irish108

Since I hardly ever post on here except for in the for sale section (plug) thought it's about time I contributed something... Name your top ten competition riders in terms of style only (posture, agility, just general beauty to watch - nothing to do with level of ability) Past and Present, 20" and 26"... I'll Start 1. Gilles Coustellier / Jack Carthy... 3. Abel Mustieles 4. Cesar Canas 5. Giacomo Coustellier 6. Morgan Vassor 7. Ben Slinger 8. László Hegedűs 9. Pierre-Charles Thomas 10. Chris Akrigg

mint

Thanks to Tarty Bikes, Mick Carthy for filming and Jack for being inspirational! Bike is for sale in excellent condition under 6 months old 850ono email irish108@hotmail.com or PM me if you're interested! Cheers, James

So it does, I'll tell Barbara about the mistake.

Thanks to Rockman, Ben Savage and Tarty bikes for helping to set me up with this little beauty just in time for the competition season. First impression is it may be the nicest bike I've ever ridden, very comfy, very excited to see how much progess I can make with this pretty much perfect machine...

Nice one, the front wheel move on the fence was especially impressive. Hope the knee is feeling better, I know how annoying it is.

Cheers lads.

Nice one Adam. Jack may be the best pure trials rider the world will ever see. People need to appreciate him.

Voila.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xVhp2xEYKc Thanks to Mick and Ross for filming.

Really interesting question, it depends what you want to achieve, the "age is just a number and state of mind" thing is a great attitude but science has a lot to say about the age that physical characteristics start to decline, things like testosterone levels, reaction time, agility, coordination, stamina and strength and recovery time all go the wrong way sooner or later, all though no doubt the more active you stay the better. Comparable sports such as gymnastics and sprinting have very different ages for peak performance, gymasts tend to be teenagers, and sprinters don't necessarily peak until around 30. Sports where experience is a factor such as martial arts have a later peaking age and competition trials is similar in that sense. In terms of competition riders, Mark Caisso had IMO his stronger year ever this year at age 29, and Benito Ros and Dani Comas are the same age and it'd be harsh to say they're past their best. I've been considering lately what I can realistically hope to achieve at competition riding turning 25 this summer and I'm hoping I've got 5 youthful years left before age becomes an issue. I would say at 27 you should be bang in your athletic prime and getting back into riding would be a great idea. I love trials and I'll be gutted if my knees don't hold up until I'm at least 40, even if by then it's just for fun and fresh air. I bumped into Martyn Ashton the other week and he's still going strong, I didn't ask how old he is pretty sure it's still double figures... he looks extremely well!

Nice to read a technique question rather than people ranting and raving about how shite their bikes are. In my opinion the best and most natural looking jumpers use more hip extension than pedal kick, in which case pedal preload doesn't contribute that much, it's almost the same as if they were doing a jump off the bike. That being said many top riders find that focusing more on the pedal kick helps them. IMO if you think too much about preloading tension against the pedals you're going to screw up the mechanics of your jump, you're better to concentrate on jumping and letting the bike follow you naturally, and I'd say this applies to jumps in every direction. Finely tuned jumps are powered mainly by the hips and hamstrings more than the quads (which are more active when doing pedal kicks), these muscles are activated by sitting back and down explosively on the preload, the faster you preload downwards the more of a stretch reflex you gain for the jump (watch gilles coustellier or damon watson sidehopping for excellent examples of stretch reflex). If you focus too much on the pedal kick I find you can end up "muscling" the jump rather than springing. Hope this helps.

he's not bad for a pro bodybuilder

Many people disagree with me on this but it's not about the bike IMO, get whatever is the best value within your price range and just get on it! The "perfect bike" if there is such a thing only stays that way for a short time, the perfect rider on the other hand, there isn't such a thing, only a work in progress.

Nothing for Christmas but a new attitude to training for New Year.

Well said. This is the best way IMO, lots of people wait until the strong foot comes round to lift the front wheel and it looks rushed and uncontrolled. It's all about timing of the body movement and rotations. After a few thousand goes it should click pretty good.

Haha that ending is comedy! Good vid. Very good rider.

+70bb is going to make it very difficult to do taps.. try-all gum shields recommended for new Sky 2 users! Gilles and Vincent already do a lot less tapping than they used to. Should be great for wedging on little rocks )

Awesome vid again, the guy is second to none for pure entertainment IMO. I could write some big words about him not wearing a helment but I know he gets a kick out of the fuss everybody makes about it. People keen enough to get wound up about it ought to go put their helmets on because they're banging their heads against a brick wall.

Nice one Joseph, enjoyed that. Some good TGS going on there lol. Looks like you've improved quite a bit in the last few months, should be on for making some finals next year. Keep them coming, there's been a bit of a drought of decent vids lately! James

Such a shame he quit bike trials, sure he would of been up there with Gilles etc, probably whooping them to be fair. Anyone know exactly where that place is? Guessing Catalunya somewhere..? Looks awesome.