2022 Northeast Bike Trials Comp & Clinic

Concept | Highlights | Results | Sponsors & Coaches | Videos

The Concept

Instead of hosting a traditional trials competition this fall, Tony came up with the idea of hosting a two-day competition and clinic. The first day riders would ride the sections twice, with expert/pro riders providing coaching during and after each run. The second day would be just the competition. And of course we’d add some other fun events as well.

Event Highlights

While most of the riders were from CT and MA, some of the participants traveled from more distant states as well, including VT, VA, and AZ. We had a group ride Friday afternoon (as opposed to the normal Thursday) so that travelers could join us. Despite a meager turnout, Jim and I were able to ride the UCONN Avery Point campus with Josh (there’s a separate video for that ride). Friday evening, several of the riders got together for dinner at a local restaurant.

Saturday was Day 1 of the event. Everyone rode two of the sections twice (well, except me because I was busy filming), with some coaching throughout the day. After riding the first section, we had a brief rain delay (apparently the rocks weren’t slippery enough yet), followed by a gap competition. Then we rode the second section, followed by a skinny competition. Saturday evening included another group dinner.

On Sunday, Day 2, we rode the two sections a couple more times and a third section 3 times. This was all riding, no coaching. Since I still haven’t figured out how to be in multiple locations and once, my wife and son filmed the novice, expert, and pro riders while I filmed the sport group (since that’s the group I rode with). In addition to the riding, we also celebrated two birthdays! Apparently Frankie and my wife share the same birthday. Frankie just turned 70 and my wife just turned… well, much less than 70.

In addition to the folks we usually see at our annual events and weekly group rides, we also had some new faces this year. Tom drove down from VT early Saturday morning. He’s pretty savvy on a street trials bike. Jason and Jen drove in from VA. I’d met them at two other comps this year: Arrowhead Bike Farm and Bentonville Bike Fest. Josh flew in from AZ; I also met him this year at Bentonville. Robbie Pfunder appeared Sunday as well, which was a nice surprise – it’s always fun to watch him ride. Finally, Brendan showed up Sunday also, without a bike. Apparently he used to trials trials about 20 years ago, and figured he’d swing by and give it a go. Since he didn’t have a bike, Gary shared his with Brendan who rode pretty for not doing this for 2 decades!

Competition Results

The competition spanned two days, so the scores from the two days were combined for the totals. Unfortunately, some of the riders could not attend both days. Here are the results, by category.

Professional

First Place: Mike Steidley Score, 540 (uncontested)

Expert

First Place: Robbie Pfunder, Score 310 (uncontested)

Sport

First Place: Anthony Delima, Score 510

Second Place: Garry Culbert, Score 470

Third Place: Jim Cochran, Score 460

Fourth Place: Brendan Cavanaugh, Score 450

Fifth Place: Scott Lynn, Score 400

Sixth Place: Warren Kennedy, Score 310

Seventh Place: Tim Chemacki, Score 180 (was only able to ride 5 of 9 sections due to camera man demands)

DNF Ryan Rebholz

DNF Tom Wood

Novice

First Place: Jason Disch, Score 400

Second Place: Josh Wittlieff, Score 390

Third Place: Frankie Roderigues, Score 340

Fourth Place: Dan Leclerc, Score 320

Fifth Place: Jen Everhard, Score 100

Sponsors & Coaches

Thanks to ESI Grips and to Abad Trials for generous place prizes!

Thanks to our coaches: Mike Steidley, Joe Janicki, and Alex Belmont!

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A post shared by Tim Chemacki (@thisisbiketrials)

Videos

The event itself was Saturday and Sunday, but we also had a group ride on Friday afternoon. There are three separate videos that capture the overall event.