Hello Senor Greeves. I am now putting together a 2-3 year plan, to put a new Fantic together, and then get myself to Spain with it, to ride Robregordo!!
Thanks for posting this! I've just watched this via Youtube on my 55" TV and it was brilliant! I honestly don't think I have ever seen Raga ride so well. I am sure he is motivated, and these guys are so damn good they could ride just about anything, but man the TRS has to work that's for sure.
I think the public really backed him, nothing personal about Bou its just good to see someone else win and a different bike win
Agreed! Its the circle of champions life isn't it..... you spend years climbing to the top. When you get there and in Bou's case winning almost everything in sight, people start to get bored with the predictability of it. This last years outdoor season was the most exciting in years, because Raga won some good rides and made it interesting.
Hats of to Raga, and the whole TRS team they seem to be clicking for sure. He seems to be in sync with the new bike. No doubt Bou is going to be motivated for the rest of the X Trial series... which means fun for us!
I never had one of these bikes, but had my Yam mono's attempted to by copied. Exhaust port was raised, and ports cleaned up, flywheel lightened, JS silencer. My bike also had a much thinner head gasket to bump up the compression.
Thanks Glenn! I have seen this video before a few times.... ha ha! Donner was an awesome place to ride. The elevation sucked the power out of the bikes, but the rocks were so grippy it didn't matter! That trip was pretty epic in a lot of ways/ thanks for posting. Scott Head was the man back then... was proud to call him a friend and get to know him pretty well. Cheers
Hey Billy, looks good! Not to worry about he small feet mate, you are proportionately correct......matches the short arms....and deep pockets...its Scottish thing I am told. ha ha!
After the very successful 2015 BC Provincial Trials Championship took place this year, with record turnouts at venues like Squamish, the participating clubs are please to announce the schedule of events for 2016. We are proud to include a new venue and club for next year, and welcome the South Okanagan Dirt Bike Club. This will see member Ricky Styles and his crew treat all of the riders to a much welcome return to an important part of the province, and an opportunity to show off the clubs great riding in the OK Falls area. Being a 2 day event also distinguishes a great chance for the riders to enjoy some excellent terrain, but also take advantage of some good fun. The Saturday portion of the weekend will take place in the afternoon/ evening time and will include some unique fun challenges and activities planned by Ricky and the club! This part of the event will be purely fun and not part of the overall results, and will be open to ALL classes. Prize giveaways and fun!
The season will once again start off on Vancouver Island at the VMC in April, then on to the popular Squamish riding area, two weeks later, we will enjoy Ricky's event in the OK, and once again the final event of the year will take place in Ioco BC, the same location where many high level events have taken place, including the annual Super Stars Trial, and two FIM World Trials.
Glenn, that would be Al Bechard, and his son Dean. Al used to be a regular on the forums here, and I knew him from when I lived down there too! I will have to drop a line to Bob soon!
its unfortunate you feel that way Michael but your entitled to your opinion. It is impossible for you to really know all the things that have taken place in the West here seeing that you are so far away. The WTC isn't being truthful about its intentions or motivation. That is a fact. A self appointed national sanctioning body, by your words.
You for some reason have a dislike for the National sanctioning body, as does Bob and Dave. That's their right too. But, its time to move on for the better of the sport! If you cant understand that having a Canadian version of the NATC, working together with the CMA to achieve this, is the only option, I cant do much about that. Anytime mis-truths are told or printed, I will point them out.
Yesterday I read a quote posted by someone on this site who I have great respect for and it applies here. " What people can accomplish working together is more than they could accomplish each working individually. Everyone has strengths, but when you put those strengths together, they produce something more than the individuals could alone"
Will the CMA be providing any funding for enthusiast who would like to be part of the summit? I have attended other such national summits for Paddling, Biathlon, and Off Road Motorcycling and would like to be a part of this one as well if possible. Will the Agenda be published for all and will the meeting be open for people to be able to call into (I do realize that depending on the agenda it may not be feasible)?
As you know the TAC was announced in Nov of 2013 so saying it is a blank Canvas right now might confuse some. I realize that wording things can be hard for everyone especially in emails and even worse in this sort of international forum. I will take it as meaning the TAC is preparing to take a new line to get more traction for tackling the difficult task of building our sport.
I like all that are on the TAC I just see it as heavily slanted towards the elite high performance competition side of the sport. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that, it just depends where you want to take it.
A great test would be to look at your budget for 2016 and see what sort of activities you are funding? Can the TAC fully appreciate riders that have no interest in anybody who is riding outside of their province? There are some that do not even know who any of the World round riders are (outside Bou and Raga). Do you really need/want to be spending your time and energy on them? It is no problem if you don't but it is worth thinking about it before trying to undermine organizations that may be slightly more focused on them. Might be a great topic for the summit.
Great questions Michael!
You might be surprised to know that firstly, my personal feeling is that, we need to spend the bulk of our budget (whole other issue) towards the grass roots of the sport. Building strong organized clubs, getting very young kids and there families involved in those clubs. Rider training, event set up training. From there we can build strong Provincial championships using club level events, catered to the bulk of those club riders. Then, hopefully from there we can determine who the elite from each region are, and be in a position to help them develop to a level they wish to. Only this way can we expect to build a strong sport across the country.
All of this will take time and some $$$. The $$$ will only be able to come from riders and clubs, and then be put back into the sport to support such tasks. So instead of wasting time bickering about a group bent on division of an already small group, we could be spending that time and effort getting on with things. We are so far behind already.
Steve, I'm not going to argue with you on a public forum, so this will be my final word to you on this topic. Henceforth, I will not be following this thread, and I won't responding to anything further that you may have to say.
I will deal with your two allegations, though.
Firstly, the phone call from your mystery informant. As I don't recall ever telephoning anybody about this matter, I really have no idea who this mystery person might be. As it happens, I don't believe that the FIM will be ousting the CMA any time soon, so I certainly would not have been telephoning people last January to announce the imminent departure of the CMA from the FIM family. That's just ridiculous. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt -- either your informant was mistaken in what I said, or your informant has me confused with some other telephone caller. Or possibly you were mistaken in what your informant told you.
Secondly, on the topic of the no-stop rule. I happen to believe that the adoption of the no-stop rule by the FIM is a good thing. Where it has been implemented, it appears to have had a beneficial effect. So when I saw the proposal by the CMA to implement that rule, I thought of it as good news. And I wrote it up as a "good news" story about the CMA. As it turns out, while I was writing the story, the CMA voted to reject this FIM regulation, and decided to toss out the no-stop rule. My intention with the story was to show the CMA in a good light, portraying them as forward thinkers, aligning themselves with other progressive trials groups around the world. But it seems that the CMA is feeling a little touchy these days, and imagines itself under attack when that is a long way from being the case.
That's it, I'm now done with this thread.
Of course you are done Bob, what else could you do at this point? I do find it curious how you and your buddy portray such a positive upbeat persona, all for the sport attitude publicly, but in reality behind the scenes, have a completely different one. I am not alone in knowing this and seeing the extreme bias your own website portrays. I also find it curious what interest someone like you at this point in your life when you don't ride or even contribute to any club, other than the website? good luck
I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt so... lets forget the $75.
Just tell me exactly what the great opportunity is? what's the plan? what are we working together on? What is it you would like me to do? I'm a great worker, I have a great job as a Sr Project Manager and am happy to bring my expertise to bear, I am ready to roll up my sleeves and help in anyway I can as an eager trials volunteer. What is the first task on the Agenda?
Cheers,
Michael
Michael:
Well I am happy to know that such an enthusiastic person like you is willing to volunteer. The opportunity is, that we as trials riders can shape the sport, and the organization in anyway we see fit! Its a blank canvas right now, and we need to work hard to build a strong foundation to support and build the sport for many years.;
I can tell you that we are scheduling the first ever "Trials in Canada Summit meeting" at the beginning of December in Coquitlam BC and it will be open to any and all trials riders. We will explain what the purpose of the TAC is, and how it is important that all riders give their input. As well, we hope to show how important it is that we work together as one group and gain strength from that. We have many ideas and plans, and its important for their success that we have good people all working together.
All I can tell you right now Michael, is to understand and trust the integrity of the people who are on the TAC and their experience in the sport. The desire they have to have fun, and all trials riders in Canada to be working as one strong unit. You know most of them I believe. Myself, Christy Williams-Richards, Derek Thomas, Jonathan English, and Paul Yvan-Belanger.
Steve, I did NOT tell anyone by telephone last January that WTC/MCC would soon be affiliated with the FIM. This is a complete falsehood. Actually, I believe that it's rather unlikely that there will be a change in FIM affiliation for Canada anytime soon. If you understand the politics of these things , you'll know that these old pals tend to look after one another.
Well Bob, I am glad you answered the question. However, you did make such a phone call, and the recipient of this call, called me right after you spoke to him. He was asking me, as the Chairman of the CMA TAC, for clarification on your statements. I received the call while driving to the bike show in Abbotsford and I have two witnesses who can back up the call I received, one of which is my daughter. The call was from someone I respect and who has no alterior motives and only wants to be a positive influence for the sport. So I will stand by my statements.
You also this year printed false statements on your website about CMA rules, and, even after a courtesy call by myself to explain to you your mistake, your comments were " I read it on the CMA website, but they have now erased it, I am gonna keep it up on the website". You mis-read the website as the rules you read were proposals, NOT passed rules. Throughout the year your clear distain towards the CMA is evident. That is your right. But it is ridiculous when you pass judgement on something you know nothing about. My info tells me you don't belong to any club and are not an active member in any trials organization. That's your right too, but puts you in jeapordy of not being credible to make comments or make editorials on the state of trials in Canada.
good lord! We are here talking about the state of trials in our country, and right now have the biggest opportunity we have ever had in my almost 40yrs of competing. The wheel has already been invented and we need to work together. The only people to blame are ones not wanting to work together.
Steve, I can categorically tell you that it has never been published on TrialsCanada.com that WTC intended to become the Canadian FIM affiliate. That's nonsense -- how could a trials group become the representative of all motorcycle activities for a country? And I must admire your abilities in mind-reading and extra-sensory perception, in that you have been able to determine just what was in Sean Weisner's mind when he helped establish WEC. You should do a little fact-checking before you write this stuff. And what does it matter whether a group is associated with the FIM or not? CSBK (road racing) and CMRA (moto-cross) have enjoyed immense success without any CMA or FIM affiliation. It seems to me that having a choice between different sanctioning bodies is a good thing -- if one particular group enjoys a monopoly, then it never takes long before that monopoly is abused. That's a fact of life.
Bob, did you or didn't you tell someone over the phone back in January that the WTC/MCC would soon be the affiliate for the FIM for Canada? The fact that you seem to be indicating WTC and its affiliates have NO desire to be the official FIM affiliate is NOT truthful.It is the reason that the trials group was started, as it was seen as the final group to complete a so called bid. This of course you are aware of but for some reason are not even sharing that information with the likes of Michael.
So I guess you can clear the air then and let us know whether you told someone in January, the the WTC/MCC would soon be the FIM affiliate?
thanks for posting. Scott Head was the man back then... was proud to call him a friend and get to know him pretty well. Cheers
Raga
in World Championship Chat
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Me either, until I found on Youtube the last Spanish championship trial for 2015. Check it out Dabster!