I am soliciting input for both the upcoming NATC meeting and STRA business meeting. Dan Brown will be representing the STRA at the annual NATC meeting later this month. If you have any input, questions or concerns on the way the national rules, classes, schedule or other elements are being run, mention it here or contact Dan directly and Dan can take the information to the meeting.

In addition, I would like to get an early start on STRA business meeting agenda items. One topic that has been making some rounds is discussion on our continued use of the "gate" type of class splits.

The secretary/treasurer position that Dave Beasley has held for the last six years will be open, so we need someone to step up for that role.

Also, please consider promoting an event in 2008. I hope we get to go back to Newnan as well as the other regular STRA venues. I know the north Georgia guys have been checking out a potential new site. Has the Mississippi gang been discussing another Log Jam? If you have a date/location in mind, please send me the request and I'll get you on the calendar.

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know - either on this site or feel free to contact me offline.

Brock 770-919-7078

How about leasing the software for trials management like trials inc. It would be cool to be able to see section scores for each loop posted in a day or so after the event.

Buy a laptop to take to each event, then rent a trials wench (slave) and pay them to sit all day and listen to us whine, while simultaneously scoring or are work points availible for such a position?

Paul

The TI system seems very nice. I haven't looked it over closely but seems to manage both on-site "local" sign up + the web database of result reports.

I too think we should consider looking into it.

Having said that, I could with a little time, build something similar on the web side for results/reports. But the on-site loop card printing etc would be almost another project entirely.

What would it set STRA back to invest in the system? might be worth it...

Hi, Brock -

James Thompson and I (and I presume others) have Novice daughters (and sons) who are ramping up their skillsets but need to be considered when designing the loop trails for the rounds at most, if not all, of the trials. As we all know the loop trails can be more daunting for Novices than the sections themselves, especially at the TTC, and it can scare young ones right of wanting to participate. Thanks to James, and with Dan's copperation, we had great success at the 58k trial at the TTC with the Novices riding an easier, alternate loop of sections which bypassed the scary portions of the loop trail. More fun was had by the youngsters, and attitudes were more positve as well.

In addition, the Novices rode as a group, and there seemed to be a great deal of comraderie present. This practice bodes well for getting more young riders involved without making them attempt to ride way over their heads before they develop the ability to tackle truly extreme terrain. That's my two cents.

Drew

Thanks for the input guys! First let me address Paul's suggestions...
How about leasing the software for trials management like trials inc. It would be cool to be able to see section scores for each loop posted in a day or so after the event.

We did that for quite a while. First, we don't have many folks proficient in using the software, we pay $0.50 per rider per event for the product and it was seldom used.
The software would not get the results posted much, if any, faster. That is another issue we are working on.

Buy a laptop to take to each event, then rent a trials wench (slave) and pay them to sit all day and listen to us whine, while simultaneously scoring or are work points availible for such a position?

The STRA actually has a laptop or two. I think one of them is used for a kicker on Crowder's Wall at TTC. The second one is limping along and was on life support last I heard. The challenge for a PC is power - some sites have it and some don't. Then you need the operator - we can provide work points to that job. The points are issued by the promoter of each event. Lastly, the STRA budget cannot afford the new hardware and the pay for a PC operator is the same as for the observers.....

Thanks for the input guys! First let me address Paul's suggestions...
How about leasing the software for trials management like trials inc. It would be cool to be able to see section scores for each loop posted in a day or so after the event.

We did that for quite a while. First, we don't have many folks proficient in using the software, we pay $0.50 per rider per event for the product and it was seldom used.
The software would not get the results posted much, if any, faster. That is another issue we are working on.

Buy a laptop to take to each event, then rent a trials wench (slave) and pay them to sit all day and listen to us whine, while simultaneously scoring or are work points availible for such a position?

The STRA actually has a laptop or two. I think one of them is used for a kicker on Crowder's Wall at TTC. The second one is limping along and was on life support last I heard. The challenge for a PC is power - some sites have it and some don't. Then you need the operator - we can provide work points to that job. The points are issued by the promoter of each event. Lastly, the STRA budget cannot afford the new hardware and the pay for a PC operator is the same as for the observers.....

Wow - 2 replies for the price of one....

Now to address John's input:

Having said that, I could with a little time, build something similar on the web side for results/reports. But the on-site loop card printing etc would be almost another project entirely.

We have a results section on the site. I assume you are suggesting we upgrade to a "by section/ by loop" format. We can post whatever the promoter sends Jamie as results. If a promoter wants to use the TI software and knows how to use it, that is fine. It just has not been well supported in the past. Promoters are the most overworked and underappreciated members of the club and it is usually not real high on the priority liswt to learn the software and have the official STRA laptop and printer staffed and operational. I liked that system a bunch too. When Catherine ran it, it was wonderful. She did it for years and no one else has stepped in to pick it back up.

What would it set STRA back to invest in the system? might be worth it...

The STRA has all the current budget allocated to the banquet awards and door prizes. We already have the laptop and printer, so the real issue is the human investment in time and know-how to pick up that task. We are ready to supply the resources to anyone who is interested in the job!

Now to Drew's comments on the novice loop difficulty...

....As we all know the loop trails can be more daunting for Novices than the sections themselves, especially at the TTC, and it can scare young ones right of wanting to participate.....In addition, the Novices rode as a group, and there seemed to be a great deal of comraderie present.

I heard rave reviews of the separate novice sections and loop and how James was the novice coach and cheerleader at the 58K event. I think the novices do enjoy riding as a group and love both the camaraderie and the encouragement they give each other. (What if we did that for ALL classes and didn't have to worry about getting checkers and used some of that manpower for running the TI software....)
Without getting too long-winded, I see the Youth classes and sections have become VERY easy to the point you have pushed the kids on full sized bikes into the Novice class and now we are designing the Novice class loop and sections to be easier to accomodate this shift. I'm fine with the evolution, but the Youth participation can be 2 or 3 riders and I'm wondering if that is what we were after. A separate Novice loop and sections is a lot of work and we already have the promoters overloaded.

This will be added to the Business Meeting agenda and I would love to hear some input from Youth Directors like Ian and Al on the subject.

These are terrific subjects - keep 'em coming folks and lets hear what is on your mind.

Thanks for your comments, Brock.

I want to stress that our main concern as fathers of fledgling riders is more about the loop than the sections. Getting from 1 to 8 repeatedly without crashing or getting run over by someone who is extremely proficient should be dealt with more as a safety issue than anything else. We're teaching our kids to ride as swiftly as is feasible, but, especially with young ladies, there seems to be a certain level of built-in caution that would give them pause before intentionally plunging face first off a four foot ledge without a sincerely compelling reason. Imagine! When you tell them it's fun, they just stare at you. They have to find out for themselves. At any rate, I know that the numbers are weak in Novice, but I think the concept of milder loop alternatives for them will have more smiles and fewer tears on faces if it's a possibility at any given venue next year.

Thanks.

Drew

i agree with drew, it is not the novice section that is the problem. it is sometimes the loop i repeat the loop, so there is no hardship on promotors, all he or she has to do is abide by the written rule,the loop must be able to accomadate, the lowest rider in the club. so if the lowest rider cannot safely make the loop, then we are saying he or she cannot ride, make the novice sections how ever you want, just make them accessable, as for the novice's all riding together - i think they should all ride independant but to do that there has t be a safe loop that dont need minders

ps let the novice number increase speak for itself at the ttc compared to cornelia. promoters dont mind more rider,s do they..

now more about this slave wench. how much will it cost , do we interview, have them send pic or what

By the way, when I asked about the STRA investing in the system I was referring to the TI system (basically same question Paul asked). I wasn't clear on that, sorry. But thanks for the info about it. If I were to build something (web database) it would of course be volunteered on-the-side time from me as a gift to the club... anyway...

But I have another idea...

Why not just make another general forum "page" called "event results" and then somebody at the trial, doesn't even have to be the promoter, but somebody write down the scores and then post them there.

John, you and I are on the same page.
If I could get the promoter to even MAIL me a copy of the results I'd make a web page just for results and ask Ron to put a link to it.
I'd even supply a SASE.

I think in years past we did a stint with the TI system with less than desireable results according to some. Not sure of the details though.

My thoughts on a system with the ability to quickly post the event results on the board here are; keep the system simple, ie an excel type file. The main thing in getting the data from the promotors/trialsmaster is to keep it easy. Keep it away from a PDF format. Keep it something that can be cut & pasted as a news item here. As it is now we deal with 3 different people to get the results on our STRA page; the tialsmaster/promotor, the competition director & our webmaster. This is hard to do as everyone has their day job with limited time to tend to STRA stuff. Get it to the point where the trialsmaster/promotor could take a file & post the results as a message. Keep it simple.
H

FWIW, I am here, but tend to not comment much as I am not out there to back up my beliefs with action at this point, although, I am hopefull that possibly next year will be better.

That said, the seperate loops for lower classes vs the higher classes are a mixed blessing. While it works well for many, there are some such as myself that would like to be able to ride with my kids, and the seperate loops make that impossible on my line, so I make a choice to either ride, or ride with my kids. In the past I just rode with the kids as they needed lots of help anyway, and it just worked better if I was not trying to think about my stuff, while working with them, last bit though, they are experienced and old enough that they ride with freinds or other aquaintances and have a blast and I ride my loop.

Loop difficulty is determined by the promoter, and the terrain he has to work with, and his mindset on if the loop is part of the event, or a means of getting from one section to another.

I myself like easier loops that everyone can easily ride, and as James said, that is in compliance with the rules.

The difficulty comes in trying to strike a balance somewhere like TTC where there is some flat out tough terrain, but at the same time you want to take advantage of it as a promoter.

I guess my short answer is, all in all, STRA promoters do an excellent job of balancing it all out.

Sometimes it does not work best for me with the split loops, but it is a compromise made to make it the best event for the majority.

I have been minder at a trials for 3 kids at once, when the trialsmaster set the LOOP up what was easily an advanced hill. I garuntee CR would have thrown it out of my trials as too dangerous for the advanced class.

Their bikes were too small for me to ride, the hill to big for me to carry them and the bad ride consequence was about a 30' vertical drop.

Charachter building for sure, my kids still talk about it, but it had no place in an event.

As to the Youth and the Novice, by definition, they should be overlapping and complimentary.

As too the Score slave, it has been proposed in the past, and one time in particular I can remember it was offered by an individual to do it for $100 per event. It was voted down, but again, too me, it should really be up to the promoter as that is who would have to bear that cost.