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Sorry, he's quite right. It was a while ago and my memory's not great, but still, I should have tried a bit harder to remember the details! I've removed my comments (and I suggest you now remove yours so it doesn't make reference to the original one). Please pass on my apologies to a fully clothed Ben S.

The Knill trial due to run tomorrow has been postponed due to deep snow making the roads there inaccessible. There were nearly 130 entries with more on the day so it will hopefully be re-run.

Sounds like a superb way to get new people involved.

Great idea. Does it work?

So to sum up the last few posts, there isn't space at the moment for the sport to become more popular. Sounds fair to me. Do we really want it to be more popular? There are positives, yes, such as bigger national competitions, more future-proofing against the march of the green politician and possibly bikes and maybe even events becoming cheaper for riders. But there are also negatives, such as events becoming more effort to organise (more people will want to come in and ride than help organise, right?), the possibility of big promoters changing the sport beyond recognition (having raced in rallycross for years I have seen this happen) and the increased PR difficulties of having more, and larger, events for the sport. Not to say that it can't grow, and certainly not to say that it can't progress, but it surely has to be sustainable and well thought through.

Here's one of Ben street riding in Bristol in case you haven't seen it:

Ah, yes, that suddenly all makes sense. Thanks for indulging me! Your video looks good, will aim for that kind of angle with mine.

Just bought myself a chesty but not used it yet; I think it'll be miles better than my helmet mount. What's the benefit of running the camera upside down as everyone seems to do?

Good luck with the competitions; they'll improve your riding no end and you'll meet loads of other nutters just like yourself! Enjoy.

Thanks Ben. In that case, as I ride in Devon I might be better sticking to the X11s I know don't puncture on the rocks.

I've been using X11s and need a new set soon; I notice that the X Lites are only about a fiver more per tyre than the X11s. Do they wear faster? Are there any disadvantages to them over the X11s? I assume from reading through the threads on here that they perform better.

Thanks again all. I don't think he looks on this forum, so I'll risk it and reveal what I got him: Six Days in May DVD (thanks scottishsteve for the ebay heads-up) Acerbis hand guards for his trail bike A home-made voucher for a stay at the Biker's Rest B&B with two days trials practice on their land Ben - that book looks good but is pretty dear!

Cheers all for the advice. Looks like I'll be doing as many trials down here as possible then, ready for an assault on a championship next year once I'm road legal and ready for the expert route. Is this a gap in the market for a championship for which you don't have to road legal, or am I in a small minority of people without a licence?

I'm looking to do a full national trials championship in 2013; I'm currently riding at Clubman level in the South West but wanting to make the step to Expert soon. I'll hopefully be dovetailing it with a crack at a South West championship and the West of England series. Based in Devon but happy to travel, mostly. I have a modern Sherco 250 and no road licence (as yet), so it needs to be a championship with no road work and that will accept modern bikes. Does the Normandale championship have a modern category? And are most of their trials single venue? Any recommendations of championships to consider, whether from happy personal experience, vigourous spectating endeavours or wild armchair speculation, will be gratefully considered.

Thanks everyone; some great ideas. I'll have a look at everything suggested and see what might tickle his fancy.

The closer we get to Christmas the more I still haven't bought my dad anything, and I forgot his birthday present, so I'd better find something good! If you can suggest something decent and trials related I would be very grateful, and it could be a valuable resource for those of us who, like me, to whose present buying skills the word 'shoddy' would be only generously applied. Any ideas will be welcomed with open arms and unadulterated thanks. Basically, what am I going to get the old man for Christmas? P.S. I wanted to get him a copy of 'Six Days in May' but I can't find one anywhere. P.P.S. Hope this is in the right forum; apologies if not.

A question based on John Collins' interesting and balanced post: what do I need to do to get involved? I'm a big fan of stop-allowed and I'm happy to be involved with the organisation of the events in some capacity if I can do that in any way. Money where my mouth is and all that!

I've been observing on the Scott for the past ten years and it depends on the section, I find, as to how easy it is to mark. If it's an early section, as mine was this year, it gets quite full at times. Having said that, the peripheral vision is a wonderful thing and as long as you get the numbers written down sharpish as each rider enters the section it's fairly straightforward to see who has dabbed. The simple fact, I suppose, is that it's not entirely possible to see every single mark lost by every rider, but it's unusual to get it wrong by more than one mark, as evidenced by the extra members of the observing team who always verify the score I give.

And once you've discovered if it's leaking using spit, you can get a little widget (some fancy valve caps have them built in) which will tighten the inside of the valve up. Like this: http://www.google.co...83&tx=122&ty=96

Another vote from me for RCM. Bought several bikes from them now and lots of bits and they always give good advice and go out of their way to help.

Enjoy!

That was the original post, neilh!

What about Wiggy? He was struggling with an injured ankle, otherwise he could have been there or thereabouts for the podium. And Sam Connor? He wasn't far off a podium in Devon either. Ben Morphett looked dangerous as well. Not a million miles off the podium, any of those three, were they?

I really enjoyed the Devon round; I thought it was really well organised and the riders seemed to enjoy it. Not a big fan of the no-stop rules as it can lead to a five for a momentary stoppage in an otherwise good ride through a section, but I think the sections were spot on for that style of riding. How many riders normally do the full championship?

Started riding trials about ten years ago but put it on hold for a couple of years while I was too busy. Now I'm back; I've done a couple of trials on my 2001 Sherco 290 (complete with original tyres, which I thought was quite normal but apparently isn't!) and I've decided to start the learning process again by trading it in for a more modern 125. Once I've bought it I'll see how I get on. I'm a member of WEMC and I'll be riding their trials (and enduros on a WR250F).