Watch What An 86-Year-Old Trials Champion Can Do With His BSA

We all know that the more you practice the likelier you are to improve. No matter how good you are now, you can always be a little bit better, right? This is eleven-time British Trials Champion Sammy Miller. He’s 86 years old, and has won over 1,400 trials throughout his career. As you can see in this video, his focus and skill are incredibly sharp.  

How does he keep them that way? A lifetime of practice. If you work that practice into your routine, just like daily exercise or scheduled mealtimes, you’ll start to see little improvements you can build on. If you’re lucky enough to have both a suitable bike and a clear space like this where you can practice every day with ease, so much the better.  

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Think about all those rocks you see strewn around in the video. As random people who are unfamiliar with the ground Miller is tackling, we viewers don’t know what to expect from those rocks. Some of them might be loose, at varying degrees. Others might be wedged tightly in place, so they’re not going to move even if you roll your bike from one end to the other on their surfaces.  

The only way to know which rocks are which is to keep practicing and adding any new information you take in to your mental map of the area. Pretty soon, you’re doing it with ease, and it becomes second nature. You can’t get to that level if you don’t keep doing it, though. Miller makes it looks easy, and we riders who don’t have 70-plus years of trials experience behind us might have a more difficult time.  

Still, it’s never too late to get better than you are right now, unless you never try at all. Most people aren’t great at most things first try, but being able to get back up and try again is how you get good. Miller’s motorcycle museum, which is handily named after him, would also be a great place to visit in Hampshire, England once it’s safe to travel and be among crowds again. You might even get to witness his trials demonstrations in person, which would surely be a treat.  

Sources: YouTube, Sammy Miller Museum