The journey from small guy to teenager...

[weeksy]

SO today was a good day and a bad day LOL.

British Cycling released the application for World Cup entries. So his application has now gone in.
End date for application is 15th March so it'll be a while before we hear anything.
That is of course the good side...

The bad side is that i still have no clue what's happening with my job, meaning i have absolutely no idea how we're going to afford this if he gets any/some of the races.
Especially with Race 1 being South Korea which is obviously sodding miles away and going to be an expensive one... But... well, this is what we do and what we've been working the last 5+ years for.
I don't think any of our sponsors would be able/upfor financial assistance and in truth they've done amazingly over the past years that i'd feel pretty harsh asking them

So we'll see first what we get or don't get and after that, worry about how we're affording it

Does Lottery funding assist with this sort of stuff? I have no idea, just a though that popped into my head, probably bollocks like all the other thoughts mind you

NOt to the best of my knowledge. There is a funding available to people on lower incomes, but in honesty if you're on that low an income you're unlikely to be DH racing anyhow. It's an expensive sport to play.

But this is our last year in truth with a chance of World Cups, that's due to the way the sport is going with UCI and Discovery/WBD. So we've kinda made the decision of "fuck it" ... We/he just want 1 chance, 1 weekend, 1 time to say "I got to race a World Cup" and if that means we throw a load of money we don't have at it, then as i say, fuck it.

[DirkPitt74]

You could always try a go fund me or similar.
A local lad did it a couple of years back when he got picked for World Champs.

[weeksy]

You could always try a go fund me or similar.
A local lad did it a couple of years back when he got picked for World Champs.

This place helped us out massively for his first Euro Champs. But I don’t like taking advantage of people

Either way, until we know if we’re getting the jersey, it’s all irrelevant as to how we afford it

We could get nothing and none of it matters

[weeksy]

https://dmrbikes.com/pages/james-weeks

[weeksy]

[weeksy]

Another 2 days done and he's flying and happy. Caersws on Saturday was a rainy misty mud-fest, but he had a lot of fun and did almost 20 laps.

We then had a nice night in the Premier Inn and food before heading to Dyfi on Sunday. That was massively interesting as it's the home of the Atherton of course, so in it's element. Again he had a top day and learnt loads, going faster and hitting the pro-line jumps which are just honestly ridiculous. (GoPro footage to follow).
I had a lot of chat with a lot of parents, which was very very interesting indeed. Lots of World Cup discussions and plans for 2026 with all them.
Sadly one of the main rivals did his collar bone yesterday which is a real shame as not only is he a rival but me and him and his dad get on really well, so i was pretty gutted for him. But that's the nature of the sport sadly.

It's now a full stripdown, clean and sort for the bike, the kid and will take a while as i've got a few things that need sorting on his trail bike as well.

Tired though after riding Dyfi yesterday myself and then finishing with a nice 4 hour drive home from there to completely wipe me out

The game is ON !

[MingtheMerciless]

Not sure if you’ve seen this but maybe a useful go faster item:

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/5dev-rele ... -bike.html

[weeksy]

Not sure if you’ve seen this but maybe a useful go faster item:

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/5dev-rele ... -bike.html

Can't see the logic myself. In terms of weight i don't get it, plus you'd need compatible cranks. Of all the things we could buy, this ain't on the list.

[weeksy]

I noticed at Dyfi his gears were AWFUL !!!! Like all over the place.

Yesterday night i threw in a new inner... still the same. Gears 1-4 were horrible to get working, the rest were not bad. So i then threw in a new outer... weirdly that didn't fix things at all either.

So a bit more diagnosis shows that some gears with the clutch engaged are awful and some are fine.... but also the gear changes are awful with it engaged but not with it turned off.
All of that leads to the clutch mechanism needing a clean up, service and grease.

However, i don't particularly like Shimano gears anyway and 12sp GX kit is £100 for mech and shifter, so if i can't get it lovely with a clutch service, then it'll just get some GX stuff on there instead and the Shimano stuff thrown in the 'emergency spares' box.

Watching some YT vids last night the service of the clutch is simple enough and will take 10 mins, so that'll be done today. Weirdly, mine is the exact same bike and my gears are absolutely silky smooth. Even though mine gets used more and in equally bad weather.

[weeksy]

Untitled by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Well it's better, but IMO it's not perfect. If you leave too much tension on the clutch it's a bit 'grindy' . With the clutch off, it's golden, but really you want it on of course. I'd go as far a 8/10 but as you can imagine, that's still 2/10 too far away for me personally.

I think we'll go for the GX stuff as i prefer SRAM stuff anyway. Even though this will be on his bike rather than mine, i prefer working on GX as well. If it goes as smoothly as i expect, i'll likely throw the GX onto mine as well.

[weeksy]

Wife is away and we were bored so went to Cardiff. Mrs Weeksy was like “what do you mean you’re in Cardiff!!!”

But we like a bit of crazy. He didn't land his first try, the 2nd was pretty decent. But after that, he pretty much nailed every one. Didn't quite get to try it on the harder ramps, but was a lot of fun. Didn't just go there for flipping, was a lot of riding for him as well

[weeksy]

Another weekend of mud and slop, this time at Tirpentwys trails with me as uplift driver. It's not exactly the most enjoyable bit of my bike time, but it's OK being with the lads (and girls) chatting rubbish and having fun.

I then was sorting his bike this morning and looking at the rear linkage and thinking "that's a bit muddy in there... " but then as i cleaned it I could see more mud in unreachable places. I used a cable tie to get that bit out, then another...

Next thing you know i've got the Chainguide off, the cranks off, wheel off, the linkage is all apart and the chainstay hanging by a bungee to keep it out of the way. It's not a hard job but is slightly time consuming, but it's deffo a rewarding job and you get to check all the bearings and linkages etc.

Throw it all back together and torque everything correctly and we're good to go

Untitled by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Untitled by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[Alan PBTD]

Long time no speak but must say I do enjoy all the updates and read from afar

On the funding issue have you thought / looked into a U Tube Channel ? I follow a few and it seems once you get to decent numbers of followers etc there is some money to be made.

Looking at what u post on here in theory there wouldn't be a lot more needed to put some programmes together and would be cool for the boy to get into it as well. He'll prob get more followers than us old folk.

Aye the ''Go fund Me'' is an easy choice but piggin 'eck they like their rather slice of the pie.

All the best to you, the missus and the boy.

Alan and Helen.

[weeksy]

Hey mate.

The YT thing requires social interaction which he simply won’t do. There is a niche there of course to be tapped but it’s hugely played out currently and requires a bit of luck to just get the right timing and personality to do so. He’s just not that kind of lad I’m afraid. The numbers for YT are huge to make any money. You can’t even start monetising without 1000+ followers.

We won’t be going down the GoFundMe route. We’ve done it once and it was great but people have done enough.

We’re in a great position in terms of sponsors that he gets tonnes of things and help and the main thing we need currently is a GB jersey lol. But we can’t buy them, they’re allocated.
Whatever happens, we’ll go wherever we’re offered, even if my job ends next month and I have to work another 10 years to pay for it. We’ve gone ALL IN as parents and we’re not stopping now just because it gets complicated.

Keep checking the thread and his instagram though mate, great to see you here droop in

[Alan PBTD]

Nice to speak to you...

..A mate of ours' daughter, as a late teenager was England's Volley Ball Captain - around the time of the 2012 Olympics. Soon after England were invited to a big competition in South Amercia - Rio I think, as it was combined with a beach volleyball competition at the same time.
There was a lot in the press about ''investing in our Olympic future'' etc etc but when he asked the team manager about funding they said cock all was available and if they went he would have to fit the bill. Even down to the sun cream !

Thought ''Sod it'' and went - found the £'s somehow.. Had a great time - with some awesome pictures.

Got a nice modeling contract soon after - which helped with the credit card bills..

So the moral is - you'll be sorry if you don't go !

[weeksy]

So the moral is - you'll be sorry if you don't go !

That isn’t a world we live in. If we get permission, we go

[weeksy]

Yesterday was spent in the evening down in Winchester at the gym. The boy has a new personal training coach 10TENTHS Performance Coaching. It's a paddock mate of ours Laurie. He's now finished his degree/masters etc and is working as a full time coach/trainer.
We're collaborating with Lon in his new venture.

The boy and him seem to have hit a sweet-spot of passion, shared knowledge of racing/riding and training and they're both working incredibly hard this winter. The boy is already a bit of a finely tuned specimen of a human lol, but now he's getting bigger, stronger and more powerful both on and off the bike too. He seems to have grasped that this winter is the biggy for him and the training now will pay off more than any others. So even with the wind, the rain, the slop, he's out riding. Then night after night after night either pounding the gym/bike.

Well, not tonight though as it's a schlep over to Cardiff again for us to Rampworld for skills training. Even though Mrs Weeksy doesn't quite get how indoor ramps can equate to getting faster on a bike in DH, it's all skills, control, riding.... So we're heading down for a few hours and a late bed-time.

[weeksy]

Had a sticky freehub on the Bontrager Pro 30s. They're the standard wheels that came with our Fuels.

The darn freehub endcaps were utterly insane to get off.. Jeez that took some effort and patience.

Then onto the freehub and main bearings. The main bearings i bought a press kit for which allows the internal spacer to go all the way through, which last night was the first time of using.



These turn a faffy job into a breeze and they were replaced easily.

The freehub was a bit more complex. At the bottom end you've got 2 bearings, then a spacer, then a circlip then a top bearing... The 2 bearings are a struggle, then getting to the circlip is somewhat challenging... but to get to that other circlip you've got a long spacer which takes up the free space. That also was somewhat of a sod....

Then you've got the fact that you lose all the pawl springs, which are the teeniest tinyest things ever... But eventually you find everything and replace the affected bearings there too You've then got a working freehub.

Considering the new freehub is £85, i'm not actually sure it was worth the time and effort

[Mr Moofo]

Had a sticky freehub on the Bontrager Pro 30s. They're the standard wheels that came with our Fuels.

The darn freehub endcaps were utterly insane to get off.. Jeez that took some effort and patience.

Then onto the freehub and main bearings. The main bearings i bought a press kit for which allows the internal spacer to go all the way through, which last night was the first time of using.



These turn a faffy job into a breeze and they were replaced easily.

The freehub was a bit more complex. At the bottom end you've got 2 bearings, then a spacer, then a circlip then a top bearing... The 2 bearings are a struggle, then getting to the circlip is somewhat challenging... but to get to that other circlip you've got a long spacer which takes up the free space. That also was somewhat of a sod....

Then you've got the fact that you lose all the pawl springs, which are the teeniest tinyest things ever... But eventually you find everything and replace the affected bearings there too You've then got a working freehub.

Considering the new freehub is £85, i'm not actually sure it was worth the time and effort

I would have just bought a new freehub (or non Bonty wheels)

[weeksy]

Well the Pro5 is £240 even at trade price, which is a lot more than the £10 of bearings. But i do absolutely get your point

We've had them over a year so it's not terrible, but next time it'll get a Hope i rekon.