So it's getting closer and closer now. We set off
next week to Andorra for my eldest son, Alfies, first
World TrialGP Championship. It's going to be
an interesting trip. And really just a trip for experience and hopefully that
he enjoys himself and enjoys himself in the paddock. When I was younger, it was fantastic
to be in the paddock and there's a lot of
things going on. You're actually riding
in the same event as the world champion. It is the absolute
pinnacle of any sport, maybe some expectation
from some people. You know, we carry the family
name Lampkin, as much as I did, although now I think it's a little bit different
with the Internet and social media
and everything that I think he' possibly a little bit
under the focus, a little bit more than what I was. I think I was a little bit under the radar when
I was starting. But no - he's he's made his
own decision to to want to go. And he's always ridden
both my boys, Alfie and Fraser, have always ridden trials, but
it's only really been for fun. Then during lockdown. Obviously not at school a lot of time at home.
We're lucky that we have some land in
some places wit sections. And they were both riding a lot. In fact, a very lot and Afies
level was obviously improving. And as you can see from the four or five British championship rounds that he's done this year in the adults
and in the Trial125 class, he's been finishing
around six and seventh position and things like that. but, you know, he's been happy
gaining the experience he's definitely improving.
But he's got a long way to go. He knows that he's not under any illusion that he's
going to set any records or anything like that
in this first round. And like I said, we just go into
to enjoy ourselves, get the experience,
and hopefully come home with a smile on our face. Still never seen
your face riding like this. You need to keep looking up. Look where the bike goes
otherwise when you're having no time to recover. Next week, we go to Andorra feeling very excited because obviously I've
never done a World round before I've just started doing the British championship
rounds this year. My plan in Andorra
is just to enjoy myself riding, gain experience,
riding abroad, more different types of sections
and landscapes and weather. Obviously, dad said
it's going to be very hot, it's going to be quite hard,
but I've just got to ride as well as I can and have fun. Very hot, but grippy. So it's fun? Yeah. The bike is, a lot different
training up here, but getting used to it. So we are tested for one 125cc riders in Andorra where
there's no power for a 300cc. So yeah, the boys are working
some magic, for Alfies bike, it's never going to be a 250cc
that is for sure. But let's see I remember being here
in the world championship watching Dougie and Alfie was three years old and he was
wanting to play in the trees and not watch his father. Where is Dougiein the line first, always first? it's not his first time. I brought a lot of
papers and a boy. And another boy helping us. Stress levels gone down
a little bit now, to be honest, I remember it so well,
but yeah, this is the beginning of the race. You know, he's just signed on
for his first first world championship race. And yeah, now I think I'm a little
bit more nervous than he is. But now we're going to get changed, go to the training area
and just do a little bit. And then, yeah, it's
a very fast day today. Look at the sections
then we prepare the bike. You know, there's not much time
to think about it today. So now we've got
everything signed on. I've got my minders bib for the
first time in a long time. So, yeah, we're looking
forward to it. It's going to be a great experience. And we're just here
to enjoy ourselves. So we went to the practice
area this morning to ride for about half an hour
just to see what it was like and dealing with
the temperature and everything. And then we went to ride a lap
round walk the sections and see - just an extra walk
before the actual day tomorrow. I think I'm a little bit
more nervous than him, but we don't really have
any expectations. He's now looking
for the start times, to see what time he's leaving. You know, we're going
to be early tomorrow. And as long as he enjoys it and I'm not as bad as minder
as I am sometimes. I'm sure it's going
to be a good day. And we're looking forward to it.
So let's see what happens. Learned that it's
not very easy being a minder. In fact, it's pretty hard work, but no, it was a
good day, actually. It was obviously very difficult. But we knew that. He was really nervous
at the start. In fact, most of the first lap. And then the second half, he started quite nice
and got through a few sections. And, you know, he's
looking forward to tomorrow already told me he wants
to improve on his 17th position Yeah, I learned a lot. I learned that when you make a
big mistake, you just got to keep your head up
and it goes down. Dad was saying it's a long day. And if you just get moody at the start, you'll
never get through it properly and just keep your
energy levels high. And just. Yeah. Did you get
moody at the start? I did, because I
set off really badly. But then that persuaded me
just to keep going. And second lap was a lot better. So, yeah, I just needed to get used to the
environment more, I think. And the sections on the hill, the altitude and everything,
it's really hard to keep the bike going with it
being nonstop as well. And it's just hard to stay on
line and on track up the hills. Ready for the next one. Definitely looking
forward for tomorrow. Riding the same sections. So hopefully I can do
a lot better than. I need to learn a little more
on the minding side. Park in some better places
and stop forgetting the bag. That would be good. Take that wide alfie,
you better going straight so you can move your back
instead of going. Yeah. We had some great sections here, started by the tree and
then went over all the slabs. 'think it was a 315 Montesa -
that's a long time ago. Yeah, so overall,
the weekend was very good. It was a good experience to get
my first world round done. And today I rode a lot
better than yesterday, finishing 14th, and I rode very well and just need to keep
thinking about looking up and using my legs
more in the sections and listening to dad
as he always shouts at me. I just want to say
thanks to everyone. Suca for prepping the bike
and dad for minding. It was really good. Yeah. And he's taken off,
I think, about 40 points from yesterday's
and moved to 14th. So he's got his first world championship points,
and that was his target yesterday
to try and get some points. He was close yesterday, but everybody was riding
a little bit better. But he got through
a lot more sanctions and yeah, he's very pleased. To be honest, I think
all the weekend has been probably better than we
expected. We were just coming here for some experience. But I did tell him that
Andorra and France are going to be the hardest
two races of the season. That's like always it's
very steep on top of the hill. He's never seen sections like that. But, you know, he's
not been angry all weekend. There's been, of course,
a few disappointments in some of the sections and
a couple of decisions he's got. But in general, you know, he's
very, very pleased as well we are, myself and my wife,
Nicola. It's been fantastic to watch him. And yeah, we're looking forward
to Cahors next week. I've heard it's quite an indoor
trial, so that's going to be a new experience for him. We're going to take
a couple of days off and just relax and then we'll do
a little bit of practicing and go to the factory
to prepare the bikes and then on to the next one. And he's already telling me
what he's going to improve, so. Yeah. Great weekend. See you next week. It's very interesting. It reminds me so much of the mornings
of when Dougie used to ride a world championship. It's like time hasn't moved on. It's still the same. But it's it's our baby
Alfie it's his turn. So the routines. Everything's ready
from the night before. The drinks are all prepared. The rucksacks are all prepared. And yeah, they just have time
to fuel and get ready and go. The very early starts in Alfie's
class, that's something new for us from the
very beginning, from when the boys were both small and riding bikeswe were never,
ever pushing them to be like Dougie or to say, yeah, yeah, you've
got to do this and you've got to ride this trial. Dougie's been very busy
with his career and and his job And so the time from him hasn't been there
like lots of other children and their fathers. But then the pandemic happened and Dougie was at home
for a long time. And that has never been we've never had Dougie at home
for more than three weeks. So the boys got to spend time
with him and ride their bikes with him so, so much more. And then Alfie just suddenly got the book
and decided I want to ride some competitions. So then we supported
him with whatever they both of them want to do.
As long as they're happy. So he started the competitions
and Dougie had the time to take him to the competitions. And we're here now. And yeah, there will be some discussions going on about how
far he would like to go or not. But as long as he's happy,
we'll support him. Whatever they're
training now. Yeah, about 40 minutes to start, it's not a long way
to the practice area. - and there's not
a lot of practice area. This weekend was good. I set off quite nicely
with a clean and a one and then sort of
had a few fives going through, just like not giving enough
power up the rocks because you had to
stop straight away. So then dad talked to me
about he'd rather me get up on to it and go too far,
than come back off it. And that's a big difference,
because you either five it off a big step that you can't get up or you clean
the section, amazingly. And it was just quite a day with turns and I just went
clean, five, cleans and fives. But yeah, it was good.
The last two weeks were good. It's quite cool in the camper
where you just drive and sleep and then you just get your bike
out every day and ride. But yeah, I enjoyed it. Yeah, I think I'll definitely
ride Trial125 next year and hopefully do even better. So just keep training from now. He started quite well, actually,
and then we had a bit of a bit of a pity to get given
a five for one point they had on section three and. And he kept riding well,
he's had quite a few disasters, but really on the hard ones,
he was never really in a great position
to really attack the big parts. So, you know,
quite high scoring. He kept push right to the end. And in fact, in the last two
sections, which were probably maybe out of his reach, he had a zero and a one
to finish the trial so... Yeah. No complaints about his
fitness and things like that. It's just you're
not going to learn how to ride the world championship in one week and
it's going to take some time. He's loved the experience. We've enjoyed it as a family
coming to support him. And yeah, let's see what happens with his training and everything over the offseaso
