Friday August 31st 2018
Friday, August 31st, 2018The last day of August - hard to believe with the “Summer from Hell” that we have had - mind you, I always think the best time of the year to ride in the woods is the Fall, so we are looking forward to that. In fact we are planning on going to Summerland on Sunday - give us a shout if you want to join us. - This will be a guided tour with me showing some old sections but nothing too tough as I just can’t do this anymore. If you would like to try either a Beta Evo 200 or a TRS 300 let me know.
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Here is a neat poster advert from many years ago - old timers will remember these great riders I saw them both race at Hawkstone Park in the UK - That was when big four-strokes ruled. - Although Brian Stonebridge was one of the first to show the potential of small two-strokes, racing a BSA Bantam fitted with a special exhaust expansion chamber similar to what the Europeans were using on their road race bikes - I also saw him on this at Hawkstone and could not believe how he went up the huge hill on that 150cc BSA Bantam - that is a key part of the Shropshire track.
Stonebridge later went on to develop the Greeves competition bikes, which took over the Scrambles scene for a few years - a young Dave Bickers was guided by the gifted Brian Stonebridge, who sadly died in a traffic accident. - A huge loss to the motorcycle world.
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Before the invention of “Hop & bop” in Trials competition, a young Bernie Schreiber practiced his “Full Floater” turns to navigate around tight turns in the sections. - Of course a lot of riders copied this technique, one of the best being Stan Bakgaard, who is pictured doing one of these in Bernie’s book on Trials. ( This pic is of Bernie)
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I have no idea who these guys are - I just thought it was a neat shot of guys in Alberta out having fun, when there is so much BS going on over there regarding Crown Land - Of course they have an event going this weekend called “The Maze runner” - not sure what it’s all about, but Mitch Brown and his team have been scouting and showing pics of some really neat (and tough) parts of the course - not sure if any BC riders are going to this. - ( I just love the enthusiasm these Alberta guys have)
I remember racing Cross Countries in Alberta so well - and I remember how many of the routes would sometimes be through large flat meadows - which were filled with narrow hidden creek beds - overgrown with the brush. - I recall one time Hall of Fame guy Steen Hanson passed me because he thought he had a better line through this Muskeg Valley - but out of the corner of my eye - I saw him disappear into one of these traps - and I mean completely disappear !! - I looked back to make sure that he was OK.
As I’ve mentioned many times, in the early 70’s, we used to race our Trials bikes in Cross Country events ( until they made them more like Hare Scrambles) - Looking at Mitch’s pics - I think a good Trials rider could do well at the event this weekend. ( Of course, everybody knows that - ” All” of the hard Enduro races have been dominated by Ex Trials riders in recent times)
However - Trials bikes only work well for the most part at low speeds but if you plan on doing any fire- roads - PLEASE keep the revs down - It’s always a good idea to reach down and pull up the choke lever a tad at these times. ( Sorry not easy on the latest Beta Evo models)
-(But I do remember that my 74 TY250 would do at least 60mph in 6th gear - that’s exactly the speed I was doing when I crashed at the first ever Elkford Cross Country - I was leading the race which had us going for a long way down an old railroad bed - it was really fast - trouble was they took out one of the bridges over a creek - end of my race - cracked ribs and concussion - !! - The TY was pretty much toast.
And a note here to PLEASE check the level of anti-freeze in your radiator !! - We have recently had a couple of Beta’s burn down because of this not being looked after. ( they were being used on Fire-roads)
Also one of our buddies had a friend out for a ride last weekend and they had an issue with the Evo 200 - turned out it was the kill switch connection - but also the air filter was plugged !! - I offer no comment on this except it’s a good idea to wrap some electrical tape around the kill switch connection.
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This from the last WTC Trial in Quebec
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This pic just popped up on FB - one I took of Tino Marin at the WTC National in Revelstoke a couple of years ago. - Tino has now moved to Toronto to pursue is ambition to fly helicopters - and I think may eventually return to Spain.
