shipdamite Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 (edited) Hi all, my first trial was taped out as one course, i.e there weere no options for easy, intermediate, expert. The couple of trials I have been to watch and the course layout looks confusing - lots of coloured markers and none of the routes appeared overly clear to me. My first trial taught me that I have a shed load to learn and get my head round, so the added confusion over where it is I am supposed to be riding is not helpful! Any useful advice or pointers please? Cheers Andrew Edited February 1, 2013 by shipdamite 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabie Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 hahaha good luck mate! it's different in every part of the country, with each area thinking it's idea is best (from my armchair i'ld go with the Scottish idea) the original, old fashioned, etc system is; pairs of card/arrow/plate/etc with red on the right and a blue one on the left. you have to go between these and there may be several of these pairs (aka "gates"). the section may also have bits of tape or logs, etc to mark the limits of the section. there will be a "section begins" and "section ends" cards telling you when your ordeal is over! this red/blue work well when there is one route, it get more complex when you try to add more. down here in the south east we do it diffrently and we follow pair of the same colour through the section. we now run up to 4 1/2 routes (yellow, red, blue, white, white with x)! some time you may follow one route and then go for easier or harder deviation, but only when there is a deviation pair. clear as mud ??? btw - between the sections some clubs use colour card to tell you blue for left, red for right and white for straight on (we cheat and used luminous orange enduro arrows) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breagh Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 Have ridden more than long enough I still find multi route trials confusing. Frankly two routes would cater for 90% of the entry. Ok you'll lose the better riders but you can't cater for everybody. If you try to please everyone it looks like a bag of markers has exploded on the hillside. We run red/blue for right left and yellow (max 3 gates) for the "harder" route. This caters comfortably for riders up to good "Clubman" standard. I know this post doesn't help beginners in other areas but if you came to the Wobblers it would be easy to work out. Finally to make it even simpler we normally make 2 or 3 sections one route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul w Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 get to the 1st section first, but ride it last, there will be a nice clear line at all the sections by then. its riding through little bits of coloured plastic, it just cant be that hard, can it? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guys Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 (edited) In the begining it's the same for everyone I think, a bit confusing. But don't be deterred, you'll learn it soon enough. Ask other riders or the observer when in doubt. Our club uses ribbon and 4 colors for 5 different classes and I'm from Belgium! So if we can learn it, so can you By the way, I didn't know this was a 'Bike Specific' problem? Edited February 1, 2013 by guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee99780 Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 I thought exactly same, before I grew balls to ride a trial last year, I went to watch one and spoke to a friendly observer who explained the colours to me, my club run white either side for easy, yellow for advanced and blue left-red right for hard (I don't even look at them). Walk your route first and as mentioned above ask the observer, they are great and always very helpful! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipdamite Posted February 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 Thanks everyone, all of your comments have been really helpful - its also reassuring to see that its not as straightforward for others either!............. I will walk the section first, familiarise myself with it, get to the 1st section first and ride it last following the line made by others............ sounds like a plan......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dombush Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Hi your right, it is daunting at first but like anything its worth perservering to get the best from it. Clubs around the SE tend to use the coloured markers, all based on the Red/Blue principle. Once you get it, its reasonably logical. Only once have i been so bamboozled that i have failed to get it, turned out that the route crossed over itself!!! Dom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totalshell Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 which route is which is the easy part picking the right one is the trikiest bit.. a club i m a member of has hard and easy route for 10 years and this year they ve decided that the easy route is too hard so this year we ll have hard route easy route and easier route 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2stroke4stroke Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 get to the 1st section first, but ride it last, there will be a nice clear line at all the sections by then. its riding through little bits of coloured plastic, it just cant be that hard, can it? Ah, but using the same line as everyone else does not always give you the best line. In a "traditional" trial part of the skill is in picking a line. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old trials fanatic Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Ah, but using the same line as everyone else does not always give you the best line. In a "traditional" trial part of the skill is in picking a line. trials riders are like sheep but watch the experts and they can see a line where mere mortals would just follow the crowd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 Like OTF says find the best line for you, sometimes the slightly harder part of a step will make the next turn/obstacle 100s of times easier. Plan not just for the obstacle in front of you but also plan for the one that is next. even a couple inches to either side of the "common line" could make a big difference, especially if it is a muddy section and the line is getting a deep or slimy groove in it. 2-4 inches to the side could be the difference between a clean and a five. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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