Hey, what about a speical Mich Lin section on the board?
You know insted of me posting on the across the pond or general trials talk, a segrigated Mich Lin place where people easily offended could avoid it altogether. Yet those wanting to cover the more controversial topics could exchange radical ideas together there.
Thanks for asking about me, I'm lurking around but have not been posting much. I stopped posting because my views are so unorthodox that they shock and disturb a lot of folks.
It has never been my goal to upset anyone, only express what my observations were. I thought it was better that I simply kept my opinions to myself and not risk upsetting anyone any longer. That's why you have not heard much from me lately.
Hey, opinions are like behinds, everyone has one! Yet only a few folks actually show them, then when they do stick it out if it's differnt, they risk getting spanked. Hey, I'm tired of the wippings, that's all!
I believe the youth national championship is more than just the competition, it's a week long family camp on trials bikes! Most kids and the adults just love the week.
Is it expensive? Yes, but any week long family vacation is. You can only decide if the vacation is worth the price by going. Every year we ask ourselves, why don't we go to to Hawaii? It costs about the same and we could stay in a 5 star hotel insted of being hot and dirty all week long.
I believe only by going can you decide if it's worth the cost! This year I asked Daniel several times, are you sure you really want to go? He insisted that yes he did! It's a huge expense in time and money before during and after the competiton to attend. Even more expenseive if you are trying to win but that's your choice how serious you want to get. So a lot of the expense is really up to you!
Yes the competition is tough, don't kid yourself. It's not much fun if your trying to win but that's your decision to put that much pressure on yourself! If you don't care about your results, you will have a blast competing, because you can ride whatever line you please but if you come to be US champion, Hey, things can get a little tough depending on your class!
Think of it as college prep to a certain extent! Some of these kids will be the future US Olympic and TDN trials team! Only by going and testing the water can your son or daughter decide if they want to chase that goal.
Spin, I'm full of Bultaco alright! Hey, what more can I do other than what I've already done?
*Sponsored the TDN team until the team manager asked me to stop.
*Entered the US nationals with the intent of practicing and riding again! But was banned because the NATC didn't like my training techniques!
*Turned the other cheek when my generation of riders was insulted right to my face, by riders who couldn't carry the helmet bag of Vesty, Marland, Bernie, Sweet and other past greats.
*Showed you guys how to go to Europe and score world championship points for the first time in 15 years by an American.
*Offered to minder and train any of todays top riders, No takers!
*Help train the 3 time US champion Califorina Youth trials team and I will continue to do so, when they want my help.
*Provided a proposal to the NATC that would turn around our declining riding standards without having any negative impact on the fantastic sportsmen nationals.
*Checked, layed out sections.
What's you're recent resume and what should be done?
Is it crazy to tell the truth, maybe! Hey, I'm simply the messinger, if you feel the need to shoot me, the one who carries the message, Go ahead! It won't solve the sagging US riding level problem.
Spinner, lisen and lisen up good! There is only one way in life to keep everyone happy. That is to say nothing, do nothing and be nothing. Then you can keep everyone happy! If that's your style, more power to ya buddy.
I'd like to apologize to everyone for being so harsh for the past years.
I was simply trying to prove the point that our riders are not as good as they think they are in the USA. Finally Laia Sanz and the 125cc world riders proved that point once and for all. Seeing is believing, they spanked us!
I remember coming back into trials after a 20 year layoff and having to lisen to senior works riders who couldn't ride very well back in the 70s tell me how good they were today. How much better they rode now than back then, it was amazing, they still rode bad, only now they were old! They were only good in their own minds because they were winning national old guy titles year after year. WOW, it was amazing!
It was also madding hearing from some old guy Intermediate clubmen riders how the sections they rode were harder than what M. Lampkin, Rathmal, Vesty, Bernie, Marland, Sweet, Comer, Evans and the others rode while riding world rounds in the 70s. They told me how they were better today than the world round riders then. It was an amazing slap in the face to all these great rider of the past.
The final insult was the rewrite of US trials history that had taken place. How Bernie was the only US rider that had ever been any good and had an impact. Yet right under these same people's noses riders from the 70's came back like Curt Comer and Debbie Evans and had fantastic results in modern events 20 plus years after their prime.
Now finally we have seen the truth in the USA! We suck! We have only two male riders who can beat the ladies champion and we are lightyears off the rest of the planet's best men.
Perhaps people think I'm crazy! That's OK. But how crazy is it to think that our old guys are good riders? You know those who win those 40,45,50,55,60,65 and 70 year old national titles?
If anything drove me crazy it was that train of thought, hearing people claim that these old guys are great riders! That they deserved sponsorship insted of riders like Patrick Smage who might be a world champion. Now that's what drove me crazy.
Your right Citytrials, I was thinking of sponsoring Patrick but your astute point about Clive "No Jive" winning all the time makes me think he's deserves a sponsorship more than Patrick Smage!
Hey when was the last time Patrick won a national? He's not nearly as good as No Jive!
Atom, your right you guys are much better than we are! Your ladies champion just proved that by beating everyone in the USA but two of our best men, Cody and Geoff! That sort of puts US riding standards into perspective don't you think?
To really answer the question of this tred, somebody should ask Don Sweet! He's well respected, is liked by everyone, still rides today and used to compete with me.
Glen, I stopped riding for nearly 20 years so I've got a big blank in my trials timeline. I have seen Bernie hop a little back in 79 without stopping! So I give credit to him, I even have it on VHS tape.
My guess is when they changed the rules from the Scottish rules or classic rules as I like to call them to stop and hop without penality. Maybe someone else can fill you in on that detail?
I don't remember the exact name of the Bernie trials book but it is available at Whitehorse press. I think it's really a better book than mine.
Tim, your the man! SirHC you are no slouch either.
To be honest, I was an OK rider who never really lived up to his full potentual. I had some natural talent, some great luck of being in the right place at the right time to get amazing support from Sr. Bulto and Bultaco America.
What I lacked was an mentor! Being a big fish in a small pond, I had to figure out how to ride for myself. I had nobody to teach me! So I practiced endlessly and spent long hours in the study of techniques and training. Some good some not so good, so I tended practice my bad habits a lot, which a mentor would have stopped.
I was lucky enough to be the first rider to ever travel accross the USA and then into Europe to ride trials. Over there, I saw and learned a ton but hated the lifestyle of being alone living in Europe without my own automobile and by myself. So I got really homesick, which effected my overseas performance.
Because I had no mentor, it did allow me to put together the book! Simply Len Weed took my ideas and discoveries and put them into print. If I had a mentor, I believe that I'd never have been forced to think though the process which created the book. So in retrospect having to figure out the techniques by myself did lead to the concepts going into print revealing the principles of championship riding for the first time to the general public.
I was also blessed to have some really talented riders around to push me! Look at the list of talent that we rode with on that other tred. Plus most of those top 13 were paid to ride. Bernie and Marland both collected a salery to ride trials while they were still in high school. The depth of the talent we rode against was simply amazing, Comer, Sweet, Egger, Gugalamelli, Darrow, Hopkins, Stites, Delaney, Griffits, Belair and on and on. If you screwed up, you found yourself WAY down the results at a local trial or national.
What I'm most proud of was how we gave the Europeans a run for their money when they came over for a world round. Coming to the USA was no cherry pick for the world's best in those days.
In retrospcet I never regret riding trials! It tought me what I needed to know to be a success with the rest of my life. I also met my wife riding trials, the best thing that ever happened to me.
Where is the sport going? Heck I don't know! Will we see another American world champ? Can't answer that question either but I do know what it takes, because I saw it done once before.
Doc, I would have beaten the 8 year old on time, The fastest rider wins! As for being satified with the ride you have, you miss the point! You simply do your very best, push yourself beyond where you are and set some goals to try to attain, which makes you better.
Doc, I did my best, gave it my all and I'm satified with that. What's important is that a rider follows the 3 rules of championship trials, which I did to the Tee. I had fun, scored championshp points and learned a bunch. So in my book, that's a winner.
What did I learn? A lot, number one being that our current national Pro sections need to be more techincal to push our riders in that area. They are good at gaps and splaters but they are weak in the technical stuff. I also forgot how much pressure was put on these guys during the event.
Doc,lastly, it dosn't matter what anybody else thinks or does, you must satify yourself! I was very satisfied with riding the national and finishing 8th in the points.
Any proposal I've presented to the NATC or here has no effect on the sportsmen nationals. It only deals with the top men and women riders in the USA.
The only proposal I've made effecting sportsmen riders is the overhaul of the youth nationals by reducing the number of classes. We could still retain the age winners with a best performance concept like they use at the Scottish Six Days.
So your point is mute, I promised the NATC chairman and I promise you that my US national overhaul ONLY provides a path for better performance for our top riders. The sportsmen nationals would remain exactly the same as they are now.
Because the sponsorship pie has been sliced 17 differnt ways at the US championship. Our best riders are not able to perform in center stage anymore, they are reduced to being a sideshow act to keep riding.
Brian, I believe that anyone wanting to be the best they can be should be able to contest the pro class, period! Provided they can do it safely.
It's very humbling, yet it opens your eyes to what is being done by our best and will make you a better rider faster than anything else. Riding with the best forces you to accept their high standards, not some lower standard of excellence. You either sink or swim!
It also forces you to understand your limitations and punch through what you can't do, where to take a planned one, two, three or five. Here's why that's important, if you don't finish, you can't be in the results! A DNF earns NO POINTS. Also consider that a three is almost 50% lower of a score than a five, so knowing how to plan a three is actually a vital winning skill.
Seeing and riding with the very best also makes you aware what you need to work on and practice at. I believe Beta Ron made that obseervation here after riding with Wiggy and was all excited about what they had learned. You simply can't move foreward unless your being pushed by the best.
Another example, Smage moving up to Pro and finishing down the leaderboard insted of staying back and winning Expert against Peters, will improve his riding much faster than being Expert #1. Yet the ego and sponsorship is served better by staying down a notch. That's in my opinion why the current NATC program is so destructive to US riding levels, it in realaity rewards cherry picking and penalizes anyone desiring to excel which is a bad principle.
Taking it to the next level, I believe that our best Pros need to compete in the A class at the TDN and ride the US and as many other world rounds as possible. Will it be over their heads? Sure, but again nothing will improve thier riding faster than seeing the best ride, then attempting their lines for Themselves.
If you remember it was pointed out here that Cody Webb won his first national because he was riding with the Europeans not the Americans. He was riding their lines NOT the the horrible lines that the US Pro riders attempted. Look at how that tactic payed off for him with a big 20 US championship points.
The principles of raising your riding standards are not difficult to understand or put into practice. We applyed them in the 1970s to great effect and our riders ended up with amazing results in world championship competition.
Picture this! The year of 1976 which I featured above 60% of the top ten finishes that year at the US world round was USA riders! That was 6 out of the 10 best rides were from the USA, we even had two riders on the podium and none of these top ten riders were Bernie. He got better later after having the oppertunity to hang. around the Europeans, which changed his whole life. Otherwise he would have remained a back of the US pack rider.
That's why I believe we need to expand the US pro class and push that class into world competition. We must be honest however, in the 70s a rider was required to be a local expert to contest the nationals. Today we see intermediate riders at the NATC events. We must provide a standardized set of classes and standards defining what an advanced rider is, otherwise the standards of the US championship get lower and lower and lower.
Doc Aw- Ha, your wrong! First that 8 year old would have to be Advanced rider like smart@ss Alan. Then Doc your right, if you don't enter you can't figure into the results. FIVE US riders in the champ/Pro class today, what a joke compared to over 100 in 1975.
Take a look at the climb of riders like Curt Comer from 1975 to 76 or Jack Stites! They really moved up the ranks, With the current NATC class structure riders like those two would never had the rapid rise they did. They would be hindered back in the high school or sportsmen classes never building the confidence to improve.
My point has always been getting the pro class bigger again, causing more pressure on the top guys. Plus more oppertunity to move up rapidly like Stites and Comer were able to do. Which can't be done today!
Hey, that Comer guy is the same guy that spanked Clive isn't it?
Besides Doc, I know for a fact that an 8 year old could not have ridden up as far on the toughest section of the trial as I did. I know, I've helped train the Califorina Youth trials team win 3 consecutive US national championship team titles. You would need to be at least 9 years old to go as far as I did.
That's the sprit Isherwood, You shameless moneybags profiteer.
ax, no the book sold out years ago, you can still buy the great Bernie book though.
Also take a look at the Ryan Young video, it's really good. I'd like to see Ryan do an expanded version of his video, taking more time with the basics and the advanced stuff.
One tip for sure, if you ever get the chance to do the James Lampkin school, DO IT! It's amazing.
We Need Mich Lin
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Posted
Ouch Steve!