Tigerboy's Domain
Ohio Valley Vintage Trials : Jun 4 - 5, 2011

Getting to Ohio Valley : Jun 4   |    Vintage Trials Jun 4-5    |    Coming home from Ohio : Jun 5


Here I am, at Cable's Campground, site of the Ohio Valley BSA Rally. In the spring they hold Vintage Trials, part of the Mid Atlantic Vintage Trials series.

There's a small swap meet, where I show interest in a Tiger sign, but I can't really get it home on my bike.

The trials riders area already set-up with their EZ-Up Tents. Here's the Hodaka Tent.

A closer look at one of their trials bikes.

The restrooms have a nice facade.

Many legends, past and present, of this 29 year old rally are inscribed on these stones.
I see my friend Andy Lindsay's got his name up here. Someday maybe my name will show up, if I come here often enough.

I'm assigned to check Trials Course #9. We do the odd numbers today. It's up in the woods.

In Observed Trials, one rides their bike through an obstacle course on one of four separate lines, with '4' being the easiest and '1', the hardest.
The idea is to navigate the entire course without putting a foot down (called a dab), keeping the red tape on your right and the blue tape on your left.
The yellow tape represents branch points of the various lines which are marked by number.

I am a Checker, the official scorekeeper for this section. Riders get one point for every dab up to a maximum of 3.
However you get 5 points if you don't follow the right line, drop the bike, roll backwards, or stall out and stop.
It's a delicate balancing act, as the idea is to get a zero, which we call a clean.
This rider just dropped his bike and therefore got a '5'.

Lance, on a Yamaha TY250 (a popular Vintage Trials Machine) cleans this section on the 1-line.
(Co-incidentally by rearranging the letters of 'Lance' you get 'Clean' !)

I guess Course #9 was pretty easy for the 1-line riders, lots of riders were cleaning it. Not so with the other courses, I noticed.

Here are some of the 1-line winners. I guess beer is as important to them as the trophy, LOL.

After the trials are over, it's time to go for a dinner ride. We get set to ride in town to Steubenville on OH 7 South.

When the fellow in the Sportster Side-Car outfit stopped to a grinding noise, we all pulled over to the side.
Fortunately it's not a wheel bearing as he feared, rather just the fender rubbing against the tire.

So, we get to the Italian Restaurant in time. There a decidely industrial smell to the air. This is the rust belt after all.

The dinner is great, and we get ready to leave. It is still daylight, thanks to these long days in June.

I socialize with some of the trials riders before calling it a night.
There's a fierce thunderstorm that rips through overnight. One flash of lightning hit dangerously close.
The way my tent was swaying in the wind, I wasn't sure if it was going to hold up. Good thing I pinned it down.
The next morning, I wake up to my MZ Baghira leaned at a precarious angle. Good thing I used a beer can as a kickstand support. It was barely enough.
As expected, some water gets into my tent, and unfortunately my only pair of jeans I have with me gets wet.
So, I find someone with a campfire to stand next to, for the next half hour to dry reasonably out :-)

Now for our breakfast ride, I'm all ready to go.

We assemble at the Ohio Valley BSA Canopy, where the raffle bike sits, all covered up.

Here's the fellow with his Sportster side-car set-up.

We take a rather long ride through the country to get to the diner where we have breakfast.
I'm not sure of the route we have taken, but it was about a 1/2 hr group ride.

After breakfast, time is getting on, so I take a direct route back, leaving the rest of the riders to make their way back the scenic way.
I need to do this, otherwise I'll be late for Trials Checking.

Turns out my rush back was for naught as they delayed the trials by an hour to allow the courses to dry out from the rain we got overnight.

Here's the riders' meeting.

Bud Kubena, one of the organizers of the Trials event, gives the instructions from the stage.
I am assigned Course #8, which is next to #9.

Here's Lance posing for the camera.

A tall guy in an orange shirt is on a modern trials bike (a separate class from the vintage, though they ride the same lines)

On this course, the #2 line was actually harder than the #1 line (it happens, sometimes). That's because there was this boulder specific to the #2 line that riders were having trouble getting over. The modern trials bikes had a much easier time, but this '83 Fantic had trouble like the rest of them.

Back at the campground, we mustn't forget that famous Foot Long Hot Dog refreshment trailer. I can always count on the ladies who run it to fix me something decent (had a great breakfast there yesterday). That trailer has been in the family for over 50 years!

Checking out a nice vintage Fantic trials bike. It might have been brought for show. I don't remember seeing it on the course.

Well, I'm all packed up and ready to head out. It's around 4pm, so I'll make it home in plenty of time before dark.

Click here to follow my ride home


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Page created Jun 12, 2011