lmizell Posted December 10, 2003 Report Share Posted December 10, 2003 This story was recieved from Don Hubbard. Thought it was good! Les The US Indoor in San Francisco was very good. Ted Gansberger and the PITS organization put on a very good event. Attendance was moderate - I'd guess that 3,000 may have been in attendance. I am constantly amazed at the obstacles that these top riders can ride; these sections were very difficult. The Indoor format is quite different from a regualr National event. The event starts with 7 riders. All riders rode the 7 section loop once. Each rider rode the first three with a 6 minute time limit; the riders gather penalty points if they run over past the limit. Then they each rode the last 4 sections with a 7 minute time limit. The rider with the highest score after riding the 7 sections is excused from the next step - the races. The remaining 6 riders are paired up and they race each other through two identical (key-hole) sections. The losing rider of each race has a point added to his score (plus any points he may have gathered while riding the section.) After the races, two more riders are excused. Only the top 4 riders ride the second loop. On the second loop each section is ridden by all of the riders before moving onto the next section; any rider exceeding the 90 second time limit receives a 5. Several of the sections (those that can be) are ridden backwards on the second loop. The riders are then paired up again for the final obstacles - the races. Ryon and Geoff were again clearly better on this night, on these obstacles, than the rest of the competitors. Ryon Bell won, Geoff was 2nd, Florin 3rd and Chaves 4th. Johnson didn't make the cut to the races and Craig and Peters didn't make the cut to ride the 2nd loop. Ryon finished with 9 points and Geoff with 15, but they were much closer than the scores indicate. While I didn't see all of the rides (I was minding (and unfortunately, wrenching...) for Peters) I saw Ryon get away with 5 free points... You'd think that 2 judges would be able to catch all of a rider's mistakes, but, Ryon crossed the tape with the front wheel when leaping off a big blue box (section #4) without either of the judges seeing it... Even the umbrella girl (who was standing next to me, hey I'm no fool... saw it and flipped the card over to a five before being told it was a clean! If the judges had seen this miscue, I'm sure the remainder of the event would have been much more exciting! Geoff had a similar miscue which cost him 5 points on the very next section, but it (dropping off the obstacle out of bounds) was obvious to all. But, oh well, without instant replay, I guess that judging errors are just a part of trials... All in all the event was very enjoyable. During the intermission before the 2nd loop got underway, a couple of bicycle trials guys put on quite a show. One of the riders was a current National champ (for the "modified" class, I think...) and it was amazing what he could do - without a throttle even! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trialsurfer Posted December 10, 2003 Report Share Posted December 10, 2003 After reading the post it seems that everyone gets a gift at one time or another. There was one other rider who was stuck on a peak and rolled back repeatedly with his feet down with no 5-call. In bulshers post what is troubling is outside interference whether it be another rider which as he said or someone else. In all the years I have been around the sport etiquette always was that you give the rider the benifit of the doubt and the CHECKER has the final call! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ringo Posted December 11, 2003 Report Share Posted December 11, 2003 There was one other rider who was stuck on a peak and rolled back repeatedly with his feet down with no 5-call. Indoor rules are very different than outdoor. You can roll back, hop sideways, etc. If you've seen the obstacles that these guys have to overcome it become apparent that they need every option they know to get past them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trialsurfer Posted December 11, 2003 Report Share Posted December 11, 2003 I don't think you can roll up and back on an obstacle even in indoor, but I could be wrong! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amiller Posted December 11, 2003 Report Share Posted December 11, 2003 What happened to Rays bike? Did the problem have a part in where he finished? Have not been able to find much info on this event. Thanks.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neumy Posted December 12, 2003 Report Share Posted December 12, 2003 Where are all the stories about the SF indoor? I have not seen any pictures from the event and minimal articles on any websites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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