Test of trials skill

Re aquaintance with my trials skill lately has been put to test on todays weekend ride. My usual riding buddy and I decided to do a single track trail which has not been ridden by trail bikers before. The trail is a footpath normally used by fishing enthusiast to fish at the Subang lake reservoir. I knew of its existence but always have reservation on doing it due to the unknown elements and obstacles available.
We loaded our bikes onto the Proton Arena and drove to Alam Budiman for breakfast where two other riders were waiting. It was a change for us since normally we rode our bikes from Sec 9 to Alam Budiman but decided to drive there this time. We unloaded and kicked off at 9.30 and rode to the trail head which was only 5 minutes away. We rode the familiar singletrack heading toward Bukit Altantuya and will start branching off toward the lakeside from the doubletrack going up the hill. The ride was taken at good speed since we were on a familiar trail. Reaching the branch,we entered the unfamiliar single track heading toward the lake at a more conservative speed while trying to assess the trail and jotting it into memory,no GPS was needed here.
We reached the lake side after a wonderful singletrack ride in the humid tropical rainforest. A well deserved breather was taken after the lovely and free flowing singletrack ride on the technical trail.
I thought to myself,this was going to be one exciting ride judging from the thick rainforest and and the narrow footpath around the perimeter of the lake. You better be a good swimmer if you ever fall to the right of the trail as the water was only one or so feet away. I expected a lot of fallen logs along the trail and the logs would be big in diameter judging from the big trees around us.
We overcomed the first 2 feet high log after our first break and headed further into thicker and unknown forest along the lake. As we rode further,more and more obstacles which were basically exposed tree roots and fallen logs have to be overcomed. Narrow and undulating path provided and exciting game between the trees and shrubs with our bikes handlebar. The elements mentioned played havoc on our progress by catching on our handlebars ever so often, bark buster or handguards would have played their role well in this environment and very much recomended. We were fortunate since we came prepared where all our bikes have handguards fitted. At about midway, we had to take a rest for a lot of energy was drained. I took the opportunity to trek further on foot just to check on the possibility of reaching the next trail head,if there was one. I was hoping for the best for I dont want to double back on our bikes. It was a relief that I found a trail head to exit the forest. I double back and informed my fellow adventurers of the good news. It was to be a wonderful experience with a sense of  achievement of sort to all of us on this ride
We rode on with whatever energy left and made it to the clearing after overcoming many anticipated obstacles. The climb heading out from the trail was taken with pride for we have achieved what we set out to do for the day. Well done to my fellow riders and  me!.
We rode back to Alam Budiman on a  familiar trail and ended the ride with  refreshement at a restaurant where we parked our car earlier.
It took us 3 hours from trail head to trail head and I rode with experienced riding buddies. It would have taken longer for new riders.These guys have rode with me for quite sometimes. I have thought them a thing or two on single tracking which was basically trials riding techniques. Without these techniques the ride would have been harder,both on our bodies and bikes.

Trials set up for my KLX

There are a few trail riders who are showing an interest in trials riding. After more than 20 years of waiting   for like minded riders, I have a group of people who would inspire me to continue riding or rather to return to this style of riding to spend my freetime while enjoying nature.
Currently bikes are the biggest stumbling block to our progress. We have to make do with incorect bike for our purpose, learning  trials will be a big challenge with a steeper learning curve without a true trials bike. Not to despair though, Im doing R and D on my KLX to find the correct set up and minor modification to ensure progress and making learning easier with more fun too.
In the pipeline is a new set of alloy triple clamp to further lightened the front end. Exhaust system will be replaced with a lighter unit. These two items will enhance the balance of the bike by lowering the COG. A plastic tank from KLX 140 will lower the centre of gravity further anf lightened the bike considerably. The other important item is 21 inch front wheel but it has to wait until some smart alex produce or import a 28 hole one..

TRIALS

Suddenly there is an interest in trials! or rather trials style riding. I will do my best to explain this little known motorsport here. I have written a little bit on the history in my earlier blog so we just skip it and move on straight to what it is.
Trials is a form of offroad motorcycle competiton where each rider will ride on, up and over obstacles without putting his foot down. Each dab or footing and falling off will be penalised with certain points. The rider with the lowest score is declared the winner at the end of the comp.
Trials sections or lines are laid along natural obstacles i.e. rocky section,stream,ledges, fallen logs etc to  test the skill and ability of each rider competing. Observers are stationed at each section to observe and giving out penalty points to riders. Normally there are 6 or 7 sections to be ridden twice by each rider. It is only a one day event except ISDT and SSDT which are run for 6 days.
Trials bikes are specialised machines designed for a single purpose use,only for trials. The ergos of the bike is only suitable for stand up riding. Practicaly it has no seat for easy movement and the fuel tank only holds 2 to 3 litre of petrol. It is very light weighing only between 140 to 160 pounds. Tires are very grippy with low pressure of 6 psi at the rear and 8 psi in front. Engine is tune for more low end with a heavy flywheel for traction.
Trials bike are rare in Malaysia. Certain bike shop used to import few units of these in the early 90s but there were few buyers, it was not a viable bisness. If you can find one today, probably it was imported without any papers hence illegal.
The current most popular form of trials competition worldwide is vintage and twin shock trials. It is very popular in UK and USA. Due to the high cost of new machines, enthusiast and amateur riders  take old machines and modified british single to enter trials competition tailored for such machines.
A new form of offroad motorsport which has evolved from trials is endurocross. Actually it is the best of both world for MX and trials. Endurocross needs the speed of motocross and the riding skill of a trials rider. The slow speed of trials does not seem to excite young riders but they need to learn trials riding techniques to succed in endurocross, reason why most endurocross champs are trials riders.
Do  not confuse yourself with trick riding as what you normally watch on internet. Normally trials competition are held in natural areas and not in the middle of a town but there are stadium trials too.
In the local context we can just start riding technical trail  on our trailbikes just to learn the basics. We can progress to proper trials if and when real trials bike are available hopefully they are affordable too. Meantime just learn and practice endurocross style riding on our local trails.