Definitely not a failure. Shit happens in DH. Unfortunately it sounds like shit was happening every run, which is going to take its toll eventually. Shame there was then the issue with the B&B, but no point dwelling on that

When you do uplift days at bigger hills (so not FoD or 417) is he smashing out full (ie non-stop) runs? Riding like that isn’t as much fun (by miles, it’ll definitely feel like training) but would be very good to condition him for full-length tracks if he’s not used to it

When you do uplift days at bigger hills (so not FoD or 417) is he smashing out full (ie non-stop) runs? Riding like that isn’t as much fun (by miles, it’ll definitely feel like training) but would be very good to condition him for full-length tracks if he’s not used to it

The only place for that really is BPW and we vary through the day, sometimes going top to bottom, sometimes stopping, there’s not really a pattern.

I don’t think fatigue during the run was an issue as he’d stopped 4-5 times on each run to check features and lines. He wasn’t coming down particularly tired each time as it was more learning than pinning.

bit like head injuries in rugby and football, weeksy’s done the right thing by making the decision for him IMHO. Whether teenage enthusiasm, or even (still, I know weeksy refutes this) not wanting to let Dad down for the money he’s spent on travel and entry and B&B or whatever, sometimes the kids needs protecting from themselves

One of the most likely causes of a bad injury would be being unable to perform effectively because of not being fit to start with, and it’s not a sport or track by the sound of it where not having absolute and total control of the front end of the bike is likely to end well.

Also as per kryton’s thread…. he’s not paid to do this, he’s got to go to school tomorrow* which is where he’ll make his living in the end. This is supposed to be fun.

* except may be easter hols

or even (still, I know weeksy refutes this) not wanting to let Dad down for the money he’s spent on travel and entry and B&B or whatever,

Without getting too picky, that’s not exactly what I’ve said before or we’ve discussed before, but I can 100% see what you’re saying.

That exact discussion came up yesterday “but it’s a waste going home as we’ve spent all this money” did come up.

My reply I’m not sure I want to type as it’ll come over all pretentious, but that was more to make him feel better than for me to brag. But he’s happy I’m not going bankrupt because of yesterday lol.

The good news is, apart from the injury, he’s chirpy and happy this morning. So I’m leaving him with his mum and YouTube and heading out cycling shortly.

Well done to the both of you for not trying to force it through an injury.
I would have stayed the night and watched the race though.

If fatigue might have been part of it you could do worse than an uplift day at Cwmcarn. Not the most difficult track in the world but it is quite long and at speed it is hard work as it’s rough in places and has a lot of hard compressions when you’re going fast.

I’m not sure if they still run the uplift to opposite sides so you get Y Mynnyd and Pedalhounds in the day or not – if they do that gives you 2 different types of trail. At a push you could also ride some Risca stuff and ride back round on the road to the uplift although I think that’s about a 15 min pedal. Just from a. Father / son riding together basis you’d also be absolutely fine on all the downhill stuff – nothing you can’t ride on it.

Also I wouldn’t remove the Assegai straight away – it sounds like it was track difficulty / length not the tyre. The Assegai is very good as long as it’s not a really sopping wet sloppy track. It’ll be better then the Shorty at 417 next weekend as that track is basically a fully surfaced pump track down the hill.

Just be careful that by you signalling to go home, that in his eyes he could see that he has failed you

Great to see though that he wanted to stay and watch, shows that he wants to fight for it

One thing that was noticed on Sat at Rheloa was how tough the place was on hardware. So much so that i’ve just ordered a 2nd set of wheels for the DH bike.

There were many many people even just after practice with pranged rims, rims that needed fixing with a hammer etc…. So thought i better get a set ordered.

The boy is dreading next weekend now as i’m not convinced he’ll make 417 race…. but that’ll mean he’s my pit-crew for the weekend instead lol.

Clearly this was a tough one foe the small lads… his had 11 in for practice, but only 8 started Sunday…. out of them 2 DNF’d. The lad in last is my lads mate (sorta) and obviously found it tough and must have crashed on race 1 as well.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2ncpR2S]rheloa[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Looking at the variety of times it looks like the top couple of riders were quite a long way out in front of the others. Could be a combo of technical ability / fitness / strength etc / plus being used to that sort of track. The top lad in particular was pretty consistent run 1 to run 2. Although everyone found a good chunk of time in run 2 vs run 1.

Hope the shoulder injury clears up ASAP – did you go to get the lad checked out or is it just bruising / muscle strain etc?

You’ll likely see that in all categories tbh. Dropouts as the weekend goes on are common. Can be crashes, broken bikes or people just going “**** that” and calling it a day

The top lad in particular was pretty consistent run 1 to run 2.

The top lads are incredible…. the kid in 2nd hardly ever loses a race, the winner has won a gazillion BMX races in the last few years and has won national championships and raced at World level…. there’s a bucket of talent out there.

An interesting one for me and the lad was seeing how another kid Billy Pugh has done this year and the answer is, not as well. In the last 18 months he won a tonne of races, but this year he’s had to move up an age group and is now playing against bigger stronger kids and has clearly found it a bit harder in the big boys Cat.

Not that i’m looking to blame any of that for the weekends result etc. But me and the lad have moved on from that and are just seeing how the week progresses.

The top lads are incredible…. the kid in 2nd hardly ever loses a race, the winner has won a gazillion BMX races in the last few years and has won national championships and raced at World level…. there’s a bucket of talent out there.

The kid who won that age group (on a trail bike no less) is a bit of a force on two wheels.

The top 5% in pretty much any category are fast as hell, then you get the outliers who put a decent chunk of time into them & you have to ask the question of how did that happen!

The really scary part is when those guys get given a GB jersey to go race a World Cup & they don’t even qualify. It’s like a different sport.

LOL absolutely H-N yes… it’s remarkable the levels…. We came to terms with that a while ago and whilst we’ll still pick up races, the fun factor is as important as anything else to both me and him. It’s also why we’re trying to race different courses this year, Berwyn, Caresws, Rheola, Bringewood, etc…. just weekends away, being boys, drinking beers and eatping hot-x buns 😀

Race day Sunday…. 417 Flyup. It’s a cracking little fun race, not too far away and well run, both of us really enjoy it there as it’s the right type of atmosphere too 🙂

He’s not been on his bike since crashing, although we may get 10 mins tomorrow just to check it over, i’ve had it all checked on the stand and it’s running nicely.

I’ll be racing at the back of the old mans field and curious to see if i go faster or slower on the Trek than on the G170.

Has your lad recovered enough to ride this weekend?

If the race is on that easy flow blue you should be faster on the Trek – there’s literally nothing tech on there at all – it’s basically a pump track down the hill from memory. Shorter travel / lighter and more nimble should work well on that 💪

My best time on both the blues at Flyup are riding a Vitus Sentier hardtail with a 140mm Pike on it.

Has your lad recovered enough to ride this weekend?

Aye, he’s all good. MAnaged a few press-ups this morning which excited him. Still not 100%, but good enough to give it a decent run.

Yeah the course is simple basic blue fun…. But my speed is likely dictated as much by me as the bike, but if i can pick up a couple of seconds compared to other times i’ve raced there, i’ll take it. But it’s just about having fun for me and being there with my lad while he races as much as it’s about the racing… Just this way i get to join in with the banter with him.

Sounds good – it’s a nice easy track for him to work back into the bike on without any technical features 👌

@weeksy
you guys around next thursday at all? I might be heading to Rogate… You and the lad fancy it?

DrP

Hi Doc.

We’re at Katy on Wed I think and I’ve not booked day off. We’re free all weekend if that changes anything?

Yesterday i went out with my lad and his buddies. He was testing the Whyte T-130.

The conclusion was “i don’t like it at all”

So we swapped the stem, we swapped the bars, we moved the seat, we changed the suspension. The conclusion was “well I don’t completely hate it… but I really don’t like it”

I then got him to try my Trek Fuel, his mates new Trek Remedy and his other mates Specialzed FSR Stumpjumper. The only one he actually liked was the Stumpy, but that was a small and obviously too small for him.

So i had a bit of a chat with a guy on Ebay/Pinkbike, well technically 3-4 different guys and different bikes.

After some discussions at 417 Flyup today with 2 guys who owned 2 of the possibles from PB/Ebay, we ended up with a bit of a wild-card turning up at 417 while we were racing. The lad took it down Cheeseroller (a trail at 417) and really liked it. I was up at the top at the time waiting for my race, but when i got down i chatted to him and the guy and we made some suspension changes and sent him down again on it….
Once again he was happy.

So i gave him the option between this one and a 2017 Specialized Enduro, he picked this.

So after a discussion on the price, the guy took £200 less than i hoped to pay…. and i put it in the car.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2ndD2ne]2022-04-10_06-42-02[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

It’s a 2017 Santa Cruz Bronson CC.

Lets just say he’s a very happy lad…. along with being a very lucky lad.

I now have a cheap Whyte T-130 to sell though.

I’m confused. I thought you went to go cycling… 😉

Nice, but can you get parts for that fork? BOS we’re a nightmare at the best of times, don’t think there’s any U.K. support now?

Maybe you could whip the fork off the t130 and stick it on the Bronson and let the BOS go on the T130?

So I ended up last. Poop.

But I went 8s quicker than last time! I’ll take that all day

The boy went 1.5s quicker on race 2 but still ended 11th.

Nice, but can you get parts for that fork? BOS we’re a nightmare at the best of times, don’t think there’s any U.K. support now?

Honestly no idea. But if there’s a major issue I’ll just lob on a new set of forks.

Ignore the haters, BOS are fantastic forks and can be serviced easily at home as they’re open bath (they also use the same seals as Fox 34’s). Plush also service them if you can’t do it yourself.

Great info buddy, thank you.

He’s been out playing on the new thing even though he’s tired. He’s got a few nit picking on shifting, but nothing major.

Ignore the haters, BOS are fantastic forks and can be serviced easily at home as they’re open bath

“Haters”? It’s a suspension company man, have a word with yourself.

Genuinely interesting, and good, that Plush will still support

BOS Devile’s we’re the best feeling fork I’ve ever used (on the wife’s 2016 Capra), better than anything I’ve tried since. But they were very fussy to stay spot on (as was the shock) and BOS were a nightmare to get any help from, both info and spares.

Their performance was awesome though.

Interesting as I never found mine to be fussy at all, I liked that they always had a good ramp up and support.

Worth noting that because they’re open bath they may need a few bounces to work properly if the bike has been on its back wheel to get the oil back through the damping circuits

Yesterdays racing for the lad was good… Started off hairily as i followed (or tried to) him down on practice 1 and about 1/4 of the way down he was lying on the floor in front of me. lol. Ooops.

The track was very loose on the bottom of the berms and he went in too hard i guess. We’d changed the pressures in the front and added 2psi in both that and the rear before the practice compared to his usual pressures… but he then decided it was either the Assegai (again) or the pressures, so went back to the usual 18F 20R.
It was interesting to see how he’d go on the DH bike on the Blue at 417 and after 3-4 more practice runs we sat round and waited for run 1.

He came down and looked good, wasn’t covered in dirt so i know it’d gone well enough. He managed a 1.46.4 which is pretty much his fastest time down the track in races, but only by 2/10ths. He was happy though and it gave him an 11th place. The leaders was a smidgen under 1.40 which is damn fast, but up to 3rd was only a 1.43 so he was right in the mix as usual.
Race 2 he felt he had more to give and ended up with a 1.45.2 but that still only kept him in 11th place out of 33 finishers…

He came home happy and smiling, tired and snorey 🙂

Love these instalments…keep it up Team Weeks 😀

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2ndxNa5]2022-04-10_10-32-27[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Love these instalments…keep it up Team Weeks

Racing gets a little quite now for a week or two…

We’ve got Easter holidays so he’s out most days, then Weds is FoD coaching with Katy and then we’ll have most of Easter weekend doing just generic stuff, then next week is Afan and BPW, then as long as they go well, we’re racing at Bringewood on the 23rd with Pearce Cycles, obviously that’ll be back on the GT Fury for race day, but i guess the good thing is that we can now take the Bronson as the emergency spare “i’ve broken my bike and we can’t fix it right away” type scenario.

The Bronson has been setup this morning with his Specialized Saddle and a bottle cage for his local days out, then a bit of tweaking on the gearing, but the XT rear mech has the clutch style and the clutch is VERY hard, you can barely move the rear mech with it ‘on’ and it seems to miss the odd shift, i think it’s too stiff even compared to what i’d expect with a clutch.
So we may whip that off in the coming days and go for SRAM GX/NX, whatever we find on Ebay with 11sp.
I’m WFH all week (apart from FoD weds) but he’s off out all day on it now 🙂

but the XT rear mech has the clutch style and the clutch is VERY hard

you can adjust the clutch tension on the shimano mech – have a look at the shimano online manuals

The clutch on the XT can be adjusted and serviced, there is a runner port cover and a smallish hex key will let you reduce the tension.

Clutch is easy to take apart and clean too

Ace, that may help then… I knew some of them were adjustable but didn’t know if this was.

I think he’d still prefer SRAM to keep it the same as the DH, so if anyone is considering a need for an XT 11sp shifter and mech and has a GX11 then please message me and we’ll sort out an exchange.