Hey From Frozen Michigan

[kttwofifty]

Have been lurking on the site for a while and thought it was time to post. I ride a KT 250 Kawasaki in vintage trials and have done so since about 1998 off and on. I try to ride a lot of different events in different orgs. This year rode some MOTA events and the NATC round in Sept in Dickson,TN. I usually ride in OH at VMD but took a yr off so the AMA could get it's act together. I will be back there next year, plus plan to run some TI events in the midwest.

I also ride dualsport on a Suz DRZ400 and some of you know me as buls4evr on advrider site. I live in New Mexico in the Jan-May months each year as I hate winter weather so will be leaving soon. This yr. my friends and I rode the Hanging Rock 200 AMA DS natl in Zaleski, OH in May. Lots of fun.

I also ride a BMW K1200RS on the road and love to explore the NM and AZ canyon roads. I logged about 10K this year on a road bike and rode in NM,AZ, MI, IL,IN, OH& KY. I retired in 2002 so pretty much I just ride now for a living. Hope I can be a regular contributor. Jeff

[copemech]

Welcome!

You are already making a few MI guys jealous!

[zippy]

I do hope you enjoyed yourself at the MOTA events, (Bent Fenders is always the best one but I am a bit biased as that is the club I belong to) Hope to see ya out some more this next year.

Oh and do be careful of Copemech...........ya know them Texans is crazy

[kttwofifty]

Just rode 2 MOTA events in 09 Zippy, Vermontville and Whitmore LK. Will see you guys more in 2010 though as I plan to ride more trials. I am never sure how the modern bike guys feel about running against a vintage bike in the lower classes however. Everyone there is very friendly in MOTA but I overheard one guy call me a "ringer". How can a 60 yr.old guy on a m/c built in Gerald Fords administration be a ringer against those new bikes? Well, Novice class next year all season. Wish you guys would have a dedicated "Vintage line" (Novice is great) so we could run for a championship. I think we have enough bikes for a class.Thanks for the welcome.

[zippy]

Trials is an odd sport, not just the sport itself but looking at the class structure.

In local events it is possible to have an 11 yr old kid barely able to hold the bike up finish the day in Novice with 9 points and in the same event have a 40 yr old newbie finish the day with 50 points. Boy that does wonders for the adults self esteem.

Trials is unique in that we run the classes according to ability and not age/ machine size.

It all gets really subjective when a "vintage" bike is thrown into the mix, because now the rider has to decide what class their ability can handle and what the machine can handle.

so being called a ringer is really subjective, it just means somebody may have to learn to ride better. I used to ride for medals, got super stressed out, Now I ride for fun and my own personal triumphs. Much more fun. But medals are still nice. There is a competitor of mine that used to ride an 80's TY 350 in Sportsman class, and he would kick my ass consistently. But that just meant he is a good rider and I needed to practice to get better. He now has a modern montesa and can still kick my ass in the Advanced class, so basically he is a good rider. (Assuming of course I am of decent ability )

Oh darn I am rambling now.

[kttwofifty]

Actually they said it to their buddy(one of my competitors) and not to me, so they were probably goading him...not me. I always feel welcome at a MOTA event. Hear that all you TI and AHRMA riders!!!!! These guys will work with you and provide a great practice venue.