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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126345
Between European rounds. Schreiber rode the railroad in Barcelona. / Bernie also did submarine duty in alocel V.a,T.E. trials. Bernie Schreiber French round. Well , I prepared it during . the week at the ' factory and took it to France. I rode and I won . It was a strange thing. " I had practiced too much andT needed a break. ' I couldn't wait to ride my bike after that. Now I don't practice nearly as much as I used to ; once or twice a week at the most. Onl y till you feel you're in good form ." . When he finished the French round , did he think he had won? "1 didn't really know . There were three loops and I'd been leading the first two , but I didn't realize it. After I won the first, it seemed like the other wins came easier. I didn't have to work as hard. Like Spain, where I didn't really expect to win. I was simply out there trying. It came easily; it seemed like I'd won easily. I didn't put forth the same effort that I did in France." Commenting on the types and diffi culties of observed sections in Europe, Schreiber said . "There's a lot of mud, a lot of big steps and tight turns. When you've got mud , it'll be right before something difficult. A tight tum in the mud and then right up a big step or something like that. The weather' conditions are a lot worse, the loops are longer and the times are tighter. "Some ' sections get easier (in ' the course of a trail), like sandy sections. Mud and tree root sections are the ones that get worse. The mudhole gets deeper, throws mud on the tree roots and you can't even gel through it. Sometimes your starting number is really important. "Eighty percent of the time I know I'm not going to go the same way as Vesterinen. He'll go one way and I'll go another and we'II both end The new U.S. National trials champ set Europe on its ear By Dale Brown Photos by Len Weed. Dave Wilcock and Brown "It was a .Iittle bit scary there, a good series that was close-super close," commented Bernie Schreiber, the new AMA/NATC National Observed Trials Champion. Several weeks earlier, he'd dramatically won the title by one point over L L . f .. it ane eavrtt, a ter Wl.nnmg t .'e last two rounds. This was m 10 addition to his spectacular showing in the World Championship Observed Trials Series where he scored wins in fo~r rou~~ ,. after a slow .start . to fim~h th~ri:i In , the .final po~nts tally behind ~mlands.Yt]o Veste~'men and England s Martin Lampkin, both fellow Bultaco riders What was even 'more significant -about Schreiber's National success was that he m issed two rounds, one due to injury and -another due to a Scheduling conflict with one of the World rounds. Bernie added , "And I didn't finish that one back-east in Massachusetts. Missed that by one minute. The one I rode the day after I missed one (due to the foot injury) I got a third . That didn't help me. " Sitting in . the . comfortable La~resce~ta , ~ahfomla home ~here he lives WIth hIS parents when he s not traveling in Europe. Bernie reflected on .the past season and some of his plans for next year. As to what ' made the difference between ' the first th ree rounds disappointing finishes in Ireland, England and Belgium _ and the next four rounds-e-wins in France, Spain, . ' - ' . America and Italy - Schreiber replied. "I'd been practicing ~ .Iot when I got to Europe. I was pr~ctlcmg as m';lch as I could, almost every day. I got kmdof burned out. " Before Belgium I just rode every day in the mud. By the time the trial came I didn't even want to ride my bike anymore. Plus . rid ing in the mud every day ruined the bike. I just bombed out. After that. I didn't touch my bike until the morning of the up with cleans. Riders pick different lines. " Schreiber likes European because he likes a difficult eventot "T hey're good trials, all of them. None;' of them compare to the Nationals. I've ridden better local trials than I have I Nationals. Next year I'm going to put on a European Experts·only trial neal'! Littlerock. It 's going to be an annual thing. Last year I put on a trial at Gorman and I won with 87 points. Marland (Whaley) got second with 95. That was the best, hardest trial of the year. Pretty difficult." Bernie did have some good words for the final National round, theDixie ' National held in Alabama. "That was the hardest National I've ever ridden. It was a good trial ; like 20 sections on an 18 mile loop that I rode three times. The loop was really hard. A lot of switchbacks, downhills and rocks. Most loops are a lot of fireroads or " something like that . "The American world round was the easiest trial of the world series. It was a good trial, pretty well organized, • except that it was just too easy. " Soft -spoken Schreiber is fiercely loyal to Bultaco and has a good relation going with the Spanish marque. "This year was good and next year will be better. I get along fine with Mr . Bulto .. . Bultaco's the best trials bike. There's not a better bike out there. If I can't win the championship on that, I'll never win it on anything. Bultaco was 1·2 ·3 this year ." He also has a good relation going with his main competition for the world title, Lampkin and Vesterinen. " Lam pkin took my bike ' to the last three rounds. I just flew in . He had the ,