The journey from small guy to teenager...

[Dodgy69]

Sounds good, looks like got it all planned. Going along to Fort William is an inspired choice. Pity you dont have more time up in Scotland to do other places.

Remember your midgie nets and Skin So Soft

Might be for another thread, but ideas on what to do on familys afternoons would be appreciated, within 50 miles.

Oban is nice, worth a visit. Also , you could take the left for Mallaig from FW and have a nose around the Glenfinnan viaduct ( Harry Potter ) or get the steam train. Nice bit of world up there.

[weeksy]

IMG_20230801_154351 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Out testing on back to back runs on usual trail.

Trek has set a new PB time in trail by 1.5s

[weeksy]

I've done a few laps on it, I'll have it ove the GT all day. It fits lovely and is more stable.

I love the thing. Both bikes are sprung to him, but I'd ride the Trek all day

[Count Steer]

1.5s sounds a lot. What's that like as a % sort of thing?

[MingtheMerciless]

Will you be fitting a coil shock?

[weeksy]

nopes, he prefers air shocks.

[weeksy]

It's a weird shape as it looks small standing next to it, but when you're holding it it feels big... then when riding it, it feels big too.

Riding it though it's so stable and poised. Really impressed with how it feels. I'll be massively curious as to how it rides and feels in the coming weeks, whether he goes mullet or stays 29er and indeed whether we convert the GT to mullet.

The one thing i know for sure, the Trek will be the primary race bike at Glencoe. LOL... i can see it in his attitude, his riding and his feelings of it.

[weeksy]

1.5s sounds a lot. What's that like as a % sort of thing?

It was only a 36s track, so yes 1.5s is a massive chunk of time off his other times... He came down feeling really good on it, which considering he's never ridden it until today of course, is superb for me.

[crust]

1.5s is an age in his class

Nice one.

[weeksy]

1.5s is an age in his class

Nice one.

Well it wasn't using the most precise timing equipment but yes, over a track of that length it's a massive amount, especially when you consider how many times he's ridden the GT down it, it's the track you've done with me. I don't know how many laps he's done, but if it's not 300 I'd be shocked

[ChrisW]

That's a really good looking bike, I've always liked a Trek. Hope he (you both) enjoys it.

[weeksy]

Had a trip at lunch to Rotec Cycles and got both his rear wheels on the GT re-tensioned. Both had a couple of slightly looser than optimal spokes, but i prefer to get him to do them right.

Picked up a spare 27.5 in 157x12 as well which we'll now fit into the Trek tomorrow for a bit of a mullet/29 test session. It may not be the final decision as it'll only be the local stuff and likely wetter than ideal, but it should give the boy an idea whether he prefers mullet/29 as he knows the trails well.

Obviously this will then decide longer term which spare wheel we get for the back of the Trek.

[weeksy]

Been an interesting week. The lad spent 4 hours on the Trek yesterday at the local spot, playing, messing, jumping, just arsing about really. I'll grab some videos off him later. After lunch he then spent another 3 hours out on the Privateer to dial himself in for this weekend. To say he's looking rapid doesn't really do justice lol... He's looking bloody impressive.
Bit of shopping today for baked goods, snacks, peanuts... then off to Minehead in the morning early doors. Southern Enduro Champs. It's a longy and a biggy. All day practice on Sat, followed by a seeding run at 6.10pm for the lad to decide race order, but the seeding run also counts towards his overall time for the weekend.
Then Sunday is 8 stages of racing..

It'll be a slightly different weekend logistically for us as for Enduro races i usually just send him off and either watch or wait for him to come back. (Unless i'm racing too of course and then i'm out with him), but for this one i'll really need to jump on the ebike and find him a few times to give him food, water etc. Not sure yet if the stages pass back through the arena to enable this easily or if i'll head out, find him and fuel him. It'll then mostly be sitting watching the live timing to see how he's getting on.

[weeksy]

[weeksy]

and messing about on the new Trek

[weeksy]

Pretty wet day out at Minehead for practice. Van after van after van got stuck in the mud on way in, including ours. But we got parked up in the end. The lad got very very muddy, I was on supplies and spanners
Somehow he managed to snap a valve. Happily we had one in spares, but we had a spare wheel anyway if needed. But he was back out in minutes.



Windy as heck here too. So we're chilling in the van with Heart 70s and some hot food, a cider, waiting for the wind to die down and then we'll sort gazebo and paddock area out.

Bike is washed and ready for the morning. Weather is supposed to be ok in the morning and all day, so with the wind I expect the tracks will dry out a bit.

[weeksy]

https://www.rootsandrain.com/event11020 ... d/results/

Another weekend and another long one. Despite not riding, they're still bloody hard work and even though a fair bit of my riding was e-bike work this weekend, i was still out and on my feet all day both days. It gets tiring i can tell you.

IMG_20230806_164828 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

IMG_20230806_111132 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

The lad didn't have quite the weekend he hoped for, i think he was expecting maybe a little higher, but the race results show he finished exactly where he should, we've ridden plenty and know the guys around him, he finished in the same area/group of riders you'd usually expect to see him in. The course was LONG, like a long long day, he left at 11am and didn't stop riding till near 5pm, couple of small food breaks in there, but a long day out for him (and everyone of course).

The tracks had dried out a fair bit, but that just makes them different to the day before, not necessarily any easier. There's a lot of climbing too. Looking at the stages he seemed to improve as the day went on. That was a little weird as i thought the tracks earlier in the day would have suited him more than the later ones.

the U18 class is stacked with fast riders though and there's not such thing as an easy one now, it's just fast lads, faster lads and really fast lads.

He spent a fun weekend out though, chatted and rode with mates... it's all good

[weeksy]

Back to the world again today then... yesterday was mostly cleanup evening... Cleaning bikes, kit, the van, hoovering and cleaning the inside of van, sorting, checking and organising kit.

This week brings coaching tomorrow for him at FoD then Thurs out all day on the Trek. We've then got a couple of days off the bike for some motorbike stuff for Mrs Weeksy with a trackday for her. After that we're onto BPW on Monday.

This is where a few of the upcoming plans have changed a bit. This may get a bit deep and ramble on a bit..So switch off now if easily bored. We've cancelled Glencoe for the DH National. There's many/several reasons for it, but some of them include some family stuff we don't need to get into, but also there's the £1000 expense of getting there, staying there, eating there etc, add to that the forecast is showing as rain for every single day we'd be there and 5 on the Smidge/midgie radar, then finally the fact the boy isn't massively feeling the track.
When we booked all the Nationals there was a target, goal, reason, they were a bit of an 'adventure' but i think as the year has progressed, the reasons and goals have changed slightly. Fort William seemed to tick all the WOW factor boxes in that sense, the adventure, Scotland trip etc.... Then of course the National Champs a few weeks ago. We've kinda peaked a bit and the £1000+ to throw in for a race up in Scotland in the rain just isn't appealing.

So we're taking in a few days away as a family instead. A day at BPW, a day at Antur Stiniog (where another National is later in the season) and a few days just chilling as a family instead. We've then got a couple of weekends off where we'll just head out, hit some trails like Pontypool, Risca, maybe even Surrey Hills on the Privateer and get ready for the last few races of the season. The available races are far less now, so it's getting quieter and a good chance to put some quality time in getting the Trek right, setup and ready to race. Next up from that is Hopton with Pearce Cycles in about 4 weeks time, so hopefully we'll be all ready to play for then.

[Dodgy69]

Glencoe in a van from your gaff...I don't blame you.

[weeksy]

Glencoe in a van from your gaff...I don't blame you.

It's a bloody long way matey... Coming back from Fort William a few months ago we left early doors in the morning and even with no major traffic we didn't get home till 7.30pm... i think it was 11 hours driving time. I think if the weather was likely good all week, the midgies didn't exist and there was something to do on the 'off' days, maybe we'd still be heading there... but none of that is the case