Nice Trial

Congratulations to the Sidcup Club. Twenty sections, two laps and a course that took some planning. Not the easiest of things to produce, a trial on a piece of land that has seen countless events so well done the COC. The riders I spoke to gave the trial a nod of approval and i echo this. There was one thing which struck me about this trial, it was the very similar routes of the experts and inters rode.

Two sections that caused some concern for us inters were numbers 4 and 11. If my memory serves me right, the log lump in section four was the same piece, or should i say, the obstacle that bestowed the experts riding this trial last year. Have a look (click here) at the rider whose name eludes me, but more importantly is a full blooded expert coming a cropper on exactly the same log lump. Surprised to see the inters riding the same log lump? i was. When i parked the bike at section 4, my walk around the section didn't vary a great deal from the expert rider walking in front of me which means the Inter class must have improved a massive amount from last years event for this log lump to be deemed acceptable for the inter route. Or is it the case the experts had it easy last year? Draw your own conclusions, but let me add that most of the inters rode over this obstacle with ease.

Section 11, the loggy step climb claimed me as one of its first casualties on the second lap. The section was a gun-ho section, riding the bucking bronco sherco, what an experience! not to mention being stopped dead and being catapulted almost over the bars. The point that i make about the trial is this, the inters route was almost identical to that of the experts with the novice route being completely void of similarity. Next year, if the inters ride the expert route of this years event will the experts have to ride the sidcup 30 super expert route? If i had any say in the matter i can't see them having much choice.

Thanks goes to all who were involved in making this the best sidcup 60 trial ever.