On every event, a little rain must fall. For some events, it\u2019s no big deal. For Eleanor, it meant mud, and lots of it. I think I ended up modifying every section in some small or big way. It really wouldn\u2019t have been so bad if not for the bare dirt left over from the excavator. That stuff turned to slippery goo. It was so messy that Aran\u2019s treadless tires were actually better than new, deep-treaded tires.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the trials must go on. Thankfully, everyone kept in good spirits about the weather and extra challenge from the mud. That\u2019s the great thing about trials \u2013 we look at everything as an obstacle to be conquered.<\/p>\n
Similar to last year, I laid out just four sections with all classes combined in each. This works great for a small event by keeping everyone together and learning from each other. Everyone enjoys watching the Pros ride but I just love seeing a Pro cheering on a Beginner.<\/p>\n
Speaking of Beginners, we had a number of first timers this year. Rob Hawk and Ed Watt competed for the first time, both on \u201cstreety\u201d bikes. Rob rode a 29\u201d wheeled steel steed and Ed rode a 24\u201d wheeled fun machine. How\u2019s that for bucking tradition! I\u2019m still amazed that Rob pulled out the win on the very tight courses. Another first timer was Tysen Sherry, who took second place in Sport! He even managed to get two cleans, in the mud! I think this was Rob Wolfe\u2019s first competition, too. He struggled a bit but had a good time. I was also glad to see the familiar faces of Jestin, Jesse, Eric and Anthony.<\/p>\n
Another familiar face, from what seems like eons ago, was Toby Ratliff. Others have probably seen him at Raccoon Rally in the past few years. For those who don\u2019t know, Toby snapped the RR trials from the jaws of death earlier this year. We all owe him huge thanks. Personally, I\u2019m elated to welcome him to the NATS family.<\/p>\n
As for the Pro class, it was awesome to watch four top-notch riders take on the mud, rain and my wacky lines. The top of the podium was hotly contested by Aran and Mike. Mike\u2019s clean first loop made Aran\u2019s single four seem like a big lead. Mike then fell prey to the mud in section one on his second loop and Aran jumped into the lead. For the last loop, Mike pulled out all the stops again and took just one point to Aran\u2019s three, thereby taking the overall win by just one point. They both rode incredibly in very difficult conditions. Unfortunately, both Tom and Joe fought with the mud and their bikes. Still, they both put in a valiant effort.<\/p>\n
I owe a massive thanks to Larry Perkins for sticking to the plan and doing this event with me in spite of a difficult year. Also, I must thank him for running the excavator (even though he really enjoys it!) and Raynes and Company for donating its use. My thanks also go out to Company Bicycle and Charleston Bicycle Center for all the great schwag and Creative Custom Design for the excellent shirts. Other sponsors included Heritage Painting and Putnam County Parks & Recreation Commission. Lastly, thank you to my parents for their continued support.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Results:<\/b><\/p>\n <\/b>Pictures<\/b><\/p>\n\n\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On every event, a little rain must fall. For some events, it\u2019s no big deal. For Eleanor, it meant mud, and lots of it. I think I ended up modifying every section in some small or big way. It really wouldn\u2019t have been so bad if not for the bare dirt left over from the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":13,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-28"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.natrials.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.natrials.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.natrials.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.natrials.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.natrials.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.natrials.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1889,"href":"https:\/\/www.natrials.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/259\/revisions\/1889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.natrials.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.natrials.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.natrials.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n <\/td>\n Beginner<\/b><\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1st<\/td>\n Rob Hawk<\/td>\n 27<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2nd<\/td>\n Ed Watt<\/td>\n 35<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3rd<\/td>\n Jestin Cantrell<\/td>\n 52<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n Sport<\/b><\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1st<\/td>\n Jesse Thacker<\/td>\n 36<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2nd<\/td>\n Tysen Sherry<\/td>\n 42<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3rd<\/td>\n Robert Wolfe<\/td>\n 58<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 4th<\/td>\n Anthony Vioglavich<\/td>\n 59<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 5th<\/td>\n Eric Alexander<\/td>\n DNF<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n Expert<\/b><\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1st<\/td>\n Toby Ratliff<\/td>\n 58<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n Pro<\/b><\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1st<\/td>\n Mike Steidley<\/td>\n 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2nd<\/td>\n Aran Cook<\/td>\n 8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3rd<\/td>\n Tom Ligon<\/td>\n 39<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 4th<\/td>\n Joe Janicki<\/td>\n 53<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n