Off-road takes all sorts...
By TMX Archives on 29th Jun 12
WHATEVER off-road motorcycle sport may be the one thing it cant be called is boring!
And it simply couldn't be more varied. Just one look through this week's paper shows the various sporting disciplines and levels of severity to pretty good effect.
There's full-on British Championship motocross from that mecca of motorcycle sport, Northern Ireland.
Then there's the Welsh Two Day Enduro, that grand bastion of Sportsman sport at its very best – at least it is when it hasn't been raining solid in mid Wales for a month.
And then, in amongst the many and glorious club events of all kinds that grace these pages is a round of the World Trials Championship from Andorra that serves, if nothing else, to prove that it isn't raining like it's never going to stop all over the world –our International boys and girls got to spend their weekend in the sun!
Over the years I count myself lucky to have spectated, reported and even ridden in most types of event and each and every one has its merits.
A top-class British Championship motocross is as exciting a day's sport as you could ask for. And a visit to a nearby European country for a cracking world round can be as big or small an adventure as you want it to be.
Then there's The Welsh. Our roving reporter tells me that this year's, mainly thanks to the weather, was something of an ordeal for the majority.
I can well understand that. I've been to the Welsh several times to watch and it is an amazing event. It can attract around 500 riders and while it provides the top boys with two excellent days of competitive sport the other side is that it gives hundreds of ‘club' riders the ultimate trail ride.
It isn't surprising is it. Given that 90% of green lanes have been lost thanks to a succession of governments that have succeeded in banning motorcycles from the trails, the only way of getting out onto the moors, legally, on two wheels is to enter bona fide events.
I spotted these ‘trail riders' pretty quick last time I ventured down into mid Wales. They were the ones who didn't give a monkey's about riding the Special Tests. They rode them at their own pace and didn't even cast a glance at the time clock at the finish. It was all about the ride out.
Contrast that with the Experts who give it absolutely everything and whose eyes are glued to the clock to see what that has done to their overall chances.
Does it matter?
Not in the slightest.
Just hope that this year's conditions doesn't put the trailies off.
They need their buzz and to put it brutally the organisers need the cash.
That's what makes The Welsh special...
