Is trials dying ?

[Barbara Logan-Price]

Hi,

So I’ve been out of the loop for quite a while now, I’m basing this topic on the activity I’ve seen on this forum over the past few days, is trials dying as a sport ? Do big group rides still happen ? It seems to me that there’s nowhere near as many riders as there once was.

I’m interested to hear the views of the active members of the trials community.

Cheers 

[aener]

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.

[Barbara Logan-Price]

Well soon to be another ! Just getting a bike sorted and I’ll be up for riding! I’m near Northallerton, no idea if there’s anywhere nearby to ride here 

[trialsalot]

Yeah there's a few places to ride and a few riders too. Jo Prattley and Adam Baxter to name a couple of riders there. I'm based in Newcastle so not too far away either. 

[Tony Harrison]

1 hour ago, aener said:

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.

Used to be quite fun in the pre-forum days though when you'd go out for a ride and chance upon other riders and make new friends. I know what you mean though, Facebook is all well and good but somehow it just isn't the same as forums.

[Barbara Logan-Price]

Forums pool everyone into the same area, Fb just seems to separate everyone into their local areas, it’s a shame, some of the big rides that have happened in the past are all due to this forum and if people aren’t going to use it and just stay in their local Fb groups then the rides aren’t going to get the same turnout. Trials is too small a sport for groups to segregate themselves.

[HippY]

I rode on an off in Northern Ireland for a few years, and I moved to Leeds 2 years ago.

I brought my bike over, hit up the Bike soc like hey, any more trials riders, and they told me that yeah, there are some BMXers and some trails here.

I was riding on and off for a year, but my mate rode BMX, and it was difficult to find spots for both of us. I tried BMX last year, but it was short, too high gear ratio and just weird.

I could not find anyone here, especially at my skill level (pretty poor). That big isolation was kinda the last nail in the coffin. I am still back here lurking, looking at the sales forum, and if something 24" cheap comes up nearby I might get it, but it is getting to a 3rd hobby, especially next to full time work.

[Herbertlemon102]

The thing is, all of the BIG group rides recently in the last couple years were organised on Facebook, the only problem with that being that not everyone can see it. On the point about Instagram, I use it and love it, it proves to me that trials isn’t dead, so much young talent that gets me amped to ride all the time. What I’ve found is, just not in the UK! Competitions, sure, but the TGS/ street/ casual riding that used to be the norm has all but gone, bar a few exceptions we all know and love. but in places like Spain/japan/China its bigger than ever. Also I’m really jealous of the Vancouver riders, looks like a great scene, great spots, great riding. 

Just my pennies anyway

Edited April 7, 2018 by Herbertlemon102

[Mark W]

As Jamie says, big rides now are typically organised elsewhere.  The format of a forum is being left behind a bit just because it is a more dated way of communicating.

In terms of how social media and stuff are affecting groups of riders, meeting up with people and things like that it kind of seems like whatever people were doing before, it's just augmenting that.  People who seemingly wanted to ostracise themselves are now ostracised more, little groups who kept themselves to themselves are able to keep themselves to themselves more in closed groups online, people who like to meet up with different groups can get amongst it with different groups on FB and so on.  The closed groups vs. open groups is something I've noticed more, especially as I'm part of groups for a city that has a totally private one and a totally open one.

In terms of rides, @Barbara Logan-Price is kind of wrong in a way as it just depends how they're set up.  For example, a ride happening tomorrow:

That reach is not too shabby.

Something else to note as well is that it's not like groups on FB or whatever are a totally new phenomenon - we had similar things for rides back in the day, but you'd have mental group chats on MSN Messenger and chat clients like that, or just having peoples phone numbers and texting them.  That was even harder to deal with as it wasn't as easy to find other people then...

In terms of video output, in almost every way it's better than it's ever been.  There's more of it from a wider range of riders/styles, so you can generally follow the people you like and get some clips here and there fairly often.  If you look at top riders in whichever style you prefer, they're more accessible than they've ever been, and you get to see more from them than you've ever been able to see.  There is the quality vs. quantity thing, but that was the same back in the day too.  Longer videos still come out from time to time and although I'd like to see more of them, it wasn't like there was always loads of them flying out anyway.  People have rose tinted glasses for pretty much all aspects of trials from the early-to-mid-00's, but it's better in almost every respect now.  Bikes ride better, the majority of parts last longer, availability of parts is amazing now, it's easier to get tutorials/hints/tips, it's easier to keep in touch with your favourite riders, there's more comp coverage, etc.

[Daviesdt]

Think all of the above about different formats for organising rides is all well and good but it makes it pretty difficult for the average isolated rider to get involved who doesn't maybe already know the scene and the people in it. For instance I noted everyone on the post above doesn't have less than a 1000 posts which tells me folks have been doing trials for a while, they probably know who's who and what is going down where already and are also quite skilled at trials.

A quick search on Facebook revealed no trials groups at all so presume they are closed groups where you will only know about them if you are invited by an established skilled rider who has been around for a while which would suggest a certain element of clique as suggested above.

Guess from someone who has only been involved in trials for a few years and doesn't really ride with anyone else as unaware of what rides are happening, it can be difficult seeing what is going on and when and riding with the right people to get the motivation to keep going and learn the skills needed to progress, especially if those people only post to closed groups about meeting up.

Guess what I am saying is the forum, while a dated format is actually a good thing and when people say trials is dying, I think it is as unless newer riders to the scene have access or inspiration from the guys who have been doing it for a while it will die out. 

Think the onus is on the more experienced members to set up open group rides on here rather than on closed side groups and get things going for the rest of us. Yes, you may have to put up with a lower standard of riding than you are used to where the majority of folks won't be able to drop gap the river irwell but hey, guess we all gotta start somewhere......

[Barbara Logan-Price]

In the 12 years or so since I started riding I have never seen anyone be anything but supportive to new riders, so I wouldn’t worry about that, I’ve been out for a while now so even though I’ve been in the trials scene a long time I will solely be relying on this forum to plan rides 

[AndyT]

Trials, riding your bicycle up and over things, is dead. In its place is ride your bicycle up over and spin on things or put your foot on your front tire and gEt EXxxXtrEeeeME #fallow4fallow

 

Still riding a bicycle , still as hard as ever to get into. Can’t speak about England but in north America... I think there were 50??? People total at last years nation championship competition- Mexico and Canada included in the competition . ... less people in the whole competition for three countries than are on big  group rides I see on here.   America is definitely lost on competing, not that we ever could contend.

[Mark W]

23 hours ago, Daviesdt said:

Yes, you may have to put up with a lower standard of riding than you are used to where the majority of folks won't be able to drop gap the river irwell but hey, guess we all gotta start somewhere......

Trials is probably the most inclusive sport I know of/have been a part of for getting people into it, so I don't think that's really part of it.  I can't remember who it was who started that Bristol ride event thing, but I don't remember him using TF much so I don't think him not posting about it here was a "screw those guys" things, more that he uses FB to speak to other riders mainly.  

In terms of finding groups on FB, not sure where you were looking but it could be that there aren't any set up where you are (assuming Manchester from your location thing here?)?  If it is Manchester, I don't think there's much of a scene there as far as I know.  The only person I really know who rides there regularly is Karl, but that was about it really?  You could always be the one to set one up as a speculative thing for the future, so anyone else on there who happens to look for one can find yours, and you can make connections that way.  I did a similar thing for Cardiff when I lived here last time as it worked well for spurring people on in Bristol and I thought it might help for Cardiff.  There were a bunch of younger riders who were riding really frequently but noone really knew about it, so it was handy for gathering everyone up from time to time to meet up.

That's also partially why this was set up too.  In its infancy obviously, but might be useful for the future.  Who knows...

[eddiesheps]

There is a wee group of us riding regularly in Manchester. Nice group with mixed abilities (i'm shit!), and lots of good riding stuff around Manc

[Daviesdt]

@Mark W did see the rider finder on facebook funnily enough the other day and followed it so hopefully something will come of it.  Am aware of Dman, just never had chance to meet as mate of mine Rich sometimes rides with him but our paths haven't crossed yet.  to be honest, I sometimes struggle getting out given I have 3 kids and full time job etc etc blah blah blah (boring stuff) plus trying to fit in a few other hobbies such as mountain bike, climbing etc.  Yes, poor excuse but that's the way it is.

Anyway, the above post of mine wasn't necessarily a whine about my own circumstances, it was more a contribution to the original comment about, "is trial dead"?  I do think more visibility of rides for ordinary riders would be a good thing to get them in to it, meet the folks in their area or meet folks going on rides in adjacent areas, I do think a lot of people visit the forum still but don't necessarily contribute but might do if more rides in more areas were being posted up.

I think if people start posting on the FB rider finder tarty bikes have set up it will probably also serve this function. 

Trials is such a small niche thing that having some more ground roots kind of thing that I sometimes see on the Ali C vlogs in Scotland or probably the Bristol ride would be a good thing if done in a few more locations round the country.  It doesn't need to be big rides all the time though like the Bristol one appeared to be, just regular low key events to keep people interested and developing. 

@eddiesheps THB I think my mate Rich added me onto a whatsapp group a few months ago with you on it but had a lot of family problems for the last 6 months so haven't really been riding at all for a while, my fourplay has been gathering some serious dust.  Took it out Sunday afternoon for a jib on Trafford park industrial estate to see how things felt and must admit, now wanting to get out a bit more if time allows.  Just let me know when you are out and more than willing to come along and meet if I am free.

[Ross McArthur]

Yayee for group rides.

I always go with the Jim Morrison way of thinking when it comes to arranging group rides.

 

[r2wtrials]

There used to be a lot more biketrial people also involved with moto trials when i was riding 10 to 15 years ago or more... personally i partly blame the silly no-stop rules we had pushed on us in the motorcycle world for turning off some of the people who would hop about on the cycles and then progress into the motorcycle side. Look at the world round riders in the motorcycle world and they were almost all biketrial champions before. Now very rarely see youngsters do either both or move from cycles to moto.

... also has to be said, we all get older and go to work and settle down into families etc. Biketrial does tend to get left behind when that all happens.

Just reached 52 years old and having a small hop again