SSDT means fun in the sun
By John Dickinson on 20th Apr 07
This week, Editor JD ventured to Fort William outside Scottish Six Days Trial week - and was almost surprised to find it was still there...not to mention how busy it was...
DON'T you find it a little strange when you visit certain places outside your normal time zone for being there?
Like going to the Isle of Man when it isn't TTweek or Manx Two-Day Trial weekend. The island really is a special caseand it is easy to imagine that it just slips quietly back under theIrish sea when not in use by motorcyclists.
Last weekend I found it a bit odd going to FortWilliam outside Scottish Six Days Trial week. To drive past the WestEnd car park minus the May trials circus was definitely weird - it justlooked empty. Strictly speaking I needn't have ventured quite as far asFort William, as the opening round of the British Trials Championship,the reason for my visit, took place just down the road, or strictlyspeaking, just round the corner, in Kinlochleven, but I wanted to seewhat Fort William, that mecca for real trials riders, looked like to‘normal' people.
I must say I was surprised at how busy it actuallywas, so early in the season. There was a time, not so long ago, whenthe Scottish Six Days genuinely heralded the opening of the season forthe Fort William tourist industry.
But in more recent years, with the weather mostdefinitely having been much drier, brighter and, dare I say it - warmer- the masses have been heading north earlier and earlier in the yearwith a vengeance.
While the hotels etc still welcome the trial andthe business that it brings, it did cross my mind that they are nowherenear as dependant on the event as they were, say, even 20 years ago.Driving down the main drag into town I couldn't help but notice thatall the NO VACANCY boards were in place and that's a full three weeksbefore the SSDT kicks-off.
Events like the Downhill mountain biking now pullin huge numbers of people. I know of some who were sent as far as Obanfor accommodation last year when the mountain biking was on.
So what am I driving at? Well, I leave you to drawyour own conclusions. Don't get me wrong, the SSDT will be made aswelcome as ever, but in the current climate (bad pun I know) I wouldsay that the trial now needs Fort William more than FW needs the trial.
The Scottish remains the last great trial onearth. It is of course an anachronism, especially given the physicalnature of a 2007 trials bike. If you set out to design a bike withwhich to compete in an event that averages around 100 miles per day youcouldn't come up with much worse than the modern trials model. No seatand a fuel range of around 20 miles - if you are careful. Yet ridersfrom around the world still fight for the opportunity of a ride. Mosthave no chance whatsoever of claiming a major award, many just want tobe able to tell anyone who's interested, ''I rode the Scottish SixDays.''
I'm lucky, I've had the pleasure of being acompetitor in the Scottish, not as many times as I should have donepossibly but that doesn't matter. I certainly never had theall-consuming urge like Dave Thorpe, or Nigel Birkett or Rob Griffiths,all of whom have ridden getting on for 40 times - an incredible number- with the whole year, after year, after year, geared towards thatdrive into the Highlands in May with a perfectly fettled machine withwhich to do your very best, the thought of not finishing gnawing like aphysical pain.
When Birks was laid-up with a duff gall bladder(plus the odd complication) just before Christmas and was faced withmajor surgery to put it right he was urging the surgeon towards anearly appointment so that, ''I will be able to ride the Scottish in May- won't I?'' And no, I'm not joking, that is the kind of grip it cantake on people.
So, while you can count-up any number of reasonswhy the Scottish can't continue, and if you can't you need to open youreyes, isn't it great to realise that there are riders, organisers andvolunteers with the sheer bloody-mindedness, willpower and plainenthusiasm to take the SSDT right to the limit...