Today’s trial was a training day for me, I didn’t enter all four rounds because I couldn’t get the time off work and out of ninety odd riders that did enter only a handful of them have been returning their score cards on each event. The intermediate route had maybe two sections that were a challenge but nothing OTT and when “Bexleyheath” had finished laying out the course all four of the MBT team ended up heading towards the expert part of the course. Our destination was named “the wall” and little did I know Gary had already ridden up it at the last evening trial. When we all arrived at the wall Gary and Rob began taunting Ed and me, "both me and Luke have ridden up it said Rob, I’ll do it first said Gary to show you how it’s done", giving the impression it was his first time. His first attempt failed and so did his second, third, I’m starting to get bored Gary, fourth, fifth and finally he made it but I lost count. Ed and myself now had to deal with the two juveniles running around like headless chickens “go on ride it snigger…snigger…laugh, don’t chicken it you big Sheila’s said rob”. After some adult debait by Ed and myself and seeing as Ed hasn’t ridden for sometime we decided I should go next. Third gear was the plan and no clutch, a slow approach and a quick front wheel pick up with a barrel full of revs. My first attempt was nearly there and undeterred I made my second run a little more determined - up went the front wheel smashing into the wall with the back and I was UP!!!! One more attempt to confirm it wasn’t a fluke and UP again I went, we all headed back to the cars for lunch luckily for Rob. Ed made the wise decision not to attempt it which was agreed but what about Rob??? Sometime later it transpired in conversation that Rob had not ridden up the wall after all and with all the crap he gave me and Ed by Christ did he get some verbal abuse. Rob couldn’t not back down he really didn’t want to ride it and I think he expected me to bottle it - you should have seen his face when it was his turn to ride the wall, he looked so frightened and was very close to tears. Approach after approach I lost count the amount of times he ran up to the wall and bottled it – when he finally rode it I give the bloke credit where credit is due “you made it look easy” Two months ago I wouldn’t have attempted this but riding some trials with Rob and Gary has progressed my riding remember the team trial boys, don’t assume you will also beat me.“Who’s the daddy”

Prior to the above my plan of action for the day was to train, and Canada Heights is a great place for this as most of us know there are large areas of sand which is great for falling off and not hurting yourself. So my plan for today was to practise what I would refer to as “pushing the front wheel”. Allow me to explain. Do you find yourself riding sections as the crow fly’s and cutting yourself short when making turns? Are you a novice/average intermediate? Has your bike enabled you to progress? The third question here is very important because if you have no confidence in your bike you will need to sell it. The idea behind “pushing the front wheel” is to run the front wheel wider than you would previously dare so allowing you more manoeuvrability with in the section, it’s all about courage, if your riding a camber you sometimes need to run wide so enabling you to pass t hrough the next gate. Your mass or body weight must not go over the front wheel and I’m making reference to mainly down hill stuff here, try to relax and compose yourself, it works because when you walk a section it always seems ten times worse than when you riding it, you know when looking at a camber what you can do so when you enter the section “DO IT”. Pushing the front wheel has enabled me to progress up the leader board as an intermediate NKTC, if it works for me it should work for you.

A big thank you to the Sidcup Club and all those who helped make this event happen.