nigel dabster Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 [WTC is moving in that direction I think. Theres been quite a few injuries this year. what are these injuries? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpa3 Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 Golf has 3 main things that trials doesn't have - Its clean - Theres big money in it and you can drink beer when doing it And they both require balls!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosey Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 And in golf you get a handicap so you really can believe you can beat a good player with low single figure handicap.... Even though in reality he can play well and a high handicaper can't Big unfit people play golf .... cus its easy to play! And because its easy to play, loads of people play it and they can play it in normal clothes.... Its really really cheap to play ........ Oh and there is loads of places to play it too. Trials is a great sport. Tough and rewarding (not financially unless you are the top very few indeed). Golf sustains a huge industry which is worth billions... Woods gets over 80 M USD from sponsors! and look at all the lower rank pros even a club pro will get a nice living with all that tax free fiddle from lessons etc. Sponsorship in trials is a funny thing. It gives the poor kids a chance against the rich kids, but why bother when the rich kids make the results and their parents pay for their bike and the van and are DAFT enough to put stickers and manufacturers names on their van, bike etc. A look in the off road paper sees a lot of riders all dressed smartly riding new bikes... not many are sponsored to the level that they don't pay for things.... and this is way off being paid to ride! Whilst there are pretend professionals why bother sponsoring some of similar ability. I dont know the bike sales in the UK 1500 per year? less? at 3500 GBP I bet the importer is paying 2000 without VAT... God knows what a dealer makes. An importer has the hassle of warranty and spares backup etc. It depends on how many bikes they sell as to what money they want to commit to promotional things Trials has always been on the verge of an explosion.... but now it's on the verge of not having any venues. I once heard that it was the motorsport with the highest level of participation. I don't know if this is still true, but there are a lot more hobbies/distractions to do now than say 10-20 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpa3 Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 At 'grass roots' level, finding riders isn't the problem therefore making enough money to run the event isn't a problem but finding and keeping venues and having enough helpers/officials is getting tougher. And I don't see it getting any better as the dedicated few get older. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neonsurge Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 I can't think of another sport where the top echelon is so far removed from the grass roots. In virtually any other sport you care to name it's theoretically possible for an enthusiastic amateur to compete with the world champion: I could go and play a round of gold with Tiger Woods. Your local Sunday league football team could play against Chelsea at Wembley. A weekend sports bike warrior could line up on a MotoGP grid. In all cases an absolute massacre is guaranteed but that doesn't change the fact that it's perfectly possible for Joe Average to at least make an attempt at competing at the highest level. You can't do that in trials. Death is certain I know a lot of people (myself included) don't regard the WTC (and especially the indoor championship) as the same sport as what goes on at at club level. It's another world and I think that it's this very distinct "reality gap" that contributes to the current dichotomy of the club scene flourishing (in the UK at least) and the world championship floundering. Make the Scott a WTC round. Make the SSDT a WTC round (again). Don't change either event in any way. I think that would have a more beneficial long-term effect than simply throwing hypothetical $millions at the WTC in its current incarnation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpa3 Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 Now that would be something..... the SSDT scoring as a WTC round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottt Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 And in golf you get a handicap Thats a great idea, Jarvis starts on 185pts, I start on 1pt then on Monday I can go to work and tell everyone that Jarvis only just beat me by 3pts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atomant Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 That would be interesting - have a WTC over 6 days like the SSDT in a different place around the world each year. Only need to go to one place then and would be way cheaper. Lots more riders could attend and ride against the top boys. Possibly worth televising too . One week of intense world round excitement! That should do it!! Sign up here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapshot 3 Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 So what all these post are suggesting is that at the minute things at the top level of our sport is cr@ p....couldn't agree more. What do we, the punters, want to see; easy more of our top riders at more trials that matter. A world championship that actually represents our sport not the circus we have at the minute a battle against all types of terrain not just a few huge steps to hit properly or jump over. Entries are dwindling, there are few sponsorship opportunities, there's little money in the sport, It costs a fortune to stage a world round in its current format, we all know these problems, it needs to change. So despite the fact the the cycling world have made a complete c0ck of it, their concept of the Protour might be worth looking at. What it did was to take established events and turn them into a world championship unfortunately they screwed it but the concept is probably right. Take the British Champs and take what used to be the BIG nationals, Colmore, Colonial, Cleveland, Jack Wood, Mitchell etc etc (there's loads more, you know the ones I mean) throw in the likes of the Ian Pollock and Loch Lomond Two Day, Manx Two Day, Lakes Two Day then add the Scottish and the Scott and you get a year long competition that covers every possible terrain in the UK. Don't change the format, don't alter the fact the every level of rider can compete but chuck in five extra killer sections for the big boys to have a crack at and see what that does British Champ entries. If you expand that onto the world level, take likes of the Scott and SSDT in the UK, a biggy in the US and Canada, big trials in Spain, France etc etc etc and try to bring the Championship to the punters not take it further and further away from the sport as we know it already. It's only an idea but something has to give somewhere but something like that might give us a TRUE champion. Obviously, I don't question the abilities of the top riders but what would Bou do in Fort William, a seven hour plus day over Rannoch would kill him. How would they handle a trial likes of the Scott?????? Just my tuppence worth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinell Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 Obviously, I don't question the abilities of the top riders but what would Bou do in Fort William, a seven hour plus day over Rannoch would kill him. I doubt it very much... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottt Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 Obviously, I don't question the abilities of the top riders but what would Bou do in Fort William, a seven hour plus day over Rannoch would kill him. How would they handle a trial likes of the Scott?????? Just my tuppence worth Oh yes the world champion wouldnt be fit enough to do the SSDT, chances are he would probably clean it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atomant Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 How would they handle a trial likes of the Scott?????? Just my tuppence worth Errr , who won it last year ? Clue Here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toofasttim Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 That would be interesting - have a WTC over 6 days like the SSDT in a different place around the world each year. Only need to go to one place then and would be way cheaper. Lots more riders could attend and ride against the top boys. Possibly worth televising too . One week of intense world round excitement! That should do it!! That was the original idea of the ISDT (now ISDE) but it evolved into a time trial as opposed to an observation trial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atomant Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 That would be interesting - have a WTC over 6 days like the SSDT in a different place around the world each year. Only need to go to one place then and would be way cheaper. Lots more riders could attend and ride against the top boys. Possibly worth televising too . One week of intense world round excitement! That should do it!! That was the original idea of the ISDT (now ISDE) but it evolved into a time trial as opposed to an observation trial. Why didn't it work as an observation trial then ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpa3 Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 Obviously, I don't question the abilities of the top riders but what would Bou do in Fort William, a seven hour plus day over Rannoch would kill him. I doubt it very much... And at the end of the week the top ten in the world would still probably be the top ten in the world.... but they really would have had to prove it and everyone else would have still had a good time riding the same trial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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