March 18th, Carrol’s – No 2 Line Pohangina Valley
I got a ride out to the event with Kane Veltman whose son Vinnie has just started riding trials. I rode with Kevin Pinfold & Warrick George. Vinnie also rode around with us for a good part of the day.
It took me two laps to start riding properly. My first couple of laps were in the twenty’s and it felt a bit like I was either getting a five or paddling my way through for a three. Luckily, on the last two laps, I pulled my head in and got a lap of twelve and thirteen respectively. Not quite in with Warrick and Kevin, but getting closer.
My biggest ‘YES’ for the day was on my last lap on section eight. The main obstacle was riding up a slippery creek. It also had a few tight corners in the creek which is not nice on slippery rocks. For the first three laps I dabbed my way through. On the last lap I looked where I wanted to go, got my wheels on the right lines, and, apart from one slip up, refused to put my feet down, and was rewarded with a one. For the record, Warrick only got a two.
Number one was beyond me and Kevin. There was an undercut rock and you needed to be a very confident splatter to get it. Kevin tried it once and didn’t get it. On the next lap he made an easier line for me and ended up riding it himself. It still took me until the last lap to do it, and I got a one. Despite our successes Kevin and I scored all fives for this section because we weren’t riding the proper line.
Vinnie completed his first trial and did pretty good, cleaning almost all the sections at least once. At the end of the day Phil Stevenson got him riding across the creek, which had looked pretty daunting at the start of the day.
I had a good day and i didn’t hear any complaints and so i presume that everyone else had a good day as well.