Stump Wood (06) from the other side of the pencil.

Modern riders, Huh! In my day we all used to walk the hills taking things very seriously. It's no wonder the Bishop boys were way ahead of every one as they were the only two who inspected hill two, the long one over by the woods. Perhaps this explained why several riders used the excuse of getting lost for their pathetic showings. (Ouch! that hurt. ed.) Darren obviously left his map of the county at home.

Actually it was rather interesting to watch everyone's styles and lines. The fast boys were all body lean and opposite lock whilst the slowcoaches were rather more elegant. Joe and Ben were obviously out to prove which was faster but Joe was handicapped rather by throwing it all away on run one. It was slightly confusing by seeing the same bike appear twice with a different rider each time. Merv was obviously psyching himself up with a bit of mechanical therapy/plug changing as most rider were on their second lap by the time he got to me. He made up for it though and used some really smooth lines. As can be seen from the times Ben F was going some but he was unusual in that his times got slower as the day went on. Ah well these youngsters will develop some stamina in time and learn to pace themselves. Another trials rider making an impression was Darren. I reckon he could have improved on his times if he had chosen the right technique. Maybe taking the TY to bits, carrying it up the hill in 2 or 3 goes and reassembling it would have been effective. Actually it's disappointing to see that he was given a "maximum" bogey time for his first 2 attempts on hill 2. He actually benefited from this loosing at least a dozen seconds from his total like this!

Drew was showing that old style technology is no handicap to coming halfway up the results. Old style fashion sense was probably his problem. Mike was in a hurry. On a promise? Anyway he did my hill 4 times and that's the last I saw of him. His bike appeared again though with Ben on board. Faster than the CRF this time Ben. Jack was deceptive. Deceptively slow that is. Hondas do rev Jack. Never mind he seemed happy enough.

More brotherly competition was seen between Glen and Simon and whilst they both improved Glen always had the edge. Fuel injection against drum brakes. Good to see Martin back on knobbly tyres, much cheaper than tarmac and less dangerous. Colin should have used his GPS on the first run as he was over 10 seconds slower than later runs. His final time was actually better than all but a handful of enduro bike times so he can do it. Good effort for an old timer. Giving Colin a run for his money was Jim who was only 3 points short at the end of the day. Our great leader, Vess was making a reasonable effort but kept reminding everyone that he was riding the Jubilee enduro on Sunday. Some excuse as it didn't slow Steve down did it. That lad is getting fast. Pete Dunckley was enjoying himself and beat his travelling mate Mike Bowen by 1 place.

Sitting here watching the American 125 mx on the box I can see exactly where almost everyone went wrong. You are not riding fast enough chaps. I had a couple of goes at my hill and I reckon none took more than about 15 seconds! Actually I am not sure Darren was riding at all (did that bike have an engine?) although he did seem a bit quicker when I saw him later on that CRF.

Satisfaction for myself was gained when I noticed my CCM had gone from its parking place at the bottom of the hill. No, not a hope that it had been pinched. Ben has a similar amount of mechanical sympathy to myself and I approved of his way of warming it up, digging a groove on the start line. That bike is now an event winner and it's price has gone up 100 quid. Actually I'm just waiting for Ben to pop round with the cash. Run 3 was his best go yet on a bike that's rather different to his usual mounts. The 3rd fastest time all day here. Anyway a few minutes later the ground shook again and the fastest time on the hill was recorded. He missed a gear as well. I do wonder why he bothered to change gear though. 2nd will do anything.

It was good to see every one having a good day and it appeared that the event was enjoyed by all. Good work by Ian and Neil and well done to all the riders, even Darren