View From Kinlochleven

[totalshell]

Well having arrived in Kinlochleven at 3am on friday we've just got back! Two great days of trials half decent weather with rain ( drizzle mostly ) and a fair degree of sunshine. Paul Heys seemed absolutely determined to win , his concentration was a step above most others, Tony Calvert is a very cool customer and he always looked in control.

the frist day started with the observers on the first two sections standing on the wrong two sections! ( they were in fact on saturdays sections, ) an impasse looked inevitable until a resolute we've started so this is were we'll observe decsion was made. and so the riders made thier attempts. Mick Grant took a 5 for a tumble as his front wheel slid to the wrong side of a rock and Gaunty used plenty of his and the bikes mass to move rocks as he passed over them where lesser lights had taken a steadying dab.

in the sections beside the glencoe road the water was deep and the rocks and roots slippy with decent riders dropping marks untill the worst of the slime and loose rocks were removed. after a quick brwak as we waited for the even numbers we climbed Porlock Hill , rarely damp and only once seen with water in recent years the challenge is the steep slope and twists of the loose rock surface and this was a section that 'came and went' for some it proved a winnable skirmich ( derek brookes rode imperious ly clean without even looking during one sweet spell) yet when at its worst Len Hutty fought like a gladiator to escape for only two

day two and a brsik stroll to the top of pipeline where we only saw cleans by nothing smaller than a 350 then on to two new to the p65 sections beside the loch on the fort william road ( although old hands confirmed that they had been used in the proper p65 way back when, here we saw gaunty find a new but tight line having watched saunders ride a fantastic clean over a rock step

the trial was slickly organised with very little in fact zero murmering about this or that mod to bikes and the people of the village and to be honest the bobbies welcome the trial with open arms and hopefully make a buck from the foriengers..

the evening 'do' was a decent affar with eric adcock taking questions fron colin drommet and then presenting the awards.

the observers have a loooong daty and recive little recognition in the awards ceremnony it was said they were out for 5 hrs a day but i think you'd have to add a couple more to that to be realistic, howver the only area for review in my eye was the observing.. its clear that a number of the observers were either reguler riders with thier friends or spouses etc but i felt that a number were not reguler observers, i saw sections where the observers let a dozen or more bikes through without realising the ends werent in the stream, sections where observers let riders into the section with bikes queing to get out of them, observers having the scoring explained to them and most obviously standing / sitting in positions where they could see little or in one case nothing of most of the section i saw one rider given a one when he had put both feet down and rolled the bike back to get it out of the rocks..

a course opening bike would also have prevented the 'discussions' at the first sections on friday

[old trials fanatic]

Nice one Totalshell.

Nothing ever changes at the Scottish eh?

Never mind i'm sure everybody enjoyed themselves, it will be oversubscribed next year again whatever.

Think the only way to look at the Scottish Pre65 is 1. Dont take it seriously because most of what you have reported will never change plus a lot of things you havent mentioned. 2. Because of all the usuals then just treat it as a ride out on your bike in beautiful countryside, assuming you get through the "ballot" LOL.

Shame it's all getting so expensive to go / ride. So thanks again for the report

[dixie]

Nice report.

Atleast the observers were there, even if a bit rusty.

GOOD ON YOU FOR STANDING OUT IN ALL WEATHERS SO WE CAN HAVE A BASH ABOUT.....

[martyd]

It was my first Scottish and a week later still amazed how well organized it was

The sections where i thought very tricky but enjoyable

Thanks again for a great weekend

Marty D

[b40rt]

Nice one Totalshell.

Nothing ever changes at the Scottish eh?

Never mind i'm sure everybody enjoyed themselves, it will be oversubscribed next year again whatever.

Think the only way to look at the Scottish Pre65 is 1. Dont take it seriously because most of what you have reported will never change plus a lot of things you havent mentioned. 2. Because of all the usuals then just treat it as a ride out on your bike in beautiful countryside, assuming you get through the "ballot" LOL.

Shame it's all getting so expensive to go / ride. So thanks again for the report

Yawn

[majdaz]

My first scottish and i thought it was fantastic from start to finish. the sections, the organisation and the observing were spot on and i just hope i get in next year