Trials riding is a full body exercise, it's a great way to improve your riding skills, it's a great way to do more then just drink beer and watch TV, but it is none of those things you "always thought".
Amateur observed trials events are not for profit sporting events that would not happen if somebody did not make the significant effort to arrange or provide the venues, purchase the materials, cut and clear trees and set out 5 lines of section difficulty to accommodate the various levels of skills and ages of the riders that will be competing. You can not set up a successful trials event unless you are intimately familiar with what the bikes and the riders who will be participating are capable of, and absolutely nobody is doing this for anything other then fun and camaraderie. We don't have judges, we have section Checkers If we are extremely lucky, club and event organizes if we are extremely lucky, spectators if we are extremely lucky, enough riders to make a complete class of the minimum 3 riders if we are lucky and extremely appreciative for all of those things when it does come together. Trials events are the only competition motor sport where you will see riders cheering on or advising competing riders, minding (catching flying motorcycles in the event the rider should lose control) or chuck their 10k bike on the ground to run to the aid of a crashed rider.
But wow, you really should do yourself and the clubs the justice of actually attending an event live before drawing conclusions, or posting rude comments about something which you have no clue.
