Wyegate Trial 2009 - A Newbie's View
James Osbourne's view
Well I made it and my goal for my first ever event and LDT was achieved... to make it in one piece.
Really great fun! that's not to say I didn't fall off, or struggle in places. I was a little nervous to start off, in fact I couldn't even eat any breakfast, which if you know me is 'unusual'. I went very carefully on the first section, the TTR was on full lock against the stops on the first right hand turn at the bottom of the bank but I kept it upright and cleaned it, what a great start. It was then some time till I had another clean. I learnt that if the bike is on a camber and you need to dab on the lower side... basically you're off due to the height of the bike. Funny though, it took three such off's for me to learn this. The next thing I learned is that while my gearing was ok for the flowing parts of section that needed to be attacked, I simply couldn't go slow enough on the tight uphill turns. Clutch work helped but not sufficient to prevent another batch of 3's and 5's. Then there were loose rocks... mmmn. I found they move. Sometimes when you are on top of them! Thanks to Matt Neale for picking me up in one such place. He commented 'it's one thing falling over, but would you mind not taking the course with you'.
At Pant Glas, this was the only place where I sat there and thought I'm actually not going to be able to do this, sure enough that first section stopped me dead, took all my strength, and about three helpers to get up, 5 points of course, then after a good rest I cleaned the second part which felt great.
The navigation was great with both roadbook and GPS. The roadbook flapped about a bit and the route wound itself forward or backwards randomly (some mods needed there) but the GPS confirmed I was on track and showed me which waypoint I was at. In several places despite this being my first LDT I found I was leading little groups of riders. It's really funny riding along a country road in the glorious sunshine admiring the view and then looking back to see a trail of bikes off into the distance all following me and keeping their spacing. In other places I just went with the flow, and that caused me to take 1 wrong turn. Mostly I just double checked at junctions or just past junctions. Result was I think I only took one wrong turn for anything more than a few yards. I'll definitely use the GPS again.
Consequently I can be pleased that I finished in the top 10... by that I mean I was in the first 10 to arrive back at the Rugby club late in the afternoon. In terms of points I think I was also outstanding, hardly anyone got more than me. There was one TTR behind me and one finished very well up, so it must be possible. Now I have a target to beat for next year, 85 points. Shoud be able to manage that.
Anthony Moore stopped me later in the clubhouse and asked me if I had enjoyed they day. He had seen me numerous times in the previous two weeks at Haines getting bits to prepare my bike for the day. Next year I will try even lower gearing I think.
Anyway, thanks again for the GPS route. Much appreciated. I named each waypoint onto the GPS also so that they tied up exactly with routemap instructions. That resulted in me having to load two routes as my GPS can only take 125 waypoints per route, but can hold multiple routes. The GPS Track shows I covered 153 km in something over 7 hours at an average speed of 20 km/h.
Well done to everyone involved in organising this LDT. Thanks, James.
(Thank you James for the feedback. It is great to know how riders use the info we pass out. However, I know I made at least 3 mistakes in the road book (Iwas responsible for creating it) despite having some of our locals go out and test it. We may reassess whether we should move to a different method. Anyone else want to express their preferences? Also I'm sure other newbies will be inspired by your excellent write up. ed.)