First trial practice 2013

First Trials Practice 2013

It’s the first weekend of the year and my son Martin hadn’t had to work.  There was a ride on in Hampshire but I have no transport down there and Martin has asked to go trials riding so it’s all sorted.

The sky was grey and over cast, but no rain was forecast.  We have the new code for Nash Mills and we headed out to our playground for the day.  We have arranged to meet Scott, a friend of mine whom I met whilst trail riding.  He is already playing when we arrive.  In fact the Mill is a lot busier than I thought it was going to be.  The site is very wet from all the recent rain and in some parts it’s just like a swamp.

We got kitted up and made our way to the far end of the site where we could practice some off camber riding and to be honest it’s generally quieter at the far end.  The pace of the practice was leisurely and for me everything was going well.  All that I had struggled with at the end of last year now seemed not to be a problem today.  We set up some little sections including off camber riding, hills, logs and rocks, we also played a little bit of follow the leader.  Martin and Scott were also both doing very well.

At lunch we headed back to the car park where we enjoyed our sandwiches and a drink.  A lot of the people who’d been there in the morning had left and there were only about four other rides left.  So after refreshing ourselves we decided to stay nearer the entrance.  There is a log near the entrance that is my nemesis. I have successfully managed to clear/jump/cross larger steeper obstacles, but this one log seems to have an imaginary stopper for me.  So I decided to practice on it perfecting my technique.  Even though it was wet and slippery I managed to cross it more times than not. 

As the day progressed and the obstacles became more and more slippery covered in mud and water and the off cambers became very greasy, although improving your balancing and riding skills the danger element becomes high and you have to make a conscious decision as to whether the enjoyment and learning outweigh the dangers.  It was now late afternoon, early evening and we were all getting a little tired and started to make silly mistakes, we played for a little bit longer but then decided that it would be best to call it quits for the day.

We had a great day, one thing that was nice was, I see Scott as a good rider and well above of my league.  We were talking about the day and he said that when we were playing follow the leader I’d done some things that he wouldn’t have considered, but because I had done them he had.  I know it’s daft but little things like that build so much confidence.