highland lassie

Posted on behalf of the P65 Organising Committee: With just over one month to go before the 2011 Pre’65 Scottish Trial kicks off in Kinlochleven, the Committee are delighted to announce that Mary Driver will be our Guest of Honour. Secretary, Anne Gordon has had 7 withdrawals to date so, to the delight of the first 7 lucky reserve riders, they have secured a place in the trial. All arrangements for the event are progressing well and hopefully the sunshine we have booked will be able to make an appearance! The message from Clerk of the Course, Bill Emmerson, is that due to the shorter course on Saturday a “Control” will be introduced on the course in an attempt to keep the trial moving at a steady pace and reduce queues. He also, reminded riders that practicing around any part of the course at any time is strictly forbidden and that the rules relating to fork length and stanchion diameter will be strictly adhered to. Failure to comply will result in immediate exclusion from starting the event so please check your bike to ensure that it does comply with the stated regulations before coming to Kinlochleven. A potential problem with carburettors has come to light and competitors are reminded that the only version of Amal Concentric Carburettors eligible for the trial are the Mk1 version. The later Mk1 ½ are NOT acceptable.

They don't get published until mid-April I'm afraid - there's a huge amount of work involved in planning, then in getting approval from all the landowners and various companies that own the ground. Once a draft route is in place with all the permissions we need we then have to get approval for all the forestry and road coverage. Finally we have to get approval from all the relevant police Chief Constables and the RSAC. In all that's 9-10 months of work and we don't know the final route ourselves until late March. Unfortunately we have had problems in recent years with riders taking it upon themselves to check out the route in advance of the trial, so in order to do what we can to prevent unauthorised riding on our landowners' private ground we hold off until the middle of April for publication. You'll still have a good fortnight to plan your break though!

Hols?! HOLS?! Here was me thinking you were dedicated to the job too! Details should be available over the next week or two...Jimbo can tell you more in the meantime though!

Get yersel back to NQ and find out!!

Why? Where would you like me to start?

It's times like these I really question why we spend half our lives organising trials for you lot!

It's complicated in that we have to get permission for each refuelling point, getting to and from each refuelling point, provide vehicular cover and man power. To add an extra couple of fuel checks per day you'd be looking at paying for at least two additional trucks plus an additional eight people for the week to cover. You'd also need extra supplies of the basics that are held in each refuelling truck (coolant, chain lube, water, etc). I think when you get here and ride round for a day and see the logistics of the event, you'll understand. It's not possible with the constraints we have - not just on the money side of things, on the land side of things too. If it was necessary, then we'd up the entry fee and do it, but it's not necessary. You do have a safe distance to cover - don't for one minute let this discussion thread make you think that you don't. It's all measured out so that you have plenty leeway if you ride sensibly, and as Staggiedog mentioned earlier, he has ridden the past two years with an Evo and hasn't needed the auxiliary tank at all.

We do that every year, at the meeting immediately after the trial (May) and in the early stages of planning the following year (September). That is part of the reason that we changed the regulations to allow the Hebo auxiliary tanks for riders who feel the need to carry extra fuel. Which is why the fuel checks are carefully measured out each year to make sure that the distances between each check are manageable. If you look back over the years in which fuel capacity has decreased on bikes, you'll find that the gaps between our fuel checks have shrunk accordingly, and for most routes you'll also find that the overall distance has decreased dramatically...where that hasn't happened the number of fuel checks have been increased. My bad. I should have included the key word 'unnecessary' in there - obviously fuel needs to traverse the ground or we'd all be walking it, but speak to anybody who organises trials that cross SSSI ground and you'll discover that it's no mean feat to get permission in the first place. We've already expanded the rules to cover the Hebo tank. Yes, it may not be what every rider wants, but if we were to change the rules to suit every rider's personal opinion it'd be a funny looking trial! The long and short of it is that the route is measured out so that no additional fuel is required (with the possible exception of the Evo) - we already allow the Hebo tank for extra, there should be no need for further additional fuel to be carried. There will always be exceptional situations where something happens where the additional fuel would help, but 'exceptional' is the key word there. We don't change the rules to cover exceptional. I have never even mentioned the discard of bottles - it didn't cross my mind to be honest. As for logging them in and logging them out - we hardly have enough volunteers to cover manning the sections on a day-to-day basis, so unless you fancy coming up for the week and hanging about the Parc Ferme from 7am to 7pm to hand bottles out and collect them back in for us, that simply isn't going to happen! Which is exactly what we've done by allowing the Hebo auxiliary tank. We're not turning a blind eye by any stretch of the imagination, and if we had the manpower to enforce every rule to the limit, then we'd happily do so...again, feel free to volunteer for the week and come up to help us if you feel strongly about it! And so we come back to the start - the rules are reviewed every year and are adjusted as appropriate. Yes there is a chance you won't get off the hill on the longest moors if you don't ride sensibly...the same as there is a chance you'll be excluded if you miss a section, or that you'll get stuck if your engine boils, or that you'll be late on time if you take the wrong turning. It's a risk you take when you enter the trial. Which takes us to entering the trial - everyone knows the rules when they sign up. If you don't like them, don't enter.

As you very well know, we can't enforce this rule any more than we can man every inch of the course to make sure every other rule in the book is being adhered to. You're all adults, you all sign the declaration saying you'll abide by the rules, and as with anything else in this world there has to be an element of trust out there. Ride sensibly, stick to the route and you'll have more than enough fuel. Thrash your bike, try to be smart and cut the route and you stand a good chance of running out and getting yourself stranded. There will always be someone who rides carefully, sticks the rules and still ends up tipping half the fuel out of their bike, but that's part and parcel of the Scottish. It's up to each individual whether they choose to stick to the rules, as they agreed they would when they signed up for the place....the place that two hundred other people are queuing up for. If they opt to flaunt them, then on their heads be it - they needn't bother coming crying to me when they don't get an entry again in the future.

There's a whole host of reasons that we have regulations like this for the SSDT, but I'll stick to the two main ones. Whilst it may well be legal to carry spare fuel in specific containers, that doesn't mean it's permissible. As a company, Edinburgh & District MC have a responsiblity to adhere to health and safety regulations and do everything we can to make the event as safe as possible. Any of you who have organised an event on this scale will be more than aware of all the risk assessments, red tape and other regulations that you have to go through to get permission to run the trial at all. The fact that we're transporting fuel at all gives us numerous headaches - throw 270 riders unnecessarily carrying their own fuel in varying receptacles into the equation and your chances of getting through any risk assessment changes somewhat! The other main reason for restricting the carrying of fuel is something that is key to the future of the SSDT, and something that is always overlooked. Our landowners. It's easy to forget that the SSDT is not run across common ground, open roads and suchlike - a huge percentage of it is run across private land. We're reliant on the goodwill of almost one hundred different landowners, all of whom are very accommodating, but we do have limits within which we have to work. It's kind enough of them to let us run 300+ bikes across their ground for a week - if we were to start letting riders carry additional fuel across their ground too we'd run the risk of losing at least some of them. Parts of the trial run across SSSIs (Sites of Specific Scientific Interest) and carrying fuel across those areas is a complete no-no. The long and short of it is that rules are not just there for the riders. They're there to protect the club, protect the land, protect the landowners, and ultimately to protect the future of the SSDT. You're riding on other people's land, enjoying their territory, their views and at their expense. The least you can do to show your appreciation is abide by their rules. You'd do well to remember that riding across the ground that the SSDT covers is a priviledge, not a right.

He may have ridden 24 times but his reading ain't so hot! Regulation 6.3 states that any rider caught carrying fuel in any receptacle other than an approved fuel tank can be excluded. Health and safety rules nowadays I'm afraid - ride sensibly and you won't need extra fuel, unless it's an Evo in which case you'll need the approved Hebo auxiliary tank. This years regs will be sent out at the end of the month with the entry packs.

Is that C's valentines pressie then?!

Heilanders take even less crap than Fifers...I'm just getting back into the swing of it all!

Nae chance - then I'd have 110 people expecting me to send them fancy gold sparkly cards before they filled in their entry form! Ballot it is and ballot it remains...if cutting up all those bits of paper and picking them out of a hat/box/mixing bowl doesn't qualify it as a ballot, then I don't know what does! BTW, that's just the SSDT I'm talking about - the Pre-65 is entirely separate and I've never had any involvement in it to tell you anything about their ballot process, other than what's already been published in their press release.

No offence taken, don't worry! I'm not that easily offended - you got to have a thick skin in this job! I just like to have the odd grumble here and there along with the rest of you.

The year I make it a fix will be the happiest, cheeriest trial ever because every bad-mannered, ungrateful, grumpy trials rider will be banned. Mind you, maybe that would rule me out too.

Think my last post covers the ballot (!) - the reserve list works in exactly the same way. Those who miss out are asked to register their interest in being on the reserve list if they want to. All those who do so have their names put in a hat - as and when a reserve place comes up, a name is drawn out of that and they are the replacement rider. It's a ballot too, plain and simple - it's the only fair way to allocate places. As for riding without backup, that's the whole purpose of the trial. One man and his machine against the elements, no backup necessary!

Last year a chap called Trev Lovesy wrote to TMX with one of the usual ballot complaints. He raised three points, not all of which are relevant to this discussion, but you might as well have the lot! The points he raised were : He wanted to know how to get a guaranteed entry into the Scottish He raised two specific riders as examples of riders added to the entry list after entries had closed He questioned how the ballot was actually done Here's the letter I wrote in reply, which should hopefully answer your questions / dissolve your accusations (delete as appropriate!) : I read Trev Lovesy

Am off to dig out last year's explanation of how it all works before my blood pressure goes up any further.

Slightly unfair given that I explain it in depth year, after year, after year, after year.... Are you really going to make me go through it all again?

The list online will be updated over the weekend - the factory team has changed since the list was published but there are 3 Greeves in there.

Only three riders allowed in a group folks, so if you've got four together that's a no-go I'm afraid.

Although your lunch is included in your entry fee nowadays, so you only need money if you are expecting to be extra hungry!

This year's regulations are still being finalised, but they're unlikely to change much from the 2010 Supplementary Regulations. They'll tell you all you don't find in the newcomer's guide...and more! There is a tyre service in the Parc Ferme - it used to be run by Dunlop, but it's now run on their behalf by Braybrook Off Road. I can't help with the prices, but I'm sure someone out there will drop you a reply with more info on that! With regards to working on your bike, you get a set running time for the day. If you finish within that running time you can use the time to work on your bike before you put it into the Parc Ferme at night, but be careful to do your sums right or you'll end up incurring points (or worse, being disqualified!) if you're too late! You'll also be allowed into the Parc Ferme 30 minutes before your starting time in the morning to work on your bike.