15th April 2018, Opawe Road, Pohongina
For once Mum and Dad had the weekend free and so were able to come out to the trial. Mum to “ride” and Dad to sleep.
It’s probably the last time we’ll be having a trial on this property as the farmer is fencing off the creek.
Adrian and Callum set the sections though, due to some complications, they had to finish setting them on Sunday morning, which a few other club members helped with.
I was riding with Kevin Pinfold, Warrick George, and Mark Sidebotham. If I had to name a least favorite section it would be section one, just because the downhill was slightly freaky. Overall though, the sections were pretty good.
My favourite section was four. It was basically just a whole lot of tight turns over and around a few small rocks but it was quite tricky and it took me until my last lap to get a clean.
One of the things that frustrated me most about the trial was that I only managed to clean three out of eight sections, even though they were all fairly doable. So, at the end of the day, I went around the five sections I hadn’t cleaned, and cleaned them.
I cleaned two and eight the first unofficial time but took quite a long time trying to get five and seven. I got section three in about five attempts but, before I got it, I fell off a bank. There was a tight corner just before the bank and I got a bit off-balance and then I didn’t give it enough gas though I did give it enough to get right to the top before I came back down again.
Luckily I didn’t hurt myself. Not even a bruise, even though I landed on a pile of rocks, and then the bike landed on me. Merv, Warrick, and Chris M were there to pick the bike off me. It did reinforce why you should have someone around while you’re practising.
All in all I had a good day and it’s a pity we’ll be loosing that property.
