When I have made a video of a trials practice day or event I tend to put it here "just because". Don't feel you have to watch, it's just for anyone who might be interested! We had a fantastic day up here at "Hellthorpe" yesterday. My knee is a bit dodgy so during Friday Arvo practice I didn't ride, but kept myself busy laying out 3 sections for the guys. Then with a bigger group coming up to ride Sunday I kept going and set 3 more. I couldn't believe it ... 6 sections! I even put up section Start and Finish signs! I have watched some experienced guys set sections for a club comp and they were quick, didn't muck around, and the sections were good. But seriously I find section setting quite hard. Too many possibilities and choices! The last ones took me ages and I was in an agony of indecision at times. And I really only made one line, around lower T3 level but marked a few "optional" easier lines around very hard things, here and there. It seems a massive next step to become proficient at setting lines for the various grades (and I'd need a lot more arrows etc!). But I'm thinking practice makes perfect, so I'll keep working on developing this skill. For me, although I didn't ride, yesterday was an absolute high. I've spent so many hundreds of hours over years now, clearing bits of scrub and fallen timber and excessive loose rocks to make areas thinking "maybe we could use this". So having these guys (3 T3 riders and 3 T4) have an absolute blast throwing themselves at the sections and loving them for about 5 hours straight was like the fulfilment of an ambition for me. It really made all the work worthwhile. All 6 sections were set within one quadrant of bush, our closest, most accessible and most regularly used practice area. I could easily have fitted another couple of sections in there, and I have heaps more areas that could be used! It made me realize for sure that we have more than enough potential stuff to hold a club comp. Anyway, although video makes everything look flat, small and easy it will give you an idea of the stuff we did. P.S. - conditions are really dry at the moment, which makes everything more possible! A lot of this stuff would not have been fun if things were damp, which is most of the year when you live in a rainforesty mountain location! Cheers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7FIDNNfis0

Posted by Andrew von Berky at 2023-09-17 23:30:19 UTC