We went to Fleet bike park on Sat for one of the lads birthdays. 6 of the crazy teens all jumping like fleas.
My lad spent some time praticing no handers on the smaller line... but was having an absolute blast
Sunday was a day off from riding and Monday brought more jumping/trails and his first flat on the Status. He/We think he burped the front on a bad landing... i took him the wheel from my Trek and he was out in minutes. When i checked the front tyre i found "yeah mate, it was tubelessed just a few weeks ago" doesn't actually mean it was tubelessed with fluid !!! hahahahhaaha.
When i checked the rear this morning, that too was completely empty of any fluid...
We're mostly just sitting and waiting now, along with some DoE stuff and family stuff, riding, having fun and enjoying ourselves, with racing now on-hold until the early part of may. We're then back to a few races on the bounce.
The weekend of 21/22 of May i think is free though so we may come up with a plan for that one.
I wouldn't worry about chasing sponsors..even though we were extremely well positioned and paid nothing for most of our product, we always said that if we had monetized the amount of work, comp'ed holidays etc that we put into our sponsor relations, we could've just bought the stuff anyway - I wouldn't change that though as we met some absolutely amazing people in the process!
When you break it down, grassroots sponsorship is actually going to be pretty expensive. There will be the obligation to buy the current season bike every year, which at "sponsorship" might be wholesale plus 20/retail less 30. These days, it might not even arrive till mid season meaning you can release the 'old' bike when you want to. Sponsorship isn't what most people think it is, not many people will tell you what their "sponsorship" actually costs them, plus you don't want to end up being Crosby Zoomermans dad right 😉
Then with the content deliverables you'll start to miss the point of why you're doing it and totally change the dynamic you have now.
I'd say carry on how you are. Seems to be working brilliantly from an enjoyment, results and father/son relationship perspective at the moment!
Well done W08 on the result too!
I wouldn’t worry about chasing sponsors..even though we were extremely well positioned and paid nothing for most of our product, we always said that if we had monetized the amount of work, comp’ed holidays etc that we put into our sponsor relations, we could’ve just bought the stuff anyway – I wouldn’t change that though as we met some absolutely amazing people in the process!
When you break it down, grassroots sponsorship is actually going to be pretty expensive. There will be the obligation to buy the current season bike every year, which at “sponsorship” might be wholesale plus 20/retail less 30. These days, it might not even arrive till mid season meaning you can release the ‘old’ bike when you want to. Sponsorship isn’t what most people think it is, not many people will tell you what their “sponsorship” actually costs them, plus you don’t want to end up being Crosby Zoomermans dad right 😉
Then with the content deliverables you’ll start to miss the point of why you’re doing it and totally change the dynamic you have now.
I’d say carry on how you are. Seems to be working brilliantly from an enjoyment, results and father/son relationship perspective at the moment!
Well done W08 on the result too!
I think the Sponsor thing is more a kudos and telling his mates thing than a reality of getting a Santa Cruz V10 every season. It wouldn't honestly change a great deal apart from my disposable income/spending.
I do also see it as you say, the complication being added in where a certain complexity can come from it.
Specific question but here's as good as anywhere.
Anyone done Edge Cycles races? It seems the lad can race Sunday in Torpoint. It would be 5.30am start to get down in time, but that's only my normal get up time, early for him though.
Not many entrants yet, but 2 of them do well in Gawton races, so a decent bit of competition I guess.
Not worth your drive mate. Do the next Gawton round in a couple of weeks. Track looks fun.
Can't dude, he's away that weekend. We gave him the choice of Duke of Edinburgh or racing for a few weekends, he picked the DoE which I'm good with. But he will miss a couple of useful races.
Will be good time spent with his mates though
Edge cycles could be ok if it stays dry, it was wet for it last year and it was a shitshow. I know people who went home after one practice run.
and if you are thinking it’s Plymouth, it’s another 40mins on despite being 1/2 mile by seA…
I'm not sure he's feeling it due to expense and non-ranking event.
Which is a bonus for me as I'm riding in the Peaks on Sat so would have been a tough weekend lol
That new Gawton track they’re building looks ace and sculpted on instagram
I had a look and chat with chaz on Saturday. Looks fun, hope we get some rain before the race to bed it down or the race is going go blow it to pieces.
Only just stumbled across this Weeksy, Read page 1 and page 14 because I am supposed to be working and am lazy, how old is the boy? Looks to be doing great on the bike!
HE's 13 coming up to 14 now John.
Was sorting the above wheel config today... It all got a bit messy as i've got some wheels with center lock rotors, some with 6 bolts..
The front wheel was a bit graunchy, so thought i'd check and whip out the bearings. They were not to bad so they've been regreased inside and re-fitted, but i also got the bearing number 6904 and ordered up a new pair.
I then fitted the rear off this set above to the bike which is smooth as silk and nice.... That's a 6 bolt.... weird as the front in the pair is a centerlock lol.
I then took the other rear apart which was the one that came with the bike and went to remove/sort the bearings.... apart from the fact they're not a sealed bearing ! loose bearing type.... ewwwww. Not feeling that at all. I think i'll be giving that to my LBS mate to rebuild instead. I may even go nuts and think about a new rear wheel. But it does get a little complex as it's a 150mm hub width which isn't common.
How does the mtb world work in terms of development ?
Back in the day when I skied it was
A local race -> Join a local club -> National Race Licence -> National Rankings -> International Race Licence -> Rankings -> Europa Cup Racing -> World Cup
Is mtb as structured or more look of the draw ?
Partly the reason I ask is because my son is getting on in the football world, but due to the nature of the sport you cannot tell how good your son is. I loved skiing because the rankings made it so clear.
Surprised me seeing Rachel Atherton at Fort William. In skiing you would be able to rock up and practice unless you had the points etc, you would have to enter the event, and have enough points to enter the event.
He can race anything from grass roots to Nationals. Although obviously he'll place lower in Nationals and they'll be harder in terms of terrain and other competitors.
I'm not sure yet how it goes for WCs as you need to be 16 to enter the WC Juniors. But other than that, he's allowed to enter anything.
They have ranking points that go towards his licence, but i don't know at this stage whether they actually matter in terms of anything, but i expect when he gets older if (as he tells me) his wish is to go to Nationals (next season) and then to attempt to Qualify for the WC races, they then may/will become more of a factor.
One of the kids in his school was at Fort William last weekend, he got 33rd (out of 54) in the junior qualifying, but looking at the results it's only the top 24 who are allowed to race, so he missed out.
We missed out last weekend when at Rogate as when we were there we found out there was a race on the Sunday on Bikini Top and bottom, but when we enquired there was a waiting list a mile long, so no chance of getting in. One of his mates Ed was racing, who he's a reasonable amount quicker than, Ed got 6th, which was an epic result.
We're still waiting for racing at the moment as we didn't go to the Nationals at FW a few weeks ago and then he was at Duke of Ed, so missed 2 races that weekend. We're at FoD this weekend for family holiday and plenty of riding, he's then got a session with Katy and eventually on the 11/12th we're off to Pearce Cycles near Bala for a fairly high level event. It's a "Regional A" which is the highest below Nationals. Regional Bs are less ranking point and then the Go-ride are non-ranked.
Weekend of the 18th we're at MIJ at Forest of Dean which is a Regional B on a course he should know with luck, they sometimes swap it about but can often be either Ski Run or Elephant man.
How does the mtb world work in terms of development ?
Literally nothing, until you reach World Cup DH or EWS main event levels. You used to need enough BC points to race nationals, but then they realised DH was dying on its arse & they were stood with a gun to its head, limiting entries even further by adding restrictions, so opened it up with a free for all, which coincided with a load of organisers giving up running events.
To race WCDH you either need UCI points, which means a UCI sanctioned event (of which there are very few in the UK, due to the fees & red tape), or basically be a known rider with an unlucky set of circumstances & you can apply for a BC jersey & race under BC, as the national bodies have the right to award a select few for a race. Getting UCI points is almost impossible in the UK, which is why the fast ones go abroad to obscure European countries in the hope of picking them up that way.
The whole BC ranking thing is still as irrelevant as it always has been, as you can be ranked disproportionately high, purely on the number of events you do.
EWS is a bit more structured with qualifier events & if your results are good enough in the EWS100 races you are invited to race the main events.
Surprised me seeing Rachel Atherton at Fort William. In skiing you would be able to rock up and practice unless you had the points etc, you would have to enter the event, and have enough points to enter the event.
She has essentially been on maternity leave. I suspect her many, many uci points were protected from prior to going on leave, hence her ability to practice and potentially race.
@robz uci points will have lapsed but she's on an elite uci team and is Rachel Atherton which will open any doors she wants.
https://youtube.com/shorts/98WizruWPEc?feature=share
This was a huge one, long and at least 10' in height of drop too
Catching up, and saw the Rogate post. You weren't there on the Friday before the race were you? I had a bimble round on the Friday and did the race on the Sunday, gutted if I missed the chance to see the boy do that gap, I was being a wuss and bottling the whale tail, he might have inspired me.
No John, but we are this Friday. More than happy to tow you in I'd imagine. Once you get your head around a child being good, it's a great experience having them show you stuff lol
Gahhh I am up in Scotland fishing unfortunately this weekend. Probably be over there next week.
Sorry matey, it's not a place we get to often and after this weekend we're back on 2 weekends of racing, first at Bala with Pearce and then at FoD with MIJ. He's also got 2 sessions with Katy this month.
I think he's looking forward to getting back onto his GT too as all weekend he's been on the Status. It was quite funny though as he was complaining about it all day at Parkend, nearly having me batter him to death actually. But then over the weekend did arguably his 2 largest jumps i've been. The one on Rubber Duck i posted about was honestly ridiculous.
Take off is the orangey bit by the tree on the left of shot, landing is where the lad is standing with the bike.... All of this on a bike he tells me he's not fully confident with
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52112199025_767a08989a_5k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52112199025_767a08989a_5k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2noYDd6 ]2022-05-31_07-55-36[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
That is an epic send - something I’d never even contemplate. Fair shout.
He needs to get over himself complaining about the bike. It sounds like he’ll do it with anything other than the DH bike which just isn’t something to pedal round all day.
He needs to get over himself complaining about the bike.
You don't need to tell me that 🙂
In his defence, i do ask the question before he offers the opinion. This weekends was that it feels too stiff and like riding a Rigid. That's even with the DPX2 and the Fox36s... but obviously we're comparing this to a 210mm DH bike that's coil and setup to his weight, so it's really more a case of getting on with it and getting used to it and it will simply be different to the GT. I'm wondering if i volume spacer setup may be useful on the Status as if i take air out to soften it, it's too soft and he bottoms it... if i leave the air in it's too firm... Or whether at 50kg he's simply outside of the usual constraints of air shocks and what he's asking them to do.
But as you say, it's not holding him back and the stuff he's hitting is quite frankly a bit daft... we were walking up Rubber Duck to do those trails me and you did over there and he looked at the jump and was met with "don't be bloody daft son, have you seen that"... but massive massive respect to him, he walked up, checked the entry run-in, checked the take off and the line he needed, did 1 slow roll down to check it and then just pinned it. LOL. We'd built up a little crowd of people who were all "is he really going to hit that?" my answer was..."probably" lol.
With air it’s a tricky balance at extreme ends of it. What sag are you running on the status? I wouldn’t go more than 30% otherwise you sit too deep into the travel and it can actually feel firmer as you’re up against where the spring starts to ramp up. In that scenario you can actually get better small bump by putting more air in. I’ve been down the running it softer and softer and it making it worse - even with tokens - route. I’m a chunk heavier at 75kgs but ended up with 1 token in my Lyriks I think - and more air pressure - gives a better mid stroke for me. I think I’m about 25% sag ish.
I’d be tempted to set it at 30% sag and add tokens if he’s bottoming that out.
On the shock it’s got a Float X performance hasn’t it? If so that’s the same shock (bar a lsc adjustment) that’s was on my sentinel before going coil. I found it was quite decent but I found I blew through the midrange if I got the small bump compliance I would have liked. I ended up just bumping the pressure right up and losing some small bump to get a better overall feel. I bought that ludicrously expensive bag of plastic spacers and haven’t even opened it as I bought a Kitsuma coil instead 🤣
I reckon you should buy him an old hi tensile steel Apollo for him to ride a bit and then see if he thinks the status is too stiff......that’s what I had when I was 13. Complete with U-brakes 🙈
I reckon you should buy him an old hi tensile steel Apollo for him to ride a bit and then see if he thinks the status is too stiff……that’s what I had when I was 13. Complete with U-brakes
Tmepting man, tempting....
In a moment of comicalness this morning, he's been testing his GT outside as he's got coaching at FoD tomorrow "this feels way too bouncy "
*thwack*
Haha, give him a whack for me too!
Just different kinds of bikes.....
Schweeeeeeeet
👍
Having seen Katy's Insta post with your lad on (I think) Y2K, I've decided I hate him... 🤣
Fast and smooth. Little shit! 🤣
Lol thank you. I've got about 20 videos from that session, we did have a laugh about it as she said, "it's great, I just tell him do this so that and it's done instantly" my reply was along the lines of "you want to come to ours and show him how to unload the sodding dishwasher"
In seriousness though, it really was a case of "hit that line, don't brake, jump to there, pop that, squash that" and he just does it next run.
Her comments were remarkable and obviously I'm exceptionally flattered by them.
I am making things clear to the lad that he's not going to make a living here at this, we know several coaches, semi pros, etc and none of them are driving round in £50k sportscars and living in Buckingham Palace. But the lad can take things as far as he wants, from nationals to even worlds if his ability ever reaches that, we'll back him.
We do also make it clear that fun is the priority and if he's not having fun, then we can call it whenever he likes. No pressure.
But he wants to keep riding, keep learning and keep launching it. Who are we to say no.
Next weekend is Pearce at Rhyd y Felin taking on the big boys of 13-14 DH racers. Currently there's 26 entered, I'll be happy with him coming home in 1 piece, inside top 20 and all bloody wet myself. Him and Katy spent time learning to see lines, find speed, learn tracks. So it will be cool to see if he can do so there. Jump on a few wheels and see where it goes.
Bike is ready, apart from the spare rear wheel which is being rebuilt and should be ready for the weekend. We're also taking the Status just in case.
He's got new goggle lense arriving and he's full of confidence.
I think this week will be really gentle in terms of riding, we've ridden 5/6 days so let the legs rest up.
I do worry about boring the crap out of you lot with the ongoing saga, but hopefully it's bike racing, jumping and MTB so I get away with it.
I noticed on one of the other videos not on here that he sent that jump off a rock a lot further than we did last time we rode there (Y2K). Admittedly I wasn’t expecting it to be quite as big as it was, but even still, he sent that pretty big!
I'll guess maybe this one?
I don't have FB or insta so no idea what Katy will or won't have posted.
I’m enjoying reading about his progression mate👍 You must be super proud.
This may sound ridiculous but it's just 'normal' in my world now in honesty. I ride 90% of the days, not always the trails I admit, or if I do it's a lot slower, but I see this day in day out.
I'm more proud of the fact he always says please, is always polite and to grown ups he acts like a proper human being.
But his riding makes me laugh each and every time we go out and he explores new avenues, tricks, techniques or jumps, I just shake my head and think how the heck do you do that boy!?!?
We have proper adventures and I'm massively privileged to have that. Some people tell me how lucky he is, I smile and think "nah, you've got it the wrong way round"
Yeah that video above - was on Instagram
Hi Weeksy, I’ve been background following the lads progression as well.
Made up for the pair of you. Good luck with it all, you’re doing an excellent job!
Hope he’s as proud of you as you are of him. Even if you’re not getting the vibe now I can guarantee in the near future he will remember everything you’ve done for him. (Yes yes I’ve had drink, but anyway, keep at it!! And keep us all posted as it’s awesome to watch/read!!)
Hope he’s as proud of you as you are of him. Even if you’re not getting the vibe now I can guarantee in the near future he will remember everything you’ve done for him.
I believe he is mate yes... It's funny riding with him, you get to the bottom and he's all "you looked great, you were doing really well" when the reality is, i was doing bloody rubbish !!! Hahhhaaha. I know my place in the world of MTBing and it's nowhere near as high as his that's for sure... but he does give me a smile with his feedback. "Just hit it, you'll be fine, you're good enough".... yeah right... i wish boy, i wish.
Today will be an hour or two in the garage checking over the GT for the weekend coming, it won't get ridden now until then as it's wet and he'll likely use the Specialized if he does go out. But he is under orders not to be foolish and spanner himself this week 😀
I reckon we should all get together to cheer him on at a race one day. He shouldn’t be told about it, and then we can blow his mind with a track lined with his fans.
Lol you'd all be more than welcome to do so anytime at all of course.
2 weeks tomorrow is mij race at FoD, likely on elephant Man and y2k, hence why we were training on it.
I will of course bring donuts if people come to cheer.
P S. Heckling is equally acceptable.
