Trials Blog - Big things are looking smaller - Trials UK

Trials Blog - Big things are looking smaller

• 6th April 2010
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Encouragement from other people is a great thing to have.  It’s made even better when the encouragement is twinned with tips, hints and skills advice.  I’ve had plenty of that today (at Tong once more) and it’s resulted in one of my best days of riding so far.  With the help of Gaz, Tel, Si and Andy Child, I have conquered a few of my major hurdles today, not least going up and over things that previously I would have looked at and immediately though “no way”.

It started with Gaz who had us hopping over the rocky section.  He suggested a section which involved a couple of tight turns and some hops up onto biggish rocks.  After a few attempts I managed it and felt great with the verbal pat on the back I got from Gareth

We then moved on to the bomb hole. Everyone was riding up the steep stream section which has a small log going across it half way up, along with a number of sizable flat rocks near the top.  You approach it by turning into it and gunning it.  Well, as was pointed out by Tel and Andy I was failing (4 times) because I simply wasn’t gunning it enough.  I wound the throttle up a little more than I had done before and flew up it. 

Marvellous – now on to the third of my challenges for the day – a big old felled tree.  The tree stands a good 3’ tall and I had never been able to get up and over it – but today I was on a mission.  I was up and over that tree like it wasn’t there.  I went up 5 or 6 times to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.  It wasn’t and I was buzzing.  The tough weaving water section was in my sights.

Tong has a fabulous big stream running through the bottom of it.  Simon was with us once more and I made it my business to follow him on whatever route he took through the water, going up and down the rocks on the steeper banks.  We were in and out of the water, up and over all sorts of rocks, making tight turns and climbing up things I would never have tried before.  As we got to the end of the made up section, Simon turned round and, I think, was genuinely surprised to see me right behind him.  He told me that we had just completed a hard section from a trial that was done the previous year.  And I had cleaned it.  Holy crap – what was it with me today?  I was nigh on unstoppable. 

The last thing I wanted to master was the big undercut rock step.  It’s something that I have looked at literally hundreds of times, wondering if I would ever be able to get up it.  But today I was a trials riding God – nothing was going to stop me. 

It didn’t - I even got up the undercut rock.  What an absolutely amazing day.