Nostalgia weekend
Holme Farm, near Kendal
It’s no real secret that the Cumbria Classic Racing MC Club’s Nostalgia Weekend is a brilliant event – even in the years it has not been blessed with good weather it has still been popular.
There’s always lots going on and the club attracts a lot of famous names and some are even forced to sing for their supper as named guests like Alan Clough for the trial and Ian Ridley for the scramble in 2015. Technically based around a trial on Saturday and a scramble on Sunday the ‘weekend’, in this case August 22-23, is stretched to cover Friday where the Ambleside starting point for one of the 1913 ISDT days is the gathering for a classic road run.
Though these days the whole route is on metalled roads, tip your crash hat to those riders in 1913 who tackled dirt roads with belt-driven, hand-change machines now called ‘veteran’ but over a century ago they were the latest things.
There was a return to sanity for trials riders when the old way of one route through a section was reintroduced for a Nostalgia trial a few years back. On the 20-section course there were a few hard sections, a few easy sections and the rest a decent test for the variety of skills and machinery in use. Riders tackled the course twice, handed in a punch card after each lap and the results were out in triple quick time thanks to Mike Rapley, who co-opted his family into the task.
Once the pre-race inspection had finished scrambles practice was under way at 10am and followed at 11am by a CCM parade before the Clubman race opened the day’s action. With eight nominal classes to get through in the programme, some races were held together and the pre-60 unlimited riders went out with the pre-68 up to 350 racers while the pre-75 up to 250 and pre-78 unlimited riders were on the track at the same time. The racing was fast, furious and fabulous fun with the track visible to spectators from many vantage points. Roll on this year’s event.
There are events that have entered the legendary folklore of the sporting scene and for us Pre-65 trials riders the annual two-day bash in Kinlochleven is one such event.
Known as the Scottish Pre-65 Two Day Trial and supported by Putoline Oils, Hope Technology, Kia Cars and REH suspension, it is one of those ‘must-do’ events for our scene. Being as far north as Kinlochleven often means the weather plays a big part in the trial and there’s been some interesting conditions in the 33 years the trial has been run.
This year was predicted to be the most interesting yet, with snow coating the hills around the former aluminium smelting town and enthusiasts arriving from the South the day before the event relating tales of blizzards and heavy snow closing roads around Tyndrum. Even those hardy souls taking in the Moidart Run round the Moidart peninsular battled the elements and all eyes were on weather forecasts. In the end though it turned out nice again to quote George Formby – for younger riders, George was a popular comedy film star in the 30s and 40s.
Traditionally the entry is split to take odd numbers one way and even numbers the other to cut down on queues at sections but before that all had to negotiate perhaps the most fearsome ‘section’ of all – the Start Ramp and be flagged away by special guest Guy Martin before he fired up his Ariel and joined the entry to tackle the trial for the first time. Friday’s route took riders on even numbers along the Mamore Road and over Callart pass, which was tricky for early riders, while the odds went out to Cnoc a Linnhe so they could smooth out the bumps for later competitors. Saturday saw the odds route marking the big loop taking in Blackwater Moor while evens started at Garbh Bheinn before tackling the moors.
Though there were some flurries of snow and a few showers of rain this just seemed to add to the trial and there were a lot of happy smiling faces at the end of each day.