower and tried to ride more precisely. It seemed to hook up nice on a camber turn when traction was poor. I rode the Sherco 2.9, although not at the same exact time, and it felt to me like the handling on it was somewhere between the GasGas and Beta. Really nice clutch on the Sherco, it is nice when you make an off-camber turn while working the clutch. I've ridden the Montesa a little, but not enough to compare. I hope to spend some more time trying out the Montesa now that the LeRiche boys will be done with them after the U.S. season is over. That's my impressions from a middle of the pack clubman Advanced class rider. My observation is that different club riders develop different styles and what suits one rider best may differ from what suits another best. That's why we try to sell all the brands at TTC and keep some of each in the rental fleet so people can try them. It would be easier for us to maintain if we had a whole bunch of the same bikes, but I think people enjoy trying out different bikes and so we try to accomodate that. Probably some people develop a style based on the bike they happened to learn on and they tend to like that same feeling. But it's fun to try new things, especially motorcycles! regards, Dan Brown Trials Training Center

Hey Ish, the great thing about the kids riding a youth event is that they pull each other along in a way that grownups can't get them to do. It's great for kids to see other kids riding and compete just amongst themselves. Kudos to Bill Markham for organizing this. He has come to TN the last 2 years to see what's going on and bring it to the west coast. We need more events for kids, as they motivate each other when they ride together. Kids will do great if we just get them together and then let them ride and have fun. Hope to hear more news from Donner soon, I am keen to hear how our South African lads are doing in the Pro's on Sunday. Ray Peters set out to ride all the way there from TN on a 25 year old Suzuki road bike. I bet he has a sore ass by now, but no whining, he will be a true iron butt by the time he gets home. regards, Dan Brown

Sorry, we all got too busy Saturday night with the BBQ and the fireworks, etc. And tonight most people have headed for home except for me. We should get the results posted soon, and will have lots more photos. Yes, Louise beat all the boys and won the championship with 1-1-3 finishes. Danny Allen was 2nd with 2-3-1. Congrats to Louise! She is staying at TTC for a couple weeks to train with Ray & the SA lads and is all excited about being selected for the U.S. TDN team. If you haven't heard, the women's team will include Louise, Nicole Bradford and Debbie Evans-Leavitt. Should be a very strong team, I think. The men's team will be Geoff Aaron, Chris Florin, Ray Peters, Cody Webb. Good team for us, and a nice mix of youth and experience. Dan

Ok, one more of the swimming at Foster Falls. We also visited a nearby cave. Everybody hiked over the swinging bridge to get here, of course the boys jumped up & down until you couldn't stand on it. Yesterday we went to the Aquarium in Chattanooga and had a break from the riding so everybody would be fresh for the competition today. I think they needed that. Tonight Bub shot off a nice fireworks display and tomorrow evening after the trial we'll have a BBQ and go see the fireworks and hear live music at the local high school. We'll try to get some photos of the kids riding section tomorrow, there are lots of folks taking pictures & I'll get some copies. dan

Here's another, of the hayride to the neighbor's farm.

I have a few photos, sorry I was too busy during the competition but I have some from the camp during the week that show what we've been doing besides riding all the time. Kids have been great, over 60 entries in the youth + women's open. We've had a lot of rain in recent days and made everything slippey, it's a proper English trial we are having here. No rain during the event, but a couple hours later another short shower just to keep everything good for tomorrow. Sawmill creek is running nicely and makes for some good streambed sections. Tommi Ahvala and Brent LeRiche had the older kids in there flopping around during the training a couple days ago and we had a few tipovers, gave the kids a chance to learn about water! Below is a photo of some of the kids swimming in Sawmill creek at the spot we call "Bilbao Falls". We had a section near here during the nationals in April. Dan