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Nice! Bike certainly doesn't look too small in the video 🙂
If Minehead course is similar to most years, it'll be a lot of pedal action so carbo boosting all the way Saturday night, pasta pasta pasta
Pretty wet day out at Minehead for practice. Van after van after van got stuck in the mud on way in, including ours. But we got parked up in the end. The lad got very very muddy, I was on supplies and spanners
Somehow he managed to snap a valve. Happily we had one in spares, but we had a spare wheel anyway if needed. But he was back out in minutes.
Windy as heck here too. So we're chilling in the van with Heart 70s and some hot food, a cider, waiting for the wind to die down and then we'll sort gazebo and paddock area out.
Bike is washed and ready for the morning. Weather is supposed to be ok in the morning and all day, so with the wind I expect the tracks will dry out a bit.
It's been very windy today as you say. Showers very localised so could dry quick. What's the course like? Not going this year
I've only walked 3 stages, tricky is my best description.
Some stages are heavily based upon previous years. But I dunno, they scare me more walking them than maybe they would riding them
Tyres is the one expense that we really find hard. We’ve got so many bikes and so many wheelsets that there’s never enough tyres.
Is it just getting enough to reduce the amount of swaps needed, or are you going through them quickly? Wearing them out, damaging them, replacing them early, putting new ones on every race?
Damage mostly. I won't run repaired tyres in races. We've just been a little unlucky that he's split 2-3 really nice tyres. But we're ok at the moment.
Another weekend and another long one. Despite not riding, they're still bloody hard work and even though a fair bit of my riding was e-bike work this weekend, i was still out and on my feet all day both days. It gets tiring i can tell you.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53099079841_686eed5682_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53099079841_686eed5682_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2oUbEuz ]IMG_20230806_164828[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53098515662_5e5ddcb27e_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53098515662_5e5ddcb27e_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2oU8LMm ]IMG_20230806_111132[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
The lad didn't have quite the weekend he hoped for, i think he was expecting maybe a little higher, but the race results show he finished exactly where he should, we've ridden plenty and know the guys around him, he finished in the same area/group of riders you'd usually expect to see him in. The course was LONG, like a long long day, he left at 11am and didn't stop riding till near 5pm, couple of small food breaks in there, but a long day out for him (and everyone of course).
The tracks had dried out a fair bit, but that just makes them different to the day before, not necessarily any easier. There's a lot of climbing too. Looking at the stages he seemed to improve as the day went on. That was a little weird as i thought the tracks earlier in the day would have suited him more than the later ones.
the U18 class is stacked with fast riders though and there's not such thing as an easy one now, it's just fast lads, faster lads and really fast lads.
He spent a fun weekend out though, chatted and rode with mates... it's all good 🙂
Back to the world again today then... yesterday was mostly cleanup evening... Cleaning bikes, kit, the van, hoovering and cleaning the inside of van, sorting, checking and organising kit.
This week brings coaching tomorrow for him at FoD then Thurs out all day on the Trek. We've then got a couple of days off the bike for some motorbike stuff for Mrs Weeksy with a trackday for her. After that we're onto BPW on Monday.
This is where a few of the upcoming plans have changed a bit. This may get a bit deep and ramble on a bit..So switch off now if easily bored. We've cancelled Glencoe for the DH National. There's many/several reasons for it, but some of them include some family stuff we don't need to get into, but also there's the £1000 expense of getting there, staying there, eating there etc, add to that the forecast is showing as rain for every single day we'd be there and 5 on the Smidge/midgie radar, then finally the fact the boy isn't massively feeling the track.
When we booked all the Nationals there was a target, goal, reason, they were a bit of an 'adventure' but i think as the year has progressed, the reasons and goals have changed slightly. Fort William seemed to tick all the WOW factor boxes in that sense, the adventure, Scotland trip etc.... Then of course the National Champs a few weeks ago. We've kinda peaked a bit and the £1000+ to throw in for a race up in Scotland in the rain just isn't appealing.
So we're taking in a few days away as a family instead. A day at BPW, a day at Antur Stiniog (where another National is later in the season) and a few days just chilling as a family instead. We've then got a couple of weekends off where we'll just head out, hit some trails like Pontypool, Risca, maybe even Surrey Hills on the Privateer and get ready for the last few races of the season. The available races are far less now, so it's getting quieter and a good chance to put some quality time in getting the Trek right, setup and ready to race. Next up from that is Hopton with Pearce Cycles in about 4 weeks time, so hopefully we'll be all ready to play for then.
i spotted you guys on Sunday, but didnt have a chance to say hello.
I had a really mixed day at the Southern Enduro Champs, loved the tracks on the opposite hill to the event village, but couldnt get on with the sloppy mud on the 'main' hill. Frustration set in and more mistakes were made. I guess it was fun tho.....
Glad your boy had fun tho, as mentioned, its a solid few hours in the saddle.
the U18 class is stacked with fast riders
That's a damn good result for a 15 year old racing in U18s. Some of them are men! 😀
That’s a damn good result for a 15 year old racing in U18s. Some of them are men!
Thanks matey, it's a little flattering though, whilst i agree with you that some are, not all. Many of the faster lads are closer to his age than 18 for example, Pete Carpenter, Billy Pugh, Oli Poulter, all race in the Youth cat with him if in DH races... but yeah it's hard as he's in that tricky age where he's right at the bottom in age compared to some. We're more than happy with how he's doing, but i still think he's got a lot more to give in Enduro racing, i'm just not sure how to release it within him. As i've said a few time, the racing blind thing really doesn't suit him as a person as he likes to experiment with lines, grip levels, berms, etc... He doesn't seem as 'flowing' when he's riding with less knowledge. Of course it's the same for everyone in that context, possibly slightly less for some as they'll have ridden the courses previously... (but he's raced Milland a few times of course).
I'm still not convinced his future MTB will be in Enduro though.. It's very different in a lot of ways and as a parent and a rider, we both prefer DH over Enduro. It's hard to describe, but the overall vibe, the pit-cameradarie, the arena finishes, the timing, the tracks, all point to DH being 'better' but it's tricky to fully quantify the whys.
Does seem quite a broad age range but I suppose they have to categorise ages somehow and, in a few years, your lad will benefit (if there is any) of being the old boy in the group.
Just on the discipline thing, there does seem to have been a theme running through your posts where, maybe, his heart really isn't into enduro. Is there a feeling of needing to persevere, what with all the sponsorship and coaching tie-up? If you decide to quit enduro, would that have an impact on the sponsorship?
From how you describe the event, it seems that it's a tough day out and to commit and get motivated would be a tough call if you really CBA. I say this from a position of knowledge, never having done one! 😉
Maybe the enduro scene is an unnecessary distraction or even a burden for him, is he fired up when a race is upcoming, or indifferent about it? Is the sponsorship thing putting a bit of pressure on you both to commit, as it sounds like a big effort on both your parts if it isn't really your bag.
There is a tie-in between things yes of course... and we wouldn't put that at risk. It's honestly not that he doesn't enjoy it.. he just doesn't enjoy it as much. But if is of course riding bikes, it's training, fitness and learning, all in one weekend. So even if we didn't have the tie-in we'd still be doing the Enduro side of things.. I think it's good for him to experience different terrains, tracks, locations and learn quickly if possible... It's rare that there's a conflict and we wouldn't next year skip a DH race to race an Enduro for example. But this weekend gone for Minehead there were no other DH races that we'd have entered, so it was a free weekend, so may as well go out and ride it.
It's deffo not a burden though, but i can see how it could come over like that from some of the things i've written.
In my experience of enduros, a large difference is on fitness. Is there scope for him to have a more focussed approach to this going forwards?
Not intended as a criticism just an observation on my race day experiences. Those at the top were fitter rather than technically better than the people behind them (technically they were great as well, but it’s that extra fitness which helps). Sometimes a few extra turns of the cranks will save more time than a things that require more skill.
I know it’s hard with teenagers and you want to keep it fun, I only mention it as you both take it seriously!
In my experience of enduros, a large difference is on fitness. Is there scope for him to have a more focussed approach to this going forwards?
That's a tricky one indeed. He's going to the gym 1-2 days a week, coaching which is basically fitness up, down, up, down with the coach on a Weds, then racing at weekends... I'm not sure there's much more time in the day/week. It's something he's deffo working on and deffo better than he used to be.. But does he need 'more'... yeah probably.
Yesterday and today we're FoD. Today was 8 hours doing setup on suspension on Trek Session. By 2pm I'd have sworn 29/29 was the setup, but then after 2 bad runs on mullet he then got his best feeling run of the day and is torn now as to whether he stays mullet or 29/29.
It was interesting just how different the 2 setups actually were. The front was minimally different in both, but the rear changed a fair bit.
We went down 7psi on front, 11psi on the rear and lots of clicks different from how he's been running it until now.
Couple of days off now, well, sort of, off to South Wales for motorbike trackdays on Sat and Sun. Then back Sunday night to head to BPW Monday, then Barry's Siding on Wed with Katy and Friday is Dyfi with Katy too.
Let the crazy continue
After the crazy of BPW on Monday, the boy was at Barry Siding with Katy.
Massively touching comment from her on Instagram, they really do seem to have lots of fun together out there.
I didn't ride as I was with Mrs Weeksy walking about but looked at quite a few trails. Ranging from slightly scary to exceptionally terrifying. I ride some, but for sure not all trails there.
Bit of lunch and then back home to prep the 2 DH bikes. We're off to Dyfi tomorrow afternoon for a play day with Katy on Friday. This is where my day went a bit wrong. I was planning on 10 mins then off out for a ride myself, but I noticed that the GT was creaky as hell. Investigation showed it was the main pi or bearings that were seized solid. Yes the really really fiddly ones behind the idler. Luckily they're an easy push out and press in and I've done enough now that it's a simple enough job for me. Once they were replaced I put the cranks back on and still wasn't happy with the rotation of them. I then noticed the NDS bearing was dead! Happily I had a spare, so that was in too.
The downside to all this was that I was now an hour in and my ride time had gone. So I washed the Privateer and got that ready for its next outing.
Just waiting for take away now which is being collected by the wife, then a couple of beers and decide if we're staying up in north Wales to do Antur Stiniog on Sat as well.
Just waiting for take away
Enjoy the take away, BTW my bikes are in POST to you for fettling 😉 some great times/experiences for the lad and you, (and Katy) by the sounds of it! Keep up the reports 😁
Thanks mate. We enjoy it in different ways of course, him with the riding, me being a parent. I do need to think of myself a bit more and my riding, but I'm working on it.
Racing is a little quieter at the moment, we've got a photoshoot coming up soon for a magazine which will be cool, then a Root1 race at Tidworth for a laugh, then 3/4 weekends of Pearce and Nationals. That takes us to 1st Oct and things really quieten down then.
Dyfi yesterday was epic for the boy. Lots of fun and as he was with Katy and her knowing all the locals/pros he got to meet and play with a few, being chased down Racetrack by Dan Atherton was a highlight for him. Clearing the ladtbig Step Up, but then seeing the height Dan gets, wow.
Was plenty of testing, wheel swapping etc but I'm honestly not sure we learned a lot in terms of preference for mullet or 29.
Session took me an hour to clean this morning while he's snoring in bed, tough life for some 😄😄
I'm off out riding for the day in a while, so he can finish it off when he gets up, well, once he's done his Instagram.
I also need to buy a new portable washer as my Mobi v15 died. I guess Worx Hydroshot is probably the answer, but the Titan copy of it looks good too and is cheaper of course.
Glad he's had a good time 😎
We have had a Hydroshot for quite some time. It stays in the camper and was mainly used for keeping Abigales bike clean at race events. Could get four bikes done out of one battery. It's been used all over the UK and Europe dropping the hose in what ever water we could find at the time. Lakes, ponds, rivers and streams. We do have water in the camper but very rarely had to use it.
Randomly or not so randomly a pic of your lad with Katy came up on my facebook yesterday
Yeah, mine too. Was good to see after following this thread.
Cool stuff. She's quite a person in reality. I've rarely me such a fun, bubbly, easy going person in real life. Everyone seems to adore her and I can see why.
I can't really put into words how lucky he's been to fall into this team, it's honestly been exceptional for him, both as a rider and a person. It's hard work at times of course, but we appreciate everything we've had from Katy and the team.
At times it's almost all absorbing, the team, rider, racing, but it's fab times with my boy.
Sometimes though I do need a day like today, chasing a mate down on his ebike, trying to gap him, hitting woods, getting nettled, beers, laughs, just to recharge the battery a bit in myself.
Next weekend race at Tidworth has been cancelled, no idea why. But we've booked BPW instead for some race runs with team mate.
That does mean I won't see them all day, but I've roped a mate into coming too so I'll have someone to play with.
We're off to FoD today, he's out with team mate on uplift, I'm doing Dowie's and Shuttcastle with mates.
Little edit from last week, not the most exciting ever I admit
So we're nearly back to the racing. I've missed the days out and paddock banter later to tell you the truth, i do enjoy it lots. Although i've been out riding, pitting at places etc, it's still not quite the same. So i'm really looking forward to it.
The Trek is getting a new spare rear wheel today. It's a Hope Pro5 in 157x12 and orange... why orange..well the front spare is a Pro4 in orange lol... so the wheels will match eachother. I'll probably still try and borrow the 27.5 off a mate, but this is a 29er as he's decided he's sticking 29/29.
This weekend though is the last bit of DH type practice... So the Trek lost a bolt last weekend... Which was a complete bummer... It was the mino-link and bolt... Luckily my mates Fuel mino is the same... The bolt arrived yesterday so both are now installed and it's ready to roll. It's BPW on Sunday and i'm also taking a couple of mates, along with the GT Fury, I've fitted the Marzocchi Bomber coil and a 550 spring into it for the day, so i'll be doing my first proper venture onto a DH bike in anger for quite a while. It's actually only my 2nd day on a DH bike as i did a race on his older model Fury about this time last year... but that one really is/was too small. The Fury is much closer to my size... Sadly, not as close as the Trek is, i'd LOVE a day on that. But i'm not getting a day on the Trek for sure.
I'll also mostly be on the Slayer with mates, i'm still debating the Enduro race on the 13th at BPW with Haibike Mini-Enduro series, i know the courses they're racing on and there's only really watts occouring that isn't on my 'OK' list... but whether i'll throw the £100 in on a day out for me is open to debate. I was slightly told off by Mrs Weeksy for not booking it as "you don't do anything for yourself" but that's not exactly true, i do plenty for myself.. but £100 to find out i'm a bit Meh compared to other racers, well i'm not sure it's great value.
We're then off to Pearce at Bucknell the weekend after, it's at Bucknell which he's not ridden yet (he'd broken a bone before last test day), but will be plenty of track-time before hand on the day before as well as race day, so he'll be up to a half average pace by then hopefully. Need to work out what we're doing in terms of sleeping/driving as it's getting a little colder again overnight now, so whether we fancy a weekend of tenting i don't know yet.. but if not, it's an extra £50-60 in fuel and 5+ hours of driving, now i've written it out, i actually think we'll be tenting it... LOL. Seems a little crazy to come back.
You’ll be alright camping into October I’d have thought. That would be my cut off point I think - just make sure you have plenty of clothes and decent sleeping bags. Although drying a tent when the weather is worse is a nightmare…..
Although drying a tent when the weather is worse is a nightmare…..
Not a massive issue as i can just lob it in the van and then dry it in the conservatory over the next day or 3... He kips in the van so it's only a small 1 man tent. I've had a few chilly ones this year and whilst it's OK, it's not exactly nice... but any accomodation is showing as £80-150 which is a bit on the steep side, especially if we go out for food etc it's then stacking up... We've also got Antur Stiniog a couple of weeks later and Hopton the week after that in Oct... it make be getting downright CHILLY by then !
Could be worth marking all the bolts on the DH bike, quick visual check by the lad before he does a run to make sure everything is ok. If I'm doing an uplift day or out on holiday, I will mark all the bolts on the G1, makes it easy to keep a track of things, rather than getting the tools out all the time.
Dykem paint pen: https://amzn.eu/d/ba087LC
Guessing you camp in the field at Bucknell? If you can't: https://panpwntoncampsite.co.uk/ is down the road and proper showers/toilets and there is a village nearby for food.
@sirHC yup, all done now, we have a milwakee yellow one, i'd done it on the Slayer and GT, but hadn't got around to it with the Session... I have now though 🙂
I'd assume so yes... but honestly no idea as we've not been there yet, but it's usually at the bottom of the runs for Pearce races. So i'd expect this will be the same.
Thanks for the link, i'll have a peek now.
Shiny shiny wheel.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53157196068_b74990a278_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53157196068_b74990a278_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2oZjwqu ]IMG_20230901_135141[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Got a DH DHRII installed. Went up nice and easy. 🙂
Got a DH DHRII installed
*ponders the DHR2 not shown in the photo*
Lol really really don’t care. Never have, never could
Easier to find the valve for pressure checking 😉
To me its not an order from entropy thing, but it helps me find the valve and it means if ive checked and put enough care into the mounting, then i will have made sure the rotation direction is correct too.
It wouldnt bother me that there could be two different brands of tyre etc, just the process of checking...a bit like the paint pen for mission critical bolts mentioned above.
Anyway, i shall see you at Antur where i can sway you!
Ian
Couple of weeks for Nationals mate.
*ponders the DHR2 not shown in the photo*
Nice spot.... the DHR is the non DH casing so we thought we'd not use that. the DHF which is on is Maxx Grip DH so should be OK for Antur which has potential to be a tough one on tyres. We don't have a CushCore yet in 29, mostly because it's going to be a £1000+ month with racing this month and there simply isn't budget.
Whoops, the boy had a 'hugey' yesterday at BPW, was hitting Vanta and went in too hard/fast/hot on the 2nd jump.... got it a bit long/wrong and planted himself in the floor.
He's OK though and even though he had another interface with a rock strike on his ankle later in day, will still be back out today on the Privateer 🙂
I can't even imagine how the pro teams find time to prep all the bikes, the kit, load it, unload it, wash it, sort it etc, then the same again for next weekend.
Due to Silverstone yesterday i didn't get much done on MTB stuff yesterday
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53163795308_1606974b22_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53163795308_1606974b22_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2oZUm9u ]IMG_20230904_115946[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
I did manage to wash, clean and sort the Session, that was then polished, finished, checked and lubed this morning by the lad.
There was also the Slayer that needed sorting, cleaning, lubing, checking etc after BPW on Sunday.
Lastly the GT Fury needed checking, sorting and the shock swapping for the Fox X2 as i fitted the Bomber in case i wanted to try it at BPW on Sunday, but i didn't bother as it was too darn hot, so i had a beer instead.
All the armour, riding kit, shoes, helmets are cleaned, ready and good. Spare wheels, tools, stands etc are in the van. Had a few incidentals this month but they all seem to add and stack up, just little things like tyre sealant, cleaning products, lubes, race/uplift entries, next thing you know you're £350 in the hole this month and you've not even left the house. Someone on my forum did semi-joke that i needed a GoFundMe page for his racing... at times it doesn't seem as daft as you'd think 😀 😀
The Privateer was out for 8 hours with him yesterday, he's certainly putting in the hours on the bike, although i get the impression yesterday wasn't too much in the way of tech riding, just messing and being a boy really. He's still having lots of fun with it and it's holding up to the abuse of a jumpy/crazy teen pretty damn well. One of these days i'm going to sort my stuff out and spend a day somewhere on it with the pressures set to where i want. Will be interesting to see if he's with the team next year whether he decides to go 161 or sticks with the 141... or whether we think about if we do any upgrades on terms of suspension etc like a different fork maybe.
Couple of days of quiet as he goes back to school, then it's off to Shropshire for a weekend in the tent/field.