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What a day.
There were 10+ people carted off in the helicopter today and qualifying for elites was cancelled as they ran out of time.
The boy felt his run was ok but some mistakes and some lines to pick up in the morning tomorrow. But sometimes I think he forgets the scale of things, this is the Euro Champs, the best in Europe on the hardest track around and he's 49th, out of the best in Europe lol.
From where we came at the start of this thread, that's, well, bloody amazing if you ask me.
Me, I'm fried. We made a mistake not booking accommodation in Champery, the drive on the roads is an absolute killer and eats your brain, especially at 5.10am when we're having to leave. Ouch.
The intensity of waiting, watching, waiting, it gets really hard
But it's exceptionally rewarding.
Go on lad!!!!! Who cares he is living the dream and making memories and a outlook on future life which will turn him into a good human if he comes last wins or anything in between! You are bringing up a good human and thats what’s important though a good euro track or a suicide here or there counts!
But give it hell junior weeks!!! Smash it!
Schedule change for tomorrow, elites out at 9-10 and then I think they're out racing first after juniors but it's all on the live timing link.
I think the lad is off about 3.30
Chainsaw craziness!!!
https://www.youtube.com/live/I8kuWee83nI?si=a6189heV986zDF33
Potentially live on this channel tomorrow
That's a superb result, he must be well chuffed as I bet you are.
(appreciate it's only qualifying but still - amazing)
@stevet1 I'm way more chuffed than he is, he still sees it as 48 people being faster than him and that being a disappointment. But that's the nature of the racer instinct of course.
He's been so excited all weekend and loving it. But it's many other things that make me more proud,, like how he's supporting Katie his team mate, the respect he shows to people quizzing him, his attitude to riding the track, his attitude when things are not perfect.
The riding side is just a bonus.
As always, we've got a long long way to go in this journey, we're only getting started here. But heck, it's an adventure for sure.
@weeksy I saw that. It looks like they're worried about bad weather spoiling the party, so everyone who didn't get a timed run today races first.
Well done - you have every reason to be very proud. What a journey!
What category is your lad in Weeksy? U17?
U17 mate.
Due off in 20 mins roughly
Down safe. I don't know how I didn't puke waiting!!!
https://www.instagram.com/jamesweeks08/reel/C-icW27MVt6/?igsh=YmRzZjhtNWhxNmpn
That's it. Beer and pizza time here
Thought you would be at the after party
We were all fried after weekend and we're staying in Morzine which is 1hr 20 away. So came home for beers and pizza
I'd say thanks and like a fair few posts, but cannot
We've had an interesting week up to now.
The boy has been riding with a bunch of mates (well they are now) including 2 junior WC racers. It's been an absolute blast it seems.
We had another shock bushings issue which is really irritating me now, so I've been chatting with Ruth at TFTUNED on thoughts, we've got a few things to try when back. But chatting to others in paddock, this isn't uncommon on Sessions
So what we've done for now is fit what was at the time a brand new shock, it was taken off a new 24, it has a completely different mount with a big housing and bearing top end. It's been golden for 3 days now
We've had some loose spokes but nothing major and a few sets of brake pads. New ones in tonight for tomorrows last riding day.
I've been nursing a sore hand which I actually thought I'd broken when trying to walk home from Rhodos bar on Monday night. A little bit intoxicated I admit. But it's been sorta ok for riding and with painkillers I've managed well enough.
We've had meals Sat next to Pros, we've had broken bones and plaster for mates, broken bikes, but it's been pretty much epic here.
Looks like your all having a fun time
Has he convinced you to let him stay for the rest of the Summer yet
Has he convinced you to let him stay for the rest of the Summer yet
I don't need convincing, I'm up for it. But realistically it doesn't work at the moment
Well we finally made it home from what was the best holiday ever. Holiday in a very loose term of course.
The first few days was stressful beyond words, especially after walking the track which really didn't help. But the actual race weekend went smoothly in truth. There was only the shock bushings that was an issue. (And not brining enough footwear for myself)
The riding was a bit meh for me at times, the tracks are just not that brilliant at my level of skill, but honestly we have some excellent riding, I'm not good enough to hit the blacks (mostly, I did a few though) and the rest are pretty battered. But things like Serpentine were just ace fun. Ace was the bottom of Pleny Black.
So it's time to completely pull the Session apart as I've still got a few days off work yet as the boy has coaching with Katy this week. All bearings will need checking, brakes sorting and deffo some spoke tension sorting.
The lad formed some excellent friendships and even a bit of love interest lol. It deffo seems to have ticked all the boxes we'd hoped.
We're all a bit fried now, so really looking forward to getting the tools out and playing with all the bikes and fettling them.
We had another shock bushings issue which is really irritating me now, so I’ve been chatting with Ruth at TFTUNED on thoughts, we’ve got a few things to try when back. But chatting to others in paddock, this isn’t uncommon on Sessions
So what we’ve done for now is fit what was at the time a brand new shock, it was taken off a new 24, it has a completely different mount with a big housing and bearing top end. It’s been golden for 3 days now
Chewing through shock bushings?
Loading them up on one side?
Or just going slack ?
Run one of these on my kenevo Sl (geometron is sphericals both ends) to protect the shock from side loading.
https://dhsign.it/en/14-fixshox-classic
Just going slack and a tiny bit of wiggle/play.
Apparently it's a 'thing' on these.
The 24 uses a bearing mount top which we've now got fitted, but his 23 shock is more adjustable and setup so we'd ideally like to run that.
We have a couple of options with TFTUNED on this, chatting to Ruth they can check the eyelet size and make a 30mm spacer of a fractionally bigger diameter to compensate for it.
Or there's
https://www.tftuned.com/fox-shock-mounting-hardware-bearing-roller-full-complement-8x30mm/p3730
Which could replace top mount with bearing mount, again this would help/solve (hopefully)
Short term, he'll run the 24 shock which after 4 days hammering was still sweet.
We've had times where the bushing lasts a month or two, but Sunday of race day it lasted 24 hours lol. Chatting to others in various paddocks it's a fairly common thing, which I think is why they fitted the bearing shock in the 24 models.
The boy is still sleeping so I've been sorting the Status 160 this morning and waiting for him to get up and fed and we'll start on his Session. It was checked every day sk I don't think there'll be anything to fix, but I'd like to go through all the bearings and see how his pads are etc.
That's the $64,000 question. To me one of the spacers I removed looks pretty polished, so I'm guessing that's a bit worn.
I replaced that with a new spacer and bushing, but like I say it developed play in 24 hours. So maybe a fractionally bigger spacer would be the answer.
I'm not massively concerned as it's a quick fix, but obviously I'd prefer months rather than hours between swaps
Stripping and sorting the Session today, it all started well, but then 2 upper pivot bearings were running very slow, so they were replaced.
Next he complained he'd dropped the chain, I checked the idler wheel, oh jeezy that's very dead, the teeth are barely present lol. The joy of having an idler you can't see well.
The Argotal he had on the back is completely dead, the knobbles are all falling off, so that's been replaced.
Forks, triples, headset etc all checked, cleaned, greased as well as all pivots and bearings.
He's hammered this thing for sure.
So it's ready to roll again and some bits ordered up.
Shock is booked in with TFTUNED next Tues so need to get that shipped out.
Hope he got up and helped out.
That’s the $64,000 question. To me one of the spacers I removed looks pretty polished, so I’m guessing that’s a bit worn.
I replaced that with a new spacer and bushing, but like I say it developed play in 24 hours. So maybe a fractionally bigger spacer would be the answer.
I’m not massively concerned as it’s a quick fix, but obviously I’d prefer months rather than hours between swaps
Had a brass shaft and polymer bushing in my KSL, and that had done 300hrs, granted the rotation is lower.
Careful with that fox bearing mount, its a pain in the ass to pull the bearings and also remove it altogether (you need a special tool)
Careful with that fox bearing mount, its a pain in the ass to pull the bearings and also remove it altogether (you need a special tool
I'll be waiting on TFT to get their views on the way forward. Worst case, we keep this as a spare and use the 24. But I dunno yet, we'll see what comes
I think I had that Fox retro fit bearing mount on a previous shock. The coil spring wouldn’t fit over the mount maybe - so you had to remove it to change spring rate. But I didn’t have any special tools - other than a cheapie bushing fitting tool from offset bushings and some other bits and bobs. Worked out a way to get the bearings and cups out.
My coil fitted over the mount but it's a Rockshox shock and I think their coil springs are a few mm wider than others.
This gives a good idea of what they were up to after racing.
Sacha is a junior WC racer and they're now good mates, along with her brother. The other 2 are lads we've known from the paddock for a few years now
Yesterday he was out coaching for 4 hours with Katy. They were messing about on GBU at the end of each fast run on a race track and one of them he was pulling whips and lost a pedal/foot....