24 riders enjoyed a day of excellent weather at Granite Mountain for 3 loops of 5 sections for all classes. Beginner, Novice and sport rode in the morning, expert and pro rode in the afternoon. Beginner and novice classes share sections, with splits for novice obstacles, while sport riders had dedicated sections with no splits. I’ve found that putting some splits in for a novice class allows for some progression in skills better than going straight from beginner to sport difficulty. It’s pretty easy to do and seems to work well, so I’d encourage others to try it out for their events if you are interested in developing younger or newer riders. Expert and pro also shared sections with splits.
Beginner was four 1st time riders, all under 16. Barrett was our youngest rider at 6, hopped on a Koxx micro-sky about 30 minutes before the event and hung tough for the duration. Coen had some real nice rides on the other Micro Sky entered for 3rd place, and showed good control. Ethan tried trials out on his mountain bike and rode well for second place, while Dillon saw the result of practicing for a week and only took 3 points for the win.
Novice had 6 riders, which we separated into youth and not so youth. Nigel is a moto rider with a trials bike riding his first bike comp to the win. Logan really showed improvement, sticking with every ride and working to the end of every section. In ‘mature’ novice, Rob hopped on a loaner bike and tried his hand at his first comp, hope to see him riding more in the future. Colin is a returning rider, and stayed much cleaner than his first event last fall. David missed the win by a point to (I think) first time competitor Jeffrey.
In Sport, Dezi worked hard all day and really showed some improvement in his first event at that level. He came within about 2 feet of notching his first sport clean in section 4 after making all the hard parts look easy, but there are many cleans in his future. Grayson probably won the most fun award for the day, he was smiling every time I saw him. Stephen was struggling with a return to reality after spending his honeymoon on a beach (unfortunately getting sick), but got some good rides in. Robert did fine and brought nearly 20% of our riders up from NM and points South, also whipping up 2 days worth of breakfast burritos in the driveway on Sat morning. Micah was riding well, with 10 of his 17 points coming as balance recovery hops that strayed over the ribbon, earning 2nd place and some tough experience for the future. Brian put on a clinic on his old steel Monty with original brake pads on the v brakes. In his last comp old steel montys were trick and the pads were new. By the 3rd loop his brake fingers weren’t working any better than the brakes, but he still refused to put a foot down, only taking 3 points all day.
Expert saw the Scott Poupore return to competition on his old (mild) steel Monty with v brakes, schooling everyone until he had to leave for a family function after 2 loops. Glad to have him out with us, hope to see him riding more. Alex was the blood donor of the day, but got some real nice rides in despite the misfortunes. Mike stopped by on his way from moving from VA to Fort Collins, really looking forward to riding with him more and glad to have him in the area now. He was nearly one of the only successful expert rides in section 4, just hadn’t walked the section to see where the exit was! My highlight was finally cleaning the downhill part of section 4 on the 3rd loop. Amazing how easy it was once I did it right. Gavin got the win in his first expert attempt, looking good for the future as he is 14. Two of the sport kids, Micah and Grayson, rode the first loop with us on the expert lines and gained some practice and experience for the future.
In Pro, Randy is improving by leaps and bounds and getting a lot of experience this year filling out the extra space in Robbie’s trusty Justy as a trials gypsy this summer. I’m expecting some type of Thelma and Louise thing from Pfun Pfilms later in the season! Max filled in the middle of the 3 man pack, while Robbie took the win with only 5 points and was looking very controlled.
Thanks to Micah for help in setting sections, and always a big thanks to the Bernhardts for their help. Bob brought the luxury porta john up on Friday, and Cindy handles the paperwork for me while I chitchat and relax in the shade! Thanks to riders who also scored for the other groups, and non riding scorers Andy Parker, Melissa Hertrich, and Mickey Hertrich. Without scorers we can only have unobserved trials!
The day went well and we really enjoyed being out riding trials with other riders. Thanks to all of you who made the trip, hope to see more next time.
Chris
Results:
24 total riders, 11 riders under 16 yrs old, 7 riders competing in their first bike trials
| Beginner | ||
| 1st | Dillon Jara | 3 |
| 2nd | Ethan Linnenberger | 11 |
| 3rd | Coen Fricke | 24 |
| 4th | Barrett Poupore | 51 |
| Novice (under 16) | ||
| 1st | Nigel Parker | 34 |
| 2nd | Logan Trenkle | 49 |
| Novice (16+) | ||
| 1st | Jeffrey Li | 13 |
| 2nd | David Trenkle | 14 |
| 3rd | Colin Downs | 31 |
| 4th | Rob Linnenberger | 47 |
| Sport | ||
| 1st | Brian Fricke | 3 |
| 2nd | Micah Hertrich | 17 |
| 3rd | Robert Hertrich | 30 |
| 4th | Stephen ? | 35 |
| 5th | Grayson Hertrich | 44 |
| 6th | Dezi Bernhardt | 63 |
| Expert | ||
| 1st | Gavin Hertrich | 44 |
| 2nd | Chris Hertrich | 48 |
| 3rd | Mike May | 62 |
| 4th | Alex Mati | 63 |
| 5th | Scott Poupore | DNF |
| Pro | ||
| 1st | Robbie Pfunder | 5 |
| 2nd | Max Schultze | 17 |
| 3rd | Randy Gibson | 35 |
| Beginner | ||
| 1st | Dillon Jara | 3 |
| 2nd | Ethan Linnenberger | 11 |
| 3rd | Coen Fricke | 24 |
| 4th | Barrett Poupore | 51 |
| Novice (under 16) |
||
| 1st | Nigel Parker | 34 |
| 2nd | Logan Trenkle | 49 |
| Novice (16+) |
||
| 1st | Jeffrey Li | 13 |
| 2nd | David Trenkle | 14 |
| 3rd | Colin Downs | 31 |
| 4th | Rob Linnenberger | 47 |
| Sport | ||
| 1st | Brian Fricke | 3 |
| 2nd | Micah Hertrich | 17 |
| 3rd | Robert Hertrich | 30 |
| 4th | Stephen ? | 35 |
| 5th | Grayson Hertrich | 44 |
| 6th | Dezi Bernhardt | 63 |
| Expert | ||
| 1st | Gavin Hertrich | 44 |
| 2nd | Chris Hertrich | 48 |
| 3rd | Mike May | 62 |
| 4th | Alex Mati | 63 |
| 5th | Scott Poupore | DNF |
| Pro | ||
| 1st | Robbie Pfunder | 5 |
| 2nd | Max Schultze | 17 |
| 3rd | Randy Gibson | 35 |