19th March 2017, Carrol’s No2 Line, Pohangina
Dad is always trying to get people to come to the trials events. Everyone says that they are interested in coming to a trial but hardly anyone ever turns up.
The Bennetts were at the Moonshine Enduro on Saturday. Somehow dad convinced them to come to Sunday’s trial. It helped a little that Mike knows Kevin Pinfold and wanted to catch up with him. So Mike, Ellen, Hiki, & Alfie stayed at our place on Saturday night and came out to the Pohangina Valley with me on Sunday.
Mum and dad had to leave really early to get to a Central Cross Country in Dannevirke. Mike already had a trailer full of bikes. Without Uncle Robert I would have been really stuck. He took the two trials bikes out to the event and I took the Bennetts.
The plan was for Mike and Hiki to share mums GasGas. Hiki picked it up fairly quickly but Mike, who should have known better, kept cutting corners and making other basic mistakes. Unfortunately, on section six, mums bike stopped and they couldn’t get it going again. They thought that they might have fouled a plug or something. They completed the first lap by sharing my bike. Sections five, six, and seven were in a back paddock that I don’t remember using in past events. Seven had a tricky little creek. Hiki rode most of it ok but got a bit out of control at the end. He over-compensated going up the last bank and looped my bike, ripping the already broken mudguard off. Ellen and I both had a laugh at that one and, after eight, we went back to their car and duct-tapped it back on. The real pity was that Ellen had been videoing on her phone and it had run out of battery literally 10 seconds before Hiki crashed!
Maybe they would have stayed longer if mums bike was still going but, as it was, they left soon after they finished their first lap. They live an hour north of Whangarei and didn’t want to still be driving in the early hours of the morning.
It was cool to see Ricky Winkle and Jamie Mead at the trial; they haven’t been to one in a while.
I took a while on my first lap and ended up rushing around the last three laps. Consequently the event was a bit of a blur. I really like this rocky venue with section one, in the far paddock, being my favourite this week. Hopefully I’ll be a little more composed next time we come here.
Postscript
On Monday Mum fixed her bike in about 10 seconds. It was a loose wire that had fallen off the coil. I should have known about this because it has happened before.
Previous years at Carrolls