18th of June, 2017, Coppermine Creek, Woodville

[Uncle Robert dropped me off at Merv’s house and Merv took me to the event.] I went across with Merv. On the way you have to go over the saddle road. When we reached the top it was like looking down from a plane or something, because we were above the clouds, looking down on a sea of white. When we got to the trial it was sunny. This was lucky because there were some bits that didn’t need to be any more slippery.

One and two were through the dry, rocky creek by the carpark, three was under the trees, four was in the creek proper, and five, six, seven, and eight were out in the open. These sections just got greasier as the day went on. I struggled with line choice and traction all day.

At least I wasn’t the only one. Most of A Grade and Intermediate were also well challenged. Paul Wheatley was going awesome on section eight, clearing the two rocks at the end of the section, only to muck up the exit. I think Jamie Mead must have decided that discretion was the better part of valour. I know he had a bit of a tumble at some stage. All of the intermediates struggled with five. The killer was the step on the last climb. You needed to sort of jump the sheep track onto the top. Kevin and Doug managed to do it with ease, but everyone else made a bit of a meal out of it.

My favorite section was eight. It was quite tight and rocky. Frustratingly I never cleaned it. The best I got was a one.  It would have helped a lot to be able to hop.

My not so favorite section was seven. It started going up a slippery slope. We didn’t have to go over any of the rocks on that part of the section, but I did have to be on the right side of them. I got lost a couple of times. The real problem was a very tight corner that I had to put my foot down to get around, then I had to go straight up a bank from a standing start on slippery ground.

Four and five were the most annoying. I should have been able to do them, but I kept stuffing them up. Four was mostly a mental problem. It had a couple of rocks to go up and they looked freaky, although they weren’t actually hard. Five was basically a few tight turns and banks. Parts of it were quite slippery. On the last lap Kevin walked the section with me and I improved heaps, though it doesn’t show on my score.

 The funniest thing all day was, near the end, when I saw Richard carrying Hugo’s Oset back to the carpark. I think the rear tyre had come off the rim. I wish I could just pick my bike up when something goes wrong.

Some of the sections might have been set a bit hard but I like a challenge and it wasn’t like it was dangerous. The only thing hurt was a few scores. I’m not normally a big fan of farmland sections but this trial has helped give me a bit more respect for them. Another awesome day on the bike.