Long Distance Trials
Rather than involve the acrobatic high jinks that the likes of Toni Bou and Dougie Lampkin perform in the World Trials Championship, Long Distance Trails are a far more relaxed affair, taking place mostly on trails that are open to the public and of a format much more like traditional trials of over 50 years ago. Consequently, bikes need to be road legal, and ridden between the observed stages that must be ridden feet-up.
The short explanation is that this means that you’ll be riding in some fantastic scenery, much of which are green lanes or Byways Open To All Traffic, while the observed sections will take place in the rather more technical areas of trail, or occasionally on bits of private land.
With categories for all kinds of bike, with pretty much the only stipulation being that you use trials-style tyres (that must be road legal, for obvious reasons), but there can be allowances made for those who use road-based rubber such as the Bridgestones that we used. Full-on enduro or motocross tyres are a big no-no.
The events attract an incredible variety of machinery, from pukka tiny-tanked road-going trials bikes, to converted Honda step-thrus via classic mudpluggers and modern traillies like you see here.
We took part in an event organised by M-ECVC (the Middle England Classic Vehicle Club, find them on Facebook) based in the north-east, but there are similar events all around the country throughout the year.
They tend to be single day events, although some clubs add an extra day trail riding to make for a full off-road weekend. Some events are run in conjunction with car trials (yes, they exist, and are rather impressive), and more details can be found on social media.