Weeksy08 the ongoing racing trials and tribulations of a crazy teen

Correct decision, I always used to wear glasses whilst riding but since putting a proper front mudguard on my bike I can go glasses/goggle free

I'm a heathen, I run a piss flap all year round!

Chill day today so we met some mates at 417 as they were trying a new DH bike they were potentially buying.
The boy was shifting!

About 6 months ago on Dubby Skipper he set a top 10 on Strava and was ecstatic, but 11s off the fastest person ever out on 3500.
Today he went top by 3s and his teammate went P2 lol. Crazy kids.

With Rheola coming up for Nationals this weekend we also tested the spare bike which then broke due to an issue with idler pulley. So that's now sorted and glad we tested it.
He punctured on Igneous though so we've fitted 2 brand new Shorty on both his DH race rears for the weekend.
https://youtube.com/shorts/0L01mLtb7EU?feature=share
https://flic.kr/p/2osbZK6

Re listening to the coach. That's something I learnt to do with my son. The coach doesn't get everything right but she gets a lot more right than we would. One example is when she pushed him up an age group at Scottish champs. Her reasoning was that he was going to be competing up an age group at the next British champs the following year. I was very sceptical as I thought he would be better doing well against people his own age rather than struggling against older kids. He won the competition, she was right and we decided we just had to trust her. Like Katy she was someone who has competed so had been through it all herself.

@weeksy I'm not sure how your summer plans have evolved,but the French DH cup at Les Menuires on August 18th has stepped up a level and is also acting as the European champs. Registration has opened for foreign riders on the FFC website

@ocrider that's Glencoe weekend mate. But heck yes to good ideas like that 😉

I did wonder if it would interrupt any other race plans. Shame that it clashes with a BDS, but there are only so many weekends in June/July August.

New headset bearings installed today as the bike is not being used until Rheola at the weekend now.
New cassette put on as well, well an old cassette. We were having compatibility issues with 7/10 speed hubs, cassettes etc, so I've standardised it at 10sp now instead of 7sp and spacer.

Both bikes now 100% ready to roll for the weekend racing.
Track walk with coach on Friday, practice on Saturday and the seeding and race run on Sunday.
I believe it's also going to be streamed live on YouTube but that remains to be seen.

So basically what we’ve been saying all along… Maybe it’s time to start considering the helpful advice you get here.

Not sure why you think i always ignore it, i've taken much of the advice on here and run with it, however yes, some i've thought not appropriate.
However in this instance you/they wouldn't have necessarily been correct when it was said. Things change, people change, his riding has changed massively and i'm pretty convinced that what is the way it should be now, isn't necessarily how it should have been then.

You also have to factor in age, time, availability etc. For example BPW he's not allowed to ride on his own (although not exactly often enforced) so just shooting to BPW adds an extra £50 onto the day straight away.
But there's also the most important factor in this... he's 14 years old.. What may or may not be best for his development doesn't always mean it's the correct thing in terms of enjoyment, fun, laughs, bonding, teams, friends. When it becomes too much of a chore, it stops being fun and then gets dropped.

But there's been tonnes of advice i've taken, even when you/they think i'd not... "get him an Enduro bike", for example. When people were throwing that at me, we'd already signed with Katys team and the Privateer was already ordered, but i couldn't mention it at the time so i wasn't ignoring it, i just couldn't discuss it.
"go here, ride this, ride that" sure, we've done tonnes of that, admittedly not ALL of that as we've been doing other stuff like coaching with the team, video shoots, photoshoots, team bonding events etc, but even things like "ride Risca", which we've not done yet, but we do have planned as a team ride/event in the near future.
We've been doing uplifts at Pearce race events which is also new terrain and a track he'll be racing..

So, sure, keep it all coming, the ideas, thoughts, advice and wisdom. You may not think it goes in... but it does and whilst i may not always follow it to the letter, it rarely gets completely dismissed.

Oh I don’t know - I think coaching is fun - it’s great to get tips on things you can do better and watch videos of sections and then see how you improve in a short space of time.

@weeksy - how was your session with Katy - did you make some changes and feel like you’ve sped up a bit as a result?

@joebristol

how was your session with Katy – did you make some changes and feel like you’ve sped up a bit as a result?

It was great matey, if a little monsoony at times and that changed the terrain a bit as it went from nice to a mud fest lol
Katy has a way of explaining, showing, teaching that i've not seen in other coaches and you end up like a little puppy dog trying to impress it's master for treats. She sort of brings that out of me more than anyone else. The things i was learning were not completely alien in terms of things i SHOULD know... but until it's pointed out to you, you don't realise fully you've been doing it wrong for a decade.
I don't know if i'm 'faster' but i felt more comfortable and could see how and why it could make me faster using the drills we worked on. I rode again on Friday but i didn't have a gauge to work on and see, it was more an XC type ride with a few trails in there, so i'm not sure. I've not ridden again since then as i wasn't riding with the lad on Sunday..
I sure hope so though 😀

@mark88 i don't see anything i'm going to write changing your mind on any of this, so i won't quote/respond directly other than with, "ok, understand"

Dropped the Privateer into Rotec Cycles today and he dropped everything and jumped on it to sort, was only 15 mins works re-tensioning the spokes, but i do find spokes/wheels a bit of a fine art and a bit wizardy, if i get a loose spoke of course i'll tighten it to get me out of a bind, but when i want it doing fully, it goes to Rotec. He's quick and efficient at doing them. Bought him some beers as a thank you, it wasn't like we needed it urgently, but he is a proper nice fella.

We're racing the 141 the weekend after in Southern Enduro.

So I sat there this evening and thought "should check the purple bike over"

That turned out to be a terrible idea

I bounced it up and down and it had a shock bushing type bit of play in it.
So I checked all the bolts, all tight.
Checked rear wheel and fitted a spare wheel, still play.
Swapped the shock for the marzocchi bomber, still play.
So I noticed the crank had a bit of play and removed them. Still play.

Swapped the two trunnion mount bearings, still play.
Then checked all chainstay and linkage bearings, still play.

Eventually I narrowed it down to these, pivot bearings.
https://flic.kr/p/2osEeb3

To get to them you need to remove the idler pulley setup too. Then weird wedges to allow you to get the main weird pivot bolt out. I then wiggled the bearings and 1 was very wobbly on the inner race.
They were 6003 and I had 2 in spares. Phew.

https://flic.kr/p/2osEe1i
Went in really easily and I even remembered the inner sleeve. Then was just a question of putting it all back together. With 8 bolts, 14 spacers and then the idler pulley to re set-up it was somewhat a troubling hour or two.

Happily, after it all went back together it's now lovely.

Well, it was until my suspension wizard asked which bearings I used and said "nah you want these.
https://www.wychbearings.co.uk/6003-llb-max_enduro_bearing.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwitShBhA6EiwAq3RqAyYLLrn-34ZystxObba2UIWvgLWG1HNzkEPTROqH_MCBwokp_lPXdxoCGaQQAvD_BwE

So early evening next week I'll be doing it all again. Probably. It's only the spare bike, so no real hurry to do that job.

Just a tip to help locate any slack, if you put your finger or thumb across the respective members joined by a bearing, then move the bike to cause the “knock” it’s very easy to feel the movement between the respective parts with your finger tip. Far quicker than trial and error.

Yeah I tried that matey and I was still a bit mmmm maybe it's, then maybe it's.... I'm normally pretty decent but this one deffo had me questioning myself for a while. Because it was that pivot you could sort of feel it everywhere.

I give myself a C for finding
I'll give it a B for the work
Lastly I'll go A for effort.

I even had the boy in there helping and teaching him a bit about pressing in bearings etc. So was a fairly constructive evening.

Mrs Weeksy did give me "you've broken his bike 3 days before race haven't you" which she got a grown face for

Fri schedule states track walk Fri 5pm-7pm.

Sat sees practice from 09.00-14.00 and then seeding runs from then onwards

Sunday is 08.45-13.15 practice for all our Cats with racing from 14.00 onwards.

Slightly different setup-schedule than we're used to i guess in terms of a 'seeding' run on the Sat.. but we'll work it all out. It's going to be an interesting one

Mrs Weeksy did give me “you’ve broken his bike 3 days before race haven’t you”

Chapeau Mrs W!! 😂

Good luck Team @weeksy

@weeksy - I’d just leave the bearings you’ve put in until they need replacing again - the llb max ones suggested won’t feel any nicer / perform differently as such - just last longer. May as well get some in for the spares box for when they need doing again.

I’d just leave the bearings you’ve put in until they need replacing again – the llb max ones suggested won’t feel any nicer / perform differently as such – just last longer. May as well get some in for the spares box for when they need doing again.

You may well be correct mate. The reality is, if i've done everything right on the blue bike and the boy doesn't spanner himself/it and break it, this bike will never move out of the van anyway. The only reason it came out was so i could test/check it before Rheola and Fort William in the next few weekends. So in theory, the bearings should last the lifetime of the bike lol 😀
The good part is that they're not the only pair of these on the bike, the mid placed ones on the linkage are also the same (hence why we had a set in the bearings box), so having spares is multi-purpose.

Doing these sorts of jobs though do highlight to me what i want in a 'next bike' for him. This idler setup isn't exactly intuitive, although it's also not impossibly hard, it's a bit sodding fiddly. But that's not a debate for today really as he's more than happy on his Fury for this year at the least...
It's easy to forget at times he's only 14.... still learning, growing, changing... So nothing too hasty 🙂 (i know i've said that before, but it's true)

This weekend should be bringing a bit of excitement for him too, which is the 2023 race kit from TLD/Saddleback. Along with a new TLD D4 FF helmet... which is absolutely stunning. I think he'll still 'seed' in the green kit and race in the new kit on Sunday.

Nothing too hasty 🤣

Next week: SC V10 lands in the Weeksy garage lol

Next week: SC V10 lands in the Weeksy garage lol

I can't put into words just how much that's not happening. Part of this thread is informational, but part of it is sort of me semi-venting about the lifestyle. The expense is just incredible, even with the ridiculous assistance we're getting from the team side of things, the money outgoing is just absolutely constant, with bike spannering, bits, kit, entries, accomodation, fuel, even bacon lol... It's just crazy what the world is costing us (and other people).

We're doing it cheaper than many as we're running fairly reasonable priced bikes, a fella we were chatting to last week has cashed in some pension, for a £50-60k motorhome and an Atherton DH bike for his lad.... Another did the same and has a £10k Scott and £70k MH.... it's just bonkers what we're all doing.
There's also 'time' which is again pretty insane in terms of time away riding, racing, practicing, playing... It's just day after day, night after night. This weekend i'll have spent the best part of 10 hours on spannering, prepping and sorting the bikes, we then leave the house lunchtime on Friday and won't get home until 8pm on Sunday night where we collapse in a heap 😀

The lads dream bike is a V10 though... it's a bike i expect to see in the garage at some stage. When.... is anyones guess... but it won't be in 2023.

Fair play for what you’re doing - the time and expense is a big commitment.

Bookmarking the no to a V10 (or Sender etc) in 2023 comment!

Let me just grab my tiny violin…..😄😄😄

Let me just grab my tiny violin

Fair shout 🙂 we are in many ways 'living the dream' that's for sure... Although at times my cycling time is suffering a bit. I'd like more time at the weekend for a ride myself... but there's just no time. Even when a lot of it is standing round waiting, you're still 'doing stuff'

it’s just bonkers what we’re all doing.

I used to sail as a teen at quite a high level.
I would turn up in the Cumbria council minibus with three others, a small tent, boats used at the outdoor centre all week, but I had saved up for my own sail and my own wetsuit.

Next to us was a Range Rover (+3* hotel) or camper van, double trailer with race boat and practice boat in full covers and professionally polished, a choice of sails, drysuits and a couple of parents fussing around all weekend.

Deeply satisfying to beat the ones who were using wealth as a way of winning!

Yeah i hear you.... but arguably 'we' are also that compared to some 😀 just not compared to others. LOL.

Although at this level, no-one turns up on a Decathlon special and in a pair of adidas trackie bottoms 😀 It is great to see them when they do turn up at FoD races though and actually do better than you may think 😀

the social side of things in that context is amazing though with all sorts of parents and kids racing and cheering eachother on, helping eachother out, fixing eachothers bikes.. i absolutely love it compared to some sports we've seen. I can't really a single weekend where i've not fixed someones bike or given them an item of kit/clothing etc. But everyone helps everyone, even tips about track, settings, pressures, it's all handed out and shared around. None of this arguing, fighting etc you see at a local football tournament.

Well the weatherman is getting more on our side as the days pass and we started this week seeing rain on both Fri and Sat and drizzle on Sun. Now it's showing as rain on Fri and then completely dry for Sat and Sun... Which would be absolutely EPIC. The lad struggled with the wet last weekend, i'm not sure he'll exactly set the world on fire in the drier conditions, but i'm hoping he'd be a lot happier in the dry at least.
The blue Fury is set-up with tyres he likes in the dry and goes well on.

Just sent Mrs Weeksy out to collect a new camping/picnic table as ours is too small for food, drink, helmets, gloves, so gone a bit bigger.
Other than that, we're good to go and ready to play.

Adam Brayton Hope Factory Racing
Joe Breeden ---
Ethan Craik GT Factory Racing
Tomas Elsmore ---
Laurie Greenland Santa Cruz Syndicate
Charlie Hatton Continental Atherton
Roger Novack Vieira ---
Matt Walker Madison Saracen Factory Team (UCI MTB Team)
Preston Williams ---
Jordan Williams ---
Luke Williamson 555 RAAW Gravity Racing (UCI MTB Team)
Jay Williamson ---
Greg Williamson Madison Saracen Factory Team (UCI MTB Team)

Some big hitters playing this weekend... 😀

Genuine question - who is into this more? You, him, team?

I'd say it's all 3 really mate. He loves it, lives and breathes it and it really does make him happy i'd say. He's sitting watching videos of the track, watching on Insta for what Gravity Events are doing on the work they're putting in on the track. Sorting his kit, hitting the gym, hitting the bike.. There's lots of other stuff regarding aspects of his future, from work experience to proposed college/further education stuff which are all very much MTB influenced.

The team (Katy) is massively into this and is in constanct contact with the 3 of them, with anything and everything.

I do have more access to STW to post my random posts though 😀 and obviously they don't post here 🙂

and whose idea was it to aim for (an absolutely meaningless) top 10 BC ranking?

the social side of things in that context is amazing though with all sorts of parents and kids racing and cheering eachother on, helping eachother out, fixing eachothers bikes

Agreed, cycling is very friendly. I would say most outdoor sports are this too - even my bitching about wealth in sailing, they were a crowd who would always leap in with a tool in hand, lend a warm top and generally encourage any small person who they saw... Lovely community feel. 🤗

and whose idea was it to aim for (an absolutely meaningless) top 10 BC ranking?

Not really sure where you're going with that. His target is as always to do as well as possible in races, which brings in itself a certain number of points. He sits and looks at the overall ranking points and wants to score as many points as he can in the overall. I'm not really sure why that's wrong ? Or how it's in any way detrimental to his riding, development or racing ? We often chat mindelessly about different parts of racing, from what he'd like to do or not do in the future, to who he'd like to get to the same level as or even things like nutrition, fitness training.

But i really am curious as to why you seem to think it's somehow wrong to target a high overall position? We don't go out trying to pick up easy points in easier races, we race what's there, why... well, because he enjoys it. I don't force him to go and race and any suggestion of "shall we go...." is instantly met with an excited yes. Whether it's a race, a ride or an uplift. He's even tried talking the wife into moving to Wales more than once. (which isn't as uncommon as you'd think, i know 3-4 riders in his age who's parents have done that just for more quality riding time).

Not sure where you're racing this weekend but if its anything like here it will still be wet,mud tyres on the spare bike might not be a bad move

Not sure where you’re racing this weekend but if its anything like here it will still be wet,mud tyres on the spare bike might not be a bad move

@StuE

we're at Rheola again, between Afan and Merthyr. We've got fairly sticky condition tyres on the spare bike and the spare wheels have a brand new Shorty and a brand new Hillbilly fitted. We'll mostly play it by ear and hope the wind and a bit of dry keeps the conditions OK... however, it'll be what it'll be and we'll do our best to have the right rubber on the day.

Some big hitters playing this weekend… 😀

Fort Bill entries list for the SDA/National Downhill is crazy too (understandably as it's a race on a track resembling the World Champs in August). It could be the entry list for any normal year's World Cup.

Fort Bill entries list for the SDA/National Downhill is crazy too (understandably as it’s a race on a track resembling the World Champs in August). It could be the entry list for any normal year’s World Cup.

Absolutely. I find it almost incomprehensible he'll be on the same track, uplift, list as those guys.
Obviously in a massively different context to them of course, but he'll still be out there.

I'll be at the bottom watching the insanity.

We'll say hi if we see you (guessing the kit will be easily identifiable). I'll be watching (nervously) my 14yo trying to guide his enduro bike down the course. 🙂

you say "our" goals is top 10

you say he will get top 5 at newnham

no other kid has dad talking like this

BC rankings mean nothing. i bet other faster kids don't even know they exist

A little headsup weeksy. If you put it into your diary for about Jan/feb time next year to apply for GLLSport Foundation Athlete support applications.

They do it every year and although its not a huge amount every little helps. My daughter just got a small sum of money plus a 12 month membership to all their gyms/pools/physios. It took me about 15mins to fill in the application form. Havent checked if cycling qualifies but i expect it is.

@vinnyeh - agreed. I'm not going to comment on it anymore as it frustrates me seeing advice from more knowledgable people being ignored, but can't fault the enthusiasm and dedication. Will still keep an eye on the thread as I love MTB racing.

manorath-j i know where you are coming from and tbh i sounded a bit like that at first. Really i think its a bit harsh on weeksy to go at him because he has some passion for it and if that helps his lad then where is the harm. The harm i think you are feeling comes from the inequality in kids sport which you are 100% correct about. It riles me something horrible to think of kids with talent and ability missing out because they are not given the same opportunities. Buts thats life.

With regards to the points. Well its the same in lots of other sports. Those with the time, funding, motivation to attend more events rack up more points. Those who rack up the highest points tend to then develop into higher performing athletes and soon find they cant commit to all the events and have to structure their time towards training rather than just competing. Is there anything wrong with this situation....really? At the end of the day its down to athletes priorities. My daughter turned up at the first national comp this year and won. She is already down into about 10th place because she hasnt had time to attend the others so far. Is that the other athletes fault? Should that diminish their efforts? Let everyone compete at their own level imo.

Dropped the Privateer into Rotec Cycles today and he dropped everything and jumped on it to sort, was only 15 mins works re-tensioning the spokes, but i do find spokes/wheels a bit of a fine art and a bit wizardy, if i get a loose spoke of course i’ll tighten it to get me out of a bind, but when i want it doing fully, it goes to Rotec. He’s quick and efficient at doing them.

That’s Steph right? He’s a top bloke, spanner’s a few of my mates bikes (too far away for me) and comes on the odd uplift with us (I can’t keep up with him). Think he’s up at DYFI with us in May.

Yup. That's the boy. We've known him for ages

Neither can I based upon our times at BPW Enduro a few weeks ago.

I’m not suggesting you buy him a new bike, but you do seem to be swapping bearings a lot on those Furies compared to a lot of people I know who ride every weekend in all conditions.

Keep up the good work.

Sometimes feel that weeksy is best dad ever, other times feel like taking an axe to him, but the most astonishing thing on here is his unfailing politeness under extreme provocation.

Agreed - though the "provocation" seems almost all well intentioned.

Neither can I based upon our times at BPW Enduro a few weeks ago.

Though he did say he went OTB about 10 metres into the first stage so there’s hope yet.

zerocool
Full Member
I’m not suggesting you buy him a new bike, but you do seem to be swapping bearings a lot on those Furies compared to a lot of people I know who ride every weekend in all conditions

There is nothing wrong with the bike. It’s weeksy Jnr sneaking into the garage, popping the bearing seals and filling them with grit. Then leaving all weeksy’ IT servers and kit logged into the Santa Cruz V10 website…..

Mind games….

That's only the 2nd set of bearing pairs i've swapped. 2 main pivot and 2 trunion mount bearings. The others have been headset or wheel bearings. So i'm happy that it's not been too many, certainly no more than on many bikes we've owned/ridden. I've probably swapped more bearings on his mates G170 for him. I can't honestly think of others, but may be mistaken.
I'm pretty happy with it in terms of maint. It's a simple enough bike to work on with most bits and i know it pretty well now. It deffo has some 'quirks' like the 7/10 speed chainlines, or the high pivot idler, but it's as simple/difficult as most other comparable bikes.
I think where it's slightly different is that i do 99% of things on the bike myself, some people either don't do them, or give them to a spanner bloke. I'm arguably also fussier than many other people.

New team kit 2023 TLD
New D4 helmet, gloves etc.

Track is just insane. I can't even begin to work out how they get down it. Bonkers

https://flic.kr/p/2otiqnY

https://flic.kr/p/2otkvZK

https://flic.kr/p/2otkHEb

https://flic.kr/p/2otjxiC