Aziraphael

Coming along nicely with the videos, young Kevin-San. Nice range of clips, decent music, not too long, not too short. Props. And for your next trick...? - Adi -

Ooof! That's some tricksy riding right there! Haha! Maks me wanna go ride my bike, shame I'm at work, eh? Awesome... Adi

Seconded! You really need to get a helmet sorted dude! It may not look cool, but neither does ending up like Stephen Hawking... Callum man, good pics! Liking the style! Adi

And there was me thinkin I was hearing music in my head! Thanks dude. Adi Maybe if you didn't fall off so much lol Yeh man! Underpass gap for definite next time! As Karl said, if he actually does some more stuff and wears his helmet like a good boy... Watch this space... Hey Mike, thats around the back of an office block down the road from where we all live, next time you're in peterborough we'll show you... There's some nice drops and drop gaps there. Adi

Nice man, real nice. Very smooth n relaxed, doesn't matter there's not much to it, makes it all the more inspirational really... Good tuneage too... And yeh, what Kev said; When did karl actually learn to move around when filming things??? lol Props. Adi

A short video of the Peterborough boys strutting their stuff(!) one sunny Spring day in 2008... Not much content, but its a laugh at any rate... Trials-Forum Video -> Full View • Download • Upload Adi

I, for one, hate when you're all set to ride and then you see those dark clouds just a-rollin' on in... It doesn't even have to rain, just that feeling you get when you realise your day's about to be shat on from a great height... And pretty much everything above already mentioned, aprart from the cars. People are allowed other hobbies, you know? Injuries are a bit of a nuisance, agreed, but it kinda comes with the territory, so you can't hate 'em too much. My real pet peeve, if you're really interested, is knowing you can get up/drop off/go over something of a certain height. But as soon as that height is translated to a different place/terrain you can't do it! Grrr!! Rant over! - Adi -

Ok, I'm not sure what the lucasade way of bleeding is. I just hope it doesn't envolve injecting fizzy energy drinks into your brakeline lol. Let me know what steps you have done so far and i'll try to help. Kev

As a supplement to Trials riding, I used to play squash to keep fit with a mate of mine on his return weekends from the Marines... Anyhoo, not being the brightest spark on the bonfire, I neglected to get any goggles for general eye protection and continued to play in my glasses. Well, rather predictably, on Friday the 13th of January 2006 I was being a smug f**ker and thought I'd figured out where the guy was gonna send the ball next. I span round and went round the back of him to cut the ball off mid-return, when I suddenly found myself face-to-face with his backswing!! I now have a nifty scar on my right brow where the racquet hit my head, and a nifty scar ON MY EYEBALL where my left lense shattered into my eye. The scar, inidentally, is from the resulting operation (under LOCAL anaesthetic) to try and remove a small fragment of glass from my eye. No such luck... It would have caused more damage trying to chase the damn thing out, so they left it in there. It may stay there for ever, or it may travel either further in or maybe even out, but we don't know until it happens one way or the other. Obviously the moral of the story should be to wear eye protection at all times when playing dangerous sports... I prefer to merely state that doing anything in any way risky on a Friday 13th should be avoided at all costs... One week of being unable to open my eye, a following week of excrutiating pain everytime I blinked, a total of three weeks of on-the-hour-every-hour eyedrops, £185 worth of new glasses and the now rather irritating occasional lack of ability to judge distances (or heights)... Woo! - Adi -

That stem anything like the Echo HiFi, since I appear to be inheriting one? lol - Adi -

Thanks for clearin that up I realise a fair few people are gonna be sayin this to me now... :$ Thanks for clearing that up Thank you very much, and that's a good point. Taken to a certain extention of this train of thought, (and bearing all the 'playful banter' in mind) aren't all you 'stock' boys trying to get closer to 'mod'? hehe! Interesting cross section of opinion... Next post? "Mod Is Gay"? Discuss... Just kidding... - Adi -

Hey. I may be relatively new on here, but I'm not new to Trials riding. I've noticed whenever I mooch around these hallowed pages that there are an awful lot of riders espewing the view that "Mod is cheating"... I'm not here to start an argument, but I would like to know where this has come from and what other people think of the subject. Now, I'm fully prepared to be corrected on the following statement, but weren't the original Trials bikes all Mods? I'm fairly sure the name itself comes from the fact that they were originally modified from BMXs for motorcycle Trials riders to practice on and to keep fit between rounds/seasons. If this is true, then surely it follows that rather than 'cheating', using 'mods' is more true-to-form than the current crop of 'stock' bikes. I've ridden both, and yes some manouevres are naturally easier than others on a 'mod', but equally I find it much harder to do some moves on my 'mod' than I ever did on any of my 'stock' bikes. Would it not be a little more accurate to describe 'stock' Trials as more challenging option, something to aim for perhaps, than to refer to 'mod' riding as 'cheating'? I don't particularly like the idea that people out riding might be looking down on me for my choice of wheelsize, and I can't imagine any new riders feeling any different. A lot of newer riders really take on board what more experienced riders have to say about the sport, the equipment used and also the size/shape/style of bikes used... Putting forward an idea that people who ride 'mod' are doing so because its easier and therefore cheating seems to go against the grain of everything we say as trials riders, in that we pride ourselves on not being elitist tossers, don't you think? We always claim we'll ride with anyone, are happy to help each other progress and other things along those lines. Do these 'stock' riders somehow feel that their Trials achievements are being undermined by someone doing a similar thing but on a smaller set of wheels? Honestly? I ride 'mod' now for a couple of reasons; I'm a clumsy rider and was fed up with breaking mechs and tensioners on my 'stock', I really like the look of the 'mods', I find that I have more confidence when learning new things on a 'mod', and finally for some reason I see videos of 'mod' riders and seem to be inspired more by them than a lot of the 'stock' riders... Obviously a lot of this is personal preference , I'm not here for a "which is better?" debate, just interested in what people think - Adi -

Took the words right out of my mouth! I have the same frame, although I'm still using mostly old parts on it so I can ride as I build. How do you get on with the low forks on that? I was thinking about it but I was worried about having my weight too far forward/losing the advantage of the BB rise... - Adi -

Hey Liam! Welcome to the world of Trials! In response to your question: I think it varies from rider to rider. There are a few different ways to get up onto a block, for example. Yes, you could just lunge at the block and physically wrench the bike up onto it, but also you could skillfully pop the front wheel onto the top then by a simple weight shift bring the back wheel up there too. Both styles will acheive the same result, one will look smoother, granted, but as long as you're up there and happy with how you did it, it shouldn't matter. It's all about having fun and learning. As a good riding buddy of mine says, "It doesn't matter how you got up it, mate, just as long as you did". You can make an awful lot of effort for youself trying power moves and such where you could just be smooth instead. Some moves do require being able to manhandle the bike, but a lot of it is just about weight-shifting and technique. Something else to bear in mind is that if you're only just starting out, both your strength AND technique will improve anyway. On a similar note, have you seen any videos of 'Bigman' riding? The guy is big and burly and looks like he could easily pull your head off, but he's all about the smoooooooth... He never looks as though he's having to muscle the bike around because he just flows... I guess what I'm trying to say is that every rider adapts to their own strengths and weaknesses. I've been on rides recently with a guy who's name I sadly forget, but I swear the kid looks about 9 and he's up and over stuff twice as high as I can manage! I'd happily say I could benchpress this kid without thinking twice, but he knows how to work his bike. Yeah, so just to re-iterate; you'll find your own style, whether it be power or technique, and you'll get as good as you believe you can. Now get out there and ride! - Adi -

As mentioned here, it's difficult to find good software without paying for it like a good, law-abiding citizen. I do agree, Windows Movie Maker is a bit toss, but I have been using Ulead VideoStudio 11 recently on a trial basis with ok results. I haven't yet stockpiled enough footage to need the full version, but the basic taster seems to offer a decent level of titling abilities, footage cropping, soundtrack options and so on. If you go onto the Ulead website you should be able to download a taster and see what you think. Happy hunting! - Adi -