No-Stop rules.. my thoughts.
.. well, the ACU have taken the bull by the horns and made the 2012 British Trials Championship No-stop. During the last 6 months or so I must admit i have changed my mine concerning no-stop. I was always dead against it as i love to see the trick riding that the top riders can do but having attended 4 of the 2011 rounds it was obvious something had to be done to encourage more riders to ride the Championship route. Why, you may ask. Well think of the clubs that put the events on... i was, in a very small way, involved with the Mitchell trial in 2011. I attended the location for a day and assisted with marking out a few of the sections. From this I found out how many weekends and days off the clerk of course and all his helpers had been out in all weathers getting the sections ready, and on the day just 6 riders rode that class..!! If that was me or a club i was a committee member of i just know there would be calls to never do it again. It just wasn't worth it. Yes i know there was a good turn out from the a and b class riders but the main work went into getting sections sorted out for the top lads.
There were several ideas that came to mind that may encourage more riders to enter, easing the standard of sections overall, gate-trial rules and no-stop being a few mentioned but the only one that would seem to have the effect of making the sections less dangerous for more to try was the no-stop method. Not a perfect solution agreed but it was easiest to put into practice... but, and it is a big but, not in a million years did i expect the ACU to just change it full stop! I thought there may be a year of arguments and perhaps a few test events, then get the riders together at the end of these events with the importers and have a chat about it... nope, in they went and just changed it. So now the top riders are not happy and some may go to Europe to ride and we are still not sure if any extra riders are having a go at the top route. Of course the other issue is that now the UK has different rules to those of the World Championship, any of the British lads who want to ride the Worlds will need to go elsewhere to ride so they can practice at that level.
As i said above, and before on here, something did have to be done... but not just at a drop of a hat. It was fine asking the importers, but what about the riders. The ACU seem to think that anyone, no matter where they are in the country, will want to spend a load of money and give up time to travel to them for a forum meeting. It ain't going to happen, the world has moved on and we can now do these meetings online. It could have been done via an email to each interested party to get thoughts or even give each rider, importer and any sponsor a unique log-in address to an online forum or live chat. This may have resulted in some new ideas that could have been taken away and tried to see how they worked out.
Of course it has to be pointed out that the very top riders can or will learn quickly how to do all the tricks but whilst still moving.. flick turns and rear wheel hops etc. Does this mean the gap between them and the rest will get bigger? Think of the things that Danny Mac does on a cycle, most of his riding is done fluid i.e. no-stop !!
Now to another issue, perhaps closer to my and most club riders hearts. Why do we need to have no-stop at club level? The clubs don't seem to have problems with entries, and people will ride the sections that they are happy to ride. It will also cause many arguments with observers about whether you thought you stopped for a fraction of a second or not... and we have enough trouble getting observers at many events as it is let alone if they start getting into arguments. The only rule change i would have liked to see would be a 5 for a stationary dab, just keeps things either moving or clear-cut.
I have always said I love to try and do the tricks, i am not very good at them but just love to try. And if i wanted to go no-stop i am happy to accept those rules at twinshock or pre65 events etc. Many of the younger riders have moved from or use cycle trials bikes. They are using skills learnt on those on their motorcycles and having a great time doing it. Just because some of them can hop up their own exhausts and clean huge sections doesn't mean every club section has required it.
Sensible clubs set out sections to suit the level of riders
they have in that club... those that don't get a reputation and soon find they have no riders!
I have just heard that the Western centre have gone no-stop, my first thoughts are that i may just get a twinshock bike if we are moving back in time... perhaps just use the Beta for playing at the zona 1 mcc practice area and such places! Hopefully other areas around here will see sense and leave things alone. Of course there will always be the divide between the young and old. The older riders have been the ones saying that "we should all do no-stop just like the old days" but of course the machinery and skill levels have moved on dramatically since then. I was originally brought up in the old no-stop days, there wasn't much chance of me hopping a 95kg Ossa around when i was 12 i know that! But as times have changed I have loved trying some of the new techniques, and as has often been said, Trials is supposed to be man's control over the machine across the obstacles provided.. what more control can you show by being able to balance and hop on the back wheel etc. It's a tough argument either way but I believe at club level there really isn't an issue. Entries are steady or up in most clubs that set out good sensible sections suitable for all skills of the riders that are members of that club... i don't think we need no-stop at this level.
(clarifying that the Western Centre has not gone non-stop, only that the western centre championship trials must be run under the non-stop rules (8-10 trials).. Zona 1 mcc have decided not to run a centre Championship event next year)
It would be good if the ACU would put their decision on hold and do some test events, and have a proper chat with all concerned, via digital methods if needed, and then work towards a solution that could work for all. If at the end of that it becomes obvious that the only way forward is to go no-stop then at least everyone has had a say and some input.... doubt if that will happen though!!