Trials of an Idiot – A Beginners Story

By Nigel Cooper

Introduction

I park up my Yamaha TTR under some tall pine trees. Around me is an assorted collection of vans, 4x4's and estate cars with a smattering of trailers and racks scattered near by. The cackle of a 2-stroke engine accosts my ears and I detect the aroma of premix in my nostrils. I've not had such a sensory stimulus since I was last at Donnington Park in the era of 125, 250 and 500 cc grand prix racing.

I'm at Hookwood Trials Centre after noticing a post on my local TRF group forum. It was advertising the Southern Experts Trial and was an excuse to finally pop in to Hookwood and find out what actually goes on here. I've walked past the entrance more than once on a ramble with my wife but never ventured in.

The place is certainly buzzing today and I wander off to see what's happening. Coming towards me down the main track is a rather odd looking motorcycle. It has handlebars, forks (albeit old-fashioned right-way up ones) and a front wheel but there doesn't appear to be too much else. A rather slim and elegant rear mudguard extends high above the rear wheel which is shod with a very chunky looking tyre. In between there seems to be very little else. As I watch on, the rider pulls the most enormous "stoppie" and revs the engine to spin the rear tyre, which proceeds to fling off large amounts of mud; I'm glad I wasn't standing any nearer.

He takes a left turn down a track adjacent to a field and I follow to see where he is headed. Just before I reach a further wooded area the ground opens out to my left to reveal a gully about 3-4 feet deep, full of rocks and with various bits of tape pinned either side. A rider is just about to set off over these rocks. With supreme balance he makes progress and I walk on the far side to see where he is headed. He appears to have got himself into a bit of a dead end with tape on all sides which, even with my lack of knowledge, I guess he isn't supposed to cross. Then, to my amazement, he proceeds to turn the bike through 180 degrees by doing nothing more than bouncing up and down on the suspension, whilst the entire time keeping perfect balance. Once turned, he continues on, this time coming to rest across the gully. Whilst he continues to bounce on the spot, I see that he is faced not only with the side of the gully, but at the top there is the sawn off remains of a tree, which when it was alive had sprouted two trunks about 2-3 feet above its roots to form a large "Y". The rider is now facing this at the bottom of the gully. I really can't quite see what on earth he is intending to do. After a moment of high revs from his engine, quite suddenly, in an instant, barely visible to the naked eye, his bike launches vertically upwards and lands in the crook of the "Y". I'm gob-smacked. There are no visible signs of rockets or jet packs anywhere to be seen. Unfortunately, this manoeuvre is not entirely successful; he falls back off his bike and he and it drop back down in to the gully, thankfully with no injury or damage to either.

I continue to watch as several more riders attempt the impossible, all with varying degrees of success but none managing to progress further beyond the "Y" shaped tree trunk. Finally, an older rider arrives and something about his manner, the glint in his eye, the determined set of his jaw, translates into a heightened tension amongst the gathered throng. He arrives at ground zero, the revs rise and – WOW! In what is the most incredible piece of motorcycle control I have ever witnessed, he lands in the crook of the "Y" on his back wheel, holding the bike in perfect uni-cycle balance. He holds this for a moment, before deftly launching forward to land on another tree trunk lying on its side positioned just beyond the "Y" trunk, and from there exits the course to a round of applause. Round of applause! Someone ring the queen! This guy deserves an honour; not to mention a ticker tape parade around the streets of London. That was absolutely awesome.

I continue to wander around other parts of the site, witnessing the most amazing feats of daring do and machine control, all carried out with the most exquisite balance, and not just men, but boys and girls too. I am well and truly hooked (apologies); I've just got to get myself a trials bike!

Lesson 1

Although I was itching to get hold of a bike of my own, I thought the best thing might be to try actually riding one myself first. After surfing the web I came across a guy called Jason Pearce who runs Tricks in the Sticks down in Kent. After my organisational skills in trying to arrange a day for some biker colleagues at work came unstuck, I thought it was going to be me on my own and with a hefty bill, but by some fluke one other guy did turn up and so we were able to split the cost.

Jason owns a farm and does both Enduro and Trials experience days. After an introduction we were taken to the Beta Rev3's and shown how to start them. This was quite a novelty as I hadn't kick-started a bike in about 35 years and never with my left foot! Anyway, once we'd freed the clutch off, another ritual with trials bikes it seems, we got going and followed Jason to a large field. First up was some slow riding practice doing turns and what not, followed by a cone sequence. After a while, including lots of water as it was quite warm, we were taken off into the wood and continued our basic riding around trees. The rest of the day followed a similar theme of flat field for a new technique and then in to the woods to try and put some of it in to practice. One bit which was good fun was doing circuits around this big hollow, coming down one side on the back brake and then giving it some to get up and out the other.

The day finished with Jason leading us around some almost-sections in the wood, where we both tried to follow him. It was a bit of a blood bath really, as we were both way out of our depth, but it was a huge learning experience. TBH, overall, I was surprised how little we seemed to accomplish in a day, but perhaps it was starting to give me an inkling of just how hard it was going to be learning to ride a trials bike.