Let’s just say it was a bit more than that and leave it there.

Lesson learned

So then, they spent 4 hours changing, playing and riding. On run 9 he set it to something he expected the boy to not like and happily the boy didn’t like it. So he was noticing etc.
He is also a coach so was showing the lad stuff on line choices etc.
We get graphs and pretty spreadsheets tomorrow.

After chatting with people who’ve ridden the track it was decided that we’d finally break out the Assegai

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2nbERvZ]2022-03-31_09-30-23[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

It’ll go on for this weekend as apparently it’s more suited to the rocky rooty nature, whereas the Shorty is more suited to the muddier tracks….

He is still blooming fast, and he may return when post-student he has some moolah.

But no time… The horrible compromise of life, when you have the time you don’t have the money, when you have the money you don’t have the time…

@weeksy
Has he got a jump bike or bmx? It’s not the be all or end all but I have never met anyone who was good at proper steep dirt jumps / trails (not mtb trails) that wasn’t good on a bike in general. It’s a good way to help build the precision and control in a casual and local environment.

That looks like a monsterous tyre – should be amazingly grippy on a dry ish track and find more grip than a Shorty. I think of the Shorty as a mud tyre really – a slightly more mud orientated magic Mary.

Has he got a jump bike or bmx? It’s not the be all or end all but I have never met anyone who was good at proper steep dirt jumps / trails (not mtb trails) that wasn’t good on a bike in general. It’s a good way to help build the precision and control in a casual and local environment

No mate he does not. But we don’t really live in the sort of place where there’s a lot of use for it. It’s easier to get to the woods than it is to get to the jump park or even an urban playground. Add to that, the lads he plays with are all MTBers, so he’d be flying solo if he went for the jump bike…. although in the woods there is a dirtjump area he could use/practice on i agree.

There’s also a cost consideration as he’s already got the DH bike and the T-130 to ride, along with me having the EX9.8 and the Ebike too, so storage would be an issue on top of that too.

I’ve got a cruiser bmx (24” wheel) and it’s a good tool to help get used to pumping trails for more speed. It is borderline scary and tries to kill me every other time I use it – but if you don’t have a local pump / bmx track then there’s probably not much point getting one.

Looks like your lad is jumping well already – probably more time to be found practising the steep tech I reckon.

Him and the other lads along with the proper trail builders have been working on a tech DH type trail lately, it’s coming along nicely. The current favourite trail in the woods is tech but not super tech… But you can to an extent only work with what you have.

Rheola this weekend will be interesting as it’ll give more insight into his strengths and weaknesses as a rider and see where and what we need to work on most. Once we get April out of the way, things become a little less chaotic and we can concentrate on a few away days at weekends just for fun/practice rather than racing. But at the moment there’s just no more time to do ‘other’ stuff as he’s got Duke of Edin as well as racing, along with coaching and some days at BPW and Afan. But we’ll get there 🙂

I don’t really know yet what his focus and direction needs to be, but he’s clearly losing a bit of time in some places to end up 9s off the leader. So there’s obviously things that need working on.

Sounds like you’ve got loads of cool stuff lined up!

9 seconds is a fair amount of time to find – some of it maybe physical power and endurance – if he’s at the bottom end of an age category and there are lads with a few more years growing / maturing then a chunk of it could be that.

It’s not entirely the same but when I go down a long ish / fastish track like Y Mynnyd or Pedalhounds at Cwmcarn I know my leg endurance / strength is holding me back a bit – not from a pedalling perspective so much but from an absorbing moment the big compressions perspective. I sometimes find myself dialling it back a little to preserve my legs.

This is just some of the screenshots. Some of the other ones contain data and figures he’d rather keep to himself so i’ve left those ones out.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2nbJz7m]data1[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2nbJz7g]data2[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2nbMsmA]data3[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Some of the other ones contain data and figures he’d rather keep to himself so i’ve left those ones out.

Got to keep the marginal gains away from the prying eyes of the key competition reading this thread 🤣 (just some gentle ribbing, please don’t take the wrong way)

Today didn’t go quite according to plan. The boy was at Rheloa on a National course, so tricky and techie.

After run 1 he came back with a thumbs down. “it’s really hard, you’d be lying in an ambulance by now” LOL was his comment to me. Fair enough, i accept that. I’d walked up and looked and yes, indeed it looked techie. There were only 11 in the class of 13-14 which is very unusual and i think the difficulty of the course may have been a factor in their decisions.

He went out for run 2 with the same idea as run 1, lots of stopping, checking, watching, so i wasn’t expecting him down quickly. He came back happier and did the double step-down into the finish line as he was feeling good. He did have a spill on run 2, but hey, looking round the paddock, most people had !

Run 3 was the most exciting for him as he had the Continental Atherton rider Charlie Hatton on the uplift with him…. He even had Charlie following him down at 1 stage until he stopped to let the PRo through, who gave him a wave and a “thank you”, which made the boys day.

Run 4 was where it went pear shaped and 2 crashes this run, 1 on the shoulder/collar bone really hurt him, he was trying to be brave but you could see he was struggling. I ended up having to load the bike onto the trailer and was troubled for run 5….. Happily in a way, run 5 didn’t happen. The boy came down on the uplift and said he’d tried to set off but it was too painful, so we pulled the plug. He got checked out by the medics who were happy he’d not broken it…. but it wasn’t moving easily and giving him a lot of issues. We loaded the bike in the car and headed for the B&B early. When we got there i saw him struggling to even lift his arm and made the decision to bail on the B&B and the Sundays racing. I let the guy know at the B&B and we headed home, lots of tears in the car and lots of unhappy boy but after an hour and several tissues i think he understood my decision and accepts it. Rather get 1 day missed than him spannering himself further and messing up the next 2 months due to riding when he can’t hang onto the bars.

So we’re back home and lets just say, he’s feeling sorry for himself.

It showed my the reality and the down-side of racing DH, but it could have been worse, there were more than a couple of people in slings and heading to A&E in the paddock..

As always, the photos don’t do any justice to the terrain lol
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2nc6rBh]2022-04-02_06-13-13[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2nc7Tfk]2022-04-02_06-13-02[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

The FF helmet visor was gorilla taped back together to get him out… although we did have spare helmets with us anyway.

Really hope it hasn’t put him off
I’ve said it before but just take a step back and go and practice on some more suitable trails before entering him above his head.

Even the best Pro’s crash bad sometimes – he’ll go again next time!

Must be good for him to have an old man like you supporting him

Shoulda stayed in the B&B and got pissed instead though 😉

Great effort from him. Glad he is OK.

Really hope it hasn’t put him off
I’ve said it before but just take a step back and go and practice on some more suitable trails before entering him above his head.

Next weekend is 417 and then we’ve got another day with Katy Curd along with a bpw day and a day at Afan. After that, it’s Bringewood with Pearce.

As I said, the number of people who’d crashed was quite high and talking to people who’d ridden it they were saying it’s not normally this slippy. Was it a step too far, half of me says yes, half says no. He got down it 3 times without issue and if luck had been on his side I’m sure he’d have got down more if he hadn’t hurt himself.
But he was quicker than some, slower than others, he just got it wrong, lost the front, it happens.
He’s ridden terrain steeper in recent weeks, even a chunk of Berwyn was more techy than some of Rheola. It happens.

Shoulda stayed in the B&B and got pissed instead though

In honesty it was a bit ropey and I didn’t hugely fancy it lol. But I’d made my decision to bail as soon as he tried to get out of the car.

He’s now hassling me to go again in the morning.
“If you can do 10 press-ups and load your bike onto the rack, sure” was my reply as I walked away laughing.

You may be surprised at what a good night’s sleep will do. 🤔

Hope you have a Full tank of fuel for the early start. 😄

If he’s ready, then I’m up for it. Bike is cleaned, checked and lubed, his kit is ready and helmet 3 is out of the garage.
I’m not saying it’s impossible but it’s unlikely I think

Ah I remember being young and dumb enough to race injured. Definitely have 4 fully functional limbs now – honest 😬

How early a start are you looking at tomorrow? Assuming he wants at least 1 practice run

Genuinely love this thread, @weeksy you are a complete and utter nutcase but in a great way. Definitely see huge amounts of your personality in me and the way I am with my oldest lad 👍💪

Yeah, never miss an episode! 😀

Good luck for the mornin, the Weeksys!

Heal quick mini_weeksy.
I’m with Tracey – a nights sleep and I bet he bounces back…

I dunno, he’s feeling very sorry for himself, even the god of funny things where I use the oven glove thing over my head and pretend I’m a dog didn’t work! That’s never failed before.

He’s having an early night, the kit is ready. He’s got a 6am wake up call planned. It’s going to be a long day, whether we go or not.

Was it a step too far, half of me says yes, half says no. He got down it 3 times without issue and if luck had been on his side I’m sure he’d have got down more if he hadn’t hurt himself.

The thing is he needs to be able to ride this kind of stuff consistently on sight without crashing.
Save the crashes for pushing on for a good result.
It’s so much easier to get a grip of this stuff away from racing.
All that aside hope he feels better in the morning.
Slow down a bit to get there in the long run.
New bike, new environment, no need to rush anything he’s just a young pupp.

It’s so much easier to get a grip of this stuff away from racing.

This is a very well made point. The pressure (even in practice) at races is massive. It’s a very steep learning curve of also trying to learn how to ride those sorts of hills at the same time as learning to race

Sounds like it’s probably too far, but could you just go and watch tomorrow? Spend the day studying how others do it?

could you just go and watch tomorrow? Spend the day studying how others do it?

Great advice that.
Be good for him to watch and take it all in.

It’s 3 hours each way. I think it’d tip him over the edge of we went there just to watch.

I do get the point about playing Vs practice, but time is not always that simple, especially over winter and especially as the places to play are 90mins or more away. The closest of the super tech places for example is Risca, Eben if we went straight from school we couldn’t get there till nearly 5:30. Over winter it’s already dark, even now in the woods it wouldn’t be far off.

After next weekend our schedule calms right down in terms of racing and plenty more fun will be had.

Just to make something clear here, I’m not the one forcing him to race, despite the perception that’s it, he’s the one watching videos, asking to rave and heading out after school to ride.

But there’s limits to what’s possible.

Somehow it seems to be getting ignored that he rode Berwyn for example last weekend, completely blind and finished in an excellent position on a techy track in a bike he’d never ridden. But somehow I’m throwing him in the deep end. Am I really? Any more so than all the other parents? He has to ride places for the first time ever at some stage, otherwise we’d never leave FoD. Or Indeed never have left Swinley.

I honestly don’t think people appreciate how adaptable kids are, or indeed just how quick.

For example, the kid who won his class last weekend would have been 4,th in expert, only 1.2s off the winner of expert. These small guys can ride damn well. Even my lad in his last race would finish top 40% in either 30-39 or the 40-49 class. The game is pretty high and the small kids are pretty skilled. Sure they’re lacking in strength and experience, but they’re getting experience week in week out.

I understand it’s not how some of you would do things, sure. But he’s not your kid and you’re not us. We do our best and apart from the obvious sadness today, he’s exceptionally happy with both his riding and just being a lad.

Many on this forum have met him, many more than once and every single one will tell you how he is as a kid. I may not be making the best racer on the planet, but I’m making a great person.

Don’t overthink it @weeksy – from what I’ve read the theme pretty much seems to be that you’re doing a great job supporting your lad. Keep it up

On another weekend, maybe a dryer one, he’d have been fine.
I grew up in South Wales, raced a dragon track in about 2000/2001 at Rheola, hated it and never went back. I was a pretty good rider back then but sod that for a game of soldiers. I just didn’t enjoy it. I was riding at the time with some ludicrous riders (one came 2nd in the MBUK scholarship) and it was much more a “them” track than a me track.

I hope his shoulder isn’t better tomorrow, he needs the rest – he might not feel it but I’ll do him good. He’ll be back on the horse next week and all will be grand.

I hope his shoulder isn’t better tomorrow, he needs the rest – he might not feel it but I’ll do him good. He’ll be back on the horse next week and all will be grand.

I hope the same matey

Would mud spikes have helped? They’re not a good all rounder but when the conditions are right they can be a game changer.

Hope he heals quickly and is ok to ride by next weekend. Sounds like tomorrow should be a rest day off the bike – if it’s painful enough he couldn’t lift his arm then he’s done himself a bit of a mischief and should just see how it goes the next few days imo.

Shoulders are a complex joint that you don’t want to damage racing injured – I dislocated mine a few times playing as a goalkeeper at hockey and despite an operation to reattach the tissue I ripped off the bone it’s never been the same since.

I’ve no idea how tech Rheola is but everytime I go to Risca I’m amazed I keep finding steeper and tighter corners that I sometimes have to stop and workout how to get round them. I’m not even on the difficult trails either – I think ‘Network R’ (which I haven’t looked at yet) is the really difficult stuff there. Then you’ve got Barry Sidings as well – again I’ve not tried there yet.

Just chalk up this weekend to experience and go onwards and upwards ☝️

417 is jumpy but nothing steep or tech there at all – it’s fun but nowhere near national level DH. If he enjoys it that’s cool as that’s what it’s all about – just it’s not going to help for the tech stuff – but you know that.

When you do the Katy session maybe ask her to go to the techie spots rather than the main DH runs which I expect your boy can do in his sleep? There is plenty of tricky stuff at FOD – it’s just not so sustained over long runs like South Wales.

Time to move to The Valley of the Bike People….

I’ve no idea how tech Rheola is but everytime I go to Risca I’m amazed I keep finding steeper and tighter corners that I sometimes have to stop and workout how to get round them. I’m not even on the difficult trails either – I think ‘Network R’ (which I haven’t looked at yet) is the really difficult stuff there. Then you’ve got Barry Sidings as well – again I’ve not tried there yet.

In terms of difficulty, not that hard, but it’s rough as hell at the top, flat out & if he’s only used to racing ~1min tracks it’s long – probably over 4mins, which would be a massive eye opener.

It’s a great DH track though. The pressure somewhere like that will be significantly more than the other races he’s done – it’s a stressful environment, even for seasoned racers.

Good in some ways to go and see/experience.

The 5am fitness test was failed and after me lying in bed with him for a while I think he’s sleeping again.

Sadly, I’m not as I’ve now got 10,000 things running round my brain lol.

Hey ho. We move on.

If his shoulder isn’t right this morning I would be getting down to A&E for an x-ray, or is it more a sympathy type injury (don’t mean that nastily)

Why was he up at 5am??? Teenagers need to be able to sleep!

I would have offered the option to stay the night, see how you are in the morning and watch. Again not a criticism but in essence the time was written off anyhow so you need to let your lad make the decision. In my ski racing days I would have tried to keep racing or at least want to watch people to see how they did it. By taking him away you have have kind of suggested failure is an option. (Again this is not criticism, and my misunderstanding from your write up)

It will be interesting to see how he reacts to this. In my experience the good racers get straight back up there. They Might been defeated by something but that only makes them want to get back up even more. In some ways that separates the ones that enjoy doing a sport and are good at it to those who want to be the best.

Take the positives he did something different/harder to normal in a race where a pro was riding, and he rode the course at the same time as a pro. Kids mind can be odd at times so will be interesting (injury aside) how he reacts to having been pushed out of his comfort zone

If his shoulder isn’t right this morning I would be getting down to A&E for an x-ray, or is it more a sympathy type injury (don’t mean that nastily)

Why was he up at 5am??? Teenagers need to be able to sleep!

1. Goes without saying that we’ll get it checked out
2. He was up so he could see if he could race. He’s still sleeping now. I expect he’ll sleep till 9 or later.

I don’t think it’ll knock his confidence, although I can see the Assegai coming off as that may play in his mind as something we changed for example. But he’s not lacking in confidence and assuming no ling term effects and he’s racing at 417 next weekend, I think he’ll be laughing and enjoying it again in no time at all.

Interesting take.
Failure is an option, it always is. You can’t always win or always succeed. The kid came across a track that was bigger and harder than he is and it beat him. Happens to the best.

He didn’t fail though did he, didn’t just give up. He’s nackered his body! Kids are stupid, he’s have gone again if Weeksy wasn’t being a good dad and don’t further damage which could potentially have nagged him for a very long time.

I would have offered the option to stay the night, see how you are in the morning and watch. Again not a criticism but in essence the time was written off anyhow so you need to let your lad make the decision. In my ski racing days I would have tried to keep racing or at least want to watch people to see how they did it. By taking him away you have have kind of suggested failure is an option. (Again this is not criticism, and my misunderstanding from your write up)

It will be interesting to see how he reacts to this. In my experience the good racers get straight back up there. They Might been defeated by something but that only makes them want to get back up even more. In some ways that separates the ones that enjoy doing a sport and are good at it to those who want to be the best.

Couple of points on this.
1. According to him when I mentioned it this morning, he’d liked to have stayed and watched
2. Being the best isn’t on the cards and I don’t want it to be at the moment. We see the levels of seriousness in the pit area and it’s a lot for a small kid. There’s enough pressure from just having to get down without adding in the pressure of results too.
I don’t see it as failure, but even if I did, failure is ok. It’s a tough and brutal sport, it’s ok to fall, get up and think “nah, I’m out today”. Out of his 7 riding crew, 4 are out injured currently, it’s a tough game.