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• Bill Edgington's 100k Ride Report
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• US Source for ordering the hard to find ELF Lubricants.
• Scorpa - Great Britain GP Press Release
• Marc Colomer Joins Scorpa
• 2006 Summer/Fall Series Schedule
• First North/South Texas Shootout
• 2006 Texas State Series - Results by Round  <.doc format> <.pdf format>
• Wesley Brace's Photos from the Tishomingo Nationals
• Trials Training Center Photos from the Tishomingo Nationals
• 2006 Issue of MotoTrialSport Magazine Now Available

    North/South Texas Shootout Results

Based upon an imaginary line, drawn east to west across the state through Waco, Texas, all riders residing south of that line were considered as a member of the "South" team, while all riders residing north of that line were considered as the "North" team.  There was a total of 31 riders, with 20 riders representing the North, and 11 riders representing the South.  As such, all 11 South riders counted toward the shootout, while only the top 11 North riders counted toward the shootout. (In other words, the 9 lowest scoring North riders were not figured into the shootout totals.)

At the end of the day, the total accumulated points for the top 11 "Team North" riders were compared to the total accumulated points for the 11 "Team South" riders.  Since a gate trial is all about accumulating points, then the higher the points, the better. The results of the championship are as follows:

(09/25/06 Eddy Kessler/Darrell Shannon)

    "Just For Fun" Labor Day Weekend Trial & Cookout

For the vast majority of the riders, this was their first ever Gate Trial.  And, for Karl Peterson, and Mike Hill, this was their first ever trial period!  After explaining the different rules for a gate trial, we divided into two groups, and hit the sections.  It was a huge amount of fun to watch each of the riders begin to figure out the different strategy of a gate trial.  You would have a higher level rider attack the majority of the gates, take a dab, and lose their points only to be followed by a lower class rider who successfully navigated an easy line, and accumulated 1 or 2 points, to their favor.  Can't speak for the other group of riders, but my group was filled with laughter and fun watching each other gain or lose points as a result of learning to balance skill and ego.

A quick poll of the riders, during the award ceremony, provided some feedback on the event.  The vast majority of the riders voted in favor of the gate trial format as being a lot of fun, and something that they would like to see repeated at future club trials.  It was more than obvious that everyone had a really good (and most important for Texas Trials "FUN") time.  With the gate trial format, no rider was required to ride any line, or obstacle, that they were uncomfortable with, including our two first time trialers.  Way too often, the new blood that we need in this sport are scared away by imposing sections, or a loop that requires Amateur level skills to negotiate.

The second half of this "Just For Fun" event was the Cookout.  With perfect timing, Bill Edgington fired up the grill, and got the kielbasas and hot dogs on the fire.  In addition to riders, we hade family, friends, and neighbors (who took a high grin level spin on a trials bike) on hand to enjoy the event.  Beneath our array of canopies, we had a good Labor Day Weekend social, with everyone enjoying hot dogs, sausages wrapped in tortillas, chips, salsa, cookies and iced down watermelon.  It is really nice when a good plan comes together to produce a good time for all.
 

(09/03/06 Bill Edgington/Darrell Shannon)

    Gary Jackson - Hall of Fame Award!

I was recently contacted by representatives of the NATC regarding Gary Jackson's "Hall of Fame Inductee" plaque.  Specifically, regarding my ability to posthumously present the award to Gary's wife Pat, on their behalf.  Pat and I work together, so it was with great pleasure that I had the opportunity to take the award to her on Friday 08/04/06.  <Click on the pictures for a larger view>

Those of you who knew Gary, how he influenced our Texas Trials clubs, and how passionate he was about North American trials are well aware of what a deserving recipient he is of this award.  If you have not done so recently, it might be a fitting time to < read through > a few of the postings made by Gary's friends, upon hearing of his finally succumbing to cancer.

(08/04/06 Darrell Shannon)

    2006 CTTA/STTA Summer/Fall Series

Hi Everyone,

The schedule for the 2006 STTA/CTTA Summer/Fall Series is below. The best 4 out of 5 events count for series points. The following classes/lines will be supported at each round: Rookie, Novice, Amateur, Intermediate, & Expert (if we have any Master riders... send me a note saying that you want to/plan to ride several events and we'll also build a Master line for you.)

All of the events will be held on a Saturday. We'll ride in groups and judge each other. We'll try to get each event started somewhat early, between 10:00 & 11:00AM, while it's cooler. Look for start times in each flyer, flyers will be posted as each event approaches.

As usual, the fee to enter the event will be nominal - $5. However, each event may (or may not) also have to charge a land use, or insurance fee. We will attempt to keep these (extra) charges to a minimum, we may even use the entry fee to offset the insurance fee... basically, we want the Summer/Fall series to be the most fun you can have for a few bucks (at least on a trials bike...) Again see the flyer for specific information regarding fees.

So, here's the schedule!

• JUL 15 - Summer/Fall Series #1 - Rio Bravo, Houston
• AUG 05 - Summer/Fall Series #2 - Brace Acres/Wolf Den, Hutto
• SEP 16 - Summer/Fall Series #3 - Emma Long City Park, Austin
• OCT 21 - Summer/Fall Series #4 - Harvest Classic Charity Challenge, Luckenbach
• NOV 11 - Summer/Fall Series #5 - Jay Decker's, Wimberley

(See the EVENTS page, for greater detail, contacts, and event flyers)

Hope to see you at the events!
Don, Bill & Kim

IMPORTANT NOTE: For the Summer/Fall Series, you should ride ONE LEVEL UP from your normal State Series class! The Summer/Fall Series is designed to be a Fun, Learning, and Growth experience. The series was formed around the idea of allowing riders to ride in groups of mixed skill level, teach each other as they ride, and help each other climb the skill level ladder in preparation for moving up a class in the following year’s State Series. As such, the Trialsmasters, at each event, will intentionally make the section difficulty easier for the Summer/Fall series. In other words, a Summer/Fall series “Amateur” section should fall halfway between the typical Novice and Amateur section difficulty, found in a State Series round.

IMPORTANT NOTE about the IMPORTANT NOTE:  The concept of riding ONE LEVEL UP may not hold true across all of the Summer/Fall Series events, so be sure and check out a few of the sections carefully, at each event, before signing up for your class.  Whether State Series or Summer/Fall Series, the past few years have seen a significant disparity in section difficulty from event to event.  In the absence of a clear standard for the classes, section difficulty is based upon the judgment of each club, and/or trials master.  As such, we are seeing some pretty dramatic differences in section difficulty and riding skills required.  For example:  At round one of the Summer/Fall series, I rode a vintage twin-shock in the Amateur class, and took 9 points.  At round two, I rode a modern bike, and took 24 points.  Obviously, the Amateur class section difficulty was not consistent across events.  This is not to say the either event was right, wrong, better or worse.  Just inconsistent.

    Foxit PDF Document Reader

Most of the documents you find on the Texas Trials Website, and others on the Internet, are stored in Adobe's PDF (Portable Document Format) file format.  For those who do not own Adobe's Acrobat PDF creation software, there has always been the free Adobe Reader tool, but it is a huge 27 Mb download.  Not only does this take up space on your computer, but for those still on a dial-up internet connection, the download time is extensive.

The good news is that there is a great alternative from Foxit Software.  Their FREE Foxit Reader software is just slightly less than a 1Mb download.  In addition, it does not have to be "installed" on your computer, as it just runs as a simple .exe file.  After first hearing of the tool in a PCWORLD Magazine article, I have been using it a home, and work, for the past several months.  The small file size means that it loads up quick, and you don't have to endure Adobe's splash screen every time you start up your reader!

(07/09/06 Darrell Shannon)

    4th Annual STTA Senior Cup - Sunday, Nov 23. 2003

As the gusting wind tried to blow us all away, the temperature immediately dropped  about 20 degrees.  Riders who, just moments before, had been sweating in short sleeves were running for their trucks in search of another layer of clothes or a jacket.  The sweet part is that within the hour the skies cleared to provide us with an absolutely gorgeous, cool, mail order perfect, riding day with perfect traction having provided by the exact amount of rain.

Despite the initially threatening skies, we had nine riders show up to take a stab at getting their name added to the past winners appearing on the Senior Cup.  Unfortunately, the "Veteran" (50+) class went uncontested for 2003.  The "Senior Amateur" (40+) winner was Darrell Shannon and the "Senior Expert" (35+) winner was Lloyd Allen.  The perpetual Senior Cup trophy now records their names, along with previous winners of the classes.  View complete results and photos below.

(11/30/03 Darrell Shannon)