Well as it turned out, Babsy didn’t feel like going out for supper last night, so I just zipped down to the local and picked up a nice bottle of Chianti – this was the wine we got introduced to while in Italy on our honeymoon, back in 1962, so it was kind of special. Then we ordered Pizza !! – A bit of an Italian evening!!
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Tim sent this pic he took of me up on the Westside ridge – as you can see we always wear Wulf stuff – it’s both comfortable and well made. – Yes we have lots of stock and other colors. – The prices are also really good.
It was great to have Tim along – I just took him on a nice trail ride so he could get used to his bike -( not a walk in the park – but not too challenging) as usual, we didn’t see anybody out on the loop, just one deer and one black bear. – We did notice that some bastard has nicked one of the nice memorial chairs from up on the ridge !!!
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We are still getting a ton of spam on our blog site – so might just start deleting a lot of the older posts to see if that helps – just keep things current. –
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We watched a couple more Trials video’s – the Euro’s are still calling Trials a race – no wonder people get confused.
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Nice to see Emily on top of the podium on her Outlaw Beta Evo 200 – not sure what the 3rd place rider was on !! – maybe just biscuits!
We will post more on the Beta Trial when we get results.
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A reminder to all local Enduro riders, that the Annual Vernon Family ride will be taking place in a couple of weeks – check it out you might even win some of the prizes we donated – the club always put on a great Family day – check out the Vernon website for more info.
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So checking more video from the FIM Andorra Trial – I tend to retract my earlier comments that this was always more of a traditional type event. – The rock steps were huge resulting in a lot of crashes. – While most of these riders are sponsored – the bikes can be fixed, however bodies take longer – I really shudder when I see some of the falls these young riders have.
Having said that – I recall setting up a few dumb sections myself – but most of that was when the sport was in a new era, and bikes were much better – tires got more traction- engines were more powerful etc. – However, I think the modern era of World Trials could be on a collision course with disaster.
It was interesting chatting to Tim over the weekend while out on our ride – seems he had a TY 250 back in the day, but even then nobody to ride with – now much older, he wants to get back into it, not to compete (maybe) but to just get out in the woods on a bike that is easy to ride and light.
I think I have mentioned before on the blog, that when we first moved to Vernon in 1981 – there were no Trials in the Valley – sad to say that even now we have no events, because I was kind of forced to retire because of my age. –
Looking back at that era – we held numerous Canadian Championships and at least 6-8 Trials every year – because we had guys who were enthusiastic !! ( Yes Barry was one)
We spent hours and weeks setting up events back then – I was always critical of clubs who set up a course on the Saturday before the Sunday Trial. – BUT believe it or not – that is exactly what I did with Terry Porter in Alberta in 1971. – – I met Terry at the Calgary Club meeting which was held each week at the club owned property on Chestermere Lake !! – As Terry was also from the UK – he understood Trials, and so we formed a bond to take the club into the English style of long distant Trials.
We learned that it was possible to run an event on Crown Land just South West of Calgary – and with another club member who knew the area – we drove out on the Saturday to set up this first BIG trial for Sunday. – Looking back now I see just how dumb this was – and I have told the story before – how our local “Guide” left us stranded out in the bush etc. – However, this event proved to be the start of some really great Trials run by the Calgary MC – including the first ever Canadian FIM World Championship in 1975.
The bottom line for all the above – is that it takes dedicated enthusiastic people to put on any event – local clubs are only in it for love of the sport – and that is the way it should be.
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Finally -We have seen the latest Newsletter posted on the Victoria club website – Roger Boothroyd does a great job on this – check it out.
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