This page presents some more of the bicycle trials in Bad Nauheim that stood out for one reason or another – starting with the 3rd bicycle trial on 24 May 1975. Great pictures from the early days of bicycle trials!
3rd bike trial on 24 May 1975
This event was one of eight bike trials (see the list on the page ‘Bad Nauheim – Bicycle Trial on 25 May 1974’) that took place on the grounds near the Frauenwaldschule in Nieder Mörlen in the Frauenwald forest. It was not a special location, but it was a very usable forest area with a pleasant atmosphere that offered a wide range of possibilities and was also close to the town. The location indicated on the posters was always the Usabrücke (bridge over the small Usa river) at the Frauenwaldschule, from where the few hundred metres to the start at the edge of the forest were signposted.
This third bike trial saw a record number of participants, with over fifty riders taking part. Word had spread about the Stadtjugendring bike trials, and this time I had placed a small advertisement in the WETTERAUER ZEITUNG, which clearly had the desired effect. However, what contributed most to the incredible atmosphere at this bike trial was what Markus Schlosser wrote on the previous page about his ‘memories’ of the first bike trial on 25 May 1974 (see the relevant page): ‘The great thing back then was that you didn't have to be a freak with a high-tech bike, you could just go there and achieve a good result with a little skill.’
Above all, although the participants had little knowledge of trials riding at the time, they were the focus of the event! That was the key point. Failures didn't hurt because everyone was in the same boat. And since everyone was working together to overcome a high riding hurdle for the given level, a strong sense of community, drive and lots of fun came together. I have only experienced such a casual and cheerful atmosphere as at this trial once later. 1
Typical for beginners was the sometimes completely incorrect assessment of difficulties. For example, in the first section, I had used a small depression and turned it into a ‘mud pan’ with a water canister. Actually, you could have just driven through here, as the two participants shown below demonstrated.
Other participants succumbed to the psychological effect of the mud hole and reacted completely over the top, promptly failing, as did the driver in the two pictures below. They could have easily driven around the mud hole on the hillside (if feasible, I always include options when designing sections!), but no one thought of that. Maybe the ‘splash’ was just too tempting!
After the shock of the tree trunk, many participants failed to switch to braking in time on the following descent and gained too much speed for the bend before the tree to the Ends-card. Here, one participant who was going too fast jumps off:
The sections were all designed to be ‘large’, so that they could be completed with a normal bike with sufficient momentum. Most participants got the hang of it quite quickly and ended up with far fewer points at the end of the trial than they had in the first few rounds. At a low level, riding progress always happens very quickly.
Finally, some pictures of Section 5 on the forest road:
The atmosphere that had prevailed in the sections continued during the award ceremony. The last photo shows how coveted the prizes were this time: ice hockey tickets from VfL Bad Nauheim! It is important to note that Bad Nauheim played in the first ice hockey Bundesliga for a long time and even came third in 1973/74. At that time, Bad Nauheim was not only the only Bundesliga team in Hesse, but also the only one that did not come from the Alpine foothills (with its lakes frozen over in winter and a corresponding ice hockey tradition) or from a large city that had an ice rink. Bad Nauheim owed this to the Americans, who not only drove motorboats on the pond in the spa gardens after the war, but also built an ice rink there for their boys (the large pond provided the cooling water for the ice machines). Bad Nauheim soon became – and still is – an ice hockey town.
During the games, the town was deserted – many spa guests also went to watch ice hockey. The son of my school headmaster, Makatsch, was the goalkeeper – his sister Heike became an actress. My sister's best friend married a Czech national striker who played for Bad Nauheim – their son later became an ice hockey goalkeeper. A later Bad Nauheim ice hockey pro, Thomas Barczikowski, won the bike trial in 1977. Back then, instead of football, the children in Bad Nauheim played ‘ice hockey’ on the street with a tennis ball. The sticks for this were available at the games, where broken sticks were always handed over the boards to the children who rushed over. That's why ice hockey tickets were great prizes at the bike trial! I also saw many, many games (and have a puck that flew out of the rink on my shelf) – I lived only a ten-minute walk from the ice rink and, although I wasn't a fan, ice hockey was simply part of the cold season for me.
I am adding one last photo because it is unbelievable how overgrown everything is today! The following picture shows the same spot where the award ceremony took place in 1975, only slightly further to the left, in 2014! The people at the award ceremony would be standing behind the slanted fence post on the right-hand side of the picture below. In both photos, the photographer was standing at the edge of the forest on the forest road. Incidentally, the path leads to the Äppelwoitreppchen.
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Bike Trials Cup 1976
In 1976, I organized a bike trial cup competition in Bad Nauheim with three rounds, all of which took place at different locations.
5th bike trial on May 22, 1976 = 1st round in the Bike Trials Cup
The first round for this cup took place on May 22, 1976, on the grounds near the Frauenwald school in Nieder Mörlen. This time, I chose a relatively long circuit there, which initially led steeply uphill, so that the participants had to push their bikes on this part of the course. The first sections were located there. After a stretch on a hillside path almost on the top of the slope - you can get an idea of the forest slope in the second photo – the route then went cross-country back down the steep forest slope, but at an angle so that it wasn't too steep. Based on my observations during the third bike trial (in section 3, see above!), I was afraid of bikes possibly going through and didn't want to take any risks.
This charming, longer cross-country section down the slope led to a hollow in the hillside covered with fir trees, whose numerous protruding roots posed the main difficulty. At the bottom, the riders then returned to familiar terrain with the remaining sections and the start and finish at the edge of the forest.
All that five times! Some of the younger participants in particular were pretty exhausted afterwards, given the altitude they had covered. You can also see this in the results list below, in the number of dropouts in this class. For the first time, the classes were divided into under and over 12 years of age – the previous division into with and without gears was abandoned. Incidentally, parents were practically never present at the trial. The participants had all come to the trial on their bikes.
Worth mentioning on the list in the “big” class is Helmut Rühl in fourth place. He was a cycle artist with the local cycle art club, whom I happened to strike up a conversation with before the trial. He found trials interesting and took part a few times to see what trials riding felt like. In any case, he was surprised that the trials riders – unlike his artistic cyclists in the hall! – were not able to stand still! These words gave me pause for thought even then. Standing still was not yet common in motorcycle trials at that time; in fact, it was frowned upon because it supposedly disrupted the riding rhythm. For this reason, the clutch should also not be used in the sections if possible...
6th Bike trial on August 7, 1976 = 2nd round of the Bike Trials Cup
I am attaching some newspaper clippings from that time about this second round in the 1976 Bike Trials Cup, which was the 6th Bike trial organized by the Bad Nauheim City Youth Council. First, the report in the regional WETTERAUER ZEITUNG, followed by my reports in FAHRERLAGER and TRIALSPORT, which was launched in 1976 by Felix Krahnstöver.
These newspaper clippings provide sufficient information about the second round of the Bike Trials Cup, so I don't need to write anything more about it here. At the same time, they convey an impression of my enthusiasm for bike trials at the time and my efforts to promote bike trials. So here are the historical documents mentioned!
7th bike trial on 25 September 1976 = 3rd round of the Bike Trial Cup
- During a motorcycle trial in Aßlar in the well-known forest, there was a long uphill stretch for fourth gear that was so slippery that almost – almost! – all participants slid back down the slope on their backsides. It was like a carnival atmosphere! ↩