Viewing 40 posts - 761 through 800 (of 2,484 total)
  • Weeksy08 the ongoing racing trials and tribulations of a crazy teen
  • weeksy
    Full Member

    The boy’s done well… oh, you mean, it was Dad.. (Yeah, same here!)

    Lol he’s like Kevin the teenager in the morning, a grunt here and there before eating 3/4 of a box of Cheerios. The last thing he’s going to do is anything useful.

    Fortunately, spanner time is my happy place and I’m more than up for a bit of time in the garage.

    Great pic

    Thank you. I wish I could take credit for his skills

    weeksy
    Full Member

    SRAM CodeRs now installed on the Blue GT Fury… leaving the Guide Rs on the purple one.

    I think we’re good for the weekend.

    razorrazoo
    Full Member

    You’ll want to be swapping those brakes round asap.  As soon as you get on any sort of long track with heavy braking the Codes will be a much better bet than the Guides.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
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    weeksy
    Full Member

    I’m afraid the lad disagrees mate and I can’t argue as he’s night and day better than me. Why he loves them so much I don’t know. I’ll try and get him on the codes but I know where his heart lies. I could have easily stuck the Codes on the purple one, but his thoughts matter and I’m not going to force him.
    On the weekend if conditions allow for the Assegai and DHR I’ll throw him on the blue one for a lap, but I still think he’ll pick the Guides.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    As part of the ongoing coaching we’ve got a day booked late in Oct with Katy at FoD but i’ve been messaging a few recommendations from this thread, Jay Williamson for one and Dan Slack at Dyfi Bike Park for another. Not got any actual dates sorted yet as we’re just picking up the email threads again after his broken arm delay.

    But should be good to get him back out in the fairly near future and try a new coach for at least a day.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Here’s the changes made

    2022-09-29_11-08-25

    There’s a load of other info but that’s the basics. It was interesting that the boy didn’t like it balanced, he’s not the first and a few high level riders amongst them. But when they tried it that was the lad didn’t approve, so they went back to the previous setting from the run before.

    ayjaydoubleyou
    Full Member

    I’m afraid the lad disagrees mate and I can’t argue as he’s night and day better than me. Why he loves them so much I don’t know.

    an anecdote from my own experience, having two bikes, one with hope X2 on 180/160 rotors, the other with E4 on 200/200.
    The X2s feel initially nicer. Better modulation and lever feel (the physical levers are the same). However, prolonged descneding, the E4s are far superior.
    This is me at mid 80’s kg, and being a bit of a mincer; so may be entirely different for a 50kg rider who doesnt brake much, especially on sub 2 minute southern tracks.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    I hear you completely matey and if he starts questioning them then without doubt he’ll get them swapped, Pearce this weekend will be longer and tougher, so may answer that by itself. But at the moment, he’s very happy.

    As you say, he’s very light and he brakes surprisingly little at times lol. But that may all change on harder terrain

    I try my best not to push or force him into changes/things and only really get involved when needed.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    The boy got 9 practice runs in today and felt great by the end. Some of the gaps are quite big, they don’t need to be gapped of course but it’s faster.

    Spent half an hour fitting a spare brake to random kids bike as he’d broken his, lucky we had spares. I then spent more time fixing and bleeding his other lol.

    Couple of videos

    desperatebicycle
    Free Member

    Exciting! Just looking at the competitor list – he’s racing against Oliver Pearce of Pearce Cycles.. gotta beat him!
    Good luck to young James 😀

    razorrazoo
    Full Member

    Spent half an hour fitting a spare brake to random kids bike as he’d broken his, lucky we had spares. I then spent more time fixing and bleeding his other lol.

    Not sure I trust you with brakes Weeksy, when cleaning up the cube for sale I noticed the rear brake had a gear cable 🤫

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Lol not sure I’m guilty mate, we only owned it 3 months.

    These Codes I fitted to the blue one need new pads or a new rotor, they’re not terribly good at the moment.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Exciting! Just looking at the competitor list

    Don’t look a bit older, Jordan the junior world champ is racing lol

    weeksy
    Full Member

    26th/42 place on run1. Made a few mistakes so not ecstatic with it, but that’s where we are

    Let’s see if he can improve on run2.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Race run 2 he took 2.5s off his time, but only picked up a couple of places.

    I think he’s a little disappointed in the result as the guy who finished 4th last weekend to his 3rd, actually finished top 5 again this weekend. So my lad has the pace in some ways, but clearly not in others. So we need some thinking on what, where and how.
    Obviously being a longer course and more tech and rooty than last weekend with his recent broken arm won’t help, but not by that much.

    So we go race again next weekend after Friday at Rogate playing and we see what happens.
    All in all, I thought it was a great weekend, he’s slightly less convinced lol

    joebristol
    Full Member

    He’s still coming back from injury so I wouldn’t worry too much – although obviously he’s a bit annoyed. Last week was a flow and roller trail which I get the impression is his happy place. Maybe the other lad is just better at tech and / or fitter with no injury so could go harder all the way down on the longer track.

    mashr
    Full Member

    So we need some thinking on what, where and how.

    All as discussed before really. More riding at the sort of venues he’ll be racing at. Accept that you will be spending lots of days sitting at the bottom if these aren’t places you like. Stop racing at 417 as it could (as seen today) end up being a right mind ****

    weeksy
    Full Member

    All as discussed before really. More riding at the sort of venues he’ll be racing at. Accept that you will be spending lots of days sitting at the bottom if these aren’t places you like

    We are doing that yeah, like today, next weekend is Stile Cop and the weekend after is a non marked trail FoD.
    The difficulty with things like Hopton is the availability of it. So we’ll see what we can book/do next.

    Part of the reason for the G180 for myself is to enable me to do places like Hopton. Sure the Trek can do it, but with me onboard I’ll get more chances.

    Coming into winter now means dates and places to race are less and less. The thing is, it’s hard to replicate some of them. So FoD isn’t like them, neither is BPW or Cwmcarn, so what to ride to try and help him, that’s where it gets tough.
    I know you guys say things like Risca, but Risca is nothing like say Hopton.

    So it’s all a little in the air. But at the end of the day, he’s smiling so I’m happy.

    The level at races though is insane, they’re just so so good.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Btw, I’m not trying to make excuses for me it him, the guy gave him a beating, we accept that. As did quite a few others

    razorrazoo
    Full Member

    The level at races though is insane, they’re just so so good.

    You only need to watch some of the young riders at any decent uplift venue or out in the Alps in summer to realise that there are so many absolute pinners, and to do consistently well at racing you need to be able to hit gnarly tracks at warp speed.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    The 17-18 class as you’d expect was won by Jordan Williams, but only by 5s. Which puts a little in perspective how fast some youngsters are.

    It’s fab to just stand and watch in honesty, seeing so many people sending gaps, getting faster, hitting drops, it’s ace to watch.

    HobNob
    Free Member

    Coming into winter now means dates and places to race are less and less. The thing is, it’s hard to replicate some of them. So FoD isn’t like them, neither is BPW or Cwmcarn, so what to ride to try and help him, that’s where it gets tough.
    I know you guys say things like Risca, but Risca is nothing like say Hopton.

    You don’t need to replicate them top to bottom, you just need to ride some places where it’s more challenging. And attempting to say this without sounding like an ar*e, you are trying to compare Hopton, which is a pretty easy venue for DH racing vs some steep off piste Welsh valley stuff you’ve never ridden.

    There is stuff all round the valley of Cwmcarn which makes Hopton look like a blue trail centre. Hell, there is plenty of hidden stuff in the FoD (I’m not talking over the road from the trail centre, my first off piste day stuff) which is considerably harder.

    But, he’s got two(!) DH bikes now & no means of actually riding a bike to these places & trails, which despite what 95% of people who race DH do, in riding a trail bike 90% of the time, he now can’t do, which is where he will actually get quicker at riding a bike.

    This post feels like a copy & paste of every page on this thread, from some people who have spent a long time racing (and going quite fast on bikes), but it seems to fall on deaf ears.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    No it doesn’t fall on deaf ears. Tell you what, I won’t bother writing again.

    mashr
    Full Member

    weeksy
    Full Member
    The 17-18 class as you’d expect was won by Jordan Williams, but only by 5s. Which puts a little in perspective how fast some youngsters are.

    Now consider that he was probably cruising, certainly compared to any WC or Champs run

    desperatebicycle
    Free Member

    Unlucky to lil Weeksy, if he ain’t happy with his results. From what I’ve seen, he’s only just getting started out in these types of races?? can’t expect to be winning* them already can he? it’s all about the experience.

    *yes, I know that’s not the expectation!

    weeksy
    Full Member

    No, he finished roughly where we expected to finish, but like all racers, he goes into a race with just a thought of “maybe if…..”

    He’s now got over it now and is back to his happy self.

    I think in honesty this is where the thread ends. Any thoughts either get taken incorrectly or are met with derision. So I’ll walk away from this thread and we’ll just do what we do.

    Apologies to the people who enjoyed the thread but I’m done.

    Tracey
    Full Member

    No need to apologise. Sounds like he’s had a good weekend and enjoyed it. At the end of the day that’s all that matters 👍

    thegeneralist
    Free Member

    Tell you what, I won’t bother writing again.

    Balls to that. Please keep writing about the racing. I love reading it. If other people think you should take him on steeper stuff then that’s fine. You may agree or disagree, but please keep posting as I love your openness and insight.

    Don’t forget, it’s a discussion forum. They have their views, which is fine as long as they’re polite.
    Please keep posting.

    ayjaydoubleyou
    Full Member

    I’d love if this thread kept going – while I’ll happily park myself on the sofa in front of a WC DH, that is where my knowledge began and ended with DH.
    So to see UK/grassroots downhilling through the eyes of the aspiring racer starting from the bottom/junior categories (or rather from his mechanic/manager/father) is interesting.

    But there is a certain amount of interaction you are opening yourself up for when posting it on a popular biking forum thread. It might be hard to see from your perspective as the subject of the thread, but we don’t just disagree with you (sometimes) we disagree with each other too.
    Just in the last two pages, there were about ten differing opinions on brakes for example.

    joebristol
    Full Member

    On the Risca thing you could uplift there to get access to some of the steep off piste stuff on the DH bike. You just won’t make very uplift / have to be creative how you put the trails together.

    Stuff like Conda is good practice as it has steep bits and loads of roots in places. Busy Lizzie less useful probably. Mayhem is blown out and steep / loose in places.

    Wacko is fast with drops and braking bumps but no roots really.

    Deaf and Dumb feels pretty tricky in places to me – Jonduro not so much.

    Network R is a step up again but that’s too far round for the uplift I’d say – you’ll end up missing at least 2 and having a pedal round and back.

    At FOD there is difficult stuff further away from the trail centre – although none of it is as sustained as South Wales as the hill is smaller. You could still session stuff for practice of rooty / steep / rocky sections though. Just quite a lot might be pushing up on a DH bike as you haven’t got the range or pedal platform to make it up.

    I’d imagine Barry Sidings and Smilog have some very steep rooty / tech stuff – but not been to either of those yet.

    thegeneralist
    Free Member

    It’s worth adding that what you’re doing posting so frequently, openly and frankly about y’alls journey is very brave.

    I don’t think there is anyone else on here doing similar, so props to you.

    It’s inevitable that some of the replies will feel a bit injurious. I don’t think they’re [mainly] intended like that, but it’s natural that you would feel got at sometimes as you are posting about something so precious.

    Try not to take it too ernst..

    And keep posting

    weeksy
    Full Member

    I understand, well I try and understand. Honestly I really do.

    But what some of the posters forget is that I know my lad, how his mind works, how he ticks, what drives him and what doesn’t.
    The only people who get to see his reaction day to day on this is me.
    A couple of mates are heading to Antur Stiniog in a few weeks and invited us, me and him watched 3-4 videos on it and thought “looks rubbish” and said no. Now we may well be wrong, but we’re ok with that, it’s what we both thought.

    When things like Risca are mentioned, I could suggest to my lad we ride there and be met with “so it’s steep up, then horrible descents”, to which I’d struggle to argue. Now I can completely see why some may think that would help him, of course, but he’s still a teenager and they’re still tricky to get to do things. Even if he had a 3rd bike, I’m not sure I’d be persuading him.
    But offer him a race there, or indeed anywhere and he’ll jump at it. Straight in, no debate, yes.

    Is that the best way to progress, maybe not. I’m not that daft that I can’t see words written. But different people want and need different things. Sure I can guide him, mould him, but I can’t drag him kicking and screaming. Kids have to want to do things, especially when it’s dangerous too. If I push him when pushing isn’t right, that’ll be worse all round.

    If the consequence of that is that at Pearce he gets 25th instead of 15th that an alternate reality him would get, then so be it. Because the bond we have from this stuff is more than just results, more than just numbers. I see so many kids his age who lock themselves in their rooms and play video games all day. Me and him are out playing.

    Last night in the pub I went to the bar and the barmaid says “he’s a wonderfully polite and attentive young man”, we’d stood for 10 minutes earlier and chatted to her, the lad had been to the bar a few times for water and waited politely and obviously asked in the right way. This is what I’m building, not just a racing machine, but a human.

    Sure I may be making a mediocre racer, but I’m exceptionally proud of the person.

    (And the racer, he’s a bloody joy to watch ride, but I’m very biased on that )

    joebristol
    Full Member

    At Risca if you use the uplift it’s not steep up for him as it drops you right at the top. You can mix off piste with the DH track too – you can get in about 10 uplifts if you make each one.

    The DH track would be up his street / it’s fast with some jumps and drops and berms etc. But a step up from 417 and it beats you up the faster you go I’d say. The off piste isn’t horrible – if it was I wouldn’t ride it. I’d think he’d love Wacko – and Conda / deaf and dumb really would give him something to think about and help with the trickier tracks.

    julians
    Free Member

    A couple of mates are heading to Antur Stiniog in a few weeks and invited us, me and him watched 3-4 videos on it and thought “looks rubbish” and said no

    I’d be interested in what makes you both think antur looks rubbish, genuinely interested….

    dc1988
    Full Member

    My only advice would be to not watch a YouTube video before deciding to go to a new riding spot, they never do somewhere justice and trying something new is always worthwhile even if you end up deciding you wouldn’t want to go back.

    I hope you keep updating the thread, it’s always an interesting read. There’s never going to be a right answer for everything but as long as you’re having fun and learning then it’s all good.

    joebristol
    Full Member

    Antur is alright- lots of stuff that’s fun but prob not that useful for your racing. But the lower black section in the trees is tricky – especially if wet – and there’s a massive drop feature near the bottom that I’ve only ever see one person send.

    I think there are some bits at the top of the black that are good too.

    But it’s a very long way for you to go for a day. Maybe as a long weekend with Revs or Dyfi on another day perhaps?

    mashr
    Full Member

    My only advice would be to not watch a YouTube video before deciding to go to a new riding spot, they never do somewhere justice and trying something new is always worthwhile even if you end up deciding you wouldn’t want to go back

    Would very much agree with this. I reckon he’d have plenty of fun* on the harder Antur trails. Weather can also play an interesting factor there, very exposed

    *as in, he’d be able to push himself

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Antur.

    Watching this and others..

    straight > berm turn > straight > berm turn > pretend rocky bit > berm turn … The reds and blues followed this format.

    The Blacks we watched were the same but with a few more rocks thrown in… I and he couldn’t see any appeal to it. Esepcially from a racing context as none of the tracks have anything in common with this type of riding at all.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    SO it looks like this weekends race is this course. Ridge Run at Stile Cop. At first i thought that was just the name of the event, but it seems that’s the actual trail. Looking at it, it’s obviously closer to a blue than a black… with just a few tech jumps thrown in for good measure, so it’ll be all about carrying speed.

    We had planned on just going up for the Sunday… but may now go up on Sat too and get a few runs in to check it out etc… It’s a bit of a drive for a double… so we may look into staying over.

    If anyone fancies a few runs on it on Sat, you’d be more than welcome to come and join us.

    mashr
    Full Member

    The Blacks we watched were the same but with a few more rocks thrown in… I and he couldn’t see any appeal to it. Esepcially from a racing context as none of the tracks have anything in common with this type of riding at all.

    SO it looks like this weekends race is this course. Ridge Run at Stile Cop. At first i thought that was just the name of the event, but it seems that’s the actual trail. Looking at it, it’s obviously closer to a blue

    I’m confused

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