aener

That first gap was a right heffa. And stuff that skinny hook. Not even for a chocolate biscuit. Whopper.

Desperately cool. I've wanted to make my own music for videos since forever, but I just suck at it and gave up Roll-down and up looks a lot of fun!

Unrelated, but what's the geo on these? I've been flat out in love with them since forever. I know for 100% that I'd hate how they ride for trials, but potentially as a rigid track/light park bike?

I forgot to point out it's worth remembering that whilst Britain might not have many riders up in the ranks, the ones that are are WELL up in the ranks. (Edit: sniped by Mark.) It's a quantity thing, not the edges of the bell curve.

To be the cynic: modern society training peoples' minds to expect results at little to no effort. Trials is difficult, there's no arguing against that, and the learning curve as a beginner is daunting. People - especially the younger and more impressionable - are being pushed into expecting the moon on a stick just because they want it. Whether this is the rise of video games becoming immersive to the point that it's easy to delude yourself that you can actually do great things, social media providing instant gratification and distraction, or something else entirely, people just don't seem to enjoy the challenge any more. I don't think it's just trials. I mostly ride in the streets rather than rocks and the number of skaters/BMXers/free-runners and even scooterers (a very new sport so would be expected to be more current) has dropped off markedly. There seems to be an inclination toward fad-hopping too. Instead of finding something you like and committing to it as seemed to be the standard when I was a teenager, people now fall prey to marketing and do something for a few weeks until the next advertised craze comes along and they switch to that. I definitely don't think street can be blamed for the lack of comp-style trials riders. Some existing riders have moved from comps to street, but the vast majority of street riders only ride because of seeing Danny Mac videos and so otherwise would have ridden BMX or not at all. Trials just isn't popular, and I'm confident it's largely because of the difficulty. Yes, it might partially be the "uncool" image, and it the price of the bikes is a huge deterrent to new riders, but they seem secondary concerns. With the number of bikes that get sold, if everyone who bought one saw the learning process through and kept at it, there'd be no shortage of riders. My experience is that someone will get a bike, ride it for a while until they realise it's actually pretty tough to learn, and then it gets left in the shed. Funding athletes might help a bit, but it's a pipedream and it would only really help the people that don't actually need it. For a scene, you need more riders, not necessarily better riders. Giving aid to those that are already established riders is kind of pointless. I've been thinking this for years - I have some sponsors, and whilst their support is invaluable to me I'm really not the one that needs it. If my frame broke, I might struggle to replace it financially but I'd find a way because it's my passion. The people that need help are the ones who love it but can't afford to keep it up. People who want to push the envelope will, and arguably should only, do it because they love it rather than for financial gain. Look at the classic DH vs Footballer example. The more money that got put into football, the more corrupt it became. Rampage riders don't even get their flights, accommodation or even insurance for that single event paid for, but from the perspective of someone who is an outsider to both scenes they seem incomparable in terms of their ethos. If the GB funding that would usually go as prize money for comp's or supporting elite riders could be redirected to hosting more TartyDays style events Sorry that came out as a bit of a ramble(/essay). I didn't really take a moment to compose my thoughts before starting to type, but I think the argument is there if somewhat fragmented. It's also worth noting that trials isn't "dead", just seriously diminished when comparing to 5-10 years ago (at which point it was already in decline).

Your riding is just a pleasure to watch. Just so smooth and deliberate. What camera/lens is that you're using? The footage quality is reeeeally nice.

I live in Farnley! Let's do bikes! I'm 28 and not new to it, but would love someone to ride with

I'm not in the same situation (28, regular rider) but I am in Yorkshire. I'm based in Leeds - how about you?

I suck the metaphorical Fat One at solo riding, and I hate doing it. The two nearest riders to me that I know are over an hour away, and are both busy so commonly not available. I'm desperate for someone to ride with. I mostly enjoy street. Not necessarily "Street", but riding in towns. I really don't care if you have a saddle or not, or what size your wheels are. I enjoy rocks too, but only really one ride in ten or so. Please - if there's anyone left, I'd love to be included. At the minute it's feeling like finding a regular riding partner/group, or admitting defeat. It's just too detrimental to my mental state to keep battling at it alone when it just won't work. P.S. I'm not on Facebook so if you know anyone on there that's not on here I'd appreciate being put in touch.

Love the quirky front-gap pivot wodge thing in Oxford. Proper funky!

@TheChai is a super friendly (and talented!) rider currently based in Derby - maybe he can help? I'd be happy to help but I'm up in Leeds so not much good to you!

Thanks guys Gradually getting back to where I was, I think. Hopefully I can get back on form just in time for there to be no good weather left >.< Ross: The MTTs are reall wide and I accidentally discovered they were making front wheel tech (g-turns/pivots etc) waaaaaaay harder than they needed to. Tried matching front and rear but the sidewalls are super wimpy so now run one of each Mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXlzci1rKNM

I'll let you off for green pad compound as that's a non-optional performance thing. I'd even have let it slide that you didn't de-logo everything, which really should be done if you're chasing true stealth. Red backings. Not stealth. Red nipples. Not stealth. Not stealth; nothing lost; don't feel bad.

DAWs aren't particularly user friendly to the uninitiated, but Reaper's a pretty simple one once you've got the knack. I can write you out a 101/CheatSheet if that's the one you plan to use? Is it just simple audio-in and simple edits from there, or will you be wanting fancy routing (auxiliaries/multi-hardware IO etc.), significant edits, MIDI etc. too? Edit: Youtube and Cockos forum searches for specific things are your friend. Most things are simple once you've been show which button to click

Not dying as such, but certainly diminished (from my perspective - I've been riding ~12 years and from what I can tell it was already in gradual decline when I started). There seems to be more riders in the south than the north, but it's pretty quiet everywhere. It also feels very cliquey - possibly because now Facebook etc. have facilitated smaller friendship groups and isolation. If you're not a part of a group, you're pretty much on your own. I live in Leeds and the closest people I can count on for a ride live in Doncaster and Darlington. I haven't been on a ride with more than five people for about four years. I don't ride competitions and never have - that just doesn't appeal to me, but as a casual rider the scene is definitely difficult to find. I'm not a social media user and there's a lot happening on Instagram by the sound of it, but getting some actual, real-world interaction is tricky, to say the least.

Scrumptious! Screw that drop-manny. Just HELL no.

Let's not take things out of context, shall we? That's the gist of the conversation we had, but not the phrasing, nor does it describe the reasoning.

I've been fending off a bunch of shit recently. Life handing over lemons and whatnot. Really keen to get back into riding - I feel so weak from lack of riding or exercise in general - but I hate riding on my own. I just suck at it. But I also really don't like the long drives I used to to, but basically no riders are around the Leeds area any more, or if they are I'm being completely excluded from the group. If anyone wants to come ride up this way, I'd really like to get in on it. Clips from the last three rides I've been on - two of which were on my own, and spanning nearly two months >.< Back on YouTube because of Vimeo's upload limit and my having uploaded ridiculous numbers of videos in the past five years.

YES YES YES. Desperate for people to ride with! Not much recently because of the weather and other stuff going on, but I'm ultra-keen to get riding again. I head all over the city - mostly stick either to the uni (because it's closer to home) or the city centre, but often bob out to Hunslet etc. It's tricky of recent because they're demolishing/rebuilding so much. Got a bit bored of riding Leeds on my own in the cold and dark so most of the time I've managed to ride I've been driving off elsewhere to meet up with other people, but would relish a local riding buddy!

Why can't people just... Get over this? Why is it specifically using cranks that's a problem? What about all the correction hops or sketchy landings? What about running uncomfortably flat tyres? It vexes me because I just don't understand. As far as my daily experience can tell me, people only care because (and beginning since) Ali cares (with a few exceptions), which is pretty weak reasoning in my books Maybe I'll take up leaving similarly belligerent comments about people feathering brakes in manuals. That, too, is totally unnecessary, but somehow people don't seem to care. It's Ok if it genuinely bothers someone, but could we not focus public comments more on things like the, frankly, massive up-to-fronts (in the street-bike paradigm)? We're supposed to be trials riders, damnit. Cranks are what it's all about! If doing things without cranks was the desirable standard, why did we give a special name to doing gaps without them? Haha. (I know that's a different situation. I'm just an argumentative little shit.)

I'm way too small for big bikes, but they're very fun for some things.

@TheChai is based in Derby. @JoshLeech is based in Loughborough but travels around quite a bit. There was a few around that area but I don't know it so well any more as I left quite a while ago. I know a bunch of people have stopped since I rode there often.

Your videos used to be really painful to watch, despite often having good riding in them. With each one they're getting more and more enjoyable. They seem much more natural and authentic, which is a big deal for me. A smaller number of footjam whips and a larger number of actual riding clips definitely help. I enjoyed that!