Greetings to all again. After traveling to the past with the old Sherpa de Luis, I had my doubts about the topic to be discussed in this new post of La Interzona. Dealing with a blank sheet of paper on a regular basis is no easy task. I’ve given myself a limited amount of time to write for Trialworld, which will expire with the arrival of summer 2014 and time is passing very quickly.
I had a new article ready and the draft was long in the hands of Trialworld. But recent events have led me to rethink the content of this one and to delay its publication a bit. The issue is none other than the problems of Spanish trials in general. Subjectively, we may all be convinced that we are well aware of these problems; Although I’ve recently noticed that it seems like Very few are able to see the real impact of them on our sport and how they affect what is happening to the Spanish trial.
From Trialworld we would like to send a very special greeting to those friends of the Sotobike club who are leaving their active collaboration with the club after so many years and thank them for everything they have done for us. María, Manolo, Quiji… thank you very much!
As I said before, together we can, riders, clubs and federations, if we put our minds to it, I’m sure we’ll get there.
ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL
Alexandre Dumas was a French writer who lived in the 19th century. Alejandro was a curious character who was very successful and who earned a lot of money from his novels, but who spent it all on his favorite hobbies. Meals, parties, hunting, lovers, luxury… and that he also failed in each and every one of his attempts to do business other than writing.
Alexander left us several legacies; among them he left us The Three Musketeers and their famous motto “All for one and one for all”. Afteranalysing the problems that beset Spanish trial, we should adopt it as our own if we want to move forward and ensure that trial does not become a circus attraction with fewer practitioners than the trapeze artists’ guild.
Modern and classic; classics and moderns; We all share the same problems and we should all be in the same boat when it comes to trying to solve them.
been trying to analyse them for a long time and asking a lot of people what they are and what solutions there could be. We have little time as even the successful classic trial is starting to take on water and many of us are losing interest and enthusiasm. The ship is sinking, for now it has only listed, but it must be refloated or a new ship launched with new ideas and with the advances and tools that this 21st century puts in our hands.
The desire to do trials and the desire to solve the problems are still there, recently on a social network I asked what they believed were the causes of the decline of trial and in less than 24 hours I received more than 100 comments between answers or private messages about the subject.
Let’s get to it without waiting any longer; our most pressing problems and possible solutions.
They are not in order of importance, but I think there are all those who are and I can already tell you that not all of them are a real problem in my opinion:
1) Access to the natural environment. Persecution by the authorities and bigoted harassment.
Past times were always better; And in the case of trial, it’s a truth like a temple. The old days will never come back. Put it well in your head; They will never come back. Riding where, how and when we want is over; Other alternatives must be sought.
This reality has two aspects that cause us problems:
– Current legislation regarding access to the natural environment
– Current legislation regarding the General Directorate of Traffic.
The harassment we suffer both to train and to organize trials is the consequence of laws made quickly and incompetently in which no one has bothered to find a space so that certain traditional uses or certain particularities can have a reasonable legality and that can be complied with by everyone.
Access to the natural environment, I believe, has a solution; since in some places they have managed to find spaces where they can do trials, even with long interzone routes. Pobladura, for example, has an enviable and spectacular natural area where trial trials are totally legal. Regardless of whether we may be required to register and/or have insurance.
Would it be possible to do other areas like that; more or less ambitious; more or less big, but where was trial legal?
Those areas wouldn’t just be used for training; also to organize simple or not so simple (depending on the area) federated trials; Pobladura is undoubtedly the Mecca of Spanish trials; Quite an example. To do this we would need the collaboration of the federations above all; the RFME, for example, has the figure of the Super who, as I understand it, carries out specific tasks aimed at helping the top or those who can become top to get the medals that the trial needs to teach politicians. Good for them, lucky they are.
What we can’t expect regional federations, clubs and fans to do is to get to a City Council, tell them that we need places to set up, but not give them the slightest help, idea or support on how to carry it out. They won’t fucking listen to us, which is exactly what’s happening.
My questions are: Wouldn’t it be possible to have another Super type figure dedicated to getting trial areas or at least advising those who try it?
Wouldn’t it be possible to draw up a good dossier with the existing areas in Spain and in the EU environment, where it would be well explained how and where these areas have been built, what benefits the creation of these trial areas have brought to the people, how ecology and trial coexist in those areas; and above all legally how they have been resolved? This document and that figure of the “Super Negotiator” would be a great help for territorial federations and clubs when it comes to standing in front of a town hall and trying to get its attention, and something really beneficial if this new Super were at their disposal when it came to meeting; Explain and negotiate with us a trial area or the simple authorization of an event.
It’s not easy It may be a utopia, I know, but we shouldn’t give in to certain politicians, civil servants and environmentalists so easily without at least trying in the ways we can think of; On this issue, I hear or read few initiatives; it may not be a panacea; But this is the one I can think of.
Like I said; On the other hand, there is the current legislation in terms of traffic, which is what it is, whether we like it or not. The Guardia Civil must comply with and apply laws to us designed for vehicles that circulate on roads and highways, which irreparably makes us outlaws.
Modern motorcycles have it easier since registering them, buying them registered and having insurance up to date and MOT is within everyone’s reach and it is something that we should all do now without exceptions.
The classics are another story since registering an “old iron” without papers in Spain is a real Kafkaesque epic and very expensive, typical of the lamentable bureaucracy of the last country in the third world that does not recognize the particularities and puts everything in the same bureaucratic bag. With the vast majority of classic motorcycles in our country having fewer roles than a dog, we would need an acknowledgement of this fact. laws that were reasonable and a change of attitude and regulations regarding historic and competition vehicles with better and cheaper options to register our historic motorcycles dedicated only to classic trials, Or you can plan all the classic trials without a metre of route on roads open to traffic.
As for minors without a driver’s license and without insurance, there is no possible discussion. Over time, they will only be able to participate in those trials, in those areas and with those motorcycles that meet all the legal requirements for them. It doesn’t matter who it is, who likes it.
2) The Crisis.
First of all, the pilots recognize and appreciate the efforts and formulas that the different federations are applying so far to reduce costs; ideas such as reduced social, territorial or national licences; ideas such as grouping championships into two-day trials; Ideas such as reducing and setting a maximum and reasonable price for their competitions are undoubtedly good initiatives that help to some extent to alleviate the effects of the crisis.
Thank you for that, but unfortunately they are not enough, as we are seeing year after year.
Creating a new club seems more complicated to me nowadays than creating a company. the existing clubs need to organize a trial not to be something so loss-making for them, especially the small club or social trials that are almost non-existent because they are uneconomical, and here appears again the RFME and the desire it has to take the federated trial of the simple amateurs forward.
Pilots also cannot afford to pay for a national license and go to all the races, we have to select from the menu until we exhaust our available time and money. If we don’t make the trial available to many more economies, there will be fewer and fewer licenses and registrations, as is already happening, will be lower and lower. Some trials will die due to lack of clients. It is a very difficult task to create something like a good trial, but it is very easy to destroy it and once destroyed it is almost impossible to recover it, we should never forget this.
3) Levels and objectives.
As I mentioned in the first post of my blog “Putting the cart before the horse”, it seems that Spanish Trial is only focused on forging champions, and historically forgets those of us who just want to have fun, do sport and have a good day with motorcycles. We only count when it comes to paying, true or not, that’s the sad thing an impression that many of us have more and more.
Regardless of who it may be, the trial oriented to this, the trial oriented to have a good day of trial is practically non-existent in our country, the scarce offer is focused on national and territorial championships or cups.
On the one hand, having a small club of friends to organize legal but simple trials or federated training is a task with so much bureaucracy, demands and such high costs that it is clearly unaffordable at the moment.
On the other hand, all trials are always focused on the best, forgetting about the bulk of potential novice clients or Sunday riders who are left aside and dismissed with a “we have to train more”.
Of course, he will train more if he can and wants to… those who can’t or don’t want to stop going to trials, ride with their friends in legal or non-legal areas and holy Easter; which is actually what’s already happening.
Solutions? They are so clear that it is unnecessary to comment on them, right? Although for those who don’t want to think too much, we’ll comment on them:
– Ease of creating small trial clubs with the aim of doing training, small local and social trials in a legal way.
– Adaptation of the categories to the reality of the registrations, so that there is no tendency to exclude those who ride the worst or very focused and even differentiated trials for beginners and for low levels of riding.
Trial for all; That should be the goal.
4) Regulations.
I don’t see this as a problem, for tastes of colors. For my part YES to the trial stop and YES also to the non-stop trial, YES to the coefficients and YES also to the categories by years. Each trial, each club, each championship or trophy can choose what they like the most and so each rider will also choose which trials they go to within the menu; each one to serve himself according to his own criteria.
5) Lack of “vocations”?
And let’s go with one of the main problems in my opinion, the result and possible consequence of other problems mentioned above. No one wants to help in trials, no one commits themselves to doing the most thankless tasks. We all like to look for areas and look for lines and steps; but very few drive stakes and put ribbons at the command of others; and above all, no one wants to commit to dealing with Federations; City Councils, Environment, Seprona, Forestry… to run a club, a trial or an area dedicated to trials.
An arduous, hard and thankless task that no one wants to do precisely because of how complicated and costly it is in time and money.
What solutions are there to this?
I really don’t know. We paid for a very expensive license; Good trials are also expensive and from our clubs we are made to see that even paying a lot is not enough.
The enormous silence on the part of those responsible for our sport is significant. Very soon, at this rate, there will only be elite trials in Spain. Fans and children will be busy with other tasks if someone doesn’t remedy it.
To be frank, I don’t find any more problems than these; which are not few and serious; that prevent us from doing trials and that prevent the clubs from carrying out their functions properly, and the supposed problem of the regulations does not even seem or should be a problem but simple options within a menu.
The solutions, although still to be developed, mark an open path that we should travel
r all together. As the motto that Dumas invented for The Three Musketeers goes; “All for one and one for all”; Whether we like it or not, we have no other alternative if we want to do trials, the sooner we recognize it, the sooner we will be able to solve it together and not die ruined and alone as happened to Alexandre Dumas.
Javier Cruz
