It started looking bad as I was working nights the week leading to it so on the Saturday evening when it started snowing I was getting quite concerned. The following morning driving through Buxton and along the A515 it was looking doubtful as to whether or not the comp would still be on, there were quite a few snow drifts blown across the roads along with the odd van and car "parked" in the dry stone walls at the sides.
I finally arrived to find a lot of the riders had either not bothered to make the journey or got there and thought better of the weather and gone home early, I however was up for a challenge and wanted to get my new bike tested out in it's true home! Throughout the day the weather switched between light snow showers and strong winds and the quarry where the trial was held was very wet and muddy, with sections made up of steep bankings and slippery rocks I knew it was going to be hard going and with one section already called off as it was deemed too dangerous to ride I was feeling a little nervous.
The other casualty the trial suffered from the weather was a lack of observers but wanting to press on we worked a way around the usual plan of 2 laps of 8 sections by completing 4 sections twice and then having the observers swap across to the remaining 3 sections for us to complete twice. Despite all this though everyone that had stuck it out had a great day, overall I finished 5th which I was definitely pleased with. It had been 5 months since I'd been near rocks on a trials bike and having never ridden a 24" that wasn't a street bike I didn't know how I'd cope.
Now speaking of my new bike I've had word from Marino last night that he has started my new frame! I've made a few slight improvements to it such as a one piece seatstay for more tyre clearance and magura mounts in case either my disc brake dies or I simply want to go back to rim brakes. Anyway, he's sent me some work in progress shots and with any luck should be finishing it off today so hopefully I'll have it in the next couple of weeks when I can sort out a paintjob and graphics.
