BACK TO THE FUTURE: TWIN SHOCK TRIALS
Twin Shock Trials doesn’t exactly seem like the kind of pass time that would really get the heart pumping. And it’s sure as hell not that sexy. But if you’re looking for a chilled, low impact, low-danger good time on two wheels, then you’ve come to the right place.
This is a typical Twin Shock Trials bike - a Fantic 200 Trial. Twin shock trials is much the same as mono shock trials, apart from one aspect - it’s non stop. You may have seen riders like Tony Bou who can bounce around on the back wheel, balance at a stand still for hours while plotting their line, or hopping the bike in circles and rolling backwards, etc. This is all modern day trials. Non Stop is just that. You can’t stop while riding through the section. If you do you get penalised.
But before the trial actually begins, you must take a serious look at the course you are about to ride. Plan out your route and be aware of the no-go zones that you are not allowed to ride.
Here you will notice a red arrow, which means Expert riders must ride to the left of the arrow as it’s pointing left. You can see the log is higher there, hence the difficulty level increases. The section (course you ride around) has edge markers - white for right hand boundary of the section and red for left boundary. Novice follow the white and Clubman follow the blue - basically. It can be a little tricky at first to understand but after a couple sections you get the hang of it.
This marks the start of the section. There will usually be between 8-10 of these that you will complete multiple times during the day.
This is what is known as ‘Gardening’. Gardening is a process where you remove debris from the course. You can’t cut down a tree or move boulders or logs. More things like sticks, pine cones, and other particles that might cause a slip up or foot down. Gardening is totally legal by the way.
This is a modern day mono trials bike. These are also welcome at the Twin Shock Trial. The course is set out for twin shock bikes, so more often than not the mono bikes find the track a little easier. Still worth a crack though.
Typical obstacles that you are likely to find at a Twin Shock Trial.
It’s a very laid back affair with the chance to see other riders ‘clear’ the section and pick up on some hot lines yourself. Other riders are more than happy to share experiences and tips of the Twin Shock trade.
This is Olive Macdonald who came out on her Oset to try trials for the first time. This sport is a great way to hone your riding skills and it forces you to have good clutch and throttle control, as well as fantastic balance. All key skills to master if you want to be a great motorcycle rider.
Someone get this guy a Bunnings Voucher.
At the end of each section, you count how many times you have put your foot down through the section. 1, 2 and 3 are the maximum amount of times you can put your foot down per section. After 3 ‘dabs’, you can paddle your way though to the end without inuring any more points. But, if you happen to stop at all during the section, loose traction and start going backwards, or you fall off - that counts as a 5. The person with the least amount of points at the end of the day (or least amount of dabs and crashes) is the winner.
Classic SWM - not many of these around.
Maybe you have a twin shock bike hiding out the back of the garage that is begging to be released. They are out there somewhere - is that you!
The final Twin Shock Trial of the year is this weekend (November 22) near Te Pahu, Waikato.
Costs for Twin Shock Trials are as follow.
Entry Adult $20
Juniors $5
One Event Licence $35
Hamilton Club membership $40.
So initially if you don’t have an MNZ licence it will cost you $95. Pretty brutal up front to be honest and not conducive to getting people to ‘have a go’. But unfortunately that’s an MNZ rule thing that the organisers can’t change.
If you already have an MNZ licence it will only cost you $20 for the day - which is a bargin!
If you want any more information please contact Tony Perkins from the Hamilton Motorcycle Club.