My Team Full Monty [idaho sydicate] member, MikeOD, made an excellent point in another post and I want to expand on it.

We have a number of American riders entering the World round this weekend and they deserve much more respect and encouragement than I think a lot of you realize.

I'm a freaking club level rider and not a very good one at that but the encouragement and support I got from the crowd at El Trial was absolutely one of the most inspiring things I've ever felt. It was so incredible that I chose to take a line on the second loop that a couple of the other riders who are light years ahead of me wouldn't [of course my own lack of fear plays a detrimental part in my own existence] and I didn't even think twice about it because the crowd was totally into it.

This is the type of support that we need to give everyone of our American riders because they going to be up against some stuff that they will look at and simply know it's impossible. If they see a bunch of Hawaaiian shirts in the crowd I can assure you that they are going to hear it from us.

We get to see Dougie, Fuji, Raga, etc ride this stuff all the time but this is your chance to see Americans riding it and we need to voice our support.

Get out there this weekend and donate your voice to the Trials Riders of America.

Ringo: I agree completely. Your comments remind me of the time I rode the 1987 world round at Bodines PA. I was way overmatched and generally the crowd was supportive and even into cheering for me. That was very cool. however there was a section at one point which involved a six foot drop off at the entrance and later wanted us to go up a ten foot vertical cliff. Many riders failed this so it was a real crowd pleaser. As I was walking this, I remember standing there trying to imagine even trying this, when a woman not three feet behind me whispered to her friend, "This guy's a squid." What could I do but smirk and get on with the job? It still makes me smile every time I think about it.

Edited June 2, 200422 yr by JayLael