On The Pegs November 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 11 | Page 110

On The Pegs
By Sam Fastle
The 2018 Trial Des Nations trip to So-
kolov in the Czech Republic was a great
success! This was my first year being
selected as a rider for the men’s team
and I was honored to stand beside
Daniel Blanc-Gonnet and Pat Smage
who are both my good friends and role
models. I was also honored to be with
the women’s team made up of Mad-
die Hoover, Kylee Sweeten, and Laura
Peters. I am thankful for everyone that
supported the team and want to give a
special thank you to Ray Peters who was
the team manager, the minders Jordan
Fastle (my brother), Jerome Gregorow-
P 112
icz, Tom Fraser, and Garry Hoover and
Vonda and Todd Roper who always help
make the TDN team successful.
My trip over to the Czech Republic was
probably the most eventful for team
USA. My flight from Atlanta to JFK was
delayed which would have caused me to
miss the group flight from JFK to Prague.
I was rerouted from Atlanta to Frankfurt
and then to Prague. However, the lay-
over time in Frankfurt was too small and
I missed the flight to Prague by 3 min-
utes. I then had to wait in the Frankfurt
airport for 12 hours until the next flight
to Prague. Finally, after 30 hours of travel
I arrived in Prague, but unfortunately my
On The Pegs
bags didn’t which was kind of a big deal
because I had my helmet, Pat’s helmet,
and my brother’s helmet all packed in
my suitcases. Fortunately, they showed
up the next day and we were all set to
have a great weekend.
Friday was the first day anyone was
allowed into the paddock and once
there we set up our pits and rounded
up all the bikes for the riders and the
minders. Pat, Kylee, and I headed over
to the Sherco pits where we were
greeted by Axel who is the mechanic
for Miquel Gelabert, a TrialGP rider. Axel
was more than helpful as he showed
us the brand new 2019 Factory Shercos
Vol. 3 Issue 11 - November 2018
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that we would be riding. Big thank you
and shout out to Ryan Young Products
who provides the best for their riders
and customers. Once we picked up the
bikes and completed tech inspection
it was time for the first official practice.
The terrain there in Sokolov included
creeks, rock gardens, very steep hills,
and very powdery dirt on those hills
that made some of the deepest ruts I
have ever ridden through. The practice
sessions were very useful to help us ac-
climate to the terrain, get in sync with
our minders, and verify that our bikes
are set up perfectly.
Saturday started out with another