funtrials

Thanks, but what do you mean by "energy system". Which one do trials riders want to train? So for bench-presses, for TRIALS, are you saying 6-8 reps? You seem to know your stuff. :-)

I believe that Jeremy Magrath (7 time Supercross champion) eats lots of protein, when he can. I've seen Marc Colomer (3 world titles, counting indoors) being fed pasta in a section, by his minder. I believe pro body builders (not sure how relevant their program is to trials success, though) eat protein, protein and one more thing (...oh yea, now I remember: protein!) :-) One poster here said a good BALANCE (good word for trials anyway) between carbs and proteins helped him. I'm about a 40/36/24 ratio of carbs/proteins/oils in my diet. Your suggestions? What's the diet of a pro rider?

Since we are riding for HOURS, isn't way more reps than the standard 6-15 repetitons per set (until "fail" - you can't do anymore right then...use enough weight) advisable? Apparently 4-6 reps per set is the best for developing SHORT bursts of great strength, but less endurance? Apparently around 8-12 reps is best for developing large-LOOKING muscles, but not strength/endurance as much. I'm not a body-builder, as such, so I don't want to choose 10 reps? Bruno Cammozi is the only top rider I've ever seen who was "huge"...all the other guys are not huge...so they train for strength and not size? If so, how many reps? I've heard that lots and lots of reps before fail (say 50 reps, using much lighter weights before fail) is good for TONING the muscles...but I want strength and endurance, not just a "toned" look. What about the amount of weight that will cause you to be able to do 25 reps until fail? How many reps do the pro off-road riders do?

One thing we've done is remove the turning-stops on our Gassers (rubber spacers that are there to keep the the fork-brace from hitting the frame...we put a piece of tape against the frame now to protect the frame just a bit...does turn sharper.) No need to do fancy bunny-hopping (front or rear) if you can simply TURN sharper. Has anybody else done this, or not? If so (or not), then WHY? Any other suggestions?

Wow, I'm not really sure if I'd rather be you or Brad Pitt (he get's to, well you know, with Angelina Jolie, but you get to ride at an actual practice ground whenever you want....I'm envious of both of you.) Seriously, you're very very lucky, and some guys would give their, well, you know, for the ability to practice as often as you can, at a good practice site. Practice is the key...and lots of fun, too.

yes, this might help a good amount.

Get the black (slower) throttle tube, instead of the faster white one.

If a person is not over 200 pounds, and is a beginner, 280cc or 300cc is "fine" but NOT the best way to go. Start with 250cc...or if you're lighter, then a 200cc is probably just great for beginner sections.

More great advice from copemech. My dad went down to the 10 front sprocket and it made a WORLD of difference for his beginner-class sections! Do it. Makes 2nd gear more useable, too. Heck, now 3rd gear is even a possibility on some beginner hill-climbs where it basically wasn't before. I can do tight turns better on his bike than mine (mine has the standard 11 sprocket.) World-class riders would likely NOT usually go that low in front sprocket, but they ride 7 foot vertical rock ledges, and need more speed. Expert-class riders stick with the 11 front sprocket as well, I believe. I've heard them complain after switching to the 10 sprocket.

Excellent advice.

One of the bikes we own is roughly 1983 trials bike (excellent "back in the day"). But the #1 tip is to get a 2007-2009 trials bike. The difference is so astonishing that we've largely given up riding the old bike completely, as it's a different world with a new mono-shock, way way more powerful, disk-brake, way lighter bike. But if a person likes the nostalgia, or can't afford a newer bike, then those bikes are great. Over the weekend we met a "classic bike" enthusiast with many old bikes (just bought a Fantic for $600 that week...good deal), and he just LOVES those things! Gotta admire his passion. He can't ride the sections very well at all compared to a person with a new bike, but he does have a big smile on his face.

Check to see when your local club has a yearly trials school. If they don't have one, they should, for new riders at least.

I DO try to follow the bars with my shoulders, but maybe only "half of the way". This is good as it keeps my outside arm bent. Lean the bike into the turn! This requires more weight on your outside peg, usually.

Yep.

Excellent. Going riding a lot with a great rider, or one who really knows what it's all about, is arguably the biggest thing you can do. You might not know any right now, but try to meet them. Start with the expert class in your local group, and just keep going down the list in your club until you find one (you've gotta ASK) that will start riding with you. Hey, it's worth a try. Actually, I ride with about 3 super-knowledgeable folks...I've learned incredible amounts of stuff. Have them get on your bike and tell you what they think are some adjustments you could make...incredible feedback.

Get out and practice - no, wait, nevermind.... Actually, not running around 4 lbs. pressure in the rear tire is maybe the biggest mistake new riders make? Also, having the bars too far towards the back is a big mistake. Get a black (slower) throttle tube, too. Standard is the white (faster) throttle tube, but it's likely not best for a beginning rider. Don't rely on the clutch TOO much during your first couple months of trials riding....it can actually hurt you in the beginning to have the power killed, which is what pulling in the clutch is for most beginning riders. Learn w/out the clutch, but then certainly do start using the clutch, especially in turns. "But don't use the clutch as a crutch." The top 3 tips are: 1. Practice. 2. See tip #1. 3. Re-read tip #2. If you can practice 3 days per week (sure, it's impossible for most folks) you'll be MILES ahead of where you'd be otherwise. It's kind of amazing how much of a difference it makes!

For the first 6 months of my recent riding career I was riding with about 50% too much air, since my gauge was off quite a bit, and I hadn't checked it with other people's gauges to see if mine was correct. That's what I get with using the same gauge that we used 25 years ago. :-) For Michellin X-11 I do 3.7 psi rear, 5.6 front, generally, but the old-standby 4 rear, 6 front will do you just fine. For Dunlops, I think they can go just a bit less than that due to the Dunlop's stiffer sidewalls (stiffer sidewalls are not, overall, ideal - in my opinion...but they do save you some money.) I just replaced my rear tire this week....the little X's in the knobs were gone. This was after 9 months of riding them from new. Front tire is fine so far.

Expert riders (or those folks who are quite serious about the sport) seem to replace their tires no less than every 6 months. World riders do it, what, every event?...but that's overkill for us mortals, of course. For front tires it's maybe every year, depending on how much you ride. If you live in slippery terrain, a new tire can work wonders! Tire pressure changes sometimes, even after a couple hours (as the day warms up, or maybe elevation changes from your house to the event - well in mountanous areas, that is.) So check, with a gauge that reads down to say 0.25 pounds (and up to maybe 15 or so?)...not a truck gauge that goes up to 80 pounds, and doesn't go down, effectively, to around 0.25 pounds of pressure.

Even alcohol used in FUELS is outlawed by some of the crazy Imams, as Mohammad prohibited alcohol (google it....I'm not making this up.) Speaking of the credit crunch, the Qur'an doesn't even allow INTEREST (google it), so alcohol is likely not allowed either. And to answer the other part of your question, you can forget about finding love with the local women since "the greatest man of all time" (and often the local medieval laws) won't even allow us Infidels to marry Muslim women. No, I'm not making this up. See Qur'an 2:221 if you don't believe me. http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/en...an/002.qmt.html Riding in the desert would be a great experience, however. We got snowed-out at a recent trial...not a problem in the UAE!....or we usually get "liquid sunshine."

If you're new to trials the #1 modification (just do it!) is to get the black (SLOWER) throttle-assembly, if the previous owner still has the white version on the bike. Also, unless you are quite heavy, a 200 cc bike (as mentioned) is the best choice to start out with. A 250 is reasonable too. A 300 cc GasGas Raga version (for example), would be INSANE for a newbie to buy! My "newbie" dad was contemplating just such a purchase, and I'm glad he didn't buy it. A great bike for a Champ Class national, or certainly world, rider, however. Think about it, CABESTANY, rides a Sherco 290 (I think), and he's going up 8-foot near-verticle ledges starting from a dead stop (needs incredible power to do that)....a newbie won't be doing that! At least TRY a 200 cc bike before you buy a near 300 (290) cc bike! The TOP two EXPERTS in our local group even made a point of avoiding the 300 cc model....a bit more bike than they prefer to handle, even for local expert sections. That should tell you something. When you're at least in the "Advanced" class (or whatever they have in your area), then THAT'S the ideal time to check into maybe buying a 270-290 cc bike. But some folks disagree with me. You can talk to your local trials mechanic about ways to maybe reduce the power of the bike, however. Different gasket, I think.

A few rules when buying a trials bike: 1. Ride both bikes! 2. Re-read rule #1 3. Both Sherco and GG brands are great (I assume equal) riding in sections. 4. The newer the bike (generally) the better it will last! I myself wouldn't look forward to the quality level of a ten year old Spanish trials bike, but maybe that's just me. A 5 year-old Montesa...I could live with that, reliability-wise. 5. Try to buy a bike that's 2 years old or less (fewer mechanical problems, usually)...do whatever it takes short of robbing a bank to get the extra money to buy the newest bike you can. 6. Find out how much it was ridden, and by whom. Was it, for example, ridden by a little old lady on Sundays to patrol her tulip patch, or by a 5-rides-a-week guy who loves to practice 6-foot rock ledges until he finally makes it, etc.? 7. How well YOU MAINTAIN it after your purchase is likely more important than which bike you choose in the first place, as far as reliability goes.

Great advice. bobtrl, good point. Also, mountain biking provides help with BALANCE, too.

1. For trials training (not size of muscles, etc.), which is better, 10 reps or 20 reps, or what? 2. Do you guys pick enough weight so that you usually "FAIL" at the desired number of reps, or if you choose to shoot for, say, 10 reps, is the 10 reps SHORT of "fail" so you could go plenty more reps because you chose a weight that's currently short of the "fail" weight? Thanks!

How MANY reps exactly are we usually talking about, guys? Great forum guys.

*Riding* is a higher priority..by far. However, I shoot for 40 minutes of weight work for every 5 hours of riding. "Burpees" (google it) is the best exercise for trials if you can't ride right then. Go for it.