Diz

Fair enough. Its a formula alloy hub so it is pretty rubbish, i was just trying to save a bit of money.

I'm glad you said that...I was begining to think i was odd for not wanting to fill my bike with helium. If you really wanted to save weight though, you could always try air-trials. Kind of along the same lines as air guitar only slightly cooler! As you'd only be imagining having a bike, it could be as light or as heavy as you like. Hell, you could have it filled with nitrogen and the tubes could be made out of gold! Remember you heard it here first...air trials is definately an up and coming sport...watch this space!

I cant make the weekend of the 7th but if you did mean the 14th/15th then there could be a possibility. Would be good to ride with some other guys for once rather than riding on my tod around newport! If anyone reads this and is interested (14th/15th) pop a reply on here. Would be good to have a mass of trials riders taking on the streets! Diz.

Most of the time i'll just go out to have a nice street session, but occasionally i'll go out with a few new tricks in mind. Usually i'll practice one for as long as possible or until i start messing up badly, then i'll try practicing another one, all the time trying to add it into some lines ive ridden a dozen times before. I wouldn't go out just to practice a move unless, like the other guys have said, you're missing the fundamentals such as your bunnyhop or pedal hops etc. At the end of the day just get out and ride...as long as you're enjoying yourself. If you find some other guys who are perhaps of a higher skill level than yourself you'll find you'll pick it up amazingly quick. Diz.

Hi! I dont think there's an age limit to riding trials or starting up from fresh. I'm 26 and i'm hoping to be riding trials till i die, as long you've got two legs, two arms and some reasonably big balls the limits are endless. I'd definately advise finding some guys to ride with though. When i started me and my mate were the only ones in the area riding trials which made learning new tricks really difficult. The learning process is definately much quicker if you can learn off others. Get yourself along to one of the organised rides..at least if you cant do any of the tricks, speaking to other trials riders and just watching will help a lot. Diz.

Hi guys! I'm Diz, aged 26 and currently living in newport south wales. I've been mountain biking for about 14 years and crossed over most disciplines (excluding cross-country.....the licra look didn't do it for me!?). Used to ride trials for muddyfox when i was 17, even rode a few shows including the bike show at the birminham nec in 1999, then i went to uni and it all went to pot! Recently taken it up again and i'm currently riding a diamondback kabuki mono. Mostly into street with the odd bit of natural thrown in. Always looking for people to session the streets with so if anyone heads over this way let me know. Cheers. Diz.

Hi! I'm a personal trainer and can tell you that doing bench on flat focuses the work on your central pecs. If the bench is on incline it will add more focus to the upper portion of your pecs, similarly if the bench is on a decline it will add more focus to the lower portion of the pecs. If you're looking to increase size of the muscle aim to hit the pecs hard with a variety of exercises. If you only have a bench aim to do a couple of sets on flat, a couple on incline and a couple on decline. Make sure you're not doing too many reps, for strength and bulk you'd be looking at about 8 - 10 reps, any more than that and you'd be looking to improve endurance of the muscle. Any more than 20 reps is pointless. To get the best effects from your workout you should be looking for each rep to take between 6-8 seconds. So 3-4 seconds pressing the weight, and the same for lowering. Select the correct weight, ie using these 6-8 second reps, the last 2 or 3 reps should be quite tough. Also, an important point to note is that you should have at least one rest day in between chest sessions to allow the muscle to repair itself and grow. An ideal training session for upper body strength would be to work the chest and triceps one day, then back and biceps the next. Nutrition is also important, make sure you're taking on board enough protein to repair the muscles, and also some complex carbs for refuelling otherwise all your hard work will be for nothing. Hope these tips help. Diz.

Hi guys, I've recently got back into trials and the freehubs gone on my bike. Its a diamond back kabuki mono (i know a lot of you hate it but its a good starter for the money). Anyway, the freehubs wrecked on it, not ideal when you're trying to hop off or across big gaps or drops!? I'm struggling to find a replacement for it or even to get the bloody thing off. Anyone know how i can get it off and where to buy a decent quality replacement? If you guys could help me out i'd appreciate it. Cheers. Diz. P.s. Any riders around the south wales area drop me a line...i'm stuggling to find people to session with.