It is more than 50 years ago today, in September 2025, that I, Gernot Menke, organised my first bicycle trial in Bad Nauheim's Frauenwald in 1974 as a 15-year-old.
What fascinated and inspired me about trial sport from the very beginning is the versatility of the requirements in ever new sections and also its connection with nature. I am not a big believer in artificial obstacles, where the difficulties are constructed and do not arise from the complexity of the terrain.
Rabbit wire is supposed to make spectacular obstacles at great heights non-slip. The spectacular effect of the high altitude is thus made possible by limiting the difficulty elsewhere. In this respect, one cannot say that rabbit wire makes the sections safer, it just makes them different. Sections that are at ground level, but slippery, are not more dangerous and also not "lucky sections", but also require a suitable and then successful approach.
They are two different trial philosophies, the Spanish and the British. In the Spanish trial philosophy, the rider is in the foreground; he is the great torero who spectacularly conquers the obstacle that falls by the wayside and is then celebrated. The other is the British one, which focuses on the greatness of the section, and "greatness" does not have anything to do with the height of steps. In the British trials philosophy, the section is the main thing; the rider is supposed to see how he copes with the pitfalls of nature, conquer them or fail them, and he plays a far subordinate role.
I was and am clearly a supporter of the British version and that's why I do my non-stop trial in Stadtallendorf once a year. I also very much regret that there are very few long-distance trials (like in Sant Feliu de Codines in Catalonia and also in Japan) that have a great appeal.
Of course, I also have other interests than trial, for example history, philosophy, shipping, Japan and much more. You should have an area that you know down to the smallest details, so that you know how things work and work, but otherwise be interested in the widest possible breadth.
