Jump to content

Where are all the entries????


laird387a
 Share

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, boringac said:

Obviously he is, he's an ex world champion. But if he rode 6 top national events, such the British Championship and S3, he would lose more than 1. Understand my statement; the trial isn't set to be at top national level, its set to be a top national endurance event for both rider and bike. Where, as shown by Ross Noble, beginners to the sport can finish.  

Yes, but they aren't being competitive, for normal clubmen just finishing is the challenge, so in the results it's national level IMO

Anyway, this is going off the topic at hand ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

1 hour ago, perce said:

Good job entries closed before the Ross noble show came out, all that sun on show & there would have been 1000

I saw this coming and changed my name to Kevin Bridges before I entered this should up my chances a bit.

Anyway back to Where are all the entries ? Well it seems like some of us that should know better are looking down there noses at the Average wobbler Trial maybe this puts folk off?

None of the big events mentioned really bring in new folk even  probably Dougie started at a club trial.

Edited by breagh
illiteraci eh bad spellin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 

We all need something to aim for even in the modern pc world. Sport is about endeavour,  challenge,  achievement,  friendship through adversity.

Obviously given the range of ability even at centre level not everyone can get these things from a single event. 

So to answer the original question if the event doesn't provide what enough people want you get a poor entry. There's a multitude of other possible factors but it's a limited market from which to attract entries and it's in decline.

After a summer of poor entries in the north east recent trials have got 100+ entries. Not easy trials and certainly challengeing terrain. Maybe some people protest about hard / long events but do them anyway. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
1 hour ago, jimmyl said:

Simple answer is there is no one size fits all and we need to accept it.

The good kids want to hop and stop and go up cliffs.

The mature expert/intermediate enjoys the big  national type trials 

There are a host of riders who just want to have 3 hours on a bike - loose a few marks but go home with nothing broken.

 The trick is to understand your market and set out the trial accordingly and consistently -  no point running a good clubman national one year then marking out a world round the following  etc.

If people ride your event and majority go home happy then you are doing something right.:thumbup: 

Post of the topic, sums it all up :thumbup:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
  • 2 weeks later...

Just going to add some points from the perspective of an adult novice in the South West UK

We have at least 5 clubs running events within an hour of me so maybe we're spoilt but I've found club Trials to be:

Easily accessible, very frequent, friendly, well run, very cheap, safe, and cover the complete spectrum of very easy to ridiculously hard for a novice. 

So in short, if I want to do trials then I couldn't be better placed. 

However, the one real obstacle for beginners is that trials is HARD. Really hard... It requires a lot of patience and determination to get anywhere near good. Even then, you basically can't improve unless you have somewhere to practice and someone to teach you. Unfortunately, it's taken me a long time to find somewhere to practice but I can't find any good instruction. Even on here and on videos or with paid instructors there is so much conflicting information that it's sooooo hard to improve. I paid to go to a couple of "good" instructors but they didn't actually teach anything of much use. Just about every year at some point, I get really motivated, go to a handful of trials and get a tiny bit better but then get frustrated because despite trying hard I just do not know what the hell I'm doing! Then I end up losing interest and are back to square one again. 

So yeah, if you're the kind of person that just got the trials bug then I'm sure it'll stick. Or if you're the kind of person that is either a natural or just doesn't care how good they are then that's great. But for most people, I think the learning curve is too steep. 

We have local clubs that put on beginner routes and I think that's the best way to get people to join/stay but it's always going to be limited by the fact that it's hard to do and beginners don't like hard. People forget very quickly what it's like to be a beginner sometimes. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

In west south wales we run a scheme called Trials Training wales (was Project 2000) which is an now ACU club set up to train and help youth and newcomers and also those that want to get better.

Not sure if do teach anything but we are enthusiastic and can at least show you what not to do, help get your basics right and pass on years of experience. Unfortunately sometimes once that has been imparted it is down to the individuals natural ability and motivation to get better. 

Even at expert level and above you see some riders that have just got it and those that work extremely hard to be good..

Unfortunately I think I'm one of those that have to work extremely hard just to be ok.:P 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Which part of next-door-to-Gods-own-country are you in, al_orange? I too feel blessed with the number of events close to home. Having started off without a great deal of practice time, I've found the "Gentleman's Routes" are a great starting point. Go through the start and end cards and do what you want in between. With three events under my belt now, I try to do the full easy route but occasionally dodge a bit, either deliberately or inadvertently. I do recommend it. I've done trials run by Golden Valley and Bath Classic but you do need to be over 50 or over 60 to ride a Modern in their events.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
  • 3 weeks later...

Manx 2 day trial 2017. 225 riders in the solo's, 24 sidecars.  To date, for the 2018 event, 160 entries received so far.  This is a clubmans trial with expert sections.  Sidecars all ride the same route. Entry is minimal and travel costs are comparatively cheap.  Prior to the event is the Southern 100 road race meeting with all the TT stars in action packed pure road racing.  This two day trial is a bargain on its own,  but can be more so if you want to extend it to a weeks holiday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
  • 2 weeks later...

This post more to do with practising than entering trials, but the more you practice with friends it seemed to be more likely you would enter a trial at the weekend.

What I would describe as the local group of riders live several miles apart, and our practice sections are also grouped several miles apart. What used to happen was that you would ride to someones house to see if they wanted to go practicing, if yes a few others would be phoned and agreed to meet at one of the section groups. All would ride there. Over the evening we would move to other groups of sections then split up to ride home. If it got dark we still rode on the (minor) roads in about 4th gear sitting side saddle so if car lights were seen you would jump off and run alongside the bike in case it was the police. As the bikes were road legal even if it was the police they would just ask what you were doing and when you said you just got caught out when dusk fell they accepted that. Now with dodgy number plates, no horns or speedo and a ridiculously low seat they would give you a hard time and probably a ticket. Also because of high insurance and the new license restrictions many no longer have load legal bikes. This sort of practicing has now nearly died out. Now it means getting the car and trailer out and parking at one area (or inconvenience of reloading bike etc). Small fuel tanks don't help either. The vabove may not seem to be major factors but they have reduced the inclination to ride the bikes as often a we used to. There also may be a slight shift to enduro type bikes because modern trial bikes are no longer so suited to road or trail riding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
On 13/01/2018 at 1:27 AM, dadof2 said:

This post more to do with practising than entering trials, but the more you practice with friends it seemed to be more likely you would enter a trial at the weekend.

What I would describe as the local group of riders live several miles apart, and our practice sections are also grouped several miles apart. What used to happen was that you would ride to someones house to see if they wanted to go practicing, if yes a few others would be phoned and agreed to meet at one of the section groups. All would ride there. Over the evening we would move to other groups of sections then split up to ride home. If it got dark we still rode on the (minor) roads in about 4th gear sitting side saddle so if car lights were seen you would jump off and run alongside the bike in case it was the police. As the bikes were road legal even if it was the police they would just ask what you were doing and when you said you just got caught out when dusk fell they accepted that. Now with dodgy number plates, no horns or speedo and a ridiculously low seat they would give you a hard time and probably a ticket. Also because of high insurance and the new license restrictions many no longer have load legal bikes. This sort of practicing has now nearly died out. Now it means getting the car and trailer out and parking at one area (or inconvenience of reloading bike etc). Small fuel tanks don't help either. The vabove may not seem to be major factors but they have reduced the inclination to ride the bikes as often a we used to. There also may be a slight shift to enduro type bikes because modern trial bikes are no longer so suited to road or trail riding.

Clearly though you are harping back to the 70/80s I can actually see your point, but as its 2017 riding your bike even if it were road legal isnt an option in most towns and cities in the uk.

How this relates to entries im not sure, but insurance at about 100 isnt bad, and our problems are much more than "small tanks" which is another dadoff red herring.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Were the entrys  ?  how about the entry fees of £15 adults £5 kids or adults £20 & kids free ! is that why entrys dropping off  adults think why should  i have to pay  for someones kid to ride a trial . Lets  look at all trials clubman route full --hard route a hand full of riders on it  have we been looking at this all wrong theres not a problem with trials at clubman  level  ,its more to do with the hard course at trials if only 1or2 riders can ride the section whats the point of it ? so what do we do make the sections even harder to take marks off them  not make the sections easy so more riders get a chance  ,yes the top rider wants them harder he gets more of a advantage ! but then  what happens they can not do it so, pack up or move down a course but that course is to easy so the problem starts again !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

What what what you grudge the kids a cheap ride round? Up here we've more over 40s than you can shake a stick at but kids are a problem .Normally what happens is Dad or Mum brings junior along the kid packs in and the parent keeps on riding.

I don't know if you've kids that ride but I have and it's heavy work with 2or 3 loads of gear to wash extra bikes to service, repair ,wash they always grow out of things and break things. Unless a parent is totally committed it's just not happening.

Anyway a cheap entry is neither here or there but it' s a nice gesture.

 Agree about you're second point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
7 hours ago, on it said:

Were the entrys  ?  how about the entry fees of £15 adults £5 kids or adults £20 & kids free ! is that why entrys dropping off  adults think why should  i have to pay  for someones kid to ride a trial . Lets  look at all trials clubman route full --hard route a hand full of riders on it  have we been looking at this all wrong theres not a problem with trials at clubman  level  ,its more to do with the hard course at trials if only 1or2 riders can ride the section whats the point of it ? so what do we do make the sections even harder to take marks off them  not make the sections easy so more riders get a chance  ,yes the top rider wants them harder he gets more of a advantage ! but then  what happens they can not do it so, pack up or move down a course but that course is to easy so the problem starts again !

I love this. Someone has ability,  puts the 10,000 hours in and gets to expert level.

As a sport do we congratulate them ? No we demonise them, it's all their fault isn't it. If only they would learn to enjoy losing 2 marks on an easy course everything would be just fabulous! 

4 courses and a club can't accommodate an expert ? What sort of incentive is that ?

I'm not saying sections have to be dangerous but if becoming an expert is a dead end why would a young rider start ?

With up to 4 courses it should be possible to accommodate everyone. If only 1 or 2 can ride the expert route then I agree its too hard but that needs adjusting not doing away with.

Any trial has to cater for the people who are going to ride it.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
15 minutes ago, baldilocks said:

I love this. Someone has ability,  puts the 10,000 hours in and gets to expert level.

As a sport do we congratulate them ? No we demonise them, it's all their fault isn't it. If only they would learn to enjoy losing 2 marks on an easy course everything would be just fabulous! 

4 courses and a club can't accommodate an expert ? What sort of incentive is that ?

I'm not saying sections have to be dangerous but if becoming an expert is a dead end why would a young rider start ?

With up to 4 courses it should be possible to accommodate everyone. If only 1 or 2 can ride the expert route then I agree its too hard but that needs adjusting not doing away with.

Any trial has to cater for the people who are going to ride it.

Were do i say anything about expert riders ? i said HARD COURSE coz theres not just experts who ride on it is there ?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
  • Create New...