That looks an absolute stinker for the kit man / mechanic / van cleaner!
Lol ain't that the truth. Although I'm hoping overnight dry and tomorrow being dry makes the track a bit more friendly, but it didn't help last weekend even when it was dry at times.
It'll be a tough one. The track walk was eye opening for me as I've not seen some bits previously and the word I used was 'ridiculous'. It certainly shows me where my level is. I'll ride reds all day anywhere, I'll ride some blacks at say BPW, but Rheola, nah, couldn't get down it. Not in less than week!
We have a portable jet wash. Fortunately we're also right next to a stream tomorrow as it'll need more than 1 clean during the day. 😄👌
Hydroshot has served us well when the course has been a mudfest especially when it's near a stream.
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/mobi-v-15-portable-bike-pressure-washer/rp-prod34761
We have a mobi v15. I think we paid £50 in CRC sale and it's been fab. Some have had issues but ours has been excellent to us. That and some pink muc off stuff and we're ready to roll.
My Mobi V17 is still going strong after over about 15 years of use. Although it’s had a new hose, gun and charger since the main unit (and battery) still work.
Well that was as always, an adventure.
Wet, muddy messy, yup all of those.
Dry sunny skies though.
Practice went well enough, but lots of stoppages so didn't get a single clean run. But then again, no one did. Nightmare.
It's grim in the trenches.
https://flic.kr/p/2otr5oZ
Seeding/qualifying he felt his tyre going soft about half way down, completely flat by the bottom 1/3 and pulled off.
I'm standing there anxiouly watching the clock tick by and I get tapped on the shoulder, it was him
Inspection revealed
https://flic.kr/p/2otuEX9
So it's new wheel fitted for practice and runs tomorrow.
Beer and Indian now.
Rheola was always one of the gnarliest Dragon tracks and that section, Star Wars was infamous.
I raced there years ago and while marshalling, had to red flag Steve Jones coming into Star Wars as someone had crashed (someone always crashed)
Dry sunny skies though.
The only thing worse than a soaking wet tracking is a drying, claggy, track. Doesn’t look like there’s a hope of it getting fully dry so fingers crossed it stays properly soft
It’s grim in the trenches
What portable shower tent 🤔😉 keep enjoying 👍🏻
Living the dream. Beers and curry with the boy.
Window shopping on the way hom
In 1975
😄
What’s he doing in the phot in the curry house, sleeping?
Also, where is home, in this context, local digs or home home?
Again, I’d suggest a waterproof onesie style riding outfit for everything but race run. It looks absolutely gopping there and to be able strip off and be “dry” underneath must be better than all that wet kit.
Nah he was updating Instagram lol
We were staying in a bungalow about 9 miles away from track. Lovely place with everything needed. Just waiting for morning practice now
Wish him good luck, and safe descending!
Oh, and straight rims.
Let's hope so. Thank you.
He's done 3 runs of practice and it's sloppier than ever
24/lots.
I think 65+ riders appeared Sat morning but the track claimed many victims in all classes.
So he got 24th overall. Which we're pretty chuffed with.
More reports when I've cleaned the van, bikes, kit and cooked us food.
Your priorities are way off, the van can wait - update us!!
https://m.pinkbike.com/news/race-report-uk-national-downhill-series-round-1-rheola-uk.html
Can't type man. Tired. He got 24th and it was somewhat of an epic weekend. Fraught with so so many crashes, plenty for him as well, so many red flags. The most insane sections of trail I've ever seen.
Proper racing, beer time now
Top result in those conditions 👍 Mechanics job is never done 😉
Well done guys, love this thread, it’s great to follow the fun! Enjoy the beer 🍻!
Was spectating today - hats off for racing a tough track
Just seen matt walkers crash ouch
Not seen that. We were at the bottom. Link us up?
He won, so must’ve been ok!
Sunday was race day and was damp once again... more race/riding kit... more water.... more mud... more trips to the river to fill the Mobi washer needed.
Practice was again carnage, with people crashing everywhere, all the time. The boy was following Mary, one of Katys students/mates... they're a similar pace so was good. She chucked it in the floor 3 times and then let the lad past, who then chucked it in the floor in front of her lol.
He had a few long chats with Katy before the race as she was watching in various positions on track and offered some wisdom.
We went out for his race run, due to being a DNF he was down early... Which was good because after him were plenty of delays on track with various crashes and issues. He came down and was sitting in P2. (we took a pic of the leaderboard lol). As rider after rider came down it was slowest > fastest from Seeding and the boy say in 2nd place for a fair few riders, before eventually the faster guys came down and he dropped into his finishing place of 24th.
Considering it was our first National and conditions as they were, he was (and so was I) more than happy with that... As usual when he saw 65 riders on the start list, he was looking more at getting close to top 50. He's quite harsh on himself in terms of where he thinks he can finish and i was hoping for a bit higher up for him 🙂
Katy was really happy with his effort, but knows he's got a lot more in him and will be attempting to drag the next level out of him of course. But it's all a learning curve, in terms of how it all works, the tracks and within himself. It's a full on weekend with run after run of crazy hard stuff and it must take it out of him. So just to register a finish was bloody good 😀
As far as courses/tracks go it's probably the 'worst' for him in terms of what he generally 'likes' as a type of track etc so we hope a few of the others will suit his style a little better.
Out of the 5 lads we know really well there and class as mates, my lad was only one of 2 of them who actually registered a finish time. It was DNF after DNF. His team-mate spent the rest of the afternoon with the medics, but happily no breaks 🙂
It was then onto bike cleaning, getting the van loaded and dragging ourselves home.. He slept half of the trip home, i wished i could. It's amazing just how physically demanding the weekend is just 'doing stuff' and i'm properly knackered and aching today.
Next weekend is straight into a Southern Enduro on the Privateer 141, so there's very little in the way of rest, but he'll be taking on a decent bit of rest this week to recover.
He won, so must’ve been ok!
No he never. Jordan Williams did.
Oh right, I musta been looking at some prelim scores, or summink. Looking at his times, pretty obvious which run involved a crash 🙂
yeah the timinig system can be somewhat confusing... even more so when you're trackside and as always at events, your internet keeps dropping in/out every 30s
I think this weekend goes down as the most tension i/we have had in terms of DH, it was about 50-50 at times as to whether i expected to see him come down to the bottom of the run. Usually i'm pretty confident in him making it, but this one... not so much. Although i guess that's the difference between a MIJ race and a National race.
Things to take away and learn are really on flats/wheels and that's an internal debate in my head at the moment. He doesn't often puncture, very rarely, but obviously he did. When i pulled the wheel, it was an old tyre, it had purple gooey sealant in it which is something we don't use, so was a previous installation.
I then fitted the wheel that had the insert in it from Tracey (thanks again) but that felt absolutely horrific to ride but along with feeling horrific it was a complete and utter nightmare to remove the tyre afterwards. So i really don't know if we run one or we just leave the inserts and go a couple of PSI higher.
I need to get the rim repaired/replaced but that'll get given to Rotec tomorrow with "make it right", i don't mind if he fixes it or if he replaces it, whatever suits me.
The chaos obviously continues from here on and we have
Southern Enduro next weekend
Weekend after is free but the Pearce uplift and BPW are both fully booked, so unknown
Then we're straight off to Fort William for the next National DH race.
Well done to the lad (and his dad!). Pretty demanding weekend by the sounds of it. He has some guts to race his first National in such conditions. 👍
It’s amazing just how physically demanding the weekend is just ‘doing stuff’ and i’m properly knackered and aching today.
You need to be careful with this. There is no easy solution to it, but lots of driving, constantly thinking and doing 'small' jobs can have an effect on your health.
I am nearly 50 and taken my son all over the midlands and further every weekend for football matches and during the week for training. The driving alone is very tiring. I try and go for a run 2-3 times a week whilst he is training/ at a match and then my wife will do occasional weekends and I will have a complete weekend off, you need it for yourself.
Yeah i hear you.... i'm lucky that the rest of the week/weeks are generally not demanding in the same context.
This weekend i'll be racing Southern Enduro too though 😀 😀 Just to relax like.
It's slightly tricky in terms of Mrs Weeksy getting involved as she doesn't have the tech skills and along with that she really struggles with the "is he down yet, is that him, is that him" if she's at the bottom. I don't usually struggle with that side of things, but i must admit on his race run i was pretty nervous waiting at the bottom. When the commentator says "... is now on track" i'm sure my HR jumped 40bpm....then you're sitting watching the clock and trying to see something/someone through the trees.. It was made harder at Rheola as you have no time context to gauge where and when he'll be coming into view. Most tracks you roughly know when he'll be getting into sight, but with the conditions as they were you didn't really have much idea.
Thing is, you're far from alone at the bottom in this boat, every other parent is there with the same anxiety and it does bring you closer together with them. Especially as with yesterday one of his mates from Swinley Summit back in the day, Ed... I was standing with Eds dad, my boy was down with his time and Eds time went to 5.00, then 5.30.... you then know something has gone pear shaped... 6.00.... 7.00... "ah crap" you're thinking... Eventually his time disappears but Ed still ain't down and his dad is now freaking out.... somewhere inside you're freaking out for him too, but you try and keep your cool with "i'm sure it's fine and just a mechanical issue"...
Happily, Ed had just had the same as my lad the day before and a flat on the rear, no crash, no issue and he appeard back at the bottom looking somewhat dejected... It's a tough game at times like this, all weekend, trail after trail, crashes, near crashes, adrenaline.... all for nothing... Was gutted for him that's for sure.
It's a weekend of lows, highs, intensity...
The kids who put themselves through this in the name of 'fun' i have nothing but respect for, no matter where they finish 😀
He has some guts to race his first National in such conditions
He sure does... there were far less experienced riders/racers out there going through it, without being too harsh, without his skills as well... They're brave little lads/lasses (and grown ups lol)
Just been checking and the riders all thought conditions were worse than the weekend before at Gravity regional race...the lad went 12s quicker yesterday... Got to be pleased with that 😀
Well done to the boy, that looked, quite frankly, a mess of a track 🙂
He can relax now and look forward to the far more simple task of getting down 5 stages of SE. Fingers crossed for the weather.
He can relax now and look forward to the far more simple task of getting down 5 stages of SE. Fingers crossed for the weather.
Yeah just got riders briefing which slightly surprised me that there's no track walk on the Sat... We were going to shoot over for a looky. But that'll mean he can spend the day with Mrs Weeksy instead which will keep her happy 🙂
I think it'll be an excellent weekend though, he's got 4 mates racing, who will all be chasing eachother down for a bit of entertainment.
are you racing Weeksy? I couldnt see your name in the list (although could've easily missed it).
are you racing Weeksy? I couldnt see your name in the list (although could’ve easily missed it).
That a question i've just asked Scott 😀
I thought i was... but maybe i'm not 😀 lol... we'll find out.
I was in the 50-59 Ebike list... Which is a shame as it would've meant i could pedal less 😀
I'm in the manual bike Cat now
I see we have Brendan F there again. Another chance to roll out the gap jump video from Rampage and tell everyone I raced him 🙂
See you on the start line along with the other oldies Weeksy
See you on the start line along with the other oldies Weeksy
I'll be there matey... if you can wait long enough at the end, we'll crack open a beer or 2 🙂
We'll be with the team all in kit as above if it's easier, red gazebo.
I need to get out one day this week as i may have forgotten what it's like to ride a bike and steer.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52824908806_4e6b84eb32_5k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52824908806_4e6b84eb32_5k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2otXsZL ]2023-04-17_06-13-47[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
I'm assuming this thread is being edited as I have only found it on searching, not by date, and the last poster's comments removed it appears.
In the event @weeksy is back on the forum with this, and it's IMO only, I thought the last comment was harsh, and unfounded.
Well that's a bit weird.
I noticed when checking something today that his chainring wasn't quite straight. So I took it apart and fitted a new chainring. Guess what , still wonky. You can see the chain line go in and out. (Maybe not with the rubbish camera work).
So it's either the frame/BB or crank spider.
Took cranks off the spare bike and yup, straight and lovely on the blue race bike.
Fitted the wonky cranks to the purple and it now drops the chain off front when pedalling backwards. He's dropped it a couple of times when riding which is now explained by this.
So I fitted a narrow wide chainring to the wonky arms, which keeps it on. But sadly I think we need some new cranks. It's Shimano style so any Shimano like a Zee or Saint will be fine, or a compatible Raceface crank.
Southern Enduro this weekend. Was great to see a few forum regulars out there in the old boys cat along with me.
It was at Milland, so whilst techie, it's not impossible like some places.
The rain mostly stayed away but the over-night rain meant that the stages pre-practice were 100 times different on race runs, so much so that Stage 1 went from run, to almost unrideable.
The boy ended up 19/44 but was a bit disappointed. On Stage 1/2 he was ahead of his team-mate (and his local mates), but stage 3 he ended up with a off-track excursion and stage 4 he got mud splatter in the eye and couldn't see. So Drew his team mate ended up 13th and 11s quicker over the 5 stages, with Olly his local mate in 15th and Jack another riding mate in 18th... It's close as always in their cat and just that 1 mistake cost him the difference between 5 places . On 1& he was 12th and 14th... but on stage 3 he was 31st.... so it really hits your finish position.
No excuses though, he finished where he finished and as we know, Enduro isn't his main focus as a rider so he's not completely gutted, but i'd say he's deffo a little disappointed. The bike worked well though and he had a chunk of fun both on the trails and in the paddock with his mates (and maybe even with me)
Onto this weekend and it's Bikeparkwales for a day out on Monday, before we then head to Fort William.
Good fun wasn't it 🙂 great to see you and the boy, did you spot that Scarlett completely annihilated(that's a really hard word to spell) both of us?
I've seen her ride enough to know that was clearly going to be the case, certainly for me.
We both enjoyed it mate yeah. It certainly showed both of us what we need to work on, although as always, not how to get there.
S5 was my best stage compared to the guys around me, but I still somehow need to find 10+ sec per stage on average to move somewhere up the pack. But as long as we don't look at the results, it was a cracking day 😉😉
Yup, 30 seconds across all stages for me to really progress in results but I am seeing a huge improvement in how I ride. Think I need to concentrate on the fitness side a little more to be able to manage the pedaly bits.
Anyway, that's enough about us old folk, back to the topic of young Master Weeks. That Fort William thing is going to be a hell of an experience isn't it!
That Fort William thing is going to be a hell of an experience isn’t it!
It'll be a bit of an epic. Looks like he can ride on the Friday too once we arrive about 11ish, so should with luck get some runs in. It'll be a weird one as in some ways it's 3-4 days away, but the reality is, van, hotel, van, trackside, trackside, trackside, van.
It could be anywhere 10 mins from home, not 10 hours.
But we've got an insane lineup of elites that would grace any world cup. A massive track and a gondola, heck it'll be fantastic! Beers and airhorns at the ready
