spode@thinkbikes Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 (edited) Tall_Rob, Darren and I decided to make our way down to Thriftwood to try our hand at some natural trials. Despite the warning of impending snow, the weather was actually quite mild, with an occasional chilly wind. The wood was dry and the mud was less mud and more soil. Perfect condition for riding. Some familiar names made it to the scene, including James Porter, Andrei Burton, Andrew Chai, James Sherrdan and Tom Rankin to name but a few. This made watching the Elite sections just that little bit more interesting. This was my first competition in nearly five years (I've only done two in my lifetime) and I've ridden natural trials itself not that many more times. So this was a fairly new experience to me, and something I was looking forward to trying. Equally, Tall_Rob was new to the competition scene, and has only been riding for 18 months. Rob opted for the intermediate blue route, while I opted for the expert red route. From previous experience I found the blue route too easy, but something Dave Lowe (thinkbikes.com) had commented on is how much of a difference there was jumping from blue to red. This is something I learnt first hand. After spraining my ankle quite badly warming up in the car park (yes, I know, what a *ucktard) things didn't start well! My score card was mainly fives, with a spattaring of 1's, 2's and 3's. Despite statistically doing quite poorly, I was quite pleased with my performance, as I was generally working my way through without problems. One thing I definetely noticed was poor fitness level. Where as street riding is mainly short bursts of energy (mainly anaerobic), completing a two minute long section requires a lot of aerobic ability - something I should consider working on.Tall_Rob fared considerably better than myself, flying through the routes with relative ease, with much precision and minimal effort. For his first competition he did exceptionally well. Both our dual disc setups helped considerably and a brand new set of tyres (thanks to tartybikes.co.uk for rushing them out to me!).All in all, it was a good day and a good experience for both Rob and I. Watching the Elite riders at work was masterful. Natural trials is a lot harder than street, and I'd recommend anyone give it a go, as it makes perfectly angled concrete blocks seem like nothing. Darren himself wasn't actually competing, but instead acting as our Chauffer and photographer. So you have him to thank for the following photographs. I'd also like to thank Joe Maher for lending us some Compact Flash cards, as being a klutz I managed to leave mine in the card reader at home!http://www.thinkbikes.com/gallery/?dir=.%2...ftwood180307%2FAlthough I was hoping to have the new gallery system up and ready, it's not. So I've added a Previous/Next picture feature to the current code!Example shots: Edited March 19, 2007 by Spode Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEVE-0 Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 nice spode...were a good day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheChai Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 man! good review! very good infact.. very true.. sectiosn were really hard.. well i found them challenging, first time in the elite route.. very very challeneging.. had to use the full 2 mins for nearly all the sections which never used to be the case with the red route.. every section had the count down as far as i as remember...my fitness wasnt great either.. hoping consistantly is alot harder then u think, and to do it in a short amount of time and under pressure is a real challenge.. i literally collapsed at the final move of a section, i just dropped breathless.. how kinky.. anywya!good fun tho1 defo have to do it again!hoepfulyl without spode changing my chainstay lengths this time!!!! u have noidea how mcuh trouble u caused me!! i couldnt do any pedal hops becos of that! i was confused as well! everyone was flying up that hook on seciton 4 and i was falling backwards each time i tried!!!!!!! grrrrrrrahw ell i am happy wiht how i did anyway! finished on 73! had 2 cleans last lap, 5ed the rest of the last lap lol. worse lap that was.. 73/105 hmmm... ok.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spode@thinkbikes Posted March 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Come off it Chai! You can't be THAT sensitive to change. It dropped by 10mm at most. You can go from your Aorta to the Ashton without problem... I can just on the Monty, My KOT, Rob's KOT or your Aorta and within an hour I'm used to it and there are a lot more changes involved....Still, it does make you appreciate watching a decent natural rider! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheChai Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 lol chainstay length is major.. esp since i am poor as it is with my hooks and goin striaght at stuff.. bike was like a pogo stick! similar to the black mumba which i couldnt hook at all when the chain stays were 350 as compared to 363i am not that bothered at all! looking forward to the new bikes.short chainstays shoudl work well with my brother who i am passing the aorta on to:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spode@thinkbikes Posted March 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Awesome, will he be joining us on a ride?Probably the rocks in Chatham on saturday by the way (off-topic!) if you fancied something different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plainlazy84 Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 nice one. Good to hear some news from the Essex Trials- must be first time I've read anything about one of their comps in about four years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzojim Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 hey pics of me!!!! hehe, was a really good trial well set out, different range of sections, quite good weather and good riding i had a great day rode the first to laps really badly and then cleaned the last lap oh well but stil a good day and GREAT PICS!! Cheers James.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearded Midget Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 i dont suppose any body knows when the next essex bike trials is going to be and where do you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattB Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Very cool Pics Spode. Was a great day and the weather was good (apart from the hailstones for a minute).Next comp is at Barrow farm on the 13th of may and there is a british event at hook woods on the 29th I do believe. The date may be wrong but its around then.Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Papasnap Maher Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Give me half hour, ill post some piccys up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe b Posted March 25, 2007 Report Share Posted March 25, 2007 Nice review, matey . It's something i've always found to be the case, the jump in ability from Expert to Elite route. Im afraid i thought Mr Maher's picture were just a tad better than yours; maybe it was because some were too dark, and a few slightly out of focus making causing them to not be very sharp. But, it was still a bloody good effort .I like how both you and Joe both got that bail shot from reverse angles .Cheers,Joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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