Jack Sheppard: It’s been a busy month
By TMX Archives on 17th Aug 16
After a full weekend to top off my last column in Devon my, schedule has been kept very busy but I have not competed as much as previous months.
I had a very tough decision to make when it came to whether or not to ride in my home round of the World championship. On one hand I really wanted to, but it is also a massive commitment and expense. Unfortunately after thinking long and hard about it I decided not to ride but I did pop up there to have a look and catch up with fellow riders I have ridden with for the last few years that are still competing.
It was difficult when I wasn't riding but I did manage to have an enjoyable day and see a lot of good friends who I have travelled the world with in previous years.
It was great to go and be able to support the top riders in the UK that were riding and see James Dabil record his best ever result and put it on the second step of the podium on the Saturday and also Jack Price take the championship in the Trial2 class. So congrats to those boys who definitely made the most of the support from the home crowds.
I then had a couple of weeks without competitions so I had chance to get some good training in. I managed to venture up north and get some good riding in and also got to watch the skills of World biketrial champion Jack Carthy while he was training which was incredible. The power and balance he could just find from nothing was impressive and the best part was he was only playing about.
The next week was a weekend of two British Trial Championship rounds with the first day being at Hookwoods followed by day two at Butser Limeworks.
My day started off very badly at Hookwoods where I felt to be riding very well and comfortable but kept having bad luck and a few too many fives which cost me very dearly at the end of the day as I finished in sixth place but only three marks from a spot on the podium.
It felt like one of those days where I was fighting against a lot of things and bad luck so even though I felt to be riding reasonably well my results showed far from it and showed a different story to my day overall but I was just pleased I managed to keep my head together and keep pushing and get a good last lap together which salvaged the day from being a complete disaster.
The second day I was very determined not to start the same way as the previous day, and I set off quite well, not brilliantly but certainly a lot better than the previous day. My first lap was okay and then my second lap was a little better apart from one or two mistakes so then I knew I wanted to push hard and finish strong like I had done the day before which I did. I managed to have a last lap of three which was very good and managed to pull me up a few places in to second so I was much happier with the result the second day.
That now means after my bad day on the Saturday that I have now dropped to third in the championship but with only a couple of points in it so still all to play for with four rounds to go.
Then this last weekend I managed to have a bit more of a relaxed weekend where I rode a local club trial run by my home club Ipswich MCC.
I really enjoyed the day as I always do, it was very relaxed and good to ride round having a laugh and joke with the other riders. It was great to have a fun and low stress weekend and even better as I managed to win even with a slack dab.
Thanks to everyone for their continued support but that's all for this month - Feet up!
