England Vs Europe?

[Davetrials]

After watching vinces new videos and watching a few coust videos, i delved in to my video files and watched some footage of britains top comp riders.

Ive ridden with probably every single one of them, and they are all pretty f**king amazing, but ive also ridden with the big european boys, and there in another league, and not to sound to harsh on the brit boys, but they dont even come close..

i wanna know why? is it cos the big european boys get paid alot, so they try harder?

is it the weather?

or are we spending to much time getting pissed and f**king each other, and not dedicating our lives to our bikes like they seem to?

[Revolver]

I would've thought, for example the koxx team, koxx is a huge trials manufacturer, so they can pump more money into their team riders, but also because their riders are close by, they have more influence over them.

Something like that

[manuel]

The answer is simple - Our comp scene is shit.

[Davetrials]

But our boys compete in the same comps the euro boys do.

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

The answer is simple - Our comp scene is shit.

Says the man who's never even tried a comp .

[Simpson]

As far as I'm aware its more their familys, hermance is family with koxx and the cousts are obiously family with coustellier, so they get payed keep to just be beasts and ride their bikes really well.

[Scotty Evil1]

I think its a mix of things really.

I dont think as many of the brits have the same mentallity as the euro boys, I know we've got a lot of good, hard working riders who are all getting really close to the top of the world standings, but i think the majority of the trials scene over here is like bmx, Most people just want to go out on there bikes and have fun, meet people and dont care about competing. Whereas in europe i think 75% of riders want to ride comps. Ive noticed this a lot with the french, the amount of riders they have at the world cups,older established riders aswell as up and coming riders, and they are all very good, and do well, not just there to make up the numbers.

I think this ties into each countries comp series. I've seen pics from the french/spanish uci comps and they are pretty much the same size and scale of world cups. They have a lot more sponsors, interest and a lot more effort and involvment goes into them.

I think theres also a lot more pride in it, over here no one really seems to care that much about whos won what or came where in a comp, and over there the comps get followed and "analyised" a lot more.

Sorry if thats just a load of rambling that no one understands lol

Just a few of my thoughts on the subject

Scott

Edited July 17, 2009 by Scotty Evil1

[LukasMcNeal]

We rape at street!

[Ash-Kennard]

i think its because no one gives a shit here. we arent especially health consious, drink smoke f**k blahblah. our comps seem abit shit, mainly because it rains for every single one. there is no money in trials here. no one i ride with really gives a shit about getting a sponsor or whatever they just wanna go for a blast and show off to their mates.

the french are basically the opposite. hence hermance

[Scotty Evil1]

Another reason i think, is age and our trials history

All of out top guys are still young, all of them are under 24 i think, so compare that with vince, benito, danni etc

Also look at the last wave of top riders from each county

France-Caisso (still going) vinco, tibo,bruno arnold

Spain- Canas, ot pi

Uk- Ashton , hawyes , akrigg

Dont get me wrong, the mart's and chris were all great riders, but were not really at the level of the others, and the mart's had the demo mentality, and akrigg had the street/ do or die attitude

[Mat Smith!!]

Were better at street and 24.

[Davetrials]

Thats not what i asked though?

and have u seen the "street" scene in euopre, not street trials? really street. its f**king epic, blows all our 24" bollocks away.

minus the mac.

[walker]

The sections in our comps are too easy, and riders always seem to find an easy way round something, often because they're not taped properly. So riders just cheat themselves by taking the easy line, not the difficult intended line

[Rob Brodie]

i really think that if we had more support from government and councils ect. it would help alot. also look at other countries riding scene theres alot of training camps days ect. for instace at koxx days there were endless amounts of 'teams' turning up with there trailers and that. sort of ties in with what scott said i suppose.

[tmks88]

to get to the podium in comps you need to be mentally super strong. Like Gilles never gives up he tries to clean everything, same with training, never give up, push your limits. Jamesb for example, he was riding alone most of the time but he got to the UCI cups finals already when he was a junior, he had a super strong willpower and commitment for trials. Its a high level sport, aint easy to get to the top! gotta find and eliminate your weaknesses all the time (power, techniques, stamina, courage to ride those deadly sections, mental pressure in comps etc.)

[0zzy]

The sections in our comps are too easy, and riders always seem to find an easy way round something, often because they're not taped properly. So riders just cheat themselves by taking the easy line, not the difficult intended line

i understand what you mean, but however which dumb f**k would take the hard line in the comp and risk taking the 5 when he could clean it on the simpler line. in my opinon sections at comps need to get harder if we need to compete with the big boys. trials needs better funding! and most of all people need more support from sponsers. ive got a mate who is more then good enough for a sponser gets the competition results but not supported by his sponser enough, would not even call it a sponser to be honest. not saying names.

[Endohopper]

Interesting thread . It's true us Euro fellas take it more seriously in terms of commitment and downright will to win . This results in more intensive training , but fewer smiles and relaxed rides - when a group of Euro kids go for a ride , it's almost a competition among themselves . As to the failings of the U.K comp scene - YOU are the comp scene ! Attend more , volunteer , support more . Simply put , when more people attend someone will see money to be made so will invest in teams / sponsorship .

Ultimately though , the U.K does damned well given the lack of infrastructure and council support and hey - at least we kick the U.S' ass . No - really , what the Hell is up with the total absence of American riders ?

[Tomm]

I think "England vs Europe" is a bit unfair.

UK population ~60 million

Rest of Europe ~670 million

I think people always tend to compare the UK with the whole of mainland europe, when what they should do is take each country individually - E.g. compare Britain vs Germany, or vs Belgium etc. Each of these countries has 2 or maybe 3 world class riders but I think it's fair to say, so do we. I don't think we do that badly really?

[Mat Smith!!]

Thats not what i asked though?

and have u seen the "street" scene in euopre, not street trials? really street. its f**king epic, blows all our 24" bollocks away.

minus the mac.

Yeah, thats why i said street and 24, as in bmx etc aswell.

And I know its not what you asked, I dont know why were so shit at comps compared to the french and dont really think anyone does.

[mr ailsbury]

The YMSA comps were always really good, loved going to them when I first started out, think they got cancelled though due to lack of support?

The thing with people in the UK is if you can't reach it from where you're sitting it pretty much isn't worth doing. No one can be bothered to treck out in the middle of no where to watch some little fag have a hissy fit and throw his brand new Monty Kamel at his parents because he put his foot down on a section.

A lot of the UK riders are quite young too so can't reach comps because they can't drive, and when they're old enough to drive/drink they just sell their bikes to pay for beer and stuff.

[JT!]

I think "England vs Europe" is a bit unfair.

As far as i was aware England is in Europe.

Edited July 19, 2009 by JT!

[willis-gu]

I think one of the main things is age...Benito 20" world champion, (i think) i may be wrong, correct me if i am wrong, i think he is 29, then you have two of Englands top 20" riders, Joe Sneddon and Sam Oliver. I dont know how old Joe is but i know Sam is about 16. I can tell you these two riders ARE and WILL be up and coming in the future. I think at this giving time, there bodies have not matured enough and they simply dont have the power to compete and keep up with the likes of Benito.

Edited July 19, 2009 by willis-gu

[kyle-livesey]

the oliver brother in years to come will be next top european number ones fact. like the coust brother

Edited July 19, 2009 by kyle-livesey

[Adrian]

The answer is simple - Our comp scene is shit.

But our boys compete in the same comps the euro boys do.

if you have a rider in europe he'll basically automaticaly be delve into the comp scene, as that is the scene in europe where as over here the comps are in shitty places and just not advertised at all, iv rode for 4 years and never once been invited to a comp, seen adverts to come along to comp, had one within 100miles of me.... etc so half the talent this country has will never even come close to entering a comp and there is just no attraction to it...

imagine if the raw talent of damon/tunni had be brought up into the comp scene, with their confidence and just natural ability, we'd own.

but nope, comps round here are for people who are already doing comps, end of.

[Ali C]

invited to comps??

Anyway. The french are pretty dedicated, but you have to remember that the top guys don't have full time jobs like most people in the UK, its FACT that the more time you spend riding the bike the better you will get. The top guys ride and train EVERYDAY for hours with personal trainers and coaches so they are bound to get good. The overflow of that is that the younger people who ride with them or attend the same comps learn off the best and pick up techniques faster.

The UK scene is very much street riding and people can't be bothered to attend comps, I bet the guys in France have no problem of traveling 100s of miles to comps (I drove for six hours to get to Fort William and other people did twice that!). On the flip side the UK scene is pretty mellow and fun rather than the seriousness of other countries.