7 reflections on my first trial - I spent last Sunday at my first competition. These are my reflections - posting to hold myself accountable to them, and feedback welcome. My objective for the day was to learn - from what the days rituals were, some benchmarking of my skills and just know what a trial is all about. My stretch goal was to complete the trial, and have something other than a 5 on the scorecard. Observations: 1. The trial had challenging passages between sections. A few months ago I would have found this daunting, but I was able to manage without issue. Happy with this. 2. Where I thought I could do it, I tried the line of the class above what I was riding. This did challenge me, perhaps too much, but I did get a good sense of the skill gap I need to bridge. 3. I often do weekend sessions of 2-3 hours nonstop. I thought this and other fitness work would see me through. I didn't feel taxed at the trial, but I was taxed enough to start being a touch sloppy with my timing and control which quickly resulted in poor rides. Need to step up a level. 4. I spent time picking lines, but seldom was able to stick with them. A bad turn or traction issue and I was off my line, sometimes in a heap of trouble. Often I found myself bounced around very quickly, either from rocks or loose dirt. Future practice to deal with this more practice in similar terrain- rockbeds, and off camber turns. Also more practice using 2nd gear, as I've seldom used 2nd but had another rider suggest it as a way of keeping better traction. 5. Loopy loop out - a couple of times now I've had issue with steep uphill with an obstacle. I did it a few months back at Neil's coaching, and again on Sunday. It's a dangerous problem, and hurt my knee with it (section 7 for those that were at the trial), and now can't practice for at least a few weeks. I've not been unable to unpack this myself - I know it's some combo of gear selection, momentum, body position and clutch; and I do it worst when tired. Still feel frustrated at this. Once the frustration (and knee pain) pass improve, I'll youtube it, and dedicate the next 1:1 chat with Neil to it, and do some focussed practice to work on this. 6. The bit of the trial I enjoyed most was the sections I was able to improve on. Some sections I did worse on the second lap as was trying something completely new, but some where I knew I had the line right, was able to execute better 2nd time around. 7. Bike, gear, transport, food and drink - all went well, didn't eat as much as I thought I would. Did forget sunscreen at first. Ice in the lunchbox was handy for the knee injury 🤣 Goals-certainly learnt things. A few sections as cleans, a couple of 3s. 😆 a DNF. Unfortunate but will only worry me if I'm not able to correct my looping habit for future trials.

Posted by Glen Horn at 2022-04-11 07:12:05 UTC