DECEMBER2013 NO. 218

www.horshamriders.co.ukOFFICIALSSecretary : Fiona Husband 01306 712317Email contributions : fiona@horshamriders.co.ukChairman : Ian McCullochEditor : Dick Husband 01403 257094Trials : Mike Husband : 01403 257626 mike@horshamriders.co.ukTeam Manager: Adrian Holloway 07909 019002Site Officers: Mannings Heath- Ian McCulloch 01403 263667:Northlands- Mike Husband 01403 257626, Rome- Tim Husband01306 712317

HR EVENTS

JANUARY -2014WED 1 BOGNOR CLUB TRIAL – HalnakerSUN 5 HR CLUB TRIAL – Rome Woods – Team AjaysSUN 12 GROUP TRIAL – Eastbourne ClubSUN 19 PRACTICE DAY – HalnakerSUN 26 BOGNOR CLUB TRIAL - Headown

Ø FEBRUARYSUN 2 HR CLUB TRIAL – Mannings HeathSUN 9 GROUP TRIAL – Bognor ClubSUN 16 PRACTICE DAY – HalnakerSUN 23 BOGNOR CLUB TRIAL – Chithurst, Milland

NEWS AND COMMENT

BEYOND BELIEF – that our 100% efficiency secretary/newslettertyper could make an error (Hobbit, yes continuously!). It got spottedby Mike who changed it for the webpage, then Fiona emails everyoneto say the trial is at Mannings Heath, not Rome, but there’s alwaysone (with no email listed) so Mick Dunstan visits all 3 sites and is late,then get it in the neck for lack of details on his membership form!

BUT THANKS to all our members who took notice of our request toarrive early now early evenings are with us, we had the first 8 vehicleson site just after 9 am – Well done!

NOW YOU’RE GLOWING please find your membership renewal formand complete it now. If all your details are the same you can write‘same’ but don’t forget to put your name at the top. Then post it withcheque or bring to next club trial, membership must be renewed byFebruary 2014 – we know where you are!

THE EXPENDITURE DEPRESSED YOU ? Well to cheer you up again,this is our Bumper Xmas Edition with at least one contribution writtenfor another publication, could be worse, so, overburdened, our editorialstaff have a holiday till the January issue, meantime we look forwardto 2014 and ….

A VERY JOLLY LIQUIDFUL CHRISTMAS AS YOU SIT IN FRONTOF A ROARING FIRE RECALLING ALL THOSE AMAZING

CLEANS YOU HAD WHERE OTHERS FIVED!

THANKS TO STEVE said Mike Hyden after seeing his photo ofacrobatics at the Rome Trial on the white section. Tim in thebackground looks on disdainfully – he rode the blues!

2014 DATES LIST – this is subject to change pending confirmationof a possible event at Kingsfold, as soon as we have it we will confirmdates and schedule of teams.

DECEMBER TRIAL MANNINGS HEATH 1ST DECThis one will have to go down in the HR history books! Half way scoreon the white route was 118 and Blues 71 were nearly as toughcomprising hazards in quick succession on the hardest sections giving

little space to recover.But setter out Andy onlydropped 36 losing 20 ofthose on the impossiblesection 8. Perhaps it isdown to the deceivingground at ManningsHeath, 2 years ago Irecall Mike Rivettproviding an internationalround here and althoughthere were many funcomments none werecritical and all enjoyed it.No wonder Andy had tophone for more whiteflags! Team Jimmies setout – Andy on White, RichE on Blue and Steve JYellow with Mike Hydenassisting. The Yellowsresult illustrates what isthe halfway score andhow it works (or should).22 riders rode Yellow so

we take the 11th namedown as halfway, in thiscase 29 ml. It is

illustrative when you look there’s about 9 riders in a middle block of30 – 40 ml. But target has always been 40 allowing a range of 100marks between first and last. When we write a halfway score it islisted W/B/Y – in this trial it’s 118/71/29 so it was hard!

To be fair to Andy it was not as bad as it looks, there were only 4 Whitefinishers, if the 2 experts had finished on say 50 ml, that would havereduced the halfway score to 50, but Clint says his body is falling apartand Sean hurt his leg in a trial the previous week.

Signing on were a few boneaches, Ian J had just hadspine injections which weresupposed to last 6 monthsbut his Tiger Cub went well.Graham and Ian Mac enteredas Yellow seeking an easyride to avoid raising the painlevel in shoulder and knee.Adam H returned afterbreaking arm, now mended,as did Jack T. Further injuryreports came when Sean andClint gave up.

Until Fiona arrived Hobbittook ages to get the first 2signed on both were non-member schoolboys so therewas quite a queue waitinguntil she took over. Seanarrived incognito in agangster style darkwindowed car. Tony F alonesaid 4 of us were due to ridebut the others hadn’t risenfrom deep slumbers – he reported Jamie was doing well and startedgoing to a gym, Phil’s troubles multiply but the amusing details arewithheld!

Having got everyone off by 10 am, 2 guys arrive to share a 175 Yamat 10.45, they broke the mudguard but dnf.

Before I left to go to the notorious section 8 Tony F had finished hisfirst lap and says he’s dropped 25 already but still smiling. Section 8was on a steep bank with a cambered climb across to reach the endsthrough another tight turn. Clint had dropped a 5 on the drop downa naggery slope, Sean also but when I arrived Mike Hyden and Andywere having an inspection which took all of 10 minutes – both fived,Andy getting half way up the slope, so he eases the drop in on thegate but nobody managed to exit the section on whites all day. Tonyand Ben N had serious attempts but I heard Mike has joined Tim onthe Blue route.

Rich E amazed when hecleaned and says tellothers not to moanabout his sections buthe didn’t do it a secondtime. Most others hada 5 but Tim and Mikejust got away with a 3.It was Schoolboy Jack Dthat surprised when hemanaged a 3 but AdrianH joined others in themaximum bucket. Afterthe trial Mike had 6attempts in differentgears, managed to clean

it only once in 3rd gear.Tom H only tried oncethen took a voluntary 5on the other 3 laps.

Yellows did not have togo down or up the steepbit but were opposite ona lesser slope. HereJohn Y only just makesthe final turn and dabs

just after the ends cards. Mick D cleaned in spite of the evil pressure‘did you see that’ – sorry I wasn’t looking. John P says surprised atthat as when I am looking I give off vibes! Chairman Ian has a 2 butgets congrats as I need to do a bit of crawling. Tiger Cub Ian has a 3while course setter Steve J manages a 3. Les C and Derek TW goclean as do our two Reds Rachel and Simon C.

Afterwards Adrian H put his heavily holed cards in the box saying –“just say I did a few whites”. White riders had gone to Blue and Blueto Yellow – no-one went to Red. Comments ranged from really goodto nice trial to too technical but nobody said I’m not coming again!They started clearing up at 3.30, it was already twilight so I went offwith the clubhouse and left Mike and Tim to bring the kit back.

So thanks to the Jimmies team for giving us a real test especiallyallowing your reporter to observe one section only, it makes life easy.Looking at the results Mike B led the Yellows, Graham K and Ian Mc

as blue riders, sandwiched John Y and squeezed Mick D out of his 3rd

position. Reds saw Rachel give her partner Simon a thrashing – Isuggested they are ready for Yellows, “when it’s dry next summer” ispromised. Tom H led Mike H on blue by only 3 in spite of 20 ml on

section 8, and in 3rd place a visiting rider, an 8 year old schoolboy,was only 5 marks adrift. Steve P did well to keep ahead of Rich E butreturning members Keith E and John I showed a bit more practice iswarranted! The two on ITS Yams dnf, they were exhausted when noton the motorbike, the other had to pedal a mountain bike – 4 laps –no way!

THANKS TO TEAM JIMMIES FOR AN ENTERTAINING TRIAL

RESULTS

NAME ROUTE Total

Andy Dudman W 36Tony Flegg W 75Ben Northover W 118Michael Hyden W 146Sean Parsons W DNFClint Leggett W DNF

Tom Horsborough B 33Mike Husband B 36Jack Dance B 41Steve Parker B 44Rich Ellis B 60Tim Husband B 71Adrian Holloway B 101Stu Hescott B 104Keith Edwards B 122John Illingworth B 128Toby Robinson B DNF

Graham Knight Y 6John Yardley Y 6Ian McCulloch Y 8Mike Blackman Y 10Mick Dunstan Y 14Trevor Howell Y 16Chris Heron Y 19Derek T-Wand Y 28Andy Wardrobe Y 28Gary Stewart Y 29Eric Scutt Y 29John Mills Y 30Adam Holloway Y 30John Pocklington Y 39Mike Hammond Y 40Jack Taylor Y 45Ian Johnston Y 49Stephen Jones Y 56Martin Turner Y 56Leslie Castle Y 72Lewis Gati Y DNFJames Langdon Y DNF

Rachel Measures R 9Andy Fairhurst R 18Simon Canacott R 26Nick Coles R 58

Analysis Ent DNF % Fin 1/2 wayWhite 6 2 67 118Blue 11 1 91 71Yellow 2 2 91 29Red 4 0 100 22

BARRY JOINER – who used to mark out with the Cossack Team andDave Alder died last week from cancer. He had been a member for anumber of years and will be missed. Our condolences to his familyand friends.

DICK’S CHRISTMAS BITYou can keep your technological wonders that you constantly look atand rarely find anything remotely interesting. Go outside the pub fora smoke, there’s someone reeling off 100 photos of his dog or hisnipper – or texting his bird to find out what time she’ll be along – dedah, de dah – it’s boring, let’s go backwards.

Look back to the late 40’s and early 50’s to find the happy days whenmotorcycles ruled the roost and to find a car parked in your road wasso rare you’d comment about it, Motorcycle Clubs really were that,they met every week in every locality and were full of lively members.Demobbed pre-war riders back to restart their lives after the war joinedthe many riders who had just taken up motorcycling to get to workcheaply. The pre-war riders soon led newcomers to take up sportingevents : Trials, Quiz Runs, Night Trials, Pillion Trials, Gymkhanas,Scrambles and Grass Tracks – all on the one bike you possessed.

Riding gear was all ex WD and secondhand purchased from the likesof Marble Arch motor supplies. Favourites were ex submarine suitsmade by Barbour and ill-fitting ex DR lace up boots. When you wentto a trial, it didn’t finish and all go home, the club will have arrangeda meal in a pub where they would spend the whole evening knockingback Brown and Mild or Bitter, pint after pint and noisily singing(shouting) songs, so well-known from the last 50 years that everyonein the place got with it. As words became ruder so the enjoymentincreased – compare that to the first lines of this tale.

At Club Night it was decided where to go and meet on the Sundaymornings, I was in Carshalton Club and we usually met at Epsom ClockTower at 8.30 am. From there large groups of riders set off not usuallyinterrupted by speed traps which comprised 3 policemen : the firsthad a gabardine mac over his uniform and a flag, the second wasbehind a pillar box or tree, he had the stop watch, number 3 was infull view ready to step out and stop you. The fine would be 10 /- (50p),if you could fiddle out of it with a few tales of woe you tried.If a bike broke down during the day you got a tow from someone elsewith his Barbour suit belt tied on his mudguard stay and held in thehand by the one in tow. After the pie and chips staff at Thornton Heathpond we’d be home in the early hours and went to work on the bikethe next day proudly showing how muddy it was.

HAPPY DAYS – WISH I HAD THE ENERGY NOWTechnological Gadgetry – Stick it

Rachel Gives Trials The Thumbs Up

We both ride road bikes and often used to do the typical south eastbikers ride outs of Box Hill, Newlands Corner and Bury Hill, but I hadbeen becoming more anxious about the amount of traffic on theroad when on my bike, and also found the actual riding time ratherunsociable without communication technology installed in thehelmets. So I started to investigate off road options. We hadwatched some friends ride at a trial and thought this seemed like the

most cost effective, and lowest risk off road motorcycle sport. So Iset about finding our first bike, which was a 1997 Beta Techno 250which had sat dormant in my uncle's barn for over a year. Rescuedfrom the barn, it started first kick "we'll have it", I said. It soonbecame apparent, though, that at 5ft2, weighing not very much andwith very little muscle strength I was not going to get on with it."You can have that one" I said to Simon, and I'll get a little 125. SoI purchased a 2005 Gas Gas TXT Pro 125. Life was immediatelymuch easier.I very quickly learnt to wheelie, but didn't (and still haven't)mastered the soft landing, hence the later addition of a lanyard kill

switch! We arrived at our first ever trial in Feb 2013 run by theRRND motorcycle club. A cold snowy day, with plentiful supplies ofthick mud was, in retrospect, not the best choice for our first outing.Especially as we had only had the bikes a couple of weeks! Needlessto say we didn't do well. We didn't even complete the first lap of thewobblers section. "We'll never be able to do this" we said "we'rewasting our time". But both of us have a background in elite levelsport and decided if we are going to do this, we are going to do itproperly. So we embarked on a major land clearance project of a1-2 acre plot of land on my parents' farm. It took us 6 solidweekends with help from a few friends, but we got through the solidwall of brambles and trees to give ourselves an area to practice tightturns and general control. There is a small stream to practice ridingthrough, but the rest of the land, unfortunately, is flat so we becameinventive with old palettes, tyres, concrete slabs and logs, and soonwe had created a mini arena trial. The hiring of a small digger alsohelped create a few more tests for us.We began practicing twice a week and soon picked up some basiccontrol. By the RRND April club trial we were able to complete theentire trial and amazingly finished on the same score (althoughSimon pipped me on the number of clean sections ridden). Sincethen we have progressed at a similar rate to one another, which isalways helpful to prevent "a domestic". We are now out trialling 2-3times a month riding with RRND, Horsham Riders and also WorthingTrials Club. We are even starting to consider moving up to clubmanroutes next year!Nine months down the line, we are starting to get the hang of thingsand have made many friends in our new sport. Simon has upgradedto a 2009 Beta Evo 290, and I am now riding a 2005 Beta Rev-3125.We both really enjoy trials, there is no risk of "that idiot in a 4x4"pulling out in front of you, and even if you do fall off it's generallyjust pride that is damaged. It keeps us pretty fit too.There are not enough ladies riding trials, and I can't rate the sporthighly enough for those out there who are either already bikers, or"bike widows". Get your husband off his road bike, and spend someweekends together out trialling!

Rachel Measures & Simon Canacott. Published in Trials & MX News

FOR SALE

HONDA MOPED WITH LOG BOOK – £10 OR OFFERS – PROCEEDSTO CHARITY (SEE EARLIER IN NEWSLETTER) – Phone Dick orMike

IN THE CLOTHING CUPBOARD available for a RFH donation

NEW IN – Riding Shirt S – Polyester and Riding Trousers – BoysUS size 241 pair riding boots Size 361 pair small trials glovesTrials trousers Waist 26 Waist 28 Leg 23 Waist 28 Leg 27 Waist 28 Leg 27 poor condition

2 ONeal riding shirts (small youth?)1 Answer riding shirt - youth extra large1 Answer man sizeAdult one piece overalls – fireproof!Ladies ankle boots size 3-4

TRADE ADS(£5 per year for members businesses only - helps you andthe club)

MERLIN MOTORCYCLES 2014 Gas Gas, Beta, Sherco, Scorpa -Spares, service & tuning too. Trials Training DVDs and books. IRC tyresstocked. Putoline & Castrol oils see www.motomerlin.org.uk MERLINBOOKS sell motorcycle books and DVDs, secondhand motorcyclebooks always wanted www.merlinbooks.com Mike Husband 0140325762

HEADLINE ENGINEERING For aluminium and stainless welding -helicoil thread repairs - cylinder head, brake discs/drums refining - allmachining work - one off and prototypes.Phone Derek head 01306 712565

Teams 2014AJAYS JANUARY DUGGIES FEBRUARY ENFIELDS MARCHMike Husband W 01403 257626 B 01273 832912 Sean Parsons W 01403 730799Adrian Beech Y 07930 732717 W 01273 832912 B 01293 873788Derek T-Wand Y 01342 893371 B 07774 455604 Rob English Y 07763 438231Phil T-Wand B Gordon Brown Y 07769 944472 Y 01403 734779

Y 07743 588540

HARLEYS APRIL FANTICS MAY MONTIES JuneW 01306 711038 W 01306 628077 W 01403 786441B 01293 775106 Gary Stewart Y 01306 627464 Steve Parker B 07984 038622

Keith Edwards Y 07717 477477 Y 01403 711962 Harry Ross Y ?Y 01403 240593 B 01403 258352 Chris Heron Y 01444 241355Y 07825 708845

KWACKERS JULY INDIANS AUGUST COSSACKS SEPTEMBERW 01293 419867 B 01403 263667 Adrian Holloway B 07909 019002

Phil Walker W 01293 412905 Brian Barnes B 01403 730623 Adam Holloway YStuart Evans B 07799 626730 B 01403 731810 Dave Alder Y 02083 979660

Y Jack Taylor R 01403 731810 Y 01798 813827Y Paul Barnes W 01403 733255 Tim Husband B 01306 712317

Sam Davidson W 07795 190231 Y 02083 930048

LAVERDOS OCTOBER GREEVIES NOVEMBER JIMMIES DECEMBERY 01273 555391 B 07833 347303 W 07984 557340Y 01273 601465 Graham Knight B 01293 871955 Rich Ellis B 01273 842973

Bob Collins B 01342 713808 James Turner Y 01293 871663 Stephen Jones Y 01273 843489Nigel Bray Y 01323 893510 Les Castle Y 07866 544634 TBCTom Bray W 01323 893510 TBC

2014 PROVISIONAL DATES NOTE MAYBE SUBJECT TO CHANGEIf you are unable to do your turn please try to arrange a substitute

Date Event Site Team Date Event Site TeamJAN Sun 5 Club Trial Rome Ajays JUL Sat 5 Camp w/end N Lands KwackersFEB Sun 2 Club Trial M Heath Duggies JUL Sun 6 Camp w/end N LandsMAR Sun 2 Club Trial N lands Enfield AUG Sun 3 Club Trial M Heath Indians

Sat 8 Work Party Rome TBCAPR Sun 6 Club Trial Rome Harleys SEPT Sun 7 Club Trial Rome Cossacks

Sat 19 Practice N landsMAY Sun 4 Club Trial M Heath Fantics OCT Sun 5 Club Trial N Lands Laverdos

Sun 11 Group Trial RomeJUNE Sun 1 Club Trial TBC NOV Sun 2 Club Trial Rome

DEC Sun 7 Club Trial M Heath Jimmies

Jan 19, Feb 16, Mar 16, Apr 20, May 18, June 15, July 20, Aug 17, Sept 21, October 19, Nov 16, Dec 21

Pete BrookerJesse Brooker Dan BerrisfordBenge

Martin TooleyKieron Garlic

Clint Leggett Mick Rivett John CharmanGary Medhurst

Mick DunstanPaul Aylett Michael HydenTig Durrant

Tony Flegg Ian McCulloch

Eric ScuttJamie Flegg John Pock'tonCassie Armsby

Ian Johnstone

John Yardley Tom Horsborough Andy DudmanKevin McDavitt

Greevies

A 285 Chichester to Petworth Approx 1 mile north of Halnaker Village - Start 10 amHalnaker Trials Park Dates for 2014