funtrials

Help! Got a Michelin "Trials Light" rear tire, used to have the Michelin "X11" rear tire, but don't know what tire pressure to use. With the X11 3.5-4 psi seems to be what people recommend for the rear, but what about the "Trials Light"? Tire pressure for the X11 might not be relevant here, however, unless you've also used the Trials Light specifically, because I'm of the opinion (I sure don't know everything though!) that they just might be quite different in this regard? I'm wondering if the Trials Light, being a less stiff tire might require higher pressure than the 3.5-4 psi for the X11?

Yep, yep, I knew it:

I'll bet that SPAIN wins the 2011 TdN, and you bet that JAPAN wins. Fujinami was in 2nd place in the world going into the last round of the year, so it should be a pretty even bet, eh? And in 2008 the Japanese TdN team finished second in the world. I'll even give you THREE TO ONE ODDS! [Please ignore the fact that Spain had 14 (fourteen - no this is not a typo) grand-total points in the recent 2010 Trials Des Nations, and Japan had 218 (two hundred eighteen - yes you read that correctly) *MORE* POINTS THAN THAT!] If you take this bet then I also have a bridge in Brooklyn that I'll sell you real cheap, and I have a million dollars for you if you can just give me your bank-account information so I know where to wire the money to from my palace in Nigeria. Spain had less total points, among FOUR guys total, over the ENTIRE trial, riding WORLD-CLASS sections, than I did on ONE section (total) at the last local trial I attended, so I'm thinking that my chances of joining the Spanish Trials Des Nations team are fading fast! Seriously, though, did, for example, the US "Dream Team" (Olympic basketball - Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, etc), considered one of the best national-based teams ever, dominate the way those dab-challenged Spaniards dominate? Can you disagree with me if I said the Spanish trials team is the best national team ever, in any sport, ever? What about the Soviets in Olympic Hockey? Nope, my country alone actually beat those commies to the title in 1960 and 1980, so my money is on the Spanish plonkers. Is there something in the water around Barcelona? Do they strap their feet to the footpegs? Can they walk on water, too? Is the 1st Commandment of their religion "Thou shalt not dab!"? Does goring future-hamburgers in a stadium somehow help you defy gravity when on two wheels? Has their nation yet to discover internet porn and beer, so they spend all their time practicing trials? I WANT TO KNOW! So the questions is: what does [insert name of our respective relatively pathetically trials-challenged nation(s) here] need to do to be more like the god-like nation of Spain? Your solutions!?

I've never seen pics of those team trucks (before they were set up), until your report. I've never seen such detailed pics/descriptions of the sections, before (or after, now that I think about it) a trial, anywhere. EXCELLENT.

They couldn't give him a re-ride or anything favorable or minders might consider purposely interfering with their rider at the end of a section if his ride in that section up to that point is quite unfavorable?

Bou is so far ahead of the rest that they probably won't even bother?

What!? Oh come on! Bou's bike is just like a regular stock bike. :-)

My guess is probably some rider who's incredible skills haven't come out yet. Say some kid who's "only" 3rd or 4th place in the youth class, but who really focuses on trials from now on, just got into the sport recently - so it's not apparent how good he is, and takes Bou after Bou starts to relatively "fade" as world trials champs inevitably do when they become around 27-28 years old or so. But I don't know. Maybe young Jorge Casales: he won the Youth Class of the European Championship series last round by an incredible FORTY FOUR POINTS. He got 4th at (I think) his very first World Round Youth Class last week in Spain. Can you say "potential"? He's from Spain....so that's gotta count for somethin'! Or yes, even someone who hasn't ridden even one FIM round so far....14-15 years old, probably riding a trials BICYCLE right now around Barcelona or Yorkshire, who maybe hasn't even heard of the name "Toni Bou".

I'm talking about taking the title from him, not just beating him at one round (Cabby did that indoor, this year, actually.) As riders get away from 22/23 years old (Bou's age, not surprisingly) they generally get a bit worse each year, slowly of course. So not Cabby, not Raga, not Fuji, not Dougie, as they are older than Bou. Fajardo is roughly the same age as Bou, so he's got a shot, but he finished 7th today, so I'm not too confident. James Dabill is maybe only a tad younger than Bou, but as great as he is he would have to make an unrealistically large improvement? Wigg is younger, and phenomenal, but has too much ground to make up. I see at least a record EIGHT world titles, barring injury, for senor Bou, and no, I didn't used to work for the Psychic Friends Network. This would make him the greatest ever. Sorry Dougie, sorry Jordi. It will probably be many years away, such as young Pol Tarres (Jordi's nephew?), if he really takes off. Gubian is the only Champ class rider that i can see has any chance whatsoever? Or maybe a rider who's too young to even be on the world stage yet! Seriously, Bou is that good. Many really great future riders, such as the 16 year old Bou, or the 16 year old Fajardo, or Dougie at 16-17, or the 16 year old Diego Bosis (not sure there were younger classes back then, but he was still great at 16 years old) skipped the younger classes and went straight to Champ class because they were simply that great at that young age. Not sure I see anyone right now who's that good, or we'd see a 16-17 year old in the top 13 in champ class, no? Schumacher, Arnold, Armstrong, Tarres, Dougie....Bou beats them all with eight world titles, and will be possibly the greatest ever (by that measure at least)? Your thoughts?

Say, how about a VETERAN class, at the World level, too? We have it at the US/Canadian national level. Why not see Colley, Jarvis, Freixa, Colomer, maybe Kuroyama, and Tarres, etc.? Just reduce the youth class by 3 riders, the junior class by 3 riders, and bingo, you just made room for those six riders! They'd ride the youth or junior lines, I don't know which. Would you rather see ex-world champion Colomer (currently a great test-rider for Ossa, see the video), or some 16 year old who gets last place, that you've never heard of, and who won't make it into the Junior class next year? Why DOZENS of young riders, but not even one single veteran non-champ-class rider? In say 2 years, do you want to see Dougie ride, battling against Colomer (like in the days of yore), or not? Why should Dougie "be put out to pasture", even though he'll still then be able to beat most (if not all?) of the Youth class riders...seems crazy to me. Age discrimination anyone? Your thoughts?

A very Biblical trials: Jesus gets top five in the Youth Class, and Bou proves that he's god (which we all suspected all along.)

What does "Guest rider" mean?: Junior class: 13. "Gianlucu Tournour (Guest rider)" It's probably a typo, and they meant "ghost rider". On a completely unrelated note, I think I watch too many Nicholas Cage movies.

Wow, neither have I! We're two dang good riders!

Patrick Smage went clean! That the SECOND time he's gotten an entirely clean sheet in his young FIM career (last time was in Youth class, 1 or 2 years ago, I think)! The boy can ride! He's so consistent, apparently. Clean trials aren't just about great ability, it's about concentration for section after section after section. I've actually never heard of Lampkin going completely clean in an FIM outdoor world round, but I could be wrong. Anybody know when/where he did that, if he ever did? I can't remember in the last 10 years ANY Championship-class FIM rider going completely clean in the top class at a world outdoor round. Anybody know otherwise? ONE point is infinitely more common than completely clean, yet it's only one single point difference. Amazing, really. I think Laia Sanz (she's in her own world relative to most ladies) has done it in high-level women's competition, but she STILL gets 1 or 2 points way way more than she would ever get a complete clean score. I've never gone completely clean, ever. A quarter century ago I got 1 lousy point at a trial in central British Columbia, and still didn't win. I was tied on the same section, same loop, same score, and no time was kept, so we had a three-section ride-off to determine who won that trials (Bill Sparks beat me, and I'll never forgive him :-) ) Talk about tension. Round 1 and M. Brown gets ALL FIVES (and he's a great rider...completely ridiculous on the FIM's part...if they had a thousand sections that day would he have even made one of them?.) Then round 2 and THREE riders go completely clean....sounds like the FIM needs to exert way more control over the difficulty of the sections. The hardest trials I've ever heard of followed immediately by the relatively easiest...what's going on!? I bet the controversial new rules have something to do with this fiasco? Your thoughts?

The four main things to trials success are: 1. Experiment 2. experiment 3. experiment 4. (Can't remember what it is, but I'll let you know when I do remember.)

11 for expert sections (expert riders, therefore), 10 for beginner/intermediate sections (beginner/intermediate riders, therefore.) White throttle-tube for expert sections, black throttle-tube for beginner/intermediate sections. Stiff suspension setup for expert/champ sections, softer for beginner/intermediate sections. GasGas 280cc for expert sections, 300 for champ/pro sections, 200-250 for beginner/intermediate sections, unless you are really light-weight.

At about 1:40 or so in the following video (use might have to use Internet Explorer, apparently??) a minder of Jeroni Fajardo (world #4) walks UNDER Jeroni's motorcycle in a section, during practice. Interesting. http://www.zonatrial.net/video1.asp?video=video/23.flv

That boy can ride! Here all along I thought God was from HEAVEN, when in actuality it appears God's from Tarragona! I had to hit, in Firefox at least, the stop button (the "box" to the left of the "right arrow" start button) before I hit said "right arrow" start button, for some strange reason. Remember, that there is only one person in world history who could say the following: "I was the first person to end the reign of the single best trials rider in world history - I beat Dougie for the indoor world championship"....that's the man on this video. Caby seems a bit better at the lower-scoring, dry, rocky, technical trick riding/hopping indoor type stuff than say, a no-stop, straight-ahead attack section, up a very difficult muddy slippery English hillside in the rain, for example. Raga and many other Spanish riders, too, mostly. Dougie and Grimbo (G. Jarvis) and Steve Saunders and many of you Brits are often the opposite (seems you Brits get a bit of precipitation where you live, methinks, hehe....I shouldn't talk as I leave near Seattle...). Bou?....he can kick butt at anything.

Ok, starting today at the gym I'll do some neck work! This should be helpful. Great info, anyone else care to weigh in?

Is neck conditioning something that a serious trials rider should train? And if so, how important is it? Thanks.

Thanks to Ham2's post, I found this weight-room video (start of video) of JT training in the gym: If you speak Spanish, the "related videos" on Youtube you'll see could be a gold-mine of riding info. Not sure how good this "Jordi Tarres" bloke is however, but he looks pretty good (almost as good as me) in those videos. We have a kid's video and it shows Bill Markam stretching his neck (among other areas) since "helmets are heavy". My question is: how important, if at all, is training or stretching one's neck for trials? Also, what exercises do you guys recommend for this? I train at a gym, but have never done neck exercises.

How much more on average, on say a 2005 bike or later, do 4-strokes weigh than their 2-stroke version?

Now that's some serious working-out you did to eat that much yet lose that much weight. Wow.

Do you mean WHILE you are losing weight you have less energy, irritable, etc., or when you get to that lower weight you have that? Or both?