Tamar Trial

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Snaf MKII
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Re: Tamar Trial

Post by Snaf MKII »

johnnyboxer wrote: Tue Oct 19, 2021 7:06 pm
Snaf MKII wrote:
johnnyboxer wrote: Tue Oct 19, 2021 7:34 am Montesa 4Ride would be the tool for the job
I thought they weren't eligible due to tank size and wheel base with a minimum of 5L and 1350mm but just checked and the Pampera is 1330 and XL185's which were once the choice bikes are 1310mm. I have seen them on the Exeter trial but that's a different game again.
A new class has been created
You cannot stop progress
Man has been modifying MX & Trials bikes since they were incepted
Just need the right classes
I see the min 5L tank and 1350 wheelbase only applies to the ACU Trail bike championship which I find a bit strange as it excludes such things as the XL185 which was one of the most popular trail bikes from back in the day.
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Re: Tamar Trial

Post by Snaf MKII »

Richard, there's a fairly low key trial that starts at Wainhouse corner just up the road from you, usually third weekend in January. It's designed to accommodate enduro sidecars but also solos, look up CHORA trial on Facebook. We'll see you there, I'll be on the upside down side car
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Re: Tamar Trial

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

The section in the first pic looks horribly familiar.... :D
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Re: Tamar Trial

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

On the start-line
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Re: Tamar Trial

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

Rickman Triumph. Angel Steps

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Re: Tamar Trial

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

My report for the club magazine:

Weather conditions for the 2021 Tamar Trial were so benevolent that the organisers were concerned that the sections would prove an insufficient challenge, and everyone would get around clean.

They obviously hadn’t spotted my entry…and little did they know that I would be trying as hard as I could to retain my hard-won status as the highest scorer, with the main competition coming from my friend and neighbour Merv ‘the swerve’ and his Honda XR400.

The entry secretary clearly seems in on the joke, as he gave Merv and me consecutive entry numbers, meaning we can ride around together as a comedy double act and stop the observers going to sleep as we vie for the highest score of the day on each section. Merv’s XR400 gives him a bit of an edge here, but my Gas Gas Pampera had a little trick up its sleeve to keep the comedy coming.

As ever, my problems began long before the event. A mysteriously flat front tyre ate into the time allocated for machine preparation, so I decided to ‘save time’ by not going to the petrol station, but scavenge pre-mix fuel from my chainsaws and strimmer instead. Not the best decision ever, as it turned out.

Flagged away by the Mayor of Launceston, with the usual serious competitors in front of us and a collection of Noddy cars and Mad Max buggies behind, Merv and I set off into the mists of the Tamar Valley. Riding is groups is not allowed, but we found ourselves in one at the Tamar bridge traffic lights. Anxious not to break the rules, we managed to overshoot the route for a while, before gathering at section one.

Here I started as I will go on with a fail…never mind, only three points, and onto the next; another fail for 12 points and a graceful fall back to the start of the section. At which point a marshal helpfully pointed out that my back tyre was getting no traction…ah, that would be because I had forgotten to let it down. Down from 12 to 6 psi and off we jolly well go to a clean on section three, followed by a four on four.

And now for the tough bit. Angel Steps, where this trial will pretty much be lost or won. There’s the predictable chaos ahead: with a restart stopping most competitors. So we wait, engines off. I go to start up, the Pampera bursts into life, then splutters and dies. Maybe it’s just run onto reserve?
Maybe not.
Maybe it needs a new sparkplug?
Maybe not.
Bugger!
Carb floatbowl off, and there’s a small quantity of what looks like sawdust floating around…now where did that come from?
Dunno, (well I do really) but there’s a kindly spectator from the Wirral on a trials bike festooned in petrol bottles, who insists on giving me a litre of premix, and helping bump-start the bike. Ring-ding-a-ding, and we are back in business.

My helper and his mates run up the hill to watch the fun. I’m now the last bike and I can hear the Mad Max buggies helpfully polishing the last remnants of grip from already slippery rock on the section ahead of me. The longer I wait, the harder it will get. So go now.

I trickle past the queue of cars, and get flagged off. Yes, it’s slippery and bumpy, but the Pampera is finding grip every time the now suitably deflated rear Pirelli touches the ground.

But, what’s this?
A car sliding half sideways back from the restart, that’s what. NOOOOOO!
I stop. Is that a baulk?
Looking at the provisional results, apparently not. It’s a seven. No matter: a restart proves tricky, and a kindly marshal shoves me onwards and upwards until I regain momentum.

After that, everything gets a good deal easier. The next section is gentle, and I clean it. Then a nine, and a bit of road work back to Launceston. The Pamp really does run onto reserve as we pass under the A30, and I divert off route to the BP station before heading to Tresmeer village hall and lunch where I am reunited with Merv and Ben, who is riding an XL185.

Lunch digested it’s off to the special test at the amusingly-named hamlet of Scarsick (“Mum, I feel Scarsick”). I do really well here…then forget to stop on line C. Another disaster snatched from the jaws of victory.

No matter, the seaside beckons. It’s Crackington, and another clean…is this a glimmer of competence. Not really, as we revert to norm with a six at the next section. Then there’s a one, followed by an eight on a very muddy hill that proved tricky for most. I didn’t fall climbing up it, but I did coming back down it!

On to the next one. It’s turning into a bit of a mudlark now, and very slippery. Merv and I conspire to get Ben to go first to see where the traction is…amusingly, he finds some grip, and we see an XL185 appear on the skyline in vertical mode with Ben clinging to the bars!
“That must be the grippy line,” Merv observes.
Ben gets nine points for style. My turn, and I spin to halt before falling off for an eight.
The next section, I surprise myself with a three…no worse than most of the other competitors. Then on to the last. Suddenly, I’m knackered. It’s a 12. Oh well.

Then a pleasant ride back to the Frog and Bucket, with the Pamp running onto reserve again. Sign off, eat more food, get an undeserved ‘finishers’ sticker, fill up in Launceston and home.

Congratulations to the real winners, (especially Chris Barham on his BSA C15) but I scored the most points and enjoyed myself as much as anyone so in my eyes, I’m a winner.
Can you beat my score? See you next year!
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Re: Tamar Trial

Post by Mike Wrights »

Angel Steps! Sometimes I could clear it no problem but most of the time either stuck or sat there polishing rocks :D
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Re: Tamar Trial

Post by catcitrus »

Is that also on the Exeter trial?-- a gully with holly bushes?
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Re: Tamar Trial

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

That's probably Simms. Load of You Tube of Simms: cars, bikes and outfits.

Angel Steps, you go over a bridge, up the section, and emerge in a village by a church.
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Re: Tamar Trial

Post by Snaf MKII »

Simms is fairly open, sounds more like Tillerton Steep
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