marg26

There's lots of help on youtube to get you started, check out Ali Clarkson and Super Rider channels on youtube especially for breakdowns and tips for what to learn. I started trials in my 40s and yes it is a steep learning curve with a lot of frustration. There's a few other older guys riding trials too, check out BackyardTrials and Todd on Bikes on instagram. Good luck!

They're both really nice bikes. Going by a quick glance at Tartybikes website, there's a 1 kg weight difference in favour of the Fourplay.

Come to say the same, it's the tricky nadgery setups that's the killer. After a couple of years of trying to learn trials I thought I was better than white level (based purely on the size of some of the obstacles) when I had a go at the comp at the Bike Trials Academy Weekender. Downgraded myself to white within moments. Quite humbling for a forty something to be riding alongside 5 and 6 year olds! There were still sections that easily beat me too. To be fair however, I've been a very slow learner at trials and had very little bike control at that time and you've definitely got a lot further than I had at that point.

Still some crazy shit going on in that video even after seeing everything that has come since :-D

Not posted anything on here for a while. Still riding. Still slow progress. Still some issues with my shoulder but I'm working on that improving mobility and strength there. I'm a mid/late forties rider still at beginner level after three and a half years. Most of my riding now is in the garden with limited space so working a lot on handling the bike at slow-to-no speed. Here's an image from today during a quick lunch time session of what I was doing. I don't work so much any more trying to go bigger, so much so that I don't often do anything higher than 3 pallets! Still takes me a lot of effort to do the small stuff like in this photo. Once I'd got on the bike and manoeuvred it into position to get the front up on that ladder/beam I found it very difficult to maintain balance without readjustments that caused collisions with the obstacles either side of me. And also difficult to get the front wheel up from standstill onto the obstacle without overshooting myself too much. I only made it round a couple of times in half an hour or so. I think I'd be more confident on the bigger stuff knowing I have the bike control there. Edit: just a couple more points to add: One of the things I've been thinking about is tension vs relaxation. We get told to relax on the bike so as to not be wooden, but at the same time, don't we need a certain degree of tension to resist the forces acting against us to upset our balance? So there's the need to identify how much I'm tensing up unnecessarily and how much more I might be able to relax. Too much tension increases the physically intensity of effort required which increases the over-correction errors. How much could effort be reduced by? How much of that is down to age is another thought that crosses my mind. Watching videos of some of the older riders, I see an 'old man thing' about them, and see it in my own videos from time to time too. I'm not yet 50, and lucky in that I've not really got any real physical health issues. Massive dislike of pain through injury and inability to cope with it though! Scraped a small amount of skin off my little finger this afternoon brushing past a stiff wire fence, enough to stop a ride chasing my kids round the car park! Also still riding by myself for 99.9% of the time so no feedback from other riders about what I'm doing, and not getting to watch other riders in real life are both contributing factors to slow progress. So that's why this post. Thanks for reading!

I bought a full sus XC bike from Canyon in 2012 so it's a no from me :-D As well as thinking most Canyons look ugly, and most carbon bikes look ugly.

Shit BMX? On yer pogo stick!

Not sure if this is BMX influenced by street trials or BMX that influences street trials?

Don't you just hate it when you upload your commute to Strava. Click save, and Strava has become unavailable. Grrrrr! Especially when I had managed to appropriate Public Enemy lyrics to embody my ride! #stravawanker #nobodycares

Hope you're doing a vid on it :-)

Okay on to the important stuff: why has he got inner tube wrapped around the rear hub? It's not like a chainstay that gets slapped by the chain repeatedly.

I've watched this a few times but that crash where you flop like a rag doll over the concrete block I've rewatched even more! You saw what's coming, let go (as in not tensed up) and let things run their course.

I'm on hopium that 3000 chihuahuas will do good :-D

Don't know why they talk about haptics. Unless lost in translation, and meant ergonomics. Anyway just thought it would be of interest here knowing the popularity of Magura brakes amongst trials riders. I don't use Magura myself.

Saw these on SingleTrackWorld. "In addition to optimized haptics, additional functions and better durability, we have also completely redesigned the hose bend protection." https://www.oakcomponents.de/BrakeLevers/

to be honest I've had enough of that too. There's another UK based knobbly tired two wheeled recreational transport forum where this dismissal of anyone who has doubts about the official line is rife. It's probably putting a lot of people off that forum. It's certainly putting a lot of people off from actually discussing their doubts because the moment anyone does they're either a tinfoil hat wearer, or troll. I suspect there's a lot of us who reside somewhere in the middle, who've done what they're told, you know it's meant to be based on science, we may not trust a single word coming out of the mouth of Boris, but the scientific advisors (the people who've actually made it their daily life to work on vaccines and viruses etc) we have our faith in (one of whom does post on the aforementioned forum, and it's worth reading his comments for, but it's wading through the other overly zealous shite that's so wearying). Apparently pharma has announced the sooner-rather-than-later need for a 2nd booster. I've got my two jabs, and I'll probably go for the booster before long, but I'm not rushing to go. The vaccine appears to be working for me however as have been in close proximity with someone who tested positive (LFT & PCR).

How else am I meant to hold the bars when not using the brakes!?

I've seen quite a few couples who ride MTB and put out videos on Youtube. Are there any trials couples doing the same? If not then I guess the closest might be Pat Smage and his wife/partner Hannah but she is closer to a mountain biker than trials rider.

Thought I'd have a go at riding brakeless this afternoon even though I'm not a competent trials rider. I didn't commit by removing the brakes, just avoided using them. This was helped by not trying to stretch my skills, just riding the bike with wheels mostly on the ground attempting to navigate tight spaces between a wall and a few pallets. Lots of small English bunny hops and small pivots to change direction and reduce speed, leaning front into objects. A few roll ups onto double stacked pallets and across a small gap was about as daring as it go. It made a change to my usual session and felt valuable for balance and control. Was only out for half an hour, but wrists felt like they'd had a workout.

Love this short paragraph from your link: "I’ll be blunt: there is very little within this letter that is even close to being correct, and there is almost no evidence presented to support any of its claims. I’ll now go through it point-by-point to explain where it’s wrong." - no fluffy vagaries or dressing it up. Beautiful! - the rest of the article however is too technical for me to read. Here's an alternative: https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19-critical-thinking-pseudoscience/doomsday-prophecy-dr-geert-vanden-bossche or https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/countering-geert-vanden-bossches-dubious-viral-open-letter-warning-against-mass-covid-19-vaccination/

Maybe read this and see what you think: https://fullfact.org/health/Vernon-Coleman-Trafalgar-Square-conspiracy-claims-false/ Don't get me wrong, things that have happened in relation to covid do raise questions, and give me doubts, but when the suggested reading is someone such as Coleman I'd rather put my trust in Peppa Pig LOL. It's all a bit of a mess really!

So is the wikipedia page about him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Coleman - doesn't exactly sound good - pseudoscientific, AIDS denialist, anti-vaxxer, conspiracy theorist Yes but what does it mean, how should we interpret it? According to Coleman: "It proves that everything that has happened since March has been a lie." which in my mind supports everything I read about him on that wikipedia page.

Best thing about this is the kids shouting (I'm the rider).