Anyone doing this this year?
The three Simpson brothers (me, Mike and Ben) have entered the Cornwall (daytime) trial.
A bit disappointed that about six sections have been cut from the daytime route...about halving the number of sections from when I rode it last year.
I hope this is just down to weather/ground conditions, and the event will be back to normal next year or when conditions allow, but the total outlay for club membership, event entry and ACU licence is north of £100. For that we get one tarmac special test, one tarmac section (both on public roads), and five off-tarmac sections, two of which are on green lanes which anyone can ride at any time anyway. TBH I feel bad having encouraged my brothers to join and enter on the strength of last year's superb event.
Anyway, whether you are competing or spectating, give us a wave (numbers 175-177) if you see us.
Lands End/Cornwall Trial 100th edition
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Richard Simpson Mark II
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Richard Simpson Mark II
- Posts: 3521
- Joined: Tue May 09, 2017 9:03 pm
- Has thanked: 1414 times
- Been thanked: 1669 times
Re: Lands End/Cornwall Trial 100th edition
Funny you should ask that!
I'll post a report & a couple of pics later. It turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax to be honest. The route was very curtailed (partly because of ground conditions, and partly because of other factors), and I was left a bit disappointed to be honest.
Never mind. Entries for the Edinburgh Trial open shortly (perhaps even today), and with the event starting and finishing at the same location, it looks like I could enter the full event, which means riding half as far again as I did last year with half the sections done in the dark!
A package containing a secret weapon for the night has just arrived from Poland: a replacement street-legal LED headlamp for the Beta X-Trainer!
Stand by for the report on the Lands End...I had to cool down a bit before I wrote it, and am still deciding whether some of my comments are fair before I press 'Submit'!
I'll post a report & a couple of pics later. It turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax to be honest. The route was very curtailed (partly because of ground conditions, and partly because of other factors), and I was left a bit disappointed to be honest.
Never mind. Entries for the Edinburgh Trial open shortly (perhaps even today), and with the event starting and finishing at the same location, it looks like I could enter the full event, which means riding half as far again as I did last year with half the sections done in the dark!
A package containing a secret weapon for the night has just arrived from Poland: a replacement street-legal LED headlamp for the Beta X-Trainer!
Stand by for the report on the Lands End...I had to cool down a bit before I wrote it, and am still deciding whether some of my comments are fair before I press 'Submit'!
-
Richard Simpson Mark II
- Posts: 3521
- Joined: Tue May 09, 2017 9:03 pm
- Has thanked: 1414 times
- Been thanked: 1669 times
Re: Lands End/Cornwall Trial 100th edition
This should have been A Band of Brothers...but turned into A Comedy of Errors
After one of the best motorcycling experiences of my life riding the Daylight version of the Motor Cycling Club’s 2023 Lands End Trial, I determined to spread the joy and get my two brothers involved for this year and the 100th edition of the event.
If last year’s had been great, I could hardly imagine just how good it would be in my brothers’ company.
Ben is a former ACU Enduro instructor and British Championship competitor. These days, he is a keen mountain-biker. Mike is a former AMCA motocrosser, and currently competes in ultra-marathon cross-country running races (each event is like two London marathons back-to-back, but run up and down hills in places like the Cotswolds or South Downs). They are both considerably younger and fitter than their wreck of an older brother.
Ben already had a suitable bike: a beautifully-restored Beta Enduro. This is one of the first Beta four-strokes and has a KTM EXC 450 engine.
Mike didn’t have a bike. Then he got a phone call. An old acquaintance had decided that the time had come to sell the Honda XR600 that had belonged to his son. His son had put the bike into storage and gone off to work in Italy, then been killed when a car he was passenger in was involved in an accident.
Anyway, it turned out the deceased son had ridden the XR in the Lands End Trial many years previously, and his Dad was delighted by the prospect of the bike doing the event again.
We decided that as none of us had good lights and that Mike and Ben had never done the event before, we would just do the daylight route…now grandly named the Cornwall Trial.
Entries confirmed, we waited for the routebook to be posted.
What a disappointment. The daylight part of the route was but a shadow of its former self: Watermain Lane, Great Grogley, Withielgoose, Trevithick, Zelah all left out! This was starting to look like not such good value after all. I felt bad…my brothers had both invested £100s in tyres, preparation, club membership, ACU licence and entry fees, and all for what?
Six sections/tests…two of which were on tarmac!
Is this really the best that could be done for the 100th edition of the MCC’s flagship trial?
I put it down to the club perhaps erring on the side of caution given the horribly wet Winter. It certainly can’t have been a shortage of marshals, because a basically pointless tarmac section had been included at Ruses Mill just before the acceleration/braking test.
Determined to make the best of it we popped down to the start of the event proper at Launceston Ruby Club the night before, went back to my house, ate, tried not to drink too much, slept, and headed off for a very civilised 8 am appointment with the scrutineers the next morning.
Over breakfast we were told that Warleggan section had been closed “due to a medical incident.”
OK, so we are now down to three off-tarmac sections: one of which is a green lane that anyone can ride at any time. My own feelings on this are a bit mixed: I’ve been up Warleggan twice and fallen on it three times!
To my amazement, we have some supporters come to the start to wish us well. Two lots of neighbours heard the bikes start up this morning and are here to see us off. They then head off to Crackington to see some of the entrants in the main trial tackle this infamous hill.
Off we go to Ruses Mill, where there is no queue, so we are sent up the hill one-by-one. I’ve explained the process for the special test to my brothers the night before, but all is forgotten and my shouted reminders fall on deaf ears. The section is followed by the go-stop test, which I take very cautiously (recording one of the slowest times of the entire event). I stop at the top and hear the sound of first one, and then another, powerful four-stroke singles being given full gas straight up the hill.
Both brothers have forgotten to stop and have taken the whole hill as one, like it was Shelsley Walsh!
“Oh, I wondered why that bloke was waving a flag at me,” Mike muses.
There then follows a rather pleasant tour of Cornwall’s minor roads. It’s Easter Saturday, but little traffic is to be seen.
Dropping down off the moor past Minions we see a ‘domestic drama’ unfold. A young couple are climbing up onto the moor on trendy gravel bikes. The bloke in front looks happy enough, the girl behind him rather less so. As we pass, she jumps off her bike, throws it into the hedge with surprising force, and mouths some very rude words at him.
Enjoy your holiday, folks!
The recently recommissioned XR is starting to give Mike a bit of trouble with power fading away under hard throttle, so it stalls a couple of times and some other competitors catch us. He reckons he can ride around the problem, so we carry on.
The lanes leading to Warleggan are very pleasant, and we are having an enjoyable day, but this really isn’t a trial. At Warleggan, the holding area is packed with police cars and ambulances, so we replot our route by the side of the road, and head off for the traffic-calmed hell of Bodmin, which we have to negotiate before we can get to the first ‘proper’ section: Eddy’s Branch Line.
Fair play to the organisers: the route has been very well marked with ‘R’, ‘L’, and ‘SO’ boards. Of course, this can’t be done in Bodmin itself, so navigation becomes critical. I always get lost in Bodmin, so Ben takes the lead with his hi-tech GPS navigation system replacing my paper roll.
At last we are out the other side of Bodmin, and heading for Eddy’s Branch Line. This marked a turning point for me in last year’s trial: to channel Winston Churchill’s remark about the Battle of El Alamein “Before Eddy’s Branch Line I never had a clean, after Eddy’s Branch Line I never had a fail.”
It was muddy last year when we had had much less rain, so I know it will be very muddy this time. We stop outside the farmyard, and drop as much air out of our tyres as we dare. I’m down to 4 psi. While we are doing this, a stream of cars arrives and head off down the field to the start of the section at the bottom of the hill.
This is very bad news. I’m confident that the section won’t be as tight as it was last year for the cars, but they are still going to be digging holes in it. Most of the cars have stopped in the field to adjust their tyres. I urge my brothers to push past them; which they are a bit reluctant to do. In my view, it’s perfectly fair…they all came past us when we were adjusting our tyres.
It's super-slippery. Ben gets a bit enthusiastic on the Beta 450, and spins it 360: and that’s going downhill!
We get to the queue for the start of the section. What I see makes my heart sink. There’s a tight hairpin up onto the railway embankment immediately after the start. Even with our limited view we can see its going to be too tight for all but the smallest of the specialist trials cars. The saloons and sports cars won’t stand a chance.
And so it goes. We watch a car set off, hit the outside bank, slide back with wheels spinning, and rinse and repeat under the eyes of the marshals, digging ever-deeper holes.
Why is this allowed to happen? There’s an exit route marked out, but no, the show must go on with the damage continuing until the section is unpassable.
Now it’s my turn. I charge at the embankment, hoping that the light weight and tractable power of the X-Trainer will float us through the damage the cars have done. Which we just about do…but not without a bit of ‘foot assistance.’
At the top, I wait for my brothers: Ben had to foot and Mike did a 360 on the big XR and stalled it.
It’s a shame. This potentially great section drew complaints last year for being ‘too tight and too long’ for the car people. The MCC responded with the public sacking and humiliation of the event organiser and appointing a committee who have presided over this cock-up.
We reinflate our tyres and head for the time control at Perranporth, where we refuel. The two Betas take an almost identical amount of petrol, while the XR is a little thirstier.
There’s one more section to do before the grand finale at Blue Hills: Lambriggan. This year it’s for bikes only as the cars didn’t like the deep little ford at the start. It’s a pleasant section, but I foot after losing a bit of rhythm at the restart.
Blue Hills next.
We arrive to find a long queue of cars ahead of us (they drove straight here from Perranporth). Blue Hills 1 (the Magic Roundabout) has filled with water, and the cars have stirred up a load of muddy slop and tracked it onto the cobbles of the very steep restart.
This has rendered it pretty much impassable, but the cars are still being sent up it, and the poor marshals are having to drag them out manually with a strap. It’s a silly, dangerous situation which gets worse every time a car passes through. Two proper sections so far, and two cocked-up!
Eventually we find ourselves at the front of the queue. Marshals aren’t supposed to discuss the sections, let alone give advice, but we are told: “Aim for the gully on the left on the exit: if you hit the cobbles you’ll fall for sure.”
I keep left, but still need to foot like fury to get up and out.
Blue Hills 2 is less challenging than last year: the chicanes have gone. I start on the left, then cross the track on a relatively smooth and shallow part to be able to take the outside line into the bend at the top. Sadly, I miss the back brake on the restart, and slide back, but make it to the top OK after more frantic footwork.
We take a group picture at the top, and head for the finish and the pub.
On the way home we pass what seems like most of the car entry, still heading for Blue Hills after massive and avoidable delays at the Branch Line.
I wonder what time the Blue Hills marshals were able to shut-up shop and go home?
After one of the best motorcycling experiences of my life riding the Daylight version of the Motor Cycling Club’s 2023 Lands End Trial, I determined to spread the joy and get my two brothers involved for this year and the 100th edition of the event.
If last year’s had been great, I could hardly imagine just how good it would be in my brothers’ company.
Ben is a former ACU Enduro instructor and British Championship competitor. These days, he is a keen mountain-biker. Mike is a former AMCA motocrosser, and currently competes in ultra-marathon cross-country running races (each event is like two London marathons back-to-back, but run up and down hills in places like the Cotswolds or South Downs). They are both considerably younger and fitter than their wreck of an older brother.
Ben already had a suitable bike: a beautifully-restored Beta Enduro. This is one of the first Beta four-strokes and has a KTM EXC 450 engine.
Mike didn’t have a bike. Then he got a phone call. An old acquaintance had decided that the time had come to sell the Honda XR600 that had belonged to his son. His son had put the bike into storage and gone off to work in Italy, then been killed when a car he was passenger in was involved in an accident.
Anyway, it turned out the deceased son had ridden the XR in the Lands End Trial many years previously, and his Dad was delighted by the prospect of the bike doing the event again.
We decided that as none of us had good lights and that Mike and Ben had never done the event before, we would just do the daylight route…now grandly named the Cornwall Trial.
Entries confirmed, we waited for the routebook to be posted.
What a disappointment. The daylight part of the route was but a shadow of its former self: Watermain Lane, Great Grogley, Withielgoose, Trevithick, Zelah all left out! This was starting to look like not such good value after all. I felt bad…my brothers had both invested £100s in tyres, preparation, club membership, ACU licence and entry fees, and all for what?
Six sections/tests…two of which were on tarmac!
Is this really the best that could be done for the 100th edition of the MCC’s flagship trial?
I put it down to the club perhaps erring on the side of caution given the horribly wet Winter. It certainly can’t have been a shortage of marshals, because a basically pointless tarmac section had been included at Ruses Mill just before the acceleration/braking test.
Determined to make the best of it we popped down to the start of the event proper at Launceston Ruby Club the night before, went back to my house, ate, tried not to drink too much, slept, and headed off for a very civilised 8 am appointment with the scrutineers the next morning.
Over breakfast we were told that Warleggan section had been closed “due to a medical incident.”
OK, so we are now down to three off-tarmac sections: one of which is a green lane that anyone can ride at any time. My own feelings on this are a bit mixed: I’ve been up Warleggan twice and fallen on it three times!
To my amazement, we have some supporters come to the start to wish us well. Two lots of neighbours heard the bikes start up this morning and are here to see us off. They then head off to Crackington to see some of the entrants in the main trial tackle this infamous hill.
Off we go to Ruses Mill, where there is no queue, so we are sent up the hill one-by-one. I’ve explained the process for the special test to my brothers the night before, but all is forgotten and my shouted reminders fall on deaf ears. The section is followed by the go-stop test, which I take very cautiously (recording one of the slowest times of the entire event). I stop at the top and hear the sound of first one, and then another, powerful four-stroke singles being given full gas straight up the hill.
Both brothers have forgotten to stop and have taken the whole hill as one, like it was Shelsley Walsh!
“Oh, I wondered why that bloke was waving a flag at me,” Mike muses.
There then follows a rather pleasant tour of Cornwall’s minor roads. It’s Easter Saturday, but little traffic is to be seen.
Dropping down off the moor past Minions we see a ‘domestic drama’ unfold. A young couple are climbing up onto the moor on trendy gravel bikes. The bloke in front looks happy enough, the girl behind him rather less so. As we pass, she jumps off her bike, throws it into the hedge with surprising force, and mouths some very rude words at him.
Enjoy your holiday, folks!
The recently recommissioned XR is starting to give Mike a bit of trouble with power fading away under hard throttle, so it stalls a couple of times and some other competitors catch us. He reckons he can ride around the problem, so we carry on.
The lanes leading to Warleggan are very pleasant, and we are having an enjoyable day, but this really isn’t a trial. At Warleggan, the holding area is packed with police cars and ambulances, so we replot our route by the side of the road, and head off for the traffic-calmed hell of Bodmin, which we have to negotiate before we can get to the first ‘proper’ section: Eddy’s Branch Line.
Fair play to the organisers: the route has been very well marked with ‘R’, ‘L’, and ‘SO’ boards. Of course, this can’t be done in Bodmin itself, so navigation becomes critical. I always get lost in Bodmin, so Ben takes the lead with his hi-tech GPS navigation system replacing my paper roll.
At last we are out the other side of Bodmin, and heading for Eddy’s Branch Line. This marked a turning point for me in last year’s trial: to channel Winston Churchill’s remark about the Battle of El Alamein “Before Eddy’s Branch Line I never had a clean, after Eddy’s Branch Line I never had a fail.”
It was muddy last year when we had had much less rain, so I know it will be very muddy this time. We stop outside the farmyard, and drop as much air out of our tyres as we dare. I’m down to 4 psi. While we are doing this, a stream of cars arrives and head off down the field to the start of the section at the bottom of the hill.
This is very bad news. I’m confident that the section won’t be as tight as it was last year for the cars, but they are still going to be digging holes in it. Most of the cars have stopped in the field to adjust their tyres. I urge my brothers to push past them; which they are a bit reluctant to do. In my view, it’s perfectly fair…they all came past us when we were adjusting our tyres.
It's super-slippery. Ben gets a bit enthusiastic on the Beta 450, and spins it 360: and that’s going downhill!
We get to the queue for the start of the section. What I see makes my heart sink. There’s a tight hairpin up onto the railway embankment immediately after the start. Even with our limited view we can see its going to be too tight for all but the smallest of the specialist trials cars. The saloons and sports cars won’t stand a chance.
And so it goes. We watch a car set off, hit the outside bank, slide back with wheels spinning, and rinse and repeat under the eyes of the marshals, digging ever-deeper holes.
Why is this allowed to happen? There’s an exit route marked out, but no, the show must go on with the damage continuing until the section is unpassable.
Now it’s my turn. I charge at the embankment, hoping that the light weight and tractable power of the X-Trainer will float us through the damage the cars have done. Which we just about do…but not without a bit of ‘foot assistance.’
At the top, I wait for my brothers: Ben had to foot and Mike did a 360 on the big XR and stalled it.
It’s a shame. This potentially great section drew complaints last year for being ‘too tight and too long’ for the car people. The MCC responded with the public sacking and humiliation of the event organiser and appointing a committee who have presided over this cock-up.
We reinflate our tyres and head for the time control at Perranporth, where we refuel. The two Betas take an almost identical amount of petrol, while the XR is a little thirstier.
There’s one more section to do before the grand finale at Blue Hills: Lambriggan. This year it’s for bikes only as the cars didn’t like the deep little ford at the start. It’s a pleasant section, but I foot after losing a bit of rhythm at the restart.
Blue Hills next.
We arrive to find a long queue of cars ahead of us (they drove straight here from Perranporth). Blue Hills 1 (the Magic Roundabout) has filled with water, and the cars have stirred up a load of muddy slop and tracked it onto the cobbles of the very steep restart.
This has rendered it pretty much impassable, but the cars are still being sent up it, and the poor marshals are having to drag them out manually with a strap. It’s a silly, dangerous situation which gets worse every time a car passes through. Two proper sections so far, and two cocked-up!
Eventually we find ourselves at the front of the queue. Marshals aren’t supposed to discuss the sections, let alone give advice, but we are told: “Aim for the gully on the left on the exit: if you hit the cobbles you’ll fall for sure.”
I keep left, but still need to foot like fury to get up and out.
Blue Hills 2 is less challenging than last year: the chicanes have gone. I start on the left, then cross the track on a relatively smooth and shallow part to be able to take the outside line into the bend at the top. Sadly, I miss the back brake on the restart, and slide back, but make it to the top OK after more frantic footwork.
We take a group picture at the top, and head for the finish and the pub.
On the way home we pass what seems like most of the car entry, still heading for Blue Hills after massive and avoidable delays at the Branch Line.
I wonder what time the Blue Hills marshals were able to shut-up shop and go home?
