The journey from small guy to teenager...

[weeksy]

[MingtheMerciless]

Hmmm at a guess I’d say the mud tyres are going on now

[weeksy]

P12. National championships, bloody ace.

[weeksy]

Well there's an epic almost over. We're in a £31 Travelodge tonight near Preston as it's a bit far to do in 1 hit.

I guess it's a bit of a write up time. The race weekend is a weird thing, on Thurs I was lying in the van snoozing after the drive up from Weds night, completely chilled and relaxed. Bike was sweet, I was content.

But by Friday things change a little as more people arrive and the laps grow in number, he did 13 over the Thurs and Fri and did his first rim of the weekend.

It was a Nukeproof Neutron and fairly old, so not a major shock but transpired to be a bit complex. He's running 27.5 on the back now and we only have 2, but still have 2 spare 29s of course.

The complexity came from the ERD, effective rim diameter, this is what dictates the spoke length and 554 is apparently not that common so non of the rims we could lay out hands on were correct. Usually one of the wheel guys has a spike cutter so could have made them, but he'd forgotten it. Long chats took place and a paddock mate arranged for 5 Reserve rims to come up at 7am on Sat morning. They were 556 ERD so compatible. 

The rim was sorted while he was out practicing and trying to go fast on Sat morning, his times were decent he felt and the sunshine was helping us all. 

Seeding, well that brought rain of course, after 2.5 days of dry practice, seeding was wet. But he stuck in P15 which then somehow changed to P13, weird, but brilliant.

When you think back to his National race and his P2, lots of the top runners were out at Loudenville so missing the British round, so at best we thought P15 realistically for the National Champs. A few of the big hitters had DNF so they'd be off first in Cat on Sunday.

Sat night was the usual banter and chat and talking rubbish with beers. I stuck a new gear cable in his as he was having issues. He'd also killed his 2nd wheel of the weekend so it was off to buy another Reserve rims and another Nukeproof went in the bin. 

Sat night brought a lot of rain, with the morning rainy and storms predicted so they move practice 2 hours shorter and race runs accordingly. He was now running the Reserve on the back with a Kryptotal super soft. I'd been re tensioning the Nukeproof after every run with an average of 4-6 loose spikes showing 5 or less on the Park Tools tension gauge. But the Reserve was holding up ok thought practice. Instead of me chilling in the back of van or snoozing in the chair you're up and about all the time, walking to see the rider, the runs, checking he's ok and wheels are ok.

After run1 of practice he was complaining about the gears still, I noticed his mech was ridiculously stiff on the arm, so I whipped it off and threw on another, with a new inner, but it seems that one was removed previously as it was knackered so a 3rd mech came out and I got them sorted of acceptable. I'd checked the hanger with DAG and it was straight but the gears were still a bit crap. I need to find out why.

He went up in the rain, but he was dry as he'd had a shower and clean kit after the drenching of practice. fed and watered he was ready. 

We have a bit of a thing before he heads off with a fast bump and "go fast" before every run, practice or races. Some weird reason I forgot and as I walked away, he goes "I don't know what to do" ..... "Go fast mate, go fast" it brought a little lump to my throat that sometimes he's still a small boy inside 

Race runs are fraught with massive tension, especially the biggest race of the season, not that we expected the jersey or even top 10 (or 20 lol) but they're still tense, especially at Fort William. As the riders come down 1 by 1 Felix Griffiths was sitting in the hot seat. I see his rival George on the timing sheet as setting off, they're currently sitting in P1 and P2 in the overall British DH rankings, which is mostly because the fast lads are at WCs.

George popped in with a 5m 10 which was quicker than his seeding run by a fair bit, even in worse conditions.

I'm waiting for the boy and he pops into sight, I glance at the clock and he's looking ok. He drops in 4th at the time with a 4m 59, his target was a sub 5, so job done. He was happy as he's also beaten George, not only his rival but his mate. Our out mate Isaac was already down with a good time which ended up 25th.

Obviously after his seeding run there were still 12 more riders to come down so he's drop places of course from P4.

To put into context there were 9 current World Cup Juniors present this weekend. 

As it all played out the boy ended P12 and we were thoroughly ecstatic with that, a damn good job

It cost me a small fortune this weekend with 3 broken rims, 1 crap mech and 4000 litres of diesel but it's all worth it lol. Every penny.

[Taff]

Absolutely epic, I'm so chuffed for you guys, in that all of the hard work is translating into solid results that would have been a dream a few years ago

[weeksy]

[weeksy]

It's time for a bit of fun for him...

https://www.mbuk.com/articles/nominate- ... -year-2025

Nomination time for MBUK Newcomer of the Year has been requested by one of his sponsors, as well of course as submitting the boy for this.

I don't know if nominations from 'everyday Joe' counts for much, but it can't hurt

If you fancy nominating him based upon his exploits, well, crack on, we'd all appreciate it

[Mr Moofo]

It's time for a bit of fun for him...

https://www.mbuk.com/articles/nominate- ... -year-2025

Nomination time for MBUK Newcomer of the Year has been requested by one of his sponsors, as well of course as submitting the boy for this.

I don't know if nominations from 'everyday Joe' counts for much, but it can't hurt

If you fancy nominating him based upon his exploits, well, crack on, we'd all appreciate it

I put you down for the Lifetime Achievement award - but feel you might get pipped by an Atherton or Steve Peat

[weeksy]

[weeksy]

5 minutes lol



However that was seeding on Sat, it did whole of Sunday including race run looking exactly like that. It'll come off tomorrow but that's kinda good, kinda bad. Lol. 

[Mr Moofo]

Does it hold pressure?
If so, tell him to run with it - then he will be more careful next time

[weeksy]

Yes still good. It held for 4 runs

[MingtheMerciless]

Is it worth going carbon? Nobl TR37 or equivalent?

[weeksy]

Is it worth going carbon? Nobl TR37 or equivalent?

I'd argue there's more broken carbon than Alu there possibly. Everyone and I mean everyone was doing rims. People were on their last wheels by the race runs, some couldn't race.
Many broken riders, bikes, wheels.

It's honestly an animal of a place.

This is a run from our mate Isaac. When watching it keep in mind that the boy was 30s quicker

[weeksy]

So we've now got 7 days until we have to leave for Spain. Honestly at the moment i'm pretty fried, mentally and physically. It all just takes it out of you. So we've canned any away-day riding this weekend and i'll just ride locally. 

We've got a list of jobs as always but i'm sending the bike out to Rotec for them so i can just chill.  There's nothing i can't do myself, but at the moment i'm just done  

Gearing issues, i don't know if it's outer or mech, but it's just not quite right in all gears. I went to fit a new outer yesterday but somehow i have brake outer, not gear outer. GRRRRRR. I think potentially i need a new spare mech to take with us to Spain as well.

Wheel/rim. That needs stripping and a new rim fitting. Not sure if we'll get the Reserve back from warranty in time so it'll get built with whatever Rotec has/orders for now. If the Reserve comes in time it'll go with us in a box just in case.

After that it's really just a check-over and strip/sort. Things are getting a bit bonkers (aren't they always).

So we drive to Spain next week, we've got 4 days in La Molina for the European Champs, then on the Monday it's driving straight to Pal Arinsal Andorra for the day on the WCDH track for him.

After that we drive to Morzine for 11 days. Then leaving on the Thurs and driving straight to Llangollen for the British National from the Friday onwards. Eventually we'll get back on the Sunday night and collapse. 

I'm hoping Morzine is a bit more 'holiday' for me than some years, i don't think i'll be riding nearly as much as i may once have done, i'll be in the pool chilling and relaxing a bit i think.... but i'll get some riding in for sure as i've got mates out at the same time.

[weeksy]

He spotted the camera guy, so went for the T-bog

https://www.rootsandrain.com/photos/162 ... der/111960

1 handed seat grab

[millemille]

@weeksy massive, massive respect for you for smashing it out of the park with the whole "running a DH race team/being an epic dad".

Chapeau, my friend. Chapeau.

[weeksy]

@weeksy massive, massive respect for you for smashing it out of the park with the whole "running a DH race team/being an epic dad".

Chapeau, my friend. Chapeau.

Thanks mate... I dunno, it just seems the right thing to do, so we keep on doing it

[MingtheMerciless]

Re gearing, I’m sure you’ve checked it …..mech hanger alignment? B tension (if it’s got one).

[weeksy]

Re gearing, I’m sure you’ve checked it …..mech hanger alignment? B tension (if it’s got one).

Yes and yes mate. I honestly think it's the gear outer due to the routing through chainstay, but either way i've handed the bike to my LBS and said "make it perfect", he's honestly an awesome mechanic and massively into DH and also massively into the boy so he'll be getting it completely right before handing it over.