purplebeast Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 Finally managed to co-ordinate schedules with the Trials Training Center....and so I'm booked to do their weekend Double Blip training for the weekend of Dec 10/11! Look out! The Purple Beast/Crazy Canuck is invading the Chattanooga area in December! Since it'll probably be snowing back home by then, this is likely the last riding I'll get to do till the Spring thaw. Looking forward to it! In the meantime, I built a hinged ramp to practice holding pressure on. The wheelies are getting a bit more consistent, but still can't hold them for too long. Hopefully, the TTC boys will be able to improve my budding trials skills during a two day session, and that I'll survive the process! I also managed to get my hands on 5 x four foot diameter large wooden wire spools from a riding friend of mine who works for the phone company. Still haven't figured out quite how to arrange them on my budding obstacle course, but I'm sure I'll come up with something soon. Once I get my hands on some used railway ties, I plan to build a splatter/zap training wall similar to the one they have at the TTC. Maybe this Fall with any luck! Last weekend I was up north at the cottage with my nephew, Jambo, for the duck hunt season opener and a Moose Hunt Camp trail work weekend. I had brought up the GasGas trials bike. So Jambo and I went out exploring on some of the closer trails once we were done clearing the hunting/logging trails, where I was on an ATV (needed to haul tools and such). Ended up doing some cross-country, bashing our own trails in spots in really tight bush and ended up at the sand pit. I figured we might have some fun there. Boy, was I right about that! There were nice 10' high steep hill climbs all over the sand pit that we played on....water crossings, great places to do power slide turns in the sand, and even some big rocks to play on with the trials bike. There was one nice rock, a foot and a half high, that I was practicing on....real blast wheelieing the front over the rock and then hopping the back over. I didn't do it perfectly every time, but more often than not, I managed to clear it fine. There are some bigger rocks there (3' high) but that is still beyond my abilities on the GG. Maybe a weekend at the TTC will teach this old dawg some new tricks and give me the skills and confidence to tackle the bigger rocks and other obstacles. We must have spent an hour in the sand pit just having a hoot. Some big logs there I'll have to clear the brush around for more "obstacle practice". There was one really steep hill climb (way steeper than anything in on our home trails, though only about 10' high), where I would launch off the top in a wheelie...one time I ended up coming off with the front so high, I lost it and had the bike wheelie out from under me...fortunately managed to get on the ground behind the bike and bring it down without dumping it. Fun practicing there, since the sand is soft enough that if you dump a bike, it doesn't damage anything, and levers don't break. Real blast. So now I have a 2nd bike play area/obstacle course up at the cottage, within a few kms of my place. Yay! I think I'll be hauling up the trials bike more often, now that I know that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdmoto79 Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 hey sounds like you got some nice practice areas. the ttc will help improve your skills 10 fold and i hope you have fun. you should seriously consider comps as well you'd be surprized how much you learn from riding them. theres lines for every level our beginer lines are no harder then a rough trail ride. theres a 2 day this weekend (you dont have to ride both day) sat is just south of gravenhust and sunday is a little further north in raymond. should be a lot or fun. check trialsontario.ca for more info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplebeast Posted September 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 theres a 2 day this weekend (you dont have to ride both day) sat is just south of gravenhust and sunday is a little further north in raymond. I would have liked to go to the comp this weekend, but I have to haul my nephew out to an MX race in Grand Bend for Sunday, which unfortunately precludes me heading north to Gravenhurst. I'm not confident enough on the trials bike to attempt a competition yet. Maybe next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplebeast Posted December 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2011 As many of you know, I spent the past weekend at the Trials Training Center in Tennessee working on my trials techniques. The folks at the TTC were wonderful, the facility is superb with some obstacles that are intimidating to say the least (I stayed off those! :shock: ), the instruction was excellent and the trails/sections a blast to ride. My fellow students (there were only 3 of us...they keep the class sizes small so that you get a lot of personalized instruction/time) were great, with one, Peter, being from our neck of the woods (Bracebridge). My riding improved greatly, but I still have a long way to go. I would recommend a session at the TTC for anyone, not just trials riders, that want to improve their dirt riding skills. I'll post more about the experience with some photos in a day or two. In the meantime, I've uploaded a short video of me practicing my double blip log crossing technique: I'll definitely be going back to the TTC for more trials training/riding in 2012, and will see if any other SCORRA members might want to join me when the time comes. More to come soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplebeast Posted December 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 I finally got some time to be able to post process the photos I took at the Trials Training Center earlier this month....and posted a slideshow of them here: http://www.tarafrost.com/galleries/DirtyDeeds.html Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toothandnail Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 NICE I've always wanted to go there for some schoolin . A number of years ago we happened to be passing through there on vacation , saw the sign , went to Wally world dropped the 5th wheel and drove out. Turned out it was the day AFTER the nationals walked around a while , it's an amazing place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copemech Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 I hope you got to ride the mountain trail "loop" around the property! Some good stuff there, including the trip up to the falls! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplebeast Posted December 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 I hope you got to ride the mountain trail "loop" around the property! Some good stuff there, including the trip up to the falls! I did do the loop....great ride, though many of the sections were beyond my abilities at the moment...and the 2nd day, by the time I did a few of the easier sections, after a whole day of practice, I had nothing left. One of the reasons I'm determined to go back in 2012! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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