fred1956 Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 (edited) Hello to all, Well I've rode my first ever trials event and decided to post my experience. January 24,2010 Tishomingo,OK This was a combined effort by NEOTT & TXTC. Gnarly looking stuff and I had the butterflies bad, understand this- until this event I had a total of about 45 minutes experience on a trials bike and none of those minutes on this bike and none of those minutes in the last 3 months. I'm an ex motocrooser that quit riding dirt in 1998, sold all my bikes and bought a Harley. My Harley was stolen in Sept 2009 and I took that as a sign...get back on dirt. I 'borrowed/test rode' a bike for this past weekend and got it to the house on Thursday nite , yes 2 days bfore I was going to 'compete' :-). I wish I'd had more time but...life carries on. The bike was a 2006 GasGas TXTPro 280 that had only been ridden 2-3 times in the last year. On Friday I put on a new rear tire, serviced and cleaned everything, fresh gas and we're off. At sign-up imagine my suprise when I find out that the clubs offer first time riders a free entry for the first event, cool stuff ! I signed up for Novice (at age 53...jeez...been riding some kind of bike since I was 13 and I'm still a Novice) even after they offered me the chance to ride a loop and drop to Rookie if I felt too intimidated. Everyone was so helpful, I received encouragement and advice, not pushy or bossy, but genuinely helpful advice. After my first section I learned a new battle cry- "At least it wasn't a 5!" LOL !! After riding the eight sections three times, I was exhausted, but had the biggest grin I've had in years. On some of the sections I wasn't able to use my new battle cry but I actually had 3 cleans for the day, 2 of them in the same section. I finished in 10th place, out of 10 riders :-), with a score of 64 pts. Hey it could have been a 120 ! I've got a lot of new techniques to learn and work on but man did I have a great day ! A lot to learn at this point but this was the nicest, friendliest group of people I've encountered in a long time. A special THANKS to Jon Stoodley, Ron Lee (who didn't make it to the event but did help me on the phone a couple of times, once when I couldn't find the place in the dark on Saturday nite..:-), Jason Shackleford, a guy named David ??from Tx who has a very nice Bultaco, some more TX guys who I can't recall at this time but I think their last names were Byrd and Shaw, and everyone who judged sections- all volunteers, and everyone who worked to make this event happen. My new cry is "I'LL BE BACK !!" Fred Edited January 25, 2010 by Fred1956 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leanin Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Hey Fred, Welcome to the addictive sport of trials! Thanks for the report. As always, the Tish club puts on a great event. Hopefully, you'll make it to the Feb NEOTT event at Appalachia Bay. The guy on the old Bultaco was David Myers. He's from the Tulsa area. I've only been involved in trials a little over a year but have ridden events with 5 different clubs (North Eastern Oklahoma,Texhoma, North Texas, Kansas and Missouri). At every event, everyone was just as you described; friendly, helpful and encouraging. See ya at an event soon. Charles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jse Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 After riding the eight sections three times, I was exhausted, but had the biggest grin I've had in years. You looked pretty happy in my section, Fred, and I had a difficult Novice line for you to follow. Glad you had a good time, trust me, it gets easier the next time! We'll have to go riding together sometime, I know ALL the best places to fall down...... Congratulations! Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred1956 Posted January 26, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Thanks Jon and leanin. I'd post some pics but I'm not smart enough right now.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockyrider Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Fred, great story of a new beginning, I hear ya, I'm exactly where you are today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlracer Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Happy to hear you had a good time Fred ! Maybe we can go riding sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred1956 Posted January 27, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 looking forward to it Ron, Thanks again for your help ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rshaw Posted January 30, 2010 Report Share Posted January 30, 2010 Hello Fred, it is very nice to hear about your experience. I believe it only gets more enjoyable. hope to see you soon at the next event. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jse Posted January 31, 2010 Report Share Posted January 31, 2010 Hello Fred,it is very nice to hear about your experience. I believe it only gets more enjoyable. hope to see you soon at the next event. Robert Hi Robert, glad to see you've joined the forum. I told Fred that Trials was addictive, but noooooooo, he didn't listen to me..... Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axulsuv Posted January 31, 2010 Report Share Posted January 31, 2010 Addicttive !!!! Heck if I don't get to ride/compete at least every 3 months or so I start having withdrawal symptoms .... And my kids tell me to go riding !!! I've even gone as far as quitting a job because they interfered with my time to ride !!!! The Best sport with the best people ! period! Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan_nc Posted January 31, 2010 Report Share Posted January 31, 2010 Fred/Glenn, AAAA....Glenn, I don't think it's considered a good thing to tell a newby that you quit your job because it got in the way of Trials riding. Fred, It is great fun. I think you will find that most of us have competed in several motorcycle areas before we found Trials. To me the best part is being able to go out in the yard for an hour or so after work and ride. You can always do something anywhere- balance, stops/starts, figure 8's. There is also the factor of not tearing up bikes as bad as other competitions. As mentioned, great people. OH yea, I did spend a couple of years riding in OK (ah memories). Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred1956 Posted February 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2010 (edited) Much fun and yes it is not near as hard on the bike. After the event I was out playing on some of the dinosaur rocks and did manage to break a clutch lever end but that's simple to fix. Mary has kept me working and I haven't got to practice much but I agree, a little time anywhere and you can improve your skills.... Edited February 5, 2010 by Fred1956 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rshaw Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Hi Jon, Good to be here. I would like to add that every little progression in riding skill level feels very good from making a tight turn to balancing and putting your tire where you planned to, and achieving the ability to go over a step with out skidplating. All this sounds small but still gives you a since of accomplishment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copemech Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Much fun and yes it is not near as hard on the bike. After the event I was out playing on some of the dinosaur rocks and did manage to break a cltch lever end but that's simple to fix. Mary has kept me working and I haven't got to practice much but I agree a little time anywhere and you can improve your skills.... Yea, just hop down to TX and ride the Novice line like Robert! Cherry Picker! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jse Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Yea, just hop down to TX and ride the Novice line like Robert! Cherry Picker! O.k. Copey, us Northerners have to agree that Texans are the best riders in the U.S. And now for something completely different. Fred rode the Novice line rather than the beginning Rookie line and did really well. He made a couple of mistakes by not knowing the rules completely (we ALL remember trying to learn the rules while riding a section) but one of the fun things about being a section observer is to see the learning curve in the riding techniques of new riders as they pass through the same section three times. Fred's curve is steep and he learns fast (my section was a good, technical Novice line) so he will catch on fast as he has good previous riding skills. He sure looked like he was having fun! Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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