February 9, 20188 yr Back in the past, when all trials were road trials, and we had 40 separate sections, the only time we queued was at the first few sections. After that we were all separated and could just ride straight into the sections. We sometimes waited for our mates to catch us up. Also the observers from the first few sections could man the latter in the day sections as there was time. Nowadays with just ten sections done 4 times, there is always queues... Mathematically, for an event with 100 riders, there will be 10 doing sections, 10 riding between sections. The other 80 will be queuing. an average of 8 per section. A local club just ran an event with 3 laps of 15 sections. So for the same 100 riders, this could be 15 doing sections, 15 riding between sections, and 70 queuing, an average of under 5 per section. For a 20 section course, done twice, the queues would be just 3. . Edited February 9, 20188 yr by scifi spelling
February 9, 20188 yr Indeed, biggest pain is section queuing at a small venue, especially on laps 2 & 3, when you just want to get on
February 9, 20188 yr Popular Post 32 minutes ago, scifi said: Back in the past, when all trials were road trials, and we had 40 separate sections, the only time we queued was at the fist few sections. After that we were all separated and could just ride straight into the sections. We sometimes waited for our mates to catch us up. Also the observers from the first few sections could man the latter in the day sections as there was time. Nowadays with just ten sections done 4 times, there is always queues... Mathematically, for an event with 100 riders, there will be 10 doing sections, 10 riding between sections. The other 80 will be queing. an average of 8 per section. A local club just ran an event with 3 laps of 15 sections. So for the same 100 riders, this could be 15 doing sections, 15 riding between sections, and 70 queing, an average of under 5 per section. For a 20 section course, done twice, the queues would be just 3. . Yes quite agree but more sections = more observers and in my experience when organising trials they are a scarce commodity.
February 9, 20188 yr Author Yes limited number of observers, and difficulty having helpers set out more sections, is a problem. But... All this Steam from Moorland Mud, and oily Carbon Monoxide, can't be too healthy..! .
February 9, 20188 yr 1 hour ago, trialsrfun said: Yes quite agree but more sections = more observers and in my experience when organising trials they are a scarce commodity. and more land, which is in equally short supply.
February 9, 20188 yr Even with only 8 sections some trials struggle to get the required observers and each rider must take a turn marking. Some get away with NOT doing it. Not nice, but we hope they don't feel too good for getting away with it. Perhaps they should be banned?
February 9, 20188 yr If you participate, you must be prepared to help out, otherwise the sport is just going to die. Perhaps trials is just going to end up with riders practicing their Jap Zaps and other flashy moves, (pretty pointless unless you are riding at expert level), but with no competition to use them in what's the point ? As pointed out above if you can solve the observer problem you will solve the queueing problem, I have no issue laying out 15 sections at our trials but struggle to get observers for 10,so 4 laps of 10 it is.
February 9, 20188 yr Author For our National Lomax Trial (April 2nd.), we have no problem getting observers, sometimes two per section, if it's a big section, or Hillclimb. Also lots of other helpers for signing on, starting, Route marking and Photography. It's just the smaller events where observers are scarce, and riders have to pass the score-sheet. I was at one trial on closed ground, where on a very complicated section, there was always 35 to 40 riders queuing. Several of us missed that section on laps 2, 3, and did it three times on lap 4..
February 9, 20188 yr 33 minutes ago, scifi said: For our National Lomax Trial (April 2nd.), we have no problem getting observers, sometimes two per section, if it's a big section, or Hillclimb. Also lots of other helpers for signing on, starting, Route marking and Photography. It's just the smaller events where observers are scarce, and riders have to pass the score-sheet. I was at one trial on closed ground, where on a very complicated section, there was always 35 to 40 riders queuing. Several of us missed that section on laps 2, 3, and did it three times on lap 4.. thats partly why observers are hard to come by. Who wants to stand and watch 400 rides through a boring section from 10.30 till 3.30
February 9, 20188 yr You don't have to all start @ section 1 or 2, most times over here some riders start @ section 3 or 4, some even go straight to section 8
February 9, 20188 yr I used to ride back in the 70's both road trials and closed ground trials and I remember queuing on both as there will always be sections that involve a longer transition / distance / difficulty that hinders progression and therefore create queuing. Nowdays with the advent of punch card marking would it not be better to either leave a hand punch suitably highlighted at the ends card and allow either self-marking or previous rider to observe and mark or even supply each rider with their own punch to be returned at then end of the trial with the punch card. I know self-marking grates with some people but if the rider cheats the only person he is cheating on is him/herself. If it's a National or Championship event then it's more likely to attract a full complement of observers and eliminates cheats with standard observing , whereas club and centre events might run smoother if riders aren't picking up boards off the ground or passing them around between each other!
February 10, 20188 yr We have always used punch cards, and unless it is a National or larger regional event, it is run as group check. small groups of riders, say 4 people or so, with a couple of punches per group. The first person to a section dismounts and checks the other riders, one of riders through the section check the checker. Pretty quick, some sections can be checked from the que, some not, you do not punch your own card, unless a clean. Everyone checks, with the makeup of the groups coming from the sign-in sheets.
February 10, 20188 yr It looks like finding observers is a worldwide problem. The problem is, it is not realistic to expect people to spend hours standing in the rain, cold, sun, etc. for nothing but the pleasure of watching us ride. So here’s an idea that just may make finding observers easy—show them they are appreciated by offering monetary incentives. Active riders should be our first source for observers; and as others have said, if you’re going to participate in trials, you should help in some way. Offer riders a significant discount on entry fees for working an event. Their friends and family should be the next source and get them involved by offering riders free entry if they provide an observer for the event. This is of course an oversimplified solution; however, if properly implemented this could be the way to get and keep observers.
February 10, 20188 yr I remember the good old days at the french 4 day in Sardent when observers were therefrom 10am till 6 pm. We found out later the locals were happy to do this because they got paid, fed and watered then of course most times it was sunny.
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