SWTRF RoR Officer and GRM Admin
On the back of a friend’s Bultaco Pursang on army training ground in Gosport Hampshire I hadn’t appreciated its not easy to stay on when there are no pillion pegs and nothing to hang on too! My first ride on a motorcycle. My first motorcycle race experience was in Ettelbruck Luxembourg while on holiday. An MXGP or as they called them in those days a scramble. About 1972 and I’d have been about 12. The likes of John Banks, Vic Eastwood and Roger DeCoster were tearing round an awesome track. Both experiences left lasting memories.
At 17 I was on a Honda Monkey bike which took me on my first adventure to Brittany and around the beach at Mont St. Michel. A couple of years later and I was into trials with a Bultaco 250. I towed it with a Citroen Dyane and a dingy trailer modified with a bed frame. My first competitive trial was on Butser Hill near Petersfield. I still have a need to retrace some of the green lanes that first trial took me on. I joined Portsmouth Polytechnic (as it was then) motorcycle club and we took the club’s TY175 to some local waste land to practice our feet up skills.
Later in my early 20s I had an XT500. An awesome bike with a fearsome kickback if you didn’t get it right. It took me to LeMans to watch the 24hr race in 1982. A succession of trials bikes (Bultacos, JCMs, Fantic, Montesa, Yamaha, DOT, Wassell, Honda) all served to keep my interest in trials alive. I still have a Beta Rev 4T although I stopped doing competitive single venue trials in about 2018. About the same time I started doing long distance trials on a trail bike which are 60-100 miles with 30 sections. I’ve had various road bikes but they’ve never lit my fire like a bike with knobblies does. I’ve done a few European road riding holidays, notably to Scandinavia and over the Alps into Italy.
I had a 1992 DR350 in the 2000s a great trail bike and a 2006 WR450 in about 2013 but never really got going with trail riding. I guess I didn’t know where to legally ride. I kept the WR only 3 months, the shortest I’ve ever had a bike. I just couldn’t get on with it. I bought a Husqvarna TE310 and joined the TRF when I retired in 2016. I don’t know how or why I had never heard of the organisation before. I’ve not looked back since. I’ve ridden all over Wales, the West country, the Peak District, the Isle of Man. I’ve even managed a weekend trail riding on a DRZ and DR650 in Queensland Australia. I’ve made loads of great trail riding friends and had some truly great adventures on single and multi-day rides. My current trail bike is a CCM 644. I also have a Beta Xtrainer which is set up more for long distance trials.
I’ve only recently formally stepped up as Rights of Road Officer for South Wales TRF, although I’ve been active in the TRF’s GRM (Green Road Map) since its inception. I’ve led rides for South Wales and other TRF groups. I’ve plotted numerous routes for myself and others. I am affiliated to all the surrounding TRF groups and have been active in helping Herefordshire TRF with their Hereford Hospice Trail event since it started four years ago. I currently cover South West Powys including the Brecon Beacons on the GRM for Mid Wales TRF. I’m always on the look-out for potential new green roads to ride and record. Its surprising what is out there if you take the time and trouble to look. Like a few others in SWTRF I’m also a member of GLASS (Green Lane Association). I have some good contacts in the organisation and make great use of and contribute to their Trailwise 2 mapping tool.
Don’t forget to tell your friends about the TRF. I wish someone had told me earlier!