BikeTrial Federation

A rider has had to cancel their entry for the Biketrial Sheffield event this Sunday, so we have one more place up for grabs. Head over to http://biketrialuk.co.uk/Events.htm if you'd like to come along. The place will be sold on a first come, first served basis, so you'll need to act fast!

All of the dates and venues for the 2014 British Trials Cup have now been finalised: Round 1 - 6th April - Surrey Hills Cycle Centre (Hook Woods) Round 2 - 4th May - Blackpool North Shore Round 3 - 7th & 8th June - Fort William Round 4 - 13th July - Bracken Rocks Round 5 - 5th October - Shipley Glen Details of the other events in the 2014 trials calendar can be found on the Events page of our website: www.biketrialuk.co.uk/Events.htm Entry forms for Round 1 of the British Trials Cup at Surrey Hills Cycle Centre (Hook Woods) are available now from the Events page (and attached to this post). The closing date for pre-entries is Wednesday 2nd April, but please enter as soon as possible to make our job a bit easier! Look forward to seeing you all there!

Tickets are now available for this event - more info here.

Not really a competition, but seemed like the best place to put this. As many of you will have already seen, there is a trials event coming up in Sheffield city centre on Sunday 30th March. Biketrial Sheffield is a charity biketrials event being held on Tudor Square in Sheffield from 11:00 until 16:00 on Sunday 30th March as part of Sheffield's 100 Days to the Tour de France festival. Organised by Sheffield Hallam University events management students, with support from BikeTrial Federation UK, it is a practice/fun event with man-made obstacles laid out around the square. There will be some fun competitions as well throughout the day, including high jump, gap jump and speed trials contests, with medals for the winners. Entries are available online via the events page of our website at a price of £11.00 (all proceeds after costs will go to the Cathedral Archer Project, helping Sheffield's homeless) and are limited to 60 riders on a first-come, first-served basis. Buy now to avoid missing out! It's free for spectators and some of the UK's best riders will be in attendance, so it's sure to be quite the spectacle! We hope to see plenty of you there in March! Tudor Square, Sheffield:

No problem if you'd like to come along to the meeting. Anyone can come to the meeting and will be able to listen to what goes on and take part in any discussion, but they won't be able to vote on any decisions (voting rights go to BTF officers and member club representatives). Please also note that if you have any items that you would like to be discussed during the meeting, you'll need to submit the proposal to us in writing to info@biketrialuk.co.uk by Sunday 12th January for it to be included on the agenda. If anyone would like to attend the meeting, please let us know at info@biketrialuk.co.uk so that we know who to expect. See you on the 26th!

Hi everyone! We hope you’re well and looking forward to Christmas and to the 2014 trials season. We have scheduled the Biketrial Federation Annual Meeting of Organisers for Sunday 26th January 2014.If anybody has any proposals for the running of the Federation, the British Trials Cup/Championship, or trials in the UK in general that you would like to be discussed at the meeting, please submit these to us in writing in advance of the meeting and no later than Sunday 12th January so that they can be included in the agenda. As time will be short at the meeting, any proposals received after this date will not be included in the agenda or discussed at the meeting. Once all proposals have been discussed, they will be voted on. People with voting rights are the Biketrial Federation officers and up to two representatives from each member club. At the moment, that means TykeTrial, the Crowthorne Club and the Scottish Club will each have two votes. We look forward to receiving your input and suggestions! Kind regards George Eyre Chairman Biketrial Federation UK

Wrong account

Another season over. We had a great time at the final round of the British Trials Cup at Shipley Glen and we hope you all did too! We had a great turn out of over 75 riders, beautiful weather all day and some great, if tricky, sections to challenge everyone. With the season now over, we’d like to thank all of our sponsors and supporter – Onza Bikes, TartyBikes, Trialtech Components, Natural Hero and British Cycling - for their support throughout 2013. There have also been a lot of people who have helped us out a great deal this season and we’d like to thank them for all of their help and support as well – in no particular order (and hopefully not missing anyone out), the Morewoods, the Carthys, the Heslings, the Shepherds, the Granges, the McParlands, the Seymours, the Dukes, the Rolls, the Tickners, Neil Robinson, George Eyre, Matthew Holdsworth. And finally, a huge thank you to Barbara Wright for all of her hard work, effort and commitment in organising and running the series! Keep checking the website for 2013 results and news about 2014. We hope to see you all again next year!

The World Elite winner's shirt and the custom Trialtech SL bashrings kindly donated as prizes for the winners of each class, all ready for Sunday! Thanks again to all of our sponsors for their support this year! Trialtech Components | Onza Bikes | TartyBikes | Natural Hero | British Cycling

Results from Round 6 and for the overall season so far are now online: www.biketrialuk.co.uk/Events.htm

Entry forms for round 6 of the 2013 British Trials Cup at Bob McGregor Trials Park in Ayreshire on Sunday 8th September are available on our website. Kevin from the Scottish Club has been on site a lot lately, shifting the obstacles about and freshening up the sections - it's going to be an awesome trial! Camping is available onsite - see entry form for details. The deadline for pre-entries is Wednesday 4th September, so there's plenty of time to get your entries in! http://www.biketrialuk.co.uk/Events.htm

A replacement round has now been organised on Sunday 11th August at a brand new venue, still in the North East. Full info here.

As you will all be aware, we were unfortunately forced to cancel the Newcastle City Centre trial due to circumstances out of our control and have been looking into alternative arrangements. We have now found and booked an alternative venue and are very pleased to be able to announce that a replacement one-day trial will be held on Sunday 11th August at Rogerly Quarry, Frosterly, near Bishop Aukland. This is a fantastic new venue that has never been used for a biketrials event, in an area that we have not been to before! The quarry has several levels and hundreds of rocks and should provide a range of fresh, challenging and interesting sections. There is plenty of accommodation nearby and those of you that still have accommodation booked in Newcastle will still be able to use that. Since this is a new area, with no local club, in an effort to attract new and local riders we are offering a special half-price entry fee for new riders that have never competed before, so if you know anyone that lives in the area and would like to try competitions, let them know! The entry form is attached below, or as usual you can enter and pay on-line from www.biketrialuk.co.uk/events.htm - closing date for entries is Wednesday 7th August, but please try to get them off to us as soon as possible so that we can prepare. Hope to see loads of you there! Biketrial Federation UK 2013-BC-R5-RogerleyQuarry.pdf

Newcastle City Centre Trial - CANCELLED It is with great regret that the Biketrial Federation has to announce that, due to circumstances beyond our control, Round 5 of the British Trials Cup, due to be held in Newcastle City Centre on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th August, has had to be cancelled. Solar Learning, the company organising the Urban Games, of which the British Trial Cup Round was to be a part, and Newcastle City Council have been unable to secure the full permissions for the necessary road closures over the weekend, meaning that the event can no longer be held at the proposed venue. An alternative venue was suggested but since this was outside the city centre coupled with the issues around road closures, the event sponsors withdrew their support of the event, meaning that Solar Learning no longer had any budget or infrastructure for the trials event. We are extremely frustrated and disappointed to have to cancel the event, especially at this late stage, and apologise for any inconvenience that this has caused. An emergency meeting will be held this weekend at Round 4 of the series at Radical Bikes to discuss the situation and any possible alternative arrangements. Once again, our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused by this cancellation.

Only one day to go to get your entries in !!!

The weather's all set up for next weekend's two days of riding in Essex on all those man-made obstacles, have you got your entry off yet? The closing date for pre-entries is Wednesday night so now would be a good time! www.biketrialuk.co.uk/events.htm

Hope you all had a good time at Bracken Rocks, sounds like it was a really good event. Many thanks to everyone involved. The results are online now, well done to all the winners and to everyone taking part. The next event at Fort William is fast approaching. The entry form is attached below and as usual you can enter and pay on-line at www.biketrialuk.co.uk/Events.htm. Don't miss the deadline for this one to be sure of your free entry passes to the World Cup village. All the details are on the information sheet at the bottom of the entry form. Some people have been getting in touch to ask about how the scoring will take place at the 2-day events. Have a look at http://www.biketrialuk.co.uk/Documents/2013-BC-ResultsBoardLayout2-Day.pdf, which explains how scores will be worked out, and if you have any questions, drop us an email at info@biketrialuk.co.uk. 2013-BC-R3-FortWilliam.pdf

Sorry for the delay in responding to this, we were waiting until the scoring had been confirmed. Have a look at http://www.biketrialuk.co.uk/Documents/2013-BC-ResultsBoardLayout2-Day.pdf, which explains how scores will be worked out, and if you have any further questions, drop us an email at info@biketrialuk.co.uk

After a successful first round at Surry Hills Cycle Centre last weekend (write-up on Tribal Zine and photos on our Facebook page), it's time to start thinking about round 2. The second round of the series will take place on Sunday 5th May at Bracken Rocks, near Matlock in Derbyshire. Entry forms are available for download or online entry on the Biketrial Federation website (and also attached below) and the deadline for entering is Monday 29th April. Bracken is a great venue - challenging on both wet and dry conditions, with some very fun and tricky sections available. Hope to see plenty of you there! 2013-BC-R2-BrackenRocks.pdf

Just to clarify, you do not need to have a BIU licence in order to compete in Biketrial Federation events, i.e. the seven British Trials Cup rounds listed in yellow on the BTF events page. If you wish to compete in the international BIU rounds or any other BIU events organised in the UK, however, you will need a BIU licence. British Cycling membership and licences are required for the UCI Youth Games and UCI World Championships. Hope that helps

There have been several updates to our website recently, including the addition of the UCI World Cup entry forms and British Cycling selection criteria for the UCI World Championships, entry forms for upcoming events and results from the latest competitions. Those of you wishing to compete in the UCI world events, please read the entry forms and selection criteria carefully to make sure you know what is required. www.biketrialuk.co.uk

Exactly. With such low numbers in Elite 20" this year, with just one or two riders at many rounds, we decided that it would be better to combine the 20" and 26" riders at individual rounds so that there is some competition and we have full podiums at each round. The categories and will be split for championship purposes, however, so there will still be separate overall 20" and 26" podiums and champions. If the 20" entry is similar to this year's, there will in all likelihood only be a few extra riders to compete against, so it shouldn't affect you or put you off that much anyway As Robin said, after much discussion, it was felt that the difficulty level of the Expert, Cadet, Intermediate and Novice sections had come down and all were becoming a bit too easy. The level will be brought back up in 2013, giving all riders a suitable and fair challenge, as well as more longevity in the sport, rather than obliging them to move up to the class above too early. The courses are not being altered to take into account certain individual riders, rather, they are being brought back up to the level of difficulty that they should be at and were in the past. The difficulty level of some classes has definitely come down in recent years, which has been acknowledged by a wide range of people, including experienced competition riders, organisers and spectators, and is something we are trying to remedy for 2013. The general consensus on the Hook Woods event, which featured harder sections than previous rounds, was that the sections were all of the right difficulty, for all classes, which made for a much better and more competitive trial, and that it what we will be aiming for next year. Yep, after discussion with Radical bikes, riders at RadFest and at the annual meeting it was decided that it was in everyone's interest and in the interest of both events that they be run separately in 2013. This should mean that both events should run even better - the competition sections won't put any areas out of use for the RadFest riders and the competition riders will have the whole venue available to them. It also means that Radical Bikes will benefit from two great weekend events, which can only be good for them too At the moment our insurance states that bikes must be in full working order, which includes two working brakes. Send us an email to info@biketrialuk.co.uk to make a proper enquiry and we'll look into it for you No Blackpool this year, no. While it is a great venue and one that is popular with riders and spectators, we felt that it would be difficult to set sections that were different enough to this year's and varied enough for all classes and so decided to have a 'year off' from Blackpool. The Shipley Glen and Newcastle events aren't too far from you by comparison, so you may find it easier than you think to get to those rounds. We hope to see you there at any rate

Mick, the landowner from Barrow Farm was at the meeting. He requested that we do a two-day event completely separate to Radfest, which was agreed. So the comp riders will have the whole venue for the full 2 days, presumably Radfest will have the same whenever it is arranged for.

Some interesting points being raised here. It's always good to hear people's input - perhaps you might all like to come to the meeting next year, or send us some suggestions? All would be gratefully received and considered Most points (and points of view) seem to have been covered, and will all be discussed and kept in mind by the Federation when planning and organising these events, so I won’t go into things too much here. I would like to explain the choice of venues and events, however. We try very hard to make sure that there are events that riders from all regions can get to without too much travelling. The dates, venues and formats were decided at the annual meeting after all proposals and suggestions received by the Federation had been discussed at length. The proposals were invited in plenty of time before the meeting and representatives of the clubs working with the Federation were invited and encouraged to attend. All of the proposals that we received were discussed and, in fact, unanimously accepted. The Biketrial Federation is run by volunteers and we need all the support and input we can get for what is an increasingly difficult and thankless task. It’s impossible to please everybody, but we think we’ve managed to decide on a series that offers something for the vast majority of people wanting to compete in the nationals. We can only run events at venues and events where we have local clubs or organisations to help with the organisation and running of the event. The Crowthorne Club suggested Hook Woods and have agreed to run the event, Radical Bikes suggested their venue and have agreed to run the event in conjunction with the Crowthorne Club, the Scottish Club suggested the Bob McGregor trials park and have agreed to run the event, Fort William is a regular event as part of the UCI World Cup and the Scottish Club have agreed to run that, the Newcastle round is part of a larger event and is being run by Tyke Trial, Bracken Rocks is being run by the Morewoods and me in conjunction with Tyke Trial, and Shipley Glen, the traditional season-ender, was suggested by and will be run by Tyke Trial. We didn’t receive any suggestions or offers of venues or support from any other parties or clubs, so we didn’t have any others to consider. Where else would you like to see rounds held? We would welcome any input or suggestions for future venues. As Stan pointed out, there are two rounds in the South, one in the Midlands, two in the North and two in Scotland. People have to travel to all of them – the Scottish riders will have to travel to all of the English rounds (and many of them will have to travel to Fort William as well), the Northern riders will have to travel to the Scottish rounds and the Southern rounds and the Southern riders will have to travel to the Northern and Scottish rounds. Granted, there are some parts of the country from which people will have to travel further (Northern Ireland and the Southwest, for example), but it’s impossible to hold the competitions on everyone’s front doorstep, especially when we didn’t receive any venue suggestions of offers of local support for those areas, and looking at the map, the rounds seem pretty evenly spread and don’t seem to favour any one region or area. We can appreciate that some people may not want/be able to travel to all of the rounds, but that cant be helped and is one reason that we try to spread them out around the country as much as possible to make it fair for everyone (with one round on your doorstep at Barrow Farm Joe, you're luckier than most ) and why we drop the two lowest scoring rounds when calculating overall scores, to allow people to miss some if they want/need. There will be onsite camping at two of the four two-day rounds and plenty of local camping (including wild camping which is free and, I believe, legal in Scotland) in Fort William, so hopefully it shouldn't be too pricey.

The Biketrial Federation annual meeting was held on Sunday 9th December at British Cycling HQ in Manchester. We had a good turnout and plenty of new ideas were discussed. We also decided on the dates and venues for 2013; seven rounds over the course of the year with a pretty even spread up and down the country. Two new venues, a city centre trial and three events with a new and interesting format. The Biketrial Federation wesbite has now been updated with the majority of the news from Sunday's meeting. Dates and events for 2013 have been published, as have the changes that will be made to classes and events. Keep checking the website for further information on individual events over the course of the year! http://www.biketrialuk.co.uk/