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This weekend is the final race of 2023. I'm half happy and half sad... But mostly i'm also a little nervous as i'm racing too. As you've gathered, it's not something i do a lot... So when i do it's quite a concern. I'm not that concerned about getting down it, but more worried about holding the fast people up in practice. So i'll probably go off in front of my lad for practice, that will mean the only person i hold up, is him 🙂
He's got some feisty competition racing this weekend, including the boys from Trailrippers of recent STW article, he'll be fast as always will Nathan, there's George Cawdell who races for GT as well, although my lad was quicker and beat him last weekend at FoD, but George is more local to Stile Cop and will know the place well. So the boy will need to be on his A game.
But it's more just for fun this weekend, mostly as the weekend was quiet in terms of other plans and we couldn't get a space on the Pearce uplift day at Bringewood, so we've headed to Stile Cop instead.
Time to get my big-boy pants on !
Have a great weekend keep the fingers of the brakes and enjoy it. Don't give a thought to anyone behind you. 😎
I always enjoyed the last weekend of the race season with Abigale which was usually in Finale so the weather was always half decent.
As always an entertaining weekend of racing.. Well yesterday he was on Xmas tree decorating while i went out for the local riders Xmas ride/beers. Although i did only have 2 pints to make sure i was OK for today.
Me and him did a track walk in the morning and i was 50-50 (maybe less) as to whether i could get down 2 particular rooty sections. They're a bit gnarly for me.
Practice i sent the boy behind me giving me a decent gap and i knew no-one else would be filling it... It worked well. I had feet off on both rooty sections but sort-of managed them... ish.
Practice 2/3/4 went better and i almost got the roots half right, although i was taking the slower of the 2 lines in 1 of them... but the left line i didn't have in me today. Run 4 i felt was as good a run as i was likely to put in though, which was nice as then it started monsooning... Oh joy, wet impossible roots now !!!! Epic.
Race run 1 for me i came to the roots and section 1 went ok, but section 2 i had a foot off and got back in OK... Managed to make the rest of the run OK and got over the line.. Sadly for me i was in 6th place out of 6.... Damn...
The lad rocked down in P3 over the line, although it was apparently a sloppy run..
The rain was on-off-on-off for the next 90 mins and just before run 2 it kinda got OK... I sent him off while i waited for my run...
My run started in much sloppier trail conditions than run 1, i didn't go well... Pace was OK in top section and coming into a tight line i lost a foot, then clipped a step/rock with my pedal and spat me over the bars. .. I decided that even though i was OK i didn't want to get in the way of the guy behind me who'd be flying down the track and took my bike off for a DNF on run 2.. So 6/6 was as good as it got. After the crash i was never going to beat my run1 time, so just called it.
The boy went down and even though he improved he ended up 4th. Someone had snapped their chain out of the start-gate and got a re-run which put them in 3rd... Weird.
The video will explain why he lost some time though 😀 😀
https://youtube.com/shorts/KceZzs2Qsro?si=czfnttb6_1JXAOE0
An epic race day and i'm really glad i entered, despite my position i pushed myself hard and gave it a decent try...
The boy, put in an excellent race and the guys who beat him, he's never beaten before in Nationals, so to be pushing them is an excellent performance by him... impressed.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53388820413_02bd87b34f_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53388820413_02bd87b34f_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2pkMEgF ]randr-photo-12253586-6000px-by-fstop-media[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
It was some daft Triple, only a few were hitting it today, on practice 3 he hit it and was ok. He hit it on run1 but made a few errors, partly/mostly due to the slick conditions.
Not quite sure why he hit it in the worse conditions lol. He enjoyed the entertainment at least
you dont come across as a pushy parent like you might see on the touchline of a football pitch<br /><br />
which football pitches is that? I’ve seen it at grass routes but not higher up.
My son is in the football world and I love this thread to see the similarities and differences between the 2 sports. The main difference I see is that football is so much cheaper !
The similarities that I see is parents giving their love and support for their kids to succeed to reach the best they can. I’ve seen pushy parents in grass routes football and unfortunately the kids don’t progress because the pressure their parents put on their shoulders.
Nice to see the results are starting to come for Jnr Weeksy , confidence is all in kids
Thanks guys. It means a lot, honestly.
@funkydunc belief in himself is honestly still lacking
This morning in van at 6am, the conversation went
"So, what's the target?"
"Top 10"
"You daft sod, top 5 easy" says me
"Not convinced about that"
He's right in there with these lads and beat some others in juvenile who used to beat him regularly. The kid in 2nd we know well as we do the kid in 1st.
Last time they raced the winner was 17th at Pearce and my lad was 23rd.
We are working on the confidence though and are paying for a sports psychologist for him, which also benefits him as a human as it makes him think about other things like schoolwork etc. As with everything, it's small gains at times. But he's getting there.
The main thing of course is enjoyment and we both had a cracking day, despite the rain (again). He's still got the fire in him to improve and is pushing boundaries
Is that todays race? Looks different to roots and rain? Quality whatever
Do find these races odd. Ive never raced downhill. But a minute course? Or 40 seconds as above? Seems so short a window. I know its never going to be comparable but the joy of downhill racing professionally as a spectator is the variety within a track. And a long run. For 40 seconds if you are slow out the traps youve lost already. How much variety are in these tracks or are they bike park style runs?
Is that todays race? Looks different to roots and rain? Quality whatever
Dunno why, maybe as mine was cropped from phone, which shows only the fastest not both runs ? errrrm.
Do find these races odd. Ive never raced downhill. But a minute course? Or 40 seconds as above? Seems so short a window. I know its never going to be comparable but the joy of downhill racing professionally as a spectator is the variety within a track. And a long run. For 40 seconds if you are slow out the traps youve lost already. How much variety are in these tracks or are they bike park style runs?
This one is the shortest course by quite a bit we've raced on, but we knew that before we went, you can of course only use what's there and Stile Cop is a short hill. The course though was honestly great and totally different in all sections, fast sweepy start, then into roots, then jumps/gaps for them and then a pedal fest over roots to the line. There were some WC level Juniors there etc and everyone seemed happy. Of course with this type of race they're catered generally towards more of an 'introduction' to racing. But i think those days have gone at the moment as the young racers seem to want every day.. So even these races attract the fairly fast kids. His had 7 racers in who race Nationals, it wouldve been 9 but 1 got injured in practice on Sat and one didn't wanna race y'day. Which does in some way make me feel sorry for the others below who don't get the chances they sometimes would. I'm not sure what the answer is though, 417 races if you are a National racer then the organisers have a quiet word of "are you sure you need to be racing this" type thing, which is IMO 100% fair.. But the Stil Cop race is far more techy than the 417, just shorter.
So that's race season over for us/him. (i know i use 'us' a lot, but we are a team, really really) Next up is onto coaching for the next 2 weekends on the bounce and then some days out at BPW, Hopton, Dyfi and Adrenaline Alley etc. There's not really an off-season these days in youth/junior/juvenile in the same way as there is for the pros. Maybe there should be and maybe we're doing it wrong... Dunno. But the fire/desire to race is there, so we go with it.
We are working on the confidence though and are paying for a sports psychologist for him, which also benefits him as a human as it makes him think about other things like schoolwork etc.
Lots of companies out there , but Chimp Management are one of the best (not cheap though) but they work with elite athletes across many sports, have coaches aimed at younger people etc, and Mrs FD used to know the boss quite well
Agree though it will give him life skills too
we have held off so far as as the natural waves of confidence have got our lad back just at times when it’s been hard for him.
Have you noticed a lack of confidence or a mental block or just is it that he’s quietly confident? Our lad might do one poor pass in a game and then he’s harsh on himself for weeks, and can’t get past the mistake, that’s when sports psychologiy will help, not just if he’s quietly confident
(not cheap though)
Absolutely. Mrs Weeksy picked his from recommendations and no, it's deffo not cheap. But as i say, there's more than just 1 lesson of sports being hopefully worked on.
Have you noticed a lack of confidence or a mental block or just is it that he’s quietly confident? Our lad might do one poor pass in a game and then he’s harsh on himself for weeks, and can’t get past the mistake, that’s when sports psychologiy will help, not just if he’s quietly confident
I honestly wonder if he says it more because of politeness than actual belief he's not fast. He doesn't suffer race nerves, or tension, he's quite relaxed and you'd think by now with his results he'd go into these sort of races beliveing he can hit the higher end. It did sneak out of him yesterday that he felt before run 1 he was in for a top 5... So maybe he's getting it into his head a bit.
The one thing he doesn't do though above is worry about mistakes. He's not upset about yesterday, even though looking at how close the times were 2-4 that if he'd landed the triple better or single/doubled it he'd have got 2nd probably... But he doesn't dwell on it and seems chirpy and happy this morning about it all.
What happens now then, hitting the end of the season? Do you get an “appraisal” of sorts from the sponsors, have they got what they want out of it sort of thing, or is it not just about facts and figures? I’ve dipped in to this a bit so I may have missed it, but how did he get on in Nationals. Is it an overall year end position, or best of three results, or average? I think you missed one in Scotland if I remember, does that spell disaster for overall? <br /><br />I assume your hope for next year is that he gets a DH sponsorship, you can stop buying bikes then! 😂. Have you had any approaches from DH brands looking to sponsor him, give him a bike etc, or are you remaining in the Katy Curd camp for next year? I’m assuming that you need to be at the very pointy end of Nationals to get picked up on a DH contract?
Wow... so much to answer there mate.
We've already had a 2 hour sit-down with the Coach/Boss and we've gone through everything for next year. That was put in place a little while ago. So yes as long as it's not top secret and i don't think it is, we'll still be racing for Katys team next year. We don't deal with any of the sponsors at all (apart from DMR) and i just leave that to the boss as to who the team rides for next season in terms of kit, helmets, shoes, pedals etc... It's her team, we're just a bit-part within it.
In Nationals you get an overall championship position but that is also integrated into 'all' races, well, all ranked races anyway.
You can flatter your position in the overall rankings a bit with picking smaller events and picking up points, but whilst we've not targetted that (yet) it's a by-product of the racing we do of course. In Nationals he was getting 30-35th in the races, which as a first year Youth and first time in Nationals we were more than happy with. His overall championship position was i think 41st. Which was pretty fair in a representation of where he's been this season. Not at the pointy end in the big boys, but somewhere around mid-pack.
2nd Season in Youth results go some way towards where he ends up in Junior in terms of chances of getting an entry to a Junior WCDH race and whilst he's not 'there' yet, of course the hope is that he keeps on improving and gets to the positions where he gets considered in 2025. But at this moment in time, he's not quick enough to get there.
Next year we're planning a full season of Nationals, Pearce and of course a few FoD smaller type races. But we're also lining up 1 or 2 races in France in the French DH cup. Which for example the 1 that's a main goal is at the course where last years European Champs was held. It'll be a massive thing for us/him and i think it'll really help him along.
The only downside to this of course is funding.. I still have no idea how my bank account isn't crippled each and every month, well, in truth it IS crippled... But we still bumble our way along and sort of make things happen. I'd love to do MORE where we're at Dyfi every weekend, BPW every weekend, etc but you know what, this even as a parent is REALLY hard. In terms of time, effort, money, cleaning, sorting, prepping, driving, it's really bloody tough. No tougher for me than it is for another 100 parents out doing the same thing of course.. But still it's hard.
Anyway... enough babbling..
Attack position engaged
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Onto something slightly different anyway.
We were chatting in the paddock yesterday with a stupid-fast kid and his dad. Brandon Turner is his name. Anyway, he also rides and races a Session like ours. He was chatting with another mate about the bike and how the only issue they've had is with dropping chains. It doesn't happen until you're getting into the proper sharp end of speed/tech, but people like Tom Elsmore who has been racing a Session has also experienced it (he's a mate of a mate too).
Bloke had designed and 3D printed a new upper guide on the high pivot which stops this. Basically (as i was discussing with the mum of the Trailrippers yesterday about her GT) the chain drops/skips off the top of the idler pulley and then drops off the chainring from there. On the GT Fury you can buy different sized sprocket/wheels. I'm not aware of that as an option on the Session. So was straight in with "where i can get one mate"... "£20, i've got some in the van"
That’s cool they shared that for so cheap. I’ve been looking at high pivots with idlers recently and a few have had a similar issue. Forbidden Druid v1 / Dreadnought can get it with the standard top guide over the pulley and you can buy a ‘race’ version that more thoroughly holds the chain on
As you'd expect, it wasn't a taxing lunchtime quick job
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53390503541_b50c659a66_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53390503541_b50c659a66_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2pkWhB8 ]IMG_20231211_133506[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
fod, coaching/riding for the lad and playtime for me.
After we'd finished riding I sent him out on the DH bike. He comes down holding the chain! It'd snapped. I'd just been discussing it a few days ago on here and ordered him 2 new chains, but didn't fit yesterday when it arrived. We decided to bail and get home handy. I could've fixed it in the car-park, but he was getting tired anyway from the mornings ride.
Then the fun started as after fitting the chain I did the gear cable, which started as a five minute job inner and ended 90 mins later with an Impossible routing outer (but inner through chainstay).
Jeepers it's bloody terrible for routing in the chainstay, no guides at all, just 2 holes at the ends, took me and the boy forever! Done now, but need to finish it off tomorrow with a new inner and put everything back on that we had to remove. Madness.<br />Set up gears, regressed all the pivots, re-torqued everything and it's all finished, not the best fun, but it's sweet again now.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53404063559_ff60339e66_4k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53404063559_ff60339e66_4k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2pn8Mwx ]IMG_20231217_162309[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Both the gear cabling and brake are now routed externally
The lad needs to work on his fitness as we've been doing a bit too much DH and not enough miles/training so we'll get cracking on that next. It's hard to find the time to do it outside on the bike though, he's working on his strength but he does need to get the Z2 longer pedals (indoors) or a bit more running going on.
Tell us you've binned the chain and aren't going to use it as a spare. 🤣🤣
I hate frames that just have a hole at each end for ‘internal routing’. A right pain - usually do it with the frame stripped down so you can spin it round easily on a workstand and then fishing around through the small holes provided with a spoke/ 2 spokes trying to grab the end of the cable outer. I should probably buy one of those proper kits that are meant to make it easier - but I don’t have to do new routing very often.
Tell us you’ve binned the chain and aren’t going to use it as a spare.
Oh yes... I've got 2 11 speed spares, so this one was REALLY not needed. I found it quite funny though as we were ust discussing it the other day.
I should probably buy one of those proper kits that are meant to make it easier – but I don’t have to do new routing very often.
About 6 mins in, this was very very much my thoughts. I was happy in the end to go external (mostly, part of gear cable still in chainstay) just in case of crashes etc, it's quicker and easier to just fit a whole new brake to get him out and then sort later etc.
Ah, the brake is internal too 🤮
Im glad all my mtb frames have had the rear brake external (even if gear / dropper cables internal) as it’s then so easy to change out a brake. Plus less bleeding.
Brake was internal in the top tube. My confusion was, how on earth you re-fit one though. All you've got at the headtube is a tiny hole the size of the cable, so you can't go that way, but as the caliper is on the other end, you can't start from that end either... So was happy to now have it completely external. It did mean a quick bleed yesterday evening, but that's OK.
With the brake don't you go from the caliper end and route upwards (remove the fork to get to the down tube?) To the smaller hole at the top of the down tube
With the gears can't you get a bit of inner sheath over the old cable at the derailleur end and pull out through the chain stay to route the new cable through it is the exit hole too small
With the brake don’t you go from the caliper end and route upwards (remove the fork to get to the down tube?) To the smaller hole at the top of the down tube
Good thought/plan
With the gears can’t you get a bit of inner sheath over the old cable at the derailleur end and pull out through the chain stay to route the new cable through it is the exit hole too small
That was kinda how we did it, but it often got caught up and it's not a very straight routing. Hopefully we won't be doing it anytime again soon.
Push don't pull
Cotton and a vacuum cleaner.
Cotton and a vacuum cleaner.
The amount of effort to get the sodding thing through i think the cotton would snap as i try. But as i say, it doesn't matter now as it's external. Which i planned on doing over winter anyway.
We’ve devised a few plans to put in place to try and keep him somewhat warm before his runs
Have a look at some of the CX riders or XC skiers, i've seen these massive long waterproof puffer trenchcoats that come apart into pieces, a hooded gilet, pair of sleeves and a massive long extension skirt with a big buttonable split front and rear (wouldn't be surprised if it's from a horseriding background!)
But you can imagine how useful it is.
I had a waterproof fleece poncho when i moved here to keep warm and dry before and after races. That's long since gone in the bin though. Easy to pop on before and after the race. Easy to roll up too.
You can flatter your position in the overall rankings a bit with picking smaller events and picking up points
Yeah, i feel that pain, i spent 3 seasons finishing on the podium in everything i entered, against, 50-60 rider fields, but because i wasn't willing to drive to norfolk, cornwall, scotland, wales and then spend an entire weekend pre-riding and then racing against a field less then half the size (as some of the people i was finishing 15 places in front of locally were) i didn't get promoted. So i took a step up off my own back, started on the last row, finished just outside the top 15.
Are you heading back north for Fort William SDA/National next year?
Yeah mate, we're doing Fort William and Glencoe Nationals. We've booked accomodation for FW the same one as last year.
Obviously we've not booked anything yet as it's not out yet to book.
We may do Inners SDA so we can come see BASE college as that's likely where he'll end up after A levels.
End of year montage/write up time i guess.
It's been a somewhat incredible year for the boy and for me and the wife. It's interesting to see how he's progressed in 2023. For example race 1 of the year was a 100% at Forest of Dean, the boy came in with 26/52. Which to be honest at the time we were not excited with, but not exactly disappointed. In the last race in the series a couple of weeks ago, he claimed 6/63 finishers and only just off the podium.
In Feb the new Privateer 141 arrived along with 2 video/photo shoots... weirdly nothing ever came of either of them hahaha.
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But the bike came and was ridden, raced and thrashed all year.
We then went to his first National DH race at Rheola....
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52792426284_d769476233_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52792426284_d769476233_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2or5Z5h ]2023-04-04_07-58-22[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
This was just a complete mess of rain, mud, more mud and more rain. With the boy finishing 24/49 in Youth we were pretty damn happy. He was still a long way off the fast guys... but less so than the previous year in races.
From there it was a few Enduro races which we enjoyed being part of Katys team and bonding with Drew and Scarlett..
And then onto the biggy.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52884941765_73c8859a1e_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52884941765_73c8859a1e_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2ozg9GM ]2023-05-09_09-03-41[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Fort William National. With the WCDH being there not long after it was stacked full of talent, he had Bruni, Minaar, Hatton, Daprela etc all behind him in the queue in practice but he took it in his stride. I won't be ashamed to admit, after the track walk i wasn't sure it was even possible to get down.
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But he did...and ended up with 28/55 i think about 70 turned up to race but quite a few either went home injured or broken etc...
National Championships brought more rain... yeah more... and a crash on race run meant he ended up 50/55 which was a tough day for the lad.. but he got his head around it well. He was now scoring around 20th place in Pearce Races generally which was 20+ places higher than the previous year.
The next few races was where he really started getting stronger and picking up speed, with a podium
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52967272708_7dcc47a1de_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52967272708_7dcc47a1de_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2oGx7PN ]2023-06-11_06-44-50[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
The boy then got his new toy the week after, the Trek Session... which was properly painful to purchase, being a crazy amount of money, but i felt he deserved it..
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53212286984_a2e0099d53_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53212286984_a2e0099d53_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2p5bT2S ]IMG-20230925-WA0035[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Antur Stiniog was the last National and that didn't go to plan, lack of course knowledge meant he struggled and despite picking up time over practice he qualified 48/63 which ended up being his final position as bad weather stopped play.
He finished the year strongly with 5th, 6th, 4th, 6th, 4th in the run in, all smaller races than Nationals of course, but still plenty of fast racers in there.
Good year for all of you. Tell him we'll done from us. 👍
Give your self a pat on the back as most people don't understand or appreciate what goes on behind the scenes week in week out to keep the racers racing.
What ever 2024 brings it will all be worth it 😎
Nice one, full commitment there. I hope he realises just how lucky and privileged a position he is in with, it appears, unwavering support and your financial oooomph to allow him to follow his dream.
Onward and upward for ‘24.
Oh, and give him a piece of coal and an orange for Christmas, lucky sod has had gifts all through the year already.
And of course, Merry Christmas.
Oh, and give him a piece of coal and an orange for Christmas, lucky sod has had gifts all through the year already.
thats a bit mean, how about a massive wrapped box thats just full of the year's receipts? 😉
please keep up the updates weeksy - its great to have a behind the scenes look at the world of racing. all the best of luck for the 24 season.
@weeksy
I did the rear hose on a trek slash with the gear cable method, SRAM hose, from the back in the chain stay into the down tube, or by the head tube, less that 2 mins. That's the best method 👍🏻
thats a bit mean, how about a massive wrapped box thats just full of the year’s receipts?
He’s making the boy do zone 2 workouts - isn’t that enough punishment??
I hope he realises just how lucky and privileged a position he is in with, it appears, unwavering support and your financial oooomph to allow him to follow his dream.
Yeah I think so mate, he's a genuinely nice lad and he's not caused up a moment of bother growing up.
It's not just his dream though, it's ours. Well mine and his anyway, his mother's dream is that he'll eventually get some IN the washing basket 😃
My support is unwavering yeah, but financially it's getting harder as we're potentially losing some funding this year. But mentally and physically I'm all in yes. I enjoy it, visiting places, riding places, watching and chatting with parents, sharing beers, BBQ and banter, it's a brilliant time honestly.
At times I'd like a bit more ME time for local rides to the brewery, a few pints and then home, but they're less and less often now. which saddens me and is something I need to address in 2024.
But like all kids, we don't really fully appreciate it until way later in life, I know I didn't. I can wait though
Every day at the moment seems to be a monsoon so the clips are a bit lacking sorry.
I hear you, we've done FoD Afan, BPW and Hopton in the last 7 days, so not a bad haul and good training/practice.
I could do with some dry trails though as could his mother and the washing machine
You just need to migrate south! I picked up our young'un, she's spent the last 3 days doing a mix of Catalan enduro and bike park at Santa Coloma and la Sorerra in the dust, she also caught the sun. Note to self: do not forget the sun block. Whilst she's catching up on her sleep tomorrow, I'm shuttling Millau which is rather oddly bone dry, not even a ground frost forecast.
Lol I hear you but he's in his last year of school doing GCSEs next summer, so simply not an option. Education has to come first. Me, I'd be first in the van moving to Spain, but education and family means that's not possible.
A move to somewhere hillier may happen, but it'll be UK based only.
I'm not sure if it's good or bad being as fussy as i am.... sometimes a little of both i think.
I picked up the lads Privateer to put it back up into it's spot on the wall.... 'clunk'... Hmmmm that's not right. Checked all the pivot points, shock mount, headset... Ended up being the wheel bearing on the front (we fitted a spare wheel to check/troubleshoot). Which was slightly weird as when i took them out they felt and seemed lovely. But in the bin they went and fitted (then ordered from Kinetic) 2 new ones.
Wasn't a long or complex job and i made sure the boy watched and followed closely everything i did as i'll make him do them next time with my supervision.
The Trek we've finally silenced with 2 new bearings as well, so both bikes are golden. Which is lucky as he's out with Katy this Friday on one of them and then Antur on the other on Sat. 😀
Nothing too exciting today. We spent the weekend at Dyfi and FoD.
FoD was coaching/riding with Katy and his mate Olly. It was really interesting as we learned a little about 'nutrition' mostly because 2 hours into their blast, the boy absolutely hit the wall. It was 2pm by then and he'd not had anything since the bowl of Cheerios in the morning... He was doing OK with pace and BOOM, wall.... hit... Just dead on his feet. He managed to drag himself back and consumed about 12,000,000 calories and went from looking white and drained, to somewhat normal. There's deffo something we need to learn and consider a bit more on this side of things it seems.
It was then straight up to Dyfi where the boy took this into heart and consumed about 10,000 calories in the morning before Dyfi with the buffet breakfast at Premier Inn 😀 😀
He then spent the day playing with a bunch of mates on the crazy trails of Dyfi bike park. Which according to him is the best place in the UK in terms of training/riding for learning DH... Bit saddening for me as i prefer BPW and it's obviously a lot closer than Dyfi. But i can see Dyfi playing a bit more of a part in things in the coming months in terms of training/riding.
We're off to Bucknell this weekend for a Pearce Uplift.
Pearce have also released dates for this season now.
11th May
6th July
31st Aug
No locations yet, but that's not massively important at the moment. We'll be doing our best though, however a slight complexity with 11th May as that's the start of GCSE's so not sure if he'll be allowed to play for that one, but arguably if he doesn't know it by then, he's not going to know it LOL.
At Dyfi it was interesting chatting with a few parents of racers who we know. It seems a fair few lad/families are concentrating more on IXS/International races this coming season, more than i'd expect in truth. Especially considering the expense of them in terms of driving/tunnel/ferry etc.. I just can't see a realistic way we could jump on that bandwagon at the moment in terms of time and expense, with his exams this year he needs to be at school, but with IXS he'd have to be taking 1-2 days off for it each time, let alone the £1000+ per race weekend.. So i just can't see it at the moment.
James' riding has really come on this year - the changes from the early videos to more recent ones are huge, and you can see that in his results. I feel your pain when it comes to the costs of young people racing.
We've made the tough decision to skip the bmx world championships for my son this year due to the costs - I think it'd be £3k+ for us to go. Coupled with the fact that it's in term time (it's normally in the summer but this is an olympic year) and so we couldn't really turn it into a holiday it just doesn't add up. Just hoping he qualifies next year as it will be in summer, in Copenhagen, which should be a bit more achievable. But I do feel bad that I'm not taking him as we can't guarantee another shot! At least race bmxs are cheap, and if you spend 500-600 quid second hand you've got a bike you can race at the top level.
Thanks for that mate... It's funny when you look back over 12 months ago at the difference... it's HUGE... but of course the difference of many of the others is also huge lol. That's just the place in which he finds himself at the moment.
Chatting to one of the parents, he's selling his house at the end of the year to downsize and free up capital to go to Worlds.. now THAT is impressive dedication. I mentioned that to Mrs Weeksy "Don't be getting any stupid ideas" says she 😀
As always, at the moment that's all pie in the sky... he's not at the level to get to Worlds at the moment.. and may never be so.
Hopefully your dream will potentially happen for Copenhagen then matey... i sure hope it does for both of you.
You coming for the 100% in a few weeks ?
Both the upcoming 100% races clash with bmx races unfortunately and he's in full pre-season mode at the moment, but if things are going well we may skip the feb bmx race and do the 100% one as a last pre-season hit out on the mtb.
He was getting too big for his Aether and I managed to snag his dream bike from a mate before xmas (2022 Nomad 5) for a decent price so he was a very happy lad this xmas!
Oh bloody well done mate..I might have to try that one day 😀
Although i may have a new bike this weekend anyway i think.
Hope to see you soon either way fella.
24' pre season starts in full with Bucknell uplift day. Went pretty well apart from a great crash which was recorded by current world cup racer Luke Williamson, happily we know him and his dad as I used to ride Ducatis with the old man. So he sent us the clip.
We were also chatting with another WC racer who's on a Session like his and let's just say he's not exactly in love with it. Feels the front end is too tall even though he's slammed it as much as possible. Which I totally get as I'd feel the same having ridden it around a few fields and car parks, but my lad is happy with it.
2 weeks until race 1 of 24 and we're as ready as we can be. The pro5 rear is off for a service this week along with getting the Argotal and Kryptotal on the spare wheels so everything is completely swappable.
I do need to find some funds for a decent work stand but they're so damn expensive, however mine is 10+ years old and was a cheap rubbish one on its best day, now it's absolute garbage lol.
https://youtube.com/shorts/EGJLPgxUUWw?si=VcR3-9W11EUSFtds
Bit of a good/bad day today... The National DH race series open for entry today.. That's the good.
The bad is... We can't enter for another 2 weeks as it's early-entry for people with 150 points last season.
This is where it gets a little confusing. My lad has 154 points, however only 146 of those were logged due to an Admin error when we had a late entry to a race. Sadly this can't be re-added back onto the ranking points as they 'close' at a particular time. So we've got to sit and wait a couple of weeks until the first week of Feb.
Happily it's 99% certain they won't fill as not that many people have the required 150 points, in his class there were 40 ahead of him in the UK Rankings, so even if every one of those entered, it's still only 40 people in his class, so we're not massively worried but it's a little nervy i must admit.
We're still waiting for the Gravity series dates to be fully announced, these are usually 7-14 days before the National series at the same tracks. Obviously we'll only be entering the England/Wales ones, not the Scotland ones as we can't go there twice each time... That's just crazy talk. So we'll be entering Rheola and Rhyd-y-Felin as well as Antur Stiniog assuming they run at those places.
2024 is very much starting to take shape and looking just as bonkers as other years.
Was working out a few things today.... Jeepers. This is the 'start' of the plan
28/01 100% FoD
18/02 Stile Cop
25/02 100% FoD
7/04 Gravity Rheola
14/04 National DH Rheola
11/05 Pearce Rhyd-Y-Felin
25/05 National DH Fort William
22/06 National DH Antur Stiniog
06/07 Pearce Bringewood
21/07 National DH Rhyd-Y-Felin (National Champs)
04/08 National DH Glencoe
10/08-17/08 Morzine
18/08 Les Meniures French DH Cup
31/08 Pearce Bucknell
14/09 National DH Rhyd-Y-Felin
28/09 Pearce Hopton
there's likely to be 2-3 more Gravity DH races which are usually the weekend before a National on the same track as the National (usually a feature or two less to make it slightly more friendly in terms of massive features)
On top of that list there's other options like even this weekend down in Gawton in Tavistock (Devon/Cornwall border), but that's open to discussion currently.
The big one on the debate thing there really is whether we do the French race. It means an extra 3 days over there which is obviously a good thing. Practice seems quite short though with 1hr30 on Fri morning then a total of about 4 hours over the weekend plus a seeding (qualifying) run and a race run. But it has potential to be a cracking event in terms of track, location and fun...
We're doing the usual camping at places thing again this year to save on costs, but we are B&Bing it for Fort William as we're taking Mrs Weeksy too and she wants the creature comforts. Of course i'd LOVE them.... But got to be realistic with what's possible.
I don't see many weekends throughout the year we won't be out and about for at least 1 day though, often both of them with BPW, Dyfi, Antur, Barrys Sidings, Rogate, Windhill all playing their part. I'm thinking of focusing a bit on Rogate and Windhill for some of it rather than Dyfi, despite the terrain not being quite as gnarly, the distance and fuel plays a factor at times. There's new stuff we're finding up at FoD all the time where plenty of people go to practice and Tirpentwys isn't too far away. There's another couple at Merthyr and Risca that we need to research a little more.
The boys bike is currently off at Rotec Cycles getting the lowers serviced on his Boxxers (rebound adjuster is sticky) and a service/rebuild on the Hope Pro5. I could arguably do both myself, but sometimes with the stuff we have going on i have to send stuff out just to ensure it's done and done correctly and Stefan at Rotec is a top lad and always squeezes me in.
That list looks somewhat daunting when viewed on a page... Gulp.
It always looks daunting at the start of the season. It gets worse as they start competing further afield when flights and ferries need to be sorted and trying to find the best prices to keep the overall costs to a minimum.
Looks like your going to be busy but I'm sure he appreciates all the team Weeksy efforts
It always looks daunting at the start of the season. It gets worse as they start competing further afield
Whilst this is of course the 'dream' scenario, i don't see how it can be financially viable without external financial assistance from a team/sponsor. It's just not realistic at the moment for us to get out to Europe several times. We'd love to head out and do the Portuguese cup races early season, but the costs of travel etc just make things currently impossible.
As we know though, to really justify these sorts of decisions the boy needs to keep on improving and moving up the list in terms of finishing positions/results. He's getting better, faster, closer... but there's plenty of work to do.
Everything in terms of what we race, where, when is at times a bit of a compromise, in the ideal world we'd be moving to north Wales, hitting the stuff up there day after day with home schooling lol... But that's just not happening, not in any real world in which we live currently for sure.
Something keeps coming up on the motorbike forum that people really want to help out and i should setup a gofundme type page for him/racing. I think this would actually make a decent difference in terms of income/finance but i massively struggle with the concept of 'people' giving us money to persue a bit of racing. Getting assistance from a company/business seems acceptable, but from individuals seems somehow wrong to accept. But they do keep going on about it and at times it gets hard to resist.
I'm honestly really looking forward to this season and can't wait to get it underway fully on the 28th at FoD. It's only the first weekend out of course, but i'm full of excitement and optimism for the year.
The costs for any privateer are eye watering and not looking to getting any better in the short term. Even the top riders in the UK are struggling to find teams and sponsors for 2024. They are all fishing in the same pond and the ones who are managing to get some assistance are having to look outside the box.
What about Go funding for a couple of specific European races
What about Go funding for a couple of specific European races
At the moment it's the only thing that makes sense if that's how we/he wants to go. We've been weighing up the cost of just doing for example the IXS Races, we'd be looking ITRO £1000-1500 per weekend/race. That would be covering fuel/tunnel/food and i don't think would even give us an option in terms of anything other than sleeping in the van. (which we're more than OK with of course). It's certainly something we have to consider but where i struggle is that i'm asking real people to put their hands in their real pockets and give real money to him just to go play on bikes. Once upon a time when i was racing motorbikes i'd have had no shame in doing so, but as i've got older, it just somehow seems more of an 'ask' then i thought back 20 years ago. Back then i'd ask anyone and everyone to help out lol.
The French DH cup race we're considering certainly ticks the boxes in terms of 'events' that would be something massive for him both as a person and as a rider, so we're considering the options.
Looking outside the box is deffo something we'd like to consider, i'm very much aware of how few companies outside of the industry actually sponsor MTB teams.. It's slightly bizarre when you look at any forms of motorsport, CX racing, Road Racing etc, they're all packed with non-industry sponsors as well as of course, cycling related sponsors. But currently the MTB side of things hasn't really caught onto this.
He does get a LOT of help from various sponsors throught Katy and ourselves finding them but they're all MTB specific. (i don't want to throw myself open to the 'advertising' discussions with forum mods though, so i keep that discussion to a minimum on here)
Any local garages etc (where you got the Transit from e.g.) who might put £500-£1000 on the table for a sticker on the van to sponsor a race? Could prob get it in the local media and get a positive publicity for them as well.
Slightly different but I did the 4 Peaks Challenge a while back and was surprised at how willing some of these small local companies were to put their hand in their pockets. Its not coming from individuals then as well.
That's assuming you don't mind some sign writing on the van of course!
Any local garages etc (where you got the Transit from e.g.) who might put £500-£1000 on the table for a sticker on the van to sponsor a race? Could prob get it in the local media and get a positive publicity for them as well.
Slightly different but I did the 4 Peaks Challenge a while back and was surprised at how willing some of these small local companies were to put their hand in their pockets. Its not coming from individuals then as well.
That’s assuming you don’t mind some sign writing on the van of course!
I absolutely hear you Robbo yes. It's something we need to think about for sure. Back in the day there was a company called Arrow Self Drive in Reading who gave me one of their hire vans every weekend for racing motorbikes, which is essentially a similar thing.
As your post and Traceys implies, going forward we're going to have to start thinking 'outside the box' (yeah i hate that phrase too, but it seems appropriate)
Maybe a bit of blue sky thinking would help. Dont forget to flip the script! 😉
There's hopefully more to come on the above discussion later..
But for now, we're into just over a week until 2024 racing is a GO..
The Boxxers were stripped and serviced yesterday which now gives the right number of clicks on the rebound adjuster. It was only getting 6-7 maybe 8 clicks the other day, i guess due to grime
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53471492714_3f92a91d64_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53471492714_3f92a91d64_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2pt6nSb ]IMG-20240117-WA0001[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
The oil looking somewhat yukky.
The Pro5 rear was fully rebuilt with new bearings, pawls and springs, tension on spokes checked. The Bontrager rear has a Kryptotal in super sticky DH now to match the Pro5's, so if we swap wheels he's running the same rubber.
I just need to wait for some new tubeless tape to arrive today so i can do the Argotal on the Bontrager front wheel.
Off out for a bit of testing this afternoon after he finishes school and then off to FoD this weekend if the weather holds.
I've been chatting more than once with various people and it's come up on here and other places a few times about using some form of crowdfunding for the lads racing MTB stuff, people seem to have an afinity towards the boy which is brilliant and i sincerly hope this doesn't sour any of that for people. At the end of the day you can simply read this and click off, mutter a few choice words and move on if you don't approve or like it.
Now, i've been against this for the reasons mostly that i feel it's unfair to ask people for money. (although i'm fine asking companies for free stuff in terms of sponsorship). But the reality is, to do certain events this year, next year and the years after (hopefully) we wouldn't be able to manage without some form of 'alternative' funding. But there comes a time when you do have to ask, as i've said in another post, this racing lark is incredibly expensive and even sleeping in tents/vans and trying to do things on a semi-sensible budget the costs do stack up quickly and i'd estimate 2023 even removing bike purchase costs cost us ITRO £12,000-£15,000.
The 'funding' could be a monthly thing, a one-off thing, or a whenever people had spare cash for it type thing. This year the funding would go towwards racing in the French Cup race.
https://velo.ffc.fr/courses/coupe-de-france-vtt-skf-dhi-uci-classe-1-3/
Along with that, any extra would go toward a potential race in the IXS Series in Germany/Austria/Solvenia. The thoughts are that any/all would massively help him in terms of experience, racing, life and his profile as a racer. The IXS race hasn't been chosen yet due to planning of his GCSEs which are coming this year along with waiting for the final UK race entries to be confirmed before sorting an IXS
Unless the individual was a 'business' then apart from gratitude, the boy couldn't offer a lot in return for any funds given, he has an active social media and presence, but that would only be useful if he could return anything given by product placement and tagging etc.
we wouldn’t be able to manage without some form of ‘alternative’ funding... this racing lark is incredibly expensive
I pondered commenting the other day but decided to keep my nose out, but since the expense has been raised again, I'll throw my 2p in.
Racing three complete series, plus 100% and whatever else you do is a very very expensive way to approach it and I can't see why you'd want to try and cram in that much racing. If he does do that much racing, then it's a huge amount of time on the DH bike so you could cut back significantly on uplift days.
so if we swap wheels he’s running the same rubber
Stick whatever part worns you've got lying round on the spares, not new tyres just to make things match
The big one on the debate thing there really is whether we do the French race. It means an extra 3 days over there which is obviously a good thing.
Stupid question, but can't you just change your holiday a few days to accomodate? Personally I would sacrifice multiple UK races to do a French Cup (have been in Chatel when it's been there).
Racing three complete series, plus 100% and whatever else you do is a very very expensive way to approach it and I can’t see why you’d want to try and cram in that much racing. If he does do that much racing, then it’s a huge amount of time on the DH bike so you could cut back significantly on uplift days.
In truth man, i don't know what's the right or wrong answer. There's a slightly bigger picture which may or may not materialise in 2025 that means racing is pretty important to us. The uplift days are simply a consequence of chasing speed, he's not quick enough to chase the fastest at the moment, they uplift a LOT (more than we do) and everyone rides a LOT... so to get to their level (if he ever can that is) it needs a chunk of bike time. Racing in 3 series kind of blends into 1 almost. The Gravity races are the pre-race for the Nationals, the Nationals are obviously the important ones. The Pearce are a whole different entity to those, but just feels 'right' to race the Pearce. At the end of the day only time will tell us what's right and wrong here...I honestly don't have all/many of the answers, i'm just trying to get him 'there'.
There's another whole picture of where this is going longer term but that's for another day/discussion. There's quite a few longer terms plans not directly related to racing but related to all of this.
Stupid question, but can’t you just change your holiday a few days to accomodate? Personally I would sacrifice multiple UK races to do a French Cup (have been in Chatel when it’s been there).
That is to a great extent the plan yes, but it's still 4 days accomodation extra along with food/drink, race entries, insurance, licence stuff, fuel and an increase in tunnel costs, so even tagging this onto our family trip still comes with a fairly heft additional expense. If there were a decent camping option close-by we'd consider that, but we'll have a lot of stuff with us that'll make that somewhat tricky, along with the fact that the race doesn't have a 'pits' like UK races, you're basically in the side roads of the town, the approach road to the lift etc that's where you're based from, so can't really just throw the tents up at the side of the road, hence needing to book somewhere. Due to people having now put in some funding on the page, we're 100% in for the French Cup race and will be booking it as soon as it opens.
Also deliberated giving a view on this, rather than muttering a few choice words and moving on, and decided to give an opinion anyway.
I'm genuinely not sure how this is going to be received here. I feel you may have alienated some contributors to the thread who have tried to give advice that you have dismissed and they probably won't read this thread again. I've been following and dipping in and out and, and being brutally honest with you, this thread has sometimes felt like a bit of a humblebrag about how finances really aren't an issue for you. Buy a spare race bike, not a problem. World Cup mechanic setting up telemetry, sure. I'm definitely not buying a van this year, lol, just bought a van etc etc etc. To then cap it off with a gofund me page which appears to be nothing more than funding a jolly to France is, well......
You may well be able to offer finer details on why so very many events are being entered as Mark88 has alluded to but it just seems a scattergun approach when surely you just focus on the worthwhile, ranking events. Those local races don't really mean anything do they? Would time and money be better spent at Dyfi and Antur, getting some proper terrain under the tyres.
I wonder if you have a bit of FOMO around this? The IXS races weren't even on your horizon until you went to Dyfi and realised others were going. You have said yourself you don't know how you are going to "jump on that bandwagon". So is it needed for development, or just an experience, or just because you think you should be there because, well, others are?
As the parent of a 17yo lad who I ride with, the exploits you two get up to do make me a little jealous but it's simply not possible for me to make anything like the financial investment you do for James. You have pinned your colours to the mast about supporting him so massive credit to you for that.
There you go, my twopenneth worth.
As an aside, would it not be worth putting his results and placings on the funding page so that anyone landing there knows what he has achieved to date? A link to roots and rain isn't really helpful.
Can you add a stretch goal to buy the little fella his own ancient woodland?
I guess i ought to answer then of course.
The spare bike was in the earlier days when we felt it was beneficial to us in terms of mechanicals, they were both a chunk of change less than most peoples 1 bikes (and indeed our 1 bike). The current Trek was bought on 0% finance, the money from the sale of the GTs went back into the racing fund.
The purchase of the van wasn't for cash, that's a bank loan that's funded that. That's being paid for month in month out.
The races are all ranked races and all of some sort of priority. The reason this is potentially important is that next years Junior WCDH races are allocated in terms of 6 jerseys which go to no-pro-team riders, they get to race in a GBR jersey. At 2 points in the year you as a racer are allowed to apply for a jersey. These are allocated by a number of criteria but of course, points, finishing positions etc are without doubt massive in the allocation of these jerseys. (along with European Champs jerseys). Now i'm not sitting here saying he is or will be good enough to get one of these jerseys, but by hitting the point scoring races it has to give him/us the best possibility of making this happen. The 'dream' isn't necessarily to be a WCDH racer, but simply to have the opportunity to become one, be that at the last place of it and getting in by luck, i don't really know... or indeed care.
It's honestly IMO and the coaches needed for developement and skills... he's got the race mentality sorted and doesn't fall apart under pressure on race day, but the simple reality is, he needs to get better. Getting better comes with more riding, more racing, more, everything.
The IXS races have always been on the 'thoughts' list, but as time progresses so does the thoughts on what's the most beneficial as a racer to him. The thing with these sort of things is that you don't really know until you spend more time with different people and processing their thoughts and opinions. These are not only the parents thoughts but multiple riders who are current WCDH racers and by chatting with them, sometimes you have to take onboard their thoughts and opinions as they've been there, done this, read the book and got the jerseys. You have to be a little fluid in your approach to the racing/riding and let yourself be moulded by people who know stuff.
Those local races don’t really mean anything do they? Would time and money be better spent at Dyfi and Antur, getting some proper terrain under the tyres.
They don't and they do.. This is why we've spent more time at Dyfi, BPW and we've got multiple days at Dyfi and Antur and BPW coming soon. They don't because in simple terms they don't push the skillset fully compared to other place, yes i'll 100% agree there. However they do bring a level/sense of confidence from doing well, along from both race practice and flat-out riding context. They also of course bring points in the National Rankings. Again, is this right or wrong, i don't honestly know.
There's also the fact they're a LOT less money than a trip to Dyfi, like 50% or greater of the cost of a day to Dyfi, it's 1/3 of the distance driving, so a lot less in fuel, a lot less in time etc.. Right or wrong, they're 'easier' to do than heading to North Wales.
With regard to other 'funding' i don't mean to offend or imply we're living the life of Riley here and there's no sacrifices being made, that's completely wrong and there honestly is. Without going into details (unless really pressed) there's plenty of decisions that myself and Mrs Weeksy don't necessarily agree about...but are begrudgingly accepted as we both want to give the boy the best upbringing we can. Some of these we've implemented to increase what's viable in funds, some we've not as they're simply too big in terms of potential ideas/consequences and are a bit 'last restort'
I thought long and hard about the funding page and the potential lashback from it... i'm aware i've opened up a can of worms and will do my best to answer any questions as openly as possible.
"Due to people having now put in some funding on the page, we’re 100% in for the French Cup race and will be booking it as soon as it opens."
I'm confused. You set a target of £2,000 to make it happen. You have £409 in the pot of which you have put £209 in yourself so you have £200 of supporter contributions and that has made the difference between going or not? So you didn't really need a funding page after all to do the French race? If the funding page is just to top up the finances generally to support him, I think you need to be explicit about that, IMO.
The £209 wasn't me, honestly... i assume whoever put that in read something wrong and put weeksy in the wrong box or maybe that was their way of being anonymous.
The £409 will cover the French accomodation and fuel. It won't cover race entry, insurance, extra days of cost, train costs.. But yes £409 makes a difference that makes the French Cup race possible now. Partly because it's a lot less expensive as we're already in France. But as some people have helped, it'll be my aim to now make that happen, even if it means cutting back on other UK things to make sure the French DH race can happen.
To get to the IXS race (which the rest of the funding is designed for) that means an additional train (£450), an additional £300+ in fuel, accomodation/living costs (even if camping costs and eating cheaply) at say £300+. Even things like tyres, pads, disks etc all of which still stack up.
If the funding page is just to top up the finances generally to support him, I think you need to be explicit about that, IMO.
I don't honestly think i could've been more honest/detailed about how and where the money could/would be spent.
OK, I appreciate you sticking your neck out and responding.
Whether we agree on this, i think as i opened this part of the discussion i ought to reply.
Just a quick note re the JustGiving page - you don't mention James age. I think this could possibly help with people/companies seeing the potential for growth/development/investment.
Unfortunately I'm not in a financial position to contribute, but wish him all the best for 2024.
Just for clarity we raced at Menuires last time around on a tight budget. It cost 275€ for three nights in a 20m² brutalist studio flat overlooking the finish arena. I'm glad it didn't rain, because there wouldn't have been room to dry even a pair of socks in that place!
As you’ve put up the fundraising page I think it’s fair to contribute.
Isn’t your schedule too full? FoD/ Pearce etc seem like pointless distractions. He’s clearly a very good rider, capable at racing Nationals. Why not just concentrate on those? In the grand scheme of things they’re the races that actually matter.
Worrying about points/ WC jerseys etc is a bit pointless. If he’s racing at the level (at Nationals) it seems he’s capable of, then provided he does well enough then he’ll get a jersey.
Again, at the level he’s at and aspires to, BPW, FoD racing and training at Windhill etc just simply aren’t going to cut it. Dyfi is the closest thing England and Wales have to a genuine WC level training ground, both in difficulty and elevation. (I’m not the only one that thinks so BK interview on RC said as much).
(Short version). Quality not quantity. Ditch most of the racing that isn’t at a National level, and most of the riding and training that isn’t Dyfi/ Antur level.
I'm struggling to argue with a lot of that... but honestly Dyfi sucks the life out of you in terms of distance, cost, time. Sometimes yes it's viable, but it means a 4am start and getting home at 10pm. That's such a long long day both for him and for me. The only way to break that down is of course staying over, but with B&Bs etc coming in at £70+ it starts stacking up with £50 for Dyfi and £90 in fuel as well. We're trying to get there as much as possible this year honestly.. It'll make a bit more sense when we can get the weather warmer and throw ourselves in a lay-by for the night in the van on the Fri night and then get up Sat and go riding. But when it's sub zero or even 4-5deg whatever, it makes doing that bloody uncomfortable.
Racing at Fod doesn't honestly change the cost of the weekend that much as we're over there (or somewhere) anyway usually. He gets to ride and race with friends in there and Pearce too, which is really important as it can't all just be 100% without having the fun side of it too, it has to be fun or they stop loving it, whatever activity that is.