Section Marking Out System.

[montman]

In the UK back in the 70s there were only Expert and Novice grades and everybody rode the same route.

[scorpa3]

In the UK were the various grade colours in the 60/70's fairly standard throughout the country? or was it always a miss match?

Here in West Aus, grade markers havn't changed since sammy was a glint in his fathers eye!! that must mean the first settlers who arrived on the bounty and unloaded their Bultaco's must of had a uniformed system of grading brought from the mother land.

Ours run from Red (AGrade) Yellow( BGrade) Blue (C&VetsGrade) and White (chicken class) with a smattering of silver for the chairs and intro markers for the small fry!!!!! On the reverse to the markers we put an X so they know the way the gate is pointing and I can honestly say that all riders know exactly where they must ride even inter state riders visiting for national events. Our GCR's (Aussie Rule Book) for all its other faults cleary state the various grades that are uniformly followed throughout Aus.

That sounds like a pretty good system.

How do yo uknow which side of a colour you should pass though?

[gasgasthermo]

South east

White = expert

Blue = inter

Red = clubman

yellow = novice

[pete]

Well, it seems that the two clubs I ride with are pretty much the opposite to some of you Northerners! The 1st club I rode with (and still do!) has: pairs of Blue for the easiest route;pairs of Yellow being slightly harder; pairs of Red being about as hard as the blues skill level + the yellow skill level, and with pairs of White for the suicidal chaps!

The other club I regularly ride with again has pairs of colours on every gate: yellow for the easiest, red for the next step up, blue's up again and again white's for the suicidal folk! (just realised exactly like gasgasthermo said!) If the same gate is used by all the routes, they're just stuck in a vertical column on the same bit of tree/bank etc.

From what i've found its a lot easier to walk (and ride) a section with each gate being a pair of the same colour - but the different colours for the two different clubs didn't bother me at all!

What I have found tricky to get used to is the 'follow *such and such* colour with *such and such* colour deviations' - especially when that's not written in the rules on the entry list! I guess if its what you're used to then its no problem, but the 1st time I cam across it as a raw novice it was a bit tricky to get used to!!

Although it would all be very nice to have a standardised system, I almost think that its' a part of each club's particular contribution to the sport and to lose each club's different styles of marking would almost be a shame! Yes, for regional and national events it should be standardised (I've got no idea if it is already!) but the difference's at club level are one of the special 'quirks' of Trials.

Well, just my . . .1 . . .2 . . .3 . . .4. . ...5678 . . .10 penny worth!!

Pete.

Edited April 26, 2007 by Pete

[austini]

quote"That sounds like a pretty good system.

How do yo uknow which side of a colour you should pass though?"

Grade markers are positioned so that they point inwards > < with an X on the reverse side, we can ride through and dislodge other grades markers to get to our gates but must ride through our gates in the correct sequencial order. A typical West Aus section would be 60m -100m long consisting of 4 - 6 gates bordered by red (right) and white (left) tape.

[lennie]

It doesnt matter what colour the markers are, it matters how good the section is.

[telecat]

Most Yorkshire Centre clubs have Red/Blue for Hard course, white/Yellow Easy. 50/50 sections marked by Green marker at the start.

Red and White are the right hand side.

[dale]

I agree a standard system regarding colours would be good, but reading other posts, some are exactly opposite to others, so who is willing to change? Still say a triangular marker < > of any colour combination - indicating which side to past is pretty easy to follow.

[scorpa3]

It doesnt matter what colour the markers are, it matters how good the section is.

You've missed the point of this thread.

Of course we all want good sections but it is also most important that the section is marked out clearly.

The best section in a trial can be spoilt by riders/observers being confused by the marking out. Riders should be challenged by the terrain and not by their ability to go the right side of a badly positioned flag.

I agree a standard system regarding colours would be good, but reading other posts, some are exactly opposite to others, so who is willing to change? Still say a triangular marker < > of any colour combination - indicating which side to past is pretty easy to follow.

This does seem to be a common opinion throughout this thread. If a rider goes the wrong side of an arrow, then they can't complain it's unclear.

Imagine for a moment..... Drop down into a dark gully, slightly out of control, hard on the brakes and see a coloured square right infront of your wheel. Which side do you go? No time to look for the other marker.

With an arrow it's clear.

[dale]

I,am with you on this scorpa3 - arrows every time.

[nigel dabster]

Amazing how many different colours are used.

In the South Midland Centre generally

pairs of Whites are used for the hard route,

pairs of Reds for the middle route and

pairs of Blues for the easy route.

But odd clubs even vary this within the centre.

It's obvious that there are endless variations on this subject.

Just for a moment, lets forget the system which we are each most familiar with and start with a clean sheet (no pun inteneded.)

Our system must be- easy to understand by observers and riders, it must be clear, it must be simple for one man and his staple gun to set out and most importantly it must be unambiguous. (No more 'I thought I had to go the other side of that marker')

What would be the best system to use (in your opinion) for marking out three routes if we were going to have one standard system for all events?

The easiest system is the French way.

3 colours of gates with arrows so no confusion as to which side. You must go through every "gate" of your colour and the begins and end, other than that you choose.

So for example the easy route may have a begins and end, the next route a begins and end and a gate up a 2 foot step then thenext route a couple of big rocks and a 5 foot step and so on.

Requires each number board to be coloured but is very straightforward

[nigel dabster]

It doesnt matter what colour the markers are, it matters how good the section is.

If thats the case you need to get out of the centre a bit more Lennie!

[pete]

Imagine for a moment..... Drop down into a dark gully, slightly out of control, hard on the brakes and see a coloured square right infront of your wheel. Which side do you go? No time to look for the other marker.

With an arrow it's clear.

Don't want to appear rude, but isn't that where walking the section helps?

[rabie]

Don't want to appear rude, but isn't that where walking the section helps?

exactly!

on the point of nationwide (ie pan ACU) standardisation, i really think the idea is a nice (on paper) but in practise it would be impossible to implement. there are 20 centres (plus Scotland and the non Territorials) and each one has its own idea, which they undoubtedly jealously guard and think is correct and best. Any attempt to impose a nationwide diktat on this matter would undoubtedly see some sort of revolt (similar to the helmets saga) leading to clubs saying **** this and going AMCA (where I'm sure they have the same problem!). There isn't even a practical way to sit all trials clubs in the country down at a conference somewhere to debate the concept.