Weeksy08 the ongoing racing trials and tribulations of a crazy teen

Well done James and many DCOP (Doing Child Ownership Properly) points Steve.

James has certainly come on a lot in the last couple of years, we were around equal the last race I did at FOD, I don’t think I’d see what way he went now, keep it up.

I really enjoy following this thread and reading the progress updates.

Well done on both of you for the achievements in 2024, here’s to an even better 2025!

Well for a number of reasons, the Canyon that came in is going straight back out. Long story…but doesn’t matter  🙂

fuelex8xt_23_36348_a_primary by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bikes/mountain-bikes/trail-mountain-bikes/fuel-ex/fuel-ex-8-gen-6/p/36348/

Just ordered up one of these… It made sense to go a little heavier but have more bounce, better bounce and a little stronger in terms of frame etc.

It’s a 64.5deg head angle and he’s gone for ML rather than L due to the extended reach on the Gen6, this one is 470mm reach which is the same as a Gen5 Large and 470 is about industry standard in Large.

He’s been riding my 2020 Fuel lately and absolutley loving it, but we couldn’t get a Gen5 with the right spec/price/availability, we tried 4 different Ebay bikes but only one person replied, despite me messaging them on Fri/Sat… Slightly bizarre if you ask me, but hey ho.

So just waiting for the shop to build and then we’re collecting it.

None of it really matters, but it’s all interesting to read!

but it’s all interesting to read!

Thank you… there’s still a tonne of intersting things going on in the background but as always, some of it we can’t get into. But there’s a few things happening that’ll keep 2025 interesting for us both.

We’ve been eyeing up a bit of IXS racing, there’s a back to back weekender at Willingen and Winterberg which as it crosses half-term may be an option. But there’s a chance we’ll just end up at Bellwald as an end-of-season bash again as he had with his mate this year.

We’re both looking forward to the new Trek coming in and apart from the brakes being swapped for something he wants, it’ll be used as stock.

What was the story with the Canyon?

Nothing too deep matey, it all stemmed from some discussions with a few people and came up as a deal we couldn’t resist… but then decisions changed for him and he’s racing the Session.

The Canyon does look like a lovely bike – if I were in the market for a DH bike, it would definitely be in the list.

stealth ad.

It’s on Ebay…. i’d take £2700. It’s basically brand new 🙂

So was the canyon to replace the session or compliment it?

Where does the trek fit in, where the old (assume too small judging by the fast our lads grow) privateer was for trail fun?

1. Canyon was going to replace it, but sizing didn’t work out

2. Correct, the Privateer is too small for him, so has gone back to where it came from. Shame though as he had some epic days on it and in 2 years we changed 1 bearing and it’s still immaculate. Trek will be his day to day riding bike.

The privateers are great bikes

Absolutely, the 141 was a cracking thing, it’s been to Dyfi, bpw, Morzine, hit road gaps, raced enduros and DHs and never missed a beat. The only reason I’ve not kept it is because it’s a bit slack and heavy for my riding, otherwise he’d have had my Fuel and I’d have kept that. Certain tracks he was only 1/10th slower on it than his Session.

But it’s always nice to get a new bike and he loves Trek (as do I), as well as that it matches his teammates Fuel and the have matching Sessions lol, mostly through coincidence than planning.

The new ‘Continental Series’ has now been announced. This is what the UCI are considering to be the Gateway into World Cups.

There’s 2 events in Europe in the DHI cat
Portugal – Santiago de Besteiros – 4th April to 6th April. (This is also an IXS round)
France – Les Menuires – 22nd to 24th August.

If i’m being completely honest, i’m not seeing year 1 of Junior as being a realistic option for him as he needs to find speed, experience and knowledge before being ready to even think about WCs.  It’s more likely that an IXS round and the European Champs round would be more of an option. It’s great having ‘dreams’ and goals to hit, but i don’t want to wipe out the fun factor by having him drag his bike down in 50th+ place every weekend. You’ve got to take the smaller stuff and get faster before thinking bigger IMO.

There’s an IXS in Fort William (along with a National and the National Champs) which could be a good option for him.

But that’s the information as we have it 🙂

I have this image of Weeksy’s garage wall akin to a Police incident room, with calendars, photos of bikes and a map of Europe all dotted with pins with strands of thread between them.

Lol you wouldn’t be a million miles off in some ways.

I’ve been looking into time and cost to drive to Portugal, ferry to Portugal and how we can integrate a family trip with Les Menuires. Along with 3 trips to Fort William and everything else we’ve got going on.

If I actually sat back and looked at all of this from the outside I’d probably put me in a straight jacket.

But when you’re doing it, it sort of makes sense. The reward and feeling when at Rhyd Y Felin for example and he snapped his cranks, to then finish the weekend inside the Top10 at National just seems to make all these things seem worthwhile and actually make sense.

I can completely see why others would see it differently

I’m patiently waiting to see which other continental series races are confirmed before we commit ourselves. Portugal falls on the same weekend as Lourdes (albeit regional DH cup) which is awkward.

Fwiw, if I were to pick one French race in ’25 it would be Les Orres. The track is streets ahead of Menuires in every aspect, but I guess if that fits into your summer holiday dates it’s fully understandable.

Interesting updates Weeksy, and fair play for actually posting on here as its a pretty quiet place when you aren’t around!

On this:

It’s great having ‘dreams’ and goals to hit, but i don’t want to wipe out the fun factor by having him drag his bike down in 50th+ place every weekend. You’ve got to take the smaller stuff and get faster before thinking bigger IMO.

…I’ve only entered a few races for a bit of fun, so will be the first to say that I don’t know what I’m talking about, but would he not benefit more from a tougher challenge (and ignoring the result, which I know is hard) vs. simpler races he knows he is competitive on? Just a thought. I know you don’t want to knock his confidence but not sure if there is a half way house, but maybe that is exactly what the IXS series you mention will do.

I always found this time of year exciting planning everything with Abigale. Getting the entry’s in and then planning all the logistics by the end of January. I like to think we were well organised. The only variable were injuries which over all I think we were lucky with.

If you get the chance then Les Orres is well worth the visit. It was on our plans for last year on the way back from Italy but the weather wasn’t in our favour and unfortunately it doesn’t fit in next years plans

but would he not benefit more from a tougher challenge (and ignoring the result, which I know is hard) vs. simpler races he knows he is competitive on?

Yeah deffo, which is why we’ve done both in 2024, with Champery and Bellwald. But there’s only so much we can realistically do in terms of school, finances and family. The bigger events span Thurs to Mon in terms of logistics which makes it tougher.

He’d race 7 days a week in world cup tracks if he could. Lol. But that’s not really viable.

The IXS series is indeed that slot between WC and UK races, it fits perfectly in every sense but not in terms of finance. Every time you leave the UK due to train/fuel it’s £1000+  even if sleeping in the van.

We do this out of our own pocket and whilst we get a tonne of help from sponsors which is amazing, it’s still £1000 out of my account to head to Germany, Switzerland etc.

@ocrider

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As far as I can see, that’s it for DHI mate.

They announced 5 DH races for Europe just the other day, one at a shared venue (Les Menuires) so there are three races yet to be confirmed. At least that’s how I’ve decrypted their posts, I’m going to stay optimistic for now.

https://www.uci.org/pressrelease/continental-series-make-their-debut-in-the-2025-uci-mountain-bike/44OtZoMI3OloLG4Yz3f32e

nine events in Europe (four Olympic cross-country, four downhill, and one combining both formats)

I’m glad to see that there continental series Iin Europe America and Oceania announced with the changes to WC at least it’s encouraging to see that mid tier starting

It’s this what he’s aiming for?

Tricky to say currently, as above. It’s all up in the air for a while.

We’ll deffo be doing Fort William IXS and likely either Les Orres or Bellwald.

The rest are too damn far away to be viable.

weeksy
The new ‘Continental Series’ has now been announced. This is what the UCI are considering to be the Gateway into World Cups.

There’s 2 events in Europe in the DHI cat
Portugal – Santiago de Besteiros – 4th April to 6th April. (This is also an IXS round)
France – Les Menuires – 22nd to 24th August.

So 2 events – at either end of the season. Is that it or “so far”?  Not much of a “series” is it?

I’d argue it’s not a series anyway as all they’re doing is adding a UCI tag/rank onto an event already created by someone else.

It’s like picking a Premiership match next week and saying “that’s a new UK superleague event”

No it’s just an already scheduled event you’ve just given ranking points to.

Interesting that Fort William doesn’t for part of the schedule for the ‘European’ continental series.

Perhaps they’ll get their act together for ’26…

I’d argue it’s not a series anyway as all they’re doing is adding a UCI tag/rank onto an event already created by someone else.

That’s all I ever expected it to be certainly for 2025. If the organisers of the events are happy to run them as uci ranking events, presumably hoping that will attract more and a higher ranked riders, then why not. I never expected another whole series f events to be created from nothing

Me too. But time will tell if that’s good or bad. If it ends up being just 2 races tagged as UCI points and then the claim glory for creating a continental series that will be somewhat laughable.

Fwiw I don’t think they need to create a new series as such, but if you want to do it, so it properly.

So an IXS, UK, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Portugal etc. Give all a decent chance.

What they’ve got above is just a half arsed approach. I hope that’s not it.

So 2 events – at either end of the season

The press release says 5 of the IXS series make up the Continental series for Europe. 5 of the U.S. mister series make up the American series and 5 in Oceania. That seems pretty good for a first attempt. It also strikes me as a lot cheaper for privateers to try and do the whole series. I know it still won’t be cheap but it will never be cheap.