highland lassie

SSDT week books up pretty much by the start of the year, but try www.laterooms.com - looks like the Croit Anna may have space at a reasonable price. It's not posh, but it's just a mile along the road from the Parc Ferme on the shore of the loch. Worth checking out anyway!

Get yourself up to the Fort in May - no politics, no grief, just a load of like-minded people loving the trial, the beer, and of course, the weather.

Hiya DBF - I can't speak for anything other than the SSDT, but in our situation I can assure you that authorities aren't trying to break our backs - quite the opposite, everybody goes out of their way to help us. 90% of the SSDT is run across private ground, owned by some 100-ish different landowners, companies and authorities like the Forestry Commission. Some of these landowners give us use of the odd few acres here and there, others give us a large percentage of the ground we use. We don't just have to apply for access to the ground that we use for sections, we have to get access for every single bit of land that we cross. It takes around nine months of work each year to secure approval for us to use all the ground we need - we have to provide landowners with assurances about the bikes that will be run, the insurance we have in place (for riders and for public liability) and in most circumstances we have instructions that we have to adhere to closely if we're to be allowed back the following year. If we cause problems on a piece of land, maybe on a random section in what appears to be the middle of nowhere, we could end up losing that ground for the future. It's easy to say 'so what'? One section, or one group, is easily replacable elsewhere - just route the trial a little differently. That in itself comes with its own problems, but what if the landowner that we've upset just happens to be one of the larger ones, and they also own the ground we need to access ten other groups of sections? That's the SSDT gone. Our concern isn't just about losing sections, it's about losing access to whole chunks of Lochaber - that's why illegal riding could put an end to a trial that's run for 100 years. If it helps to have an example, look at the Leanachan article John's referring to. At the moment the focus is on two specific Forestry Commission routes that we use during the week where there's a large public presence unrelated to the SSDT (cyclists, ramblers, dog walkers, etc). If we have problems with speeding riders this year, we could lose the support of the Forestry Commission altogether, and that would be an absolute disaster - ask any rider whose ridden the trial, we rely on a huge number of forestry routes throughout the week, and without them we're stuffed. You're right - losing the trial would be a huge own goal for the area, but it's not the area that own the ground. It's a series of individuals, and whilst we're very fortunate that they appreciate the benefits of the trial to their economy, we have to remember that they are doing us a favour by letting 300 motorcycles run amok on their property - they don't get anything out of it. They're under no obligation to let us back, and if we cause problems for them then we won't get back - the local economy won't be top of their list of priorities if we damage the ground they use for fishing, shooting, etc. The bottom line is that the SSDT exists solely because of the goodwill of these landowners. They give us their ground for nothing - all we have to do is make sure we're fully insured and that we work within the limits they've given us. I don't think that's a lot to ask of anybody, and it's only fair that everybody respects those limits. I'm sure to anybody unfamiliar with the trial it sounds like we're over-exaggerating issues, or making a fuss where none is required, but believe me, that's not the case. These are real issues that could affect the entire future of the SSDT - that's why we're shouting about them. Hope that makes more sense now...or have you fallen asleep?

Leanachan has always been well-known amongst trials riders, and in recent years the fame of the area has spread with the introduction of a variety of world-class downhill and cross-country cycling routes, not to mention the impending arrival of the world trials scene in June 2010. All of this means that there is a lot more traffic on the Forestry Commission tracks around Leanachan these days, which will be particularly noticeable during SSDT week when the first day of the trial falls on the May Day bank holiday Monday. Those of you who rode in last year

Yup - they're bringing a team over from the factory, and are also planning a big hospitality unit as far as I know.

Andy - can you do the honours? Or am I allowed to edit other people's articles? Ta!

Oh, and the Wednesday route is wrong...it's an old version! Well spotted Perce!! Revised PDF is en route, and will be updated on the SSDT and TC sites as soon as it's available.

Just a wee reminder to everybody that whilst the routes have been published, they are mostly run across private ground, some of which has taken a great deal of work to secure. There are some new chunks of ground in there this year, but please DON'T be tempted to go for a recce of these new areas (or the existing ones!) if you're in the Fort William area over the weekend, or indeed any time before the SSDT. It just takes one irresponsible person going out there without permission for us to lose miles of ground. The future of the SSDT is increasingly dependent on the goodwill of the landowners and bodies that own the ground we use. Abusing the trust they've put in us could jeopardise the entire future of the event, so please just bide your time and wait until Monday 3rd May to be let loose! Thanks, Mairi.

I'm sure the SSDT Committee will have a few bits and bobs that they can donate...I shall ask about and see what we can find. Failing that, I have a few of my own SSDT things around the place - MacMillan helped us tremendously in recent years, so one way or another there will be some SSDT items there to auction!

David - I think you'll find I've already replied to you...no secrets involved, Pipeline is always on the Saturday, and it's right behind the aluminium works at Kinlochleven. I've also explained that Friday / Saturday will be two good days for you because Friday goes round the peninsula with lots of spectator sections to choose from. Much as we don't publish the routes until just before the trial, that's solely to stop riders practising illegally as far as we possibly can - we'll always help advising spectators on groups of sections that are watchable where possible, we're not going to be deliberately obstructive. We can't help much before mid-March because we don't know the routes ourselves until then (believe me, there's a huge amount of work goes into securing the ground that we need each year), and this year things are further complicated by the fact that chunks of our route are still under three feet of snow, but if we can tell you anything that helps, we will!

You promised you'd raid the wife's wardrobe and do the job yourself this year, don't try and get out of it now.

Has nobody come up with something new to gurn about this year?

Rubbish. It's Rogart.

Just a quick reminder that entry fees MUST be paid by Friday to secure your place...no fee, no entry - it'll be reallocated to someone on the reserve list next week if we can't trace your payment! There's a couple of unidentified payments in our bank account too - someone paid

Let's see if you're still rotfl when Mrs Slapshot reads that!!

It's usually March I think...

It's also on the main menu bar across the top of the front page, under 'Community', but failing that, click here.

Your wish is our command! The P65 committee have happily given us a list of entrants - they've withheld the riding numbers to be published in the programme, but the actual riders are listed on the SSDT site under the Pre-65 tab.

Joomla is fab - dead simple to use too, even I understand it! Mostly....we're still working on getting our heads round all the plugins and components, so don't expect anything too fancy too quickly! Edit : That makes it look like I built the SSDT site...I didn't, Fergus gets all the credit for that one! I just did some research to get my head round it all - I left the real work to him.

They don't tend to publish their entry list this far in advance of the trial because it's the main selling point for their programme. I'm sure they'll send it across to us once the programme is on the shelves though, and as soon as they do I'll get it up on the site. Cheers! M.

We did wonder if they'd filled in the wrong entry form...!

There will be much more info on it as time goes by - we've just started it off with the few articles that are relevant to this year's event, and it will be built upon over the coming weeks and months. However, there won't be live chat or forums for the forseeable future. Live chat is a bit of a waste of space, as it was never really used on the old site so we didn't see the need for it on the new one. Forums are a good idea, but they take a lot of monitoring and maintenance to prevent spammers taking advantage of them, and for a site where the forums are really only used for two or three weeks in the year, it just isn't work the costs and effort involved in maintaining them. The plan is that we'll be able to use Facebook and Twitter for conversational discussions throughout the trial week, and the usual 'forum updates' that I run each day will be online as normal. That may change by the time May comes round, but that's certainly the idea at the moment.

Yup, he's riding! As for the web, the webmaster is back in the country today although I'm not sure if he's got home yet or not. I'm so sorry for the delay, we'll get there eventually!

And unless the roads in Kincardine are a vast improvement on those in Cairneyhill, you might not even make the station!

Well there you go! The first day of the 'SSDT' in 1909 ran from Edinburgh to Inverness, 186 miles it was then! I don't think many would have stopped for a dip in the Forth mind you, you're on your own there! It cost 7/6d for a standard entry, and there were twenty six competitors, two of which shared the winners trophy, having covered the entire 760 miles without dropping a mark. Time was described as very tight, and you were only allowed to be a maximum of ten minutes late...and to think folk think it's tough these days! For 1910 the entry list dropped to 19 riders, the severity of 1909 having scared many off. When EDMC took over in 1911 there were quite a few changes made to the regulations governing the event, such as making some of the worst hills optional, and providing special awards for the best performances on these optional hills. That made the trial more accessible and resulted in the 1911 trial having 75 entrants. It might entertain some to know that the introduction of 'optional hills' resulted in many letters of complaint from people complaining about the trial being changed from a proper trial to a holiday in the Highlands....some things don't change! There's a huge history associated with the trial, and the stories that can be told are endless...I'm sure you'll hear many more in the Fort if you get the chance to come over.