Andy's SSDT Clubman/first timer advice
First of all, in terms of bike setup and all other things SSDT, please read the articles by John Shirt and John Lampkin, which are fantastically written.
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My article is aimed at clubman riders attempting their first SSDT and is my personal opinion and experience. My aim is simply to help out others similar to me, and to maybe cover some areas that may have been missed. I hope to cover some of the lesser talked about questions and the smaller parts of the event that may apply more to people like us.
What is a clubman rider? It’s hard to define, as the level varies throughout the UK. Living in the Midlands, I classed myself as middle of the road. I’d say anyone who doesn’t normally ride the expert route at a club trial, finds the middle route easy enough, but the inter route a challenge and a good day out is a clubman rider.
In the build-up to this event, I was very fortunate to receive help and advice from a huge range of people. Men who had won the event multiple times, riders who had done it once, others who had ridden it 20-plus times. One issue was that the advice often clashed. You are left somewhere in the middle, trying to take it all in while also working out what actually applies to you.
Just quickly on myself, I turned 40 shortly before the event. I have a background in motorsport, with six British Jet Ski championships. I’ve tried motocross, enduro and then finally trials. My first trials event was in 2019. I’m an ex-soldier, relatively fit, and probably a bit overweight. This event was always going to be above me, but I wanted to have a go.
The Build-Up
Get fit. If you are fit, get fitter. That’s honestly all I can say.
I did what I could, but in hindsight I could have done more. Mountain biking would be excellent training. You are on your trials bike for up to nine hours a day. Even the “short” final day was still over five hours for me.
I wore a Garmin watch which gave some interesting stats. Across six days I was physically riding my bike or walking sections for 45 hours and 15 minutes. I lost 31 litres of sweat, burnt over 18,000 calories and rode almost 500 miles.
It is beyond any riding you are realistically able to do in training.
The biggest physical obstacle for me personally was from the bars upwards. Fingers, hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders — all of it. They were shot from day two onwards and from then on it was just tiny recoveries overnight before going again.
I’d fully recommend the Ride Nutrition products we sell, but start using them a couple of weeks beforehand so you know exactly what you are consuming and how your stomach reacts to it, because you will burn through a huge amount during the week.
Bike Prep
I rode the event on a 2025 TRS 250.
All bikes are good nowadays, but I was blown away by the performance and durability of mine. The poor thing got abused all week and at our level you are often riding through the rocks rather than over them — especially once tired.
Then there’s the roadwork, trying to legally make up as much time as you can between groups.
Hopefully the video explains my setup and how the bike looked afterwards, but some of it is personal preference anyway. I chose Michelin X11 tyres, a thicker front tube, S3 Galfer pads, Domino grips, an alloy throttle tube and an X-ring chain.
Engine-wise I ran an S3 soft head insert and Boyesen dual-stage carbon reeds which gave a really soft spread of power.
Two weeks before the event I went through the bike properly. It was 18 months old at this point and had already done a double season of the Ladies British Championship with my daughter riding it.
I changed the small end bearing and inspected the piston, rings, bore and big end. I changed fork oil and seals, head bearings, clutch bearings and linkage bearings. All fluids were changed too. I fitted a thicker CSP bash plate.
My swingarm bearings were still mint, so I cleaned and re-greased them. New wheel bearings went in too, along with new sprockets.
I’d definitely recommend a spare rear wheel at minimum. A front too if you have one. I had a rear ready to go with a fresh tyre and bearings already fitted. This saves time, changing a wheel rather than a tyre. I ran both my rear wheels before the event to make sure everything was bedded in and working properly.
I ran stock gearing. Advice on gearing was split 50/50 depending who you spoke to. My bike has five gears and was comfortable enough sat around 45–48mph on the road. I didn’t want to ruin the feel in the sections.
If you do alter gearing, test it beforehand.
I rode the bike on the Wednesday before the event. Just some local green lanes for around 10 miles, checked everything over once it cooled down, and then put it away.
I wore a watch and also had a cheap Casio mounted on the bar pad. This was genuinely useful for checking the time quickly while moving.
We stock and can supply everything fitted to my bike — including the bikes themselves!
Arrival at Fort William
Arrive Saturday if you can.
Head to Parc Fermé and meet up with your manufacturer. You will be coming back here every afternoon, usually tired and in a rush, so have a proper look around before the week starts.
Work out where you will park your bike before entering Parc Fermé each day. Look at the entry point where you hand your timecard in, then the route around the back of the car park at 5mph. They are strict on speed here.
You get two minutes to get through which is loads of time, so there is absolutely no need to rush.
Once you have sorted your manufacturer area, head round and see where your bike will actually live all week.
The town itself is brilliant. Everywhere you look there are riders, vans, bikes and people you know. It’s a really nice atmosphere.
Sunday – Weigh In & Parade Day
This day confused me a bit and it didn’t need to. Just small things really, but hopefully this helps.
Check timings in your final instructions.
I rode my bike from our campsite at Glen Nevis into Fort William, which was around three miles. This year sign-on was at the Nevis Centre, although obviously check in future years.
Have someone watch your bike while you sign on.
When you walk into the room it’s chaos. It genuinely reminded me of halftime on a football concourse. On the left is sign-on, on the right is where you collect you’re goodie bag afterwards.
Know your riding number beforehand. Mine was 246.
What I didn’t realise was that the signing-on tables were numbered too. Lower rider numbers are at the first tables and the higher numbers are further down the room.
Unfortunately lots of people were stood chatting after signing on, so it felt even busier than it needed to be.
Once I actually reached the front it took about 30 seconds. Have your entry form completed and your ACU licence ready.
Collect your bag, head back to the bike and then make your way to Parc Fermé.
I went over to TRS where Steve kindly found me some cable ties and scissors so I could fit my number board properly.
This is the last time you will really look over your bike without stress.
Once happy, queue for scrutineering. You push the bike up the ramp, the official checks everything and marks the bike.
Then that’s it. Put the bike away and head off.
If your family or friends are watching the parade, work out beforehand roughly where they will stand using shops or landmarks as references. That way you can stay on the correct side as you ride through.
The parade itself was actually great fun. I wasn’t looking forward to it beforehand, but it’s a really good atmosphere and everyone is smiling.
Once parked up afterwards, don’t worry about fuel. That’s handled overnight for you.
There is a briefing after the parade back at the Nevis Centre. It’s quite long but try and listen as I learnt a few things in that meeting.
Start Times
You will download an app called Sportity. Start times are posted there.
My first day was a late start and they progressively got earlier through the week.
You can enter the bike area 20 minutes before your start time. On day one you probably won’t need to do anything mechanically, but I still went in early and sat nervously on the bike.
Other articles, like John Shirt’s, explain the timing side of the SSDT much better than I can. I set a countdown on my watch for day one but at some point accidentally paused it, so after that I stopped bothering.
My mentality was simply to keep moving and get in as quickly as I reasonably could each day.
Your Bag & Kit
Buy a decent bag. Unfortunately they aren’t cheap.
I used a USWE backpack with the cross buckle system and it genuinely didn’t move around all week.
I didn’t wear waterproof trousers as I personally find them irritating and far too sweaty.
How much you carry is up to you, but I carried:
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Three short tyre levers
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One 21” tube
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Brake, clutch, gear and rear brake levers
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Thermostat short-out switch
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Bolts and split links
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Multitool
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Knife
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Pliers and circlip pliers
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Adjustable spanner
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Spark plug
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Cable ties
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Axle block
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Energy gels and food
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Spare throttle body and throttle cable
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Dog turds and c02 cartridges + gun
I carried a 1.5 litre Camelbak with Ride Nutrition Intra.
I wore S3 trousers which have generous thigh pockets. These were brilliant for carrying the timecard.
For riding gear I wore MOTS armour, a riding shirt, an Endura MTB waterproof jacket and standard TRS Hebo gloves.
I personally hate thick gloves as they make me feel restricted.
Have a neck warmer somewhere accessible for cold road runs in the mornings and evenings.
You also need goggles for the roads and fire roads if it’s dusty.
I wore Gaerne waterproof boots but my feet still got wet every day. Even in a relatively dry year there are still streams and deep puddles where water comes straight over the top.
As I type this on the Monday after the event, my feet are absolutely ruined from being constantly wet.
The Loop
Blue arrows with an “L” mean left. Red arrows with an “R” mean right. Straight on is marked either by orange flags or white “SO” signs.
One thing that caught me out early was how inconsistent the spacing of the markers can be. On Saturday me and another rider went around a mile and a half without seeing anything and both started panicking.
Eventually we checked the map on the timecard and realised we were fine.
Spectators can also accidentally block signs which happened to me near Trotters Burn.
Don’t be afraid to ask people. Everyone is friendly and wants you to get round safely.
If you miss a group you are disqualified, so take your time and make sure you are heading the right way. It becomes harder as the week goes on because you are tired, rushed and mentally overloaded.
By Wednesday I was hearing phantom noises from the bike. At one point I convinced myself I had a puncture, looked down to check, and nearly missed my turning completely.
If you do miss a section and realise quickly, never ride backwards against the course. There have been serious accidents over the years from riders doing this.
You will be disqualified if you go backwards on the loop.
Missing a section costs 50 marks, which sounds awful, but it’s still infinitely better than getting disqualified, hurt or hurting someone else.
The final section of every group has a blue “End of Hill” sign. Once you see that, you know you have completed the group.
The Moors
“The moors” became the general term for anything off-road that wasn’t a fire road. Bogs, rocks, grass tracks, streams and river crossings — all of it.
I had imagined endless waist-deep bogs and bikes buried everywhere. Thankfully it was relatively dry this year, but they were still brutal.
If you have enduro experience it definitely helps, although the problem is you are doing it on a bike with no seat and very soft suspension.
I was slow on the moors, but I still got away with it because I was early back on five of the six days.
The fast riders aren’t necessarily riding flat out. They are just incredibly efficient at scanning terrain, choosing lines and reacting instantly.
As the week went on and I got more tired, I became worse and worse at it.
If I saw a bog later in the week I would often slow down or stop completely, study it properly and then pick a safe line through or round.
I got stuck four times during the week. Twice I needed help from other riders.
The first time was horrendous. I was so buried I couldn’t even get off the bike because there was nowhere solid to stand. I couldn’t restart the engine either.
All of it could have been avoided by committing properly to a better line.
The moors stretch as far as you can see and it can become mentally draining watching riders disappear into the distance at speeds you simply cannot match.
I panicked at times and honestly didn’t enjoy parts of it.
But the good thing is you can often claw time back in the sections.
Also, you will get stuck on the moors occasionally and you may have to get off to push (also trying to get out and around sections) this may be obvious but I found if you don't panic, don't push too hard, just push firmly and let the bike do the work, it will free itself. Try not to panic or rush. Save that bit of energy.
On the fire roads;- we were told very strictly about a 15mph speed limit. They understood you may creep over this, and said 20mph would be fair. Speeding would get you disqualified, and they do check. I can’t give much advice here as on day 1 I stuck to this, and every rider, including some who would go onto finish at the very top end were flying past me at very high speed. Make of that what you will and just be aware of the situation.
The Sections & Escape Routes
People call it a clubman trial, but in reality, most sections are only cleanable by very good expert riders.
There were definitely some easier sections, but as the week went on there were fewer and fewer.
I spent months worrying about the first section.
I remember waiting at the start on my bike & observer nodding at me to begin. The second I rode through the start cards it suddenly became real.
All the training, preparation, worrying, lack of sleep — it had started.
The section itself was simple enough and I had a completely unnecessary dab, but just getting the first one out of the way felt brilliant.
The next section, only a little further up the hill, was slightly more technical. I was on for a three before slipping and snapping the end off my clutch lever.
I carried on with it all day to save time, but in hindsight I should have just changed it there and then.
My aim all week was simply to finish and I imagine if you are reading this, yours probably is too.
That mindset creates awkward situations in sections.
Some are relatively easy and you can clean, or have a few dabs, maybe you will have to paddle through. I actually had seven cleans all week — five in the first two days and two on the final day.
Then there are the genuinely massive World Championship-style sections which often have obvious escape routes because the organisers know most riders simply aren’t riding them.
Observers are usually realistic and understand what you are doing.
The difficult ones mentally are the middle-ground sections. The ones where you know you could probably attempt it in a normal trial, but if it goes wrong here you might break yourself or the bike and ruin a six-day event.
Those are hard decisions.
I was disappointed in myself a few times. In a normal club trial I absolutely would have tried more than I did.
But when you have invested months of effort, serious money and huge emotional energy into simply finishing the SSDT, you have to make sensible decisions.
Spend time studying your escape route and also what comes after it.
The top section at Pipeline is a perfect example. I didn’t attempt it and it still took me around 20 minutes to get round safely. Eventually two spectators literally dragged me through part of it. Without them I think I’d still be there now! We went straight on possibly the hardest and longest moor after that, already blowing from trying to get round the section. Not ideal!
Personally, I don’t think the SSDT is the place to become a hero at our level.
That said, there are one or two sections I still wish I had attempted.
By day six at Trotters Burn, I really wanted to try the first section but I didn’t. By then I was physically done and just wanted to finish.
Watching other riders clean sections you can barely even walk through can be quite disheartening.
I hated riding in and out of sections at times.
But it is what it is.
Arriving Back
One of the nicest feelings each day is arriving at the final check.
Two officials scan your number and record your arrival time on your card.
From there you have the road ride back into Fort William, but you cannot arrive early at Parc Fermé.
For example, if you check in at 4:40pm and have 20 minutes to get back, arriving at Parc Fermé at 4:55 means sitting outside for five minutes waiting.
If you enter early you receive penalty marks.
Zip your jacket up, pull your goggles on & neck warmer if it’s cold, and just relax a bit on the ride back.
It became a nice chance to reflect on the day and mentally prepare for the next one.
It was relatively dry this year so I only changed the air filter once on Wednesday. I also swapped to my spare rear wheel midway through the week so I had a fresh tyre sorted.
Originally I thought I might get through on one rear tyre, but the road mileage had made the sidewall go soft with heat.
The front tyre survived the whole week fine.
I am unbelievably grateful not to have had a puncture because loads of riders did. For me it would have been the difference between getting in on time or not.
Evenings & Mornings
I’m not saying this is the correct approach because everyone is different, but once I got back to the motorhome I basically became a boring machine.
Shower. Talc feet. Eat. Brush teeth. Sleep.
I drank Ride Nutrition Hydro Fizz to rehydrate.
In the mornings it was breakfast, Ride Nutrition Pre Load, brush teeth, pack the bag and leave.
Some riders go for a beer which honestly sounded brilliant, but I personally wanted to give myself the best chance possible of getting through the week.
Day 6
You hear some call it a half day, or a short day. I wrongly had it in my head that it would be easy. However on that day, I still covered 45 miles, had a big and tricky moor crossing, burnt 2100 calories, lost 3300ml of sweat and climbed 1800 metres. It was still 5 hours 20 minutes of riding at the end of five much longer days. A normal club trial will see you ride for around an hour while moving, just to put it into perspective.
It’s a strange day mentally. All week your focus is just on surviving, getting through the next group, watching the clock, trying to stay on the bike and out of trouble. Then suddenly, you realise you are actually going to finish this thing.
I was desperate to get to the end.
When you get to the final section in town, there are a lot of people there. I had thought about this moment all week. I was rider number three there and with it being greasy, me being exhausted, and the pressure of a crowd all watching one very basic, grumpy, tired clubman rider, I fell off less than halfway up the section.
I got a little clap, and thankfully I don’t think too many people laughed.
If this happens to you, ride back out, turn right and right again, and you can go and collect your bag before heading back into Parc Fermé for the finish.
I was genuinely upset with myself over that last section. All those people there, my wife watching on FaceTime, and after six days of effort I had imagined it ending differently. All week my motivation had been getting to the top of that final section. I didn’t care if I cleaned it, three’d it or five’d it. I just wanted to reach the top, give the bike a couple of revs and finally let all the pressure go.
Instead I was riding back down feeling gutted with myself.
I rode back into Parc Fermé shaking my head, annoyed over one silly little crash, while people around me were smiling, clapping and congratulating me for finishing the Scottish Six Days Trial.
Looking back now, I had it completely wrong.
The achievement wasn’t getting up that final section. The achievement was getting there to the section. Although I wanted to get up it and have that moment, I put too much emphasis on doing so.
It was the months of preparation, the nerves, the training, the money, the bike prep, the injuries, the fear, the exhaustion, the moors, the crashes, the road miles, the rain, the pressure and somehow still turning up every morning to do it all again.
What should have mattered was riding onto that finish ramp proud of myself for seeing it through.
My advice here is to treat the actual finish of the event as the end. I know that’s obvious, but if I spent 6 months plus thinking about the end ramp and not the top of Town Hall Brae, maybe I wouldn’t have been so angry with myself at the end.
On the end, it was a strange feeling because of the above. But I was also exhausted, I didn’t feel much emotion either way. I felt a little flat. I can’t really explain it. Please be happier than I was WHEN you get there!
Stats
Here are my stats to give you an idea of what’s coming. Time shown was from starting my watch before the start ramp to stopping it after parking the bike in Parc Fermé.
I was on time every day other than Friday where I was 30 minutes late. Friday was by far the hardest day for me with massive moor crossings. I genuinely could not have gone any quicker.
That was another 30 marks added to my score, although lots of riders were late that day.
Monday
Miles - 94.03
Ascent - 3284m
Sweat loss - 6083ml
Calories Burnt - 3463
Av Heart Rate - 132
Max Heart Rate - 181
Run time 8 hrs 11 mins
Tuesday
Miles - 78.57
Ascent - 2771m
Sweat loss - 5407ml
Calories Burnt - 3110
Av Heart Rate - 129
Max Heart Rate - 173
Run time 7 hrs 28 mins
Wednesday
Miles - 68.26
Ascent - 3297m
Sweat loss - 4279ml
Calories Burnt - 2942
Av Heart Rate - 131
Max Heart Rate - 187
Run time 7 hrs 2 mins
Thursday
Miles - 87.79
Ascent - 2459m
Sweat loss - 5803ml
Calories Burnt - 3070
Av Heart Rate - 120
Max Heart Rate - 169
Run time 8 hrs 25 mins
Friday
Miles - 99.75
Ascent - 3307m
Sweat loss - 5931ml
Calories Burnt - 3528
Av Heart Rate - 119
Max Heart Rate - 160
Run time 9 hrs 29 mins
Saturday
Miles - 44.60
Ascent - 1774m
Sweat loss - 3296ml
Calories Burnt - 2089
Av Heart Rate - 119
Max Heart Rate - 161
Run time 5 hrs 20 mins
If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch and I’ll try to help where I can.
Read the other guides. Speak to people. Take all the advice in.
Most importantly, enjoy it.
And if you do ride it, let us know how you get on!
Remember us for your parts or prep.
On a final note, one was enough for me. I’m glad I did it, but I would like to get to the level of riding where I could attempt more sections with more confidence. And I don’t think I’ll get to that level. Id also worry about finding the motivation during the week to repeat something Id already done. I hope whoever reads this finishes, and wants to go back.
When I got home, I realised something else too.
I think when you ride the SSDT, you leave a small part of yourself up there somewhere. Somewhere on the moors, in the sections, on the road miles between groups, on the ferry or up a mountain on your own.
I think there’s something in your mind that when you are on the brink, struggling and exhausted but getting through just, that you crave that desperation after.
I think that’s why so many people go back.
Not because it’s enjoyable all the time — because honestly, parts of it really aren’t — but because once it’s over, part of you wants to go and find that piece of yourself again.
Andy