muppix
Registered user
Well, it had to happen eventually. Despite enjoying Enduros now and then, I found that I preferred the tight, nadgery stuff to the fast, open sections. Invariably somebody on a 450 KTM would pass me on a straight, only to hold me up once the going got technical. Repeat for 4 hours, add a 2 hour drive to either end and top it off with a silly entry fee. Yeah, right.
Also, we don't bounce as well when we get older. A moment of silliness in the sand at Bordon gave me a set of bent bars in the short term, and a sore knee in the long term. And by 'long term' I mean any spell of sitting down for more than 5 minutes at a time, over the past two years. Pain is all well and good, it's nature's way of letting you know there's a limit, but I don't need reminding twice a day on the commute to work, thank you very much.
So I turned to trials, largely on the basis that a lot of people older than me are riding them, whereas Enduro riders seem to be getting younger and younger. And because it looks like fun.
My first encounter with trials was a week ago in Kent, where Jason of tricksinthesticks.co.uk gave us a day of instruction. I was hooked - the bikes were so easy to ride and had incredible traction; wheelies practically pulled themselves and just about anything could be jumped or ridden over. Bliss.
Yesterday I took delivery of my Beta Evo 290, and this morning I used it for the first time in Chertsey. The venue was the old BMX track where, 20 years previous I used to race round on my Mongoose, having ridden there from Ashford. I remembered back then that motorbikes used to show up and ride over the large rocks once in a while, and seeing the track again today brought back a wave of nostalgia.
Anyway, I think I did rather well in the trial. It's a beginners-only event laid on every last Saturday in the month, and each section has three possible routes; yellow, red, and white. Except that where there's no white you do the red, and the yellow is easy enough to do blindfolded, on a hovercraft. Adults ride from 10:00 until 13:00, kids thereafter. It's non-competitive, everyone has a bit of a laugh, and I couldn't have wished for a better way to try out my new bike.
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The only question now in my mind: why haven't I tried this sooner?
Also, we don't bounce as well when we get older. A moment of silliness in the sand at Bordon gave me a set of bent bars in the short term, and a sore knee in the long term. And by 'long term' I mean any spell of sitting down for more than 5 minutes at a time, over the past two years. Pain is all well and good, it's nature's way of letting you know there's a limit, but I don't need reminding twice a day on the commute to work, thank you very much.
So I turned to trials, largely on the basis that a lot of people older than me are riding them, whereas Enduro riders seem to be getting younger and younger. And because it looks like fun.
My first encounter with trials was a week ago in Kent, where Jason of tricksinthesticks.co.uk gave us a day of instruction. I was hooked - the bikes were so easy to ride and had incredible traction; wheelies practically pulled themselves and just about anything could be jumped or ridden over. Bliss.
Yesterday I took delivery of my Beta Evo 290, and this morning I used it for the first time in Chertsey. The venue was the old BMX track where, 20 years previous I used to race round on my Mongoose, having ridden there from Ashford. I remembered back then that motorbikes used to show up and ride over the large rocks once in a while, and seeing the track again today brought back a wave of nostalgia.
Anyway, I think I did rather well in the trial. It's a beginners-only event laid on every last Saturday in the month, and each section has three possible routes; yellow, red, and white. Except that where there's no white you do the red, and the yellow is easy enough to do blindfolded, on a hovercraft. Adults ride from 10:00 until 13:00, kids thereafter. It's non-competitive, everyone has a bit of a laugh, and I couldn't have wished for a better way to try out my new bike.
<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/g59IjSTmB2g?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/g59IjSTmB2g?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>
The only question now in my mind: why haven't I tried this sooner?
