JANUARY 2008 MATT NEWSLINE

MATT CHRISTMAS/NEW YEARS PARTY: The MATT 2007 Christmas Party was held on January 5, 2008! The party was (insert your own comments here). I apologize; I did not feel well and did not attend this fun filled event. The ever popular “Zebra Striped Helmet Crash of the Year Award” went to Mark Crabtree (?) for a very awesome tumble last year some time. If in fact Mark did receive this prestigious award, ask him about it, and then tell me what happened!

REMEMBER: MATT FEBRUARY TRIALS AT KEN BROWN’S THIS SUNDAY AT 11AM.

Postage Stamp Trial Highlights: The Postage Stamp Trials was not held on January 1st as is customary, but rather was delayed until our regular event weekend, January 20th, due to poor weather conditions. Apparently, many of you did not get the message that the event was rescheduled as the participation was low. Or maybe you just chose to stay in your warm, cozy house, wrapped up in a warm and cozy blankey with your warm and adoring significant other and watch the NFL playoffs while enjoying munchies and adult beverages! The thought crossed my mind but heck, my bike was already at Russ’ (still is actually; Russ, I’ll come and get it before the next event) and Cathie was out of town and they had chili and hot dogs at the trials!

Yes, it was cold, in the teens or 40 below, something like that. And there was snow on the ground, about 4 or 40 inches, something like that. Believe it or not, there was snow in the sections! We all thought that Russ and Larry would have the sections covered up with tarps to protect them from the elements but NOOOOO! Sure, they SAID that they tried using a leaf blower and a rake to get the snow out of the sections but APPARENTLY they broke both of these devices in the effort! So with a few changes here and there (basically the Masters and I rode the Novice lines, no idea what John and the SR Amateurs rode!) we all rode 3 loops of 7 snow covered sections. Except for the last section, the perennial favorite, through the creek and out over the huge mass of roots near the fence line. Russ decided to knock out the ice in the creek so instead of riding on top of 4 inches of ice and staying nice and warm and dry!, we had to run through a foot and a half or four feet deep water, something like that and out over the roots on the other bank! Turns out that other than the dry patch of gravel in the driveway that had been protected from the snowfall by a car, the bottom of that creek had the best traction of anywhere else on the course!

I was disappointed though; I had all my excuses ready for having a bad day riding but no other Experts and NO Int’s showed up. So I guess I’ll keep all those excuses for the next trial, IF the competition shows up!

Seriously though, all participants had a great time, great hot dogs, chili and black eyed peas with ham and all the fixin’s, plus some great commradery. Props to Larry Bast and John Walsh for coming up from Springfield to enjoy this HOT, HOT, HOT event. Props also to Harley Griffeon and his entourage for making the trip in from Iowa. I guess the ground was too frozen to plow so Harley got to come down and ride! And ride he did, taking first place by a landslide on what looked to be a new ’08 GasGas! The Sr Amateurs had a great turnout given the conditions and everyone had a smile on their faces so I guess they had fun. I know John Walsh had fun, but then I haven’t seen John without a smile on his face since I met him last fall! John is new to trials but having a blast! John wiped out the Novice lines with just 45 points for the day!

I of course won the Expert and Intermediate classes simultaneously! It was dicey for awhile but a clean on the last section of the day cemented my first place effort in both classes.

The Master class had a GREAT turnout. I guess these die hards are always ready mount up no matter the conditions! Apparently no one told Jason there was snow on the ground. He just cleaned up like every other event he rides! Section one was a huge railroad tie wall with a very tight left, down, right, up, left down torture chamber that the Experts changed substantially but Masters rode intact. Bill had a hard time getting started to the entrance so Kelly gave him a push to help him along before the start of the section. Two was a tight left, up, loop left, drop down and angle off camber right that the Masters changed slightly and again the Experts eased up substantially. Three had a serious entrance up a short but steep bank with a large rock in the middle of the climb, go left at the top, down, turn right and head to the extremely simplified exit. If you did not get some momentum to enter the section on the short run across the main trail, you simply could not get up the climb. This did not seem to be a problem for Jason and Marc, but it was for Bill, Scott and myself! We looked like we were at the starting line of an Olympic luge competition. Push forward, then back about 6 times with the clutch out and rear tire spinning the whole time, then a big push forward and……. Well usually we did not even make it across the trail let alone into the section! Of course Bill cleaned it after the event ended! Jason renamed the “Traction Masters” the “Slippery Masters”. Sections 4 and 5 were basically the main trail on a normal day with a twist or two thrown in. They still took points from everyone, well maybe not Jason. Seven was in the compost pile were we entered from below, over an angled railroad tie, tight left, loop right, over a RR tie, then over a huge wall made of two RR ties lying one on the other (hey, it’s huge when there is no traction!) then out the exit. I had a memorable ride here. Up the angled RR tie, well my front wheel made it over, my back wheel slipped, my bike fell over to the downhill side and I dismounted, landing on my back and sliding about 10 or 100 feet, something like that, on my back like a downhill ski racer after a high speed crash! I am just glad I did not break my rear fender when it buckled up against that tree. Next we headed down the trail to section seven in the creek described earlier in this publication. It is fun to get out in the snow every now and then. I know everyone had a great time. Thanks Russ and Larry for your efforts!

DISCUSSION POINTS:

1) TRIALS de NATIONS T-SHIRTS: Kip Webb is the Trials de Nations team manager. Kip is having a t-shirt designed to be sold with profits helping to fund Team USA. How many shirts can we commit to?

2) TRIALS DEMO RIDE AT HARPERS VINTAGE MOTO X EVENT: Curtis Harper is doing a small vintage trial on Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend. Plus, Curtis would like our Traction Masters to do a trails demo again this year. Maybe do it on Sunday as a half time piece with the big crowd.

A Message from February Trials Master Ken Brown: Hey everyone!  With the weather being so unpredictable this time of year I would like everyone who is planning on coming out to Easton for the Feb 17th club trials to call if the weather looks bad.  If I cancel the trials I will have the make-up on March 30 which is two weeks after our normal trials in March and three weeks before the April trials back at Trenton.  I will make the call on Sat and also send out an email to everyone on the mailing list. Home number is 913-772-8414.