On The Pegs December 2019 - Volume 4 - Issue 12 | Page 167

On The Pegs
VOL. 4 ISSUE 12 - DECEMBER 2019
167
November is an exciting time for the folks of Trials Incorporated, even though
it represents the ending of another riding season. It gives everyone a chance to
get together, celebrate highlights and achievements of the current year, as well
as suggest improvement opportunities for the future. It also means the opening
event of the next season, which was once again hosted at the AMA Hall of Fame
museum in Pickerington, OH.
In 2020, riders will now gain the ability to sign up and pay for events online. Tra-
vis Daniels, Vice President and IT Specialist of Trials Inc, will be building this con-
venience into the club website (www.trialsinc.org). Online sign-up will conclude
the Thursday prior to the event, but riders will still be able to sign-up on-site if
needed.
A focus of the 2019 meeting was on the structure of the various skill classes.
Last year, the difficulties of the various classes were eased slightly, to allow more
opportunity for higher-level riders to move into the Champ class and try their
hand at getting their name added to the highly-coveted Season Championship
trophy (past champions include Sam Fastle, Quinn Wentzel, Steve Oehrle, and Jeff
Hursh, among many others).
Due to a lack of participation over the past few years, the Air-Cooled Mono class
has been removed. In lieu of this change, the Vintage A class description has
been updated to remove the twin-shock restriction; this would allow air-cooled
mono competitors entry to ride the Sportsman line within a vintage class.
The most exciting change to the 2020 season is the addition of Trials Inc’s first-
ever Women’s class. The sport of trials has seen a continued increase in the num-
ber of female riders, and Trials Inc is no exception, seeing the addition of at least
three women in the 2019 season alone. The Women’s class is open to any female
capable of competing on the adult course at the Intermediate level (riders at the
Intermediate level should be able to attempt basic obstacles, tight turns, and can
overcome logs or small rock ledges by lofting the front tire). Round 1 of the 2020
season, hosted at the AMA Hall of Fame museum in Pickerington, OH, saw four
women in this new class, Toni Roach, Heather Patton, Amanda Spring, and Sally
Wright.
Sally and Amanda took time to discuss the class and what this means for Trials
Incorporated.
I think women have had a great impact on Trials Inc since the start of the club in
the early 1970’s,” said Amanda. “Females have ridden when they could, but the
number of female riders has been increasing in more recent years to where hav-
ing a devoted class to women will have a positive impact, and hopefully other