The journey from small guy to teenager...

[weeksy]

LOL the dealer did that, not me

[weeksy]

Another long and somewhat epic weekend.

Rocked up on Sat bright and early after a 5.15am start and driving to Bucknell in Shropshire. It was then a day of practice for the lad with me and the other parent doing camping, BBQ, tools etc duties.
James and Drew did 8-9 runs as my lad had never been to Bucknell before so wanted some course knowledge. I was slightly worried at the end as Drew kept coming down 20s before him. Lol.

An evening of BBQ, beer and trying not to expire from the heat followed with laughs and banter.

Sunday brought lower temps and overcast, but really nice for racing
The bike was ready to roll.





The boy was ready to go as well. The weather gods didn't quite live up to expectations sadly as when we were waiting for the Youth class the slight drizzle started. It was more psychological rain, but it didn't quite stop so got a little greasy in final section.
The boy came down with a solid time and run but "couldn't quite stay off the brakes with the wet"

He stuck in a 17th place out of 53 riders, his best result with Pearce and once again, right in the mix for places. He was right with Drew on 3/4 sectors, but lost a bit to him and Drew stuck in 13th, again a great result for Drew as well as weeksy08.



Then the bigger rain came in half and hour and drenched the track, 3 hours of rain. The fast guys were coming down 15s slower than mine, so we saw little point doing run 2 and called it a day. You could argue a bit more bike time is cool but we've got races on the next 3 weekends so pointless risking anything.

Tired and having a beer.

Video below of the run in to the line.

[weeksy]

IMG-20230911-WA0005 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

IMG-20230911-WA0011 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

IMG-20230911-WA0013 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

IMG-20230911-WA0016 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

IMG-20230911-WA0032 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Mostly the same as you've seen. But his version

[weeksy]

Last night was a properly interesting evening. We met up with @ianpv and his boy for a chat at Elephant Man where they're both racing this weekend. Me and the lad were with Katy and Drew and lapping the track using uplift, they got 10 runs in 2 hours on the race track.
What made it interesting was some of the tactics, training, coaching etc. They were working on line choices and with James and Drew being almost exactly matched on the first few runs, it was great to then test different lines and see if a rider gapped another, one high line, one low line, one inside on a turn, one outside.. Then see the consequences of the actions. My boy also did a fair bit of testing and swapping from the Privateer to the Trek. It's potentially a pedally track on the top section so was interesting to see on timed runs which was quicker... But also interesting to see where he lost time or gained on Drew in sections to compare together.
Really was a cracking night and everyone came away from it happy and laughing.

We were using the GoPro for timing which gave times of
1.07.2 for the Trek
1.07.4 for the Privateer
Considering he's got the Trek setup better i'd argue in terms of suspension that's pretty impressive from the Privateer and not what i was expecting.
The boy last raced this track in MArch of this year, coming in 4th place and a race run of 1.09.2 in what were arguably better and grippier conditions. So another interesting little thing picked up there too. The next 7 riders behind him were all within 1s, so he's going to have to bring his A game anyway
It'll be different on Sunday anyway as the rain is coming Sat and Sun, but we'll have a decent array of tyres to pick from, which won't give him ulitmate grip of course as nothing can do that, but it'll give him as much grip as anyone else.

[weeksy]

Lap from last night.

[Count Steer]

Lovin' the soundtrack. 'Oof! Ooah! Phffwt!'

Looks a really nice course.

[weeksy]

Lovin' the soundtrack. 'Oof! Ooah! Phffwt!'

Looks a really nice course.

I've not actually played it with sound

edit. Yeah he's enjoying it

It's funny watching how he rides.. I've ridden the track a bit and raced it too. My time was a 1.30. So 22s off his pace and you can see that some of the 'features' he hits don't even exist in his world... they just disappear underneath him.. In my world, they're 'substantial' features. It's comical to watch.

I do need to get this upload quality sorted as it's bloody pathetic at the moment in 480, i'm recording it in full HD as well.

[DefTrap]

Lap from last night.

LOLZ. I reckon I would have hit every single one of those trees square in the forehead.

[Noggin]

I rarely watch his videos cos they scare me!!! And that one did - I wasn't much of a cyclist anyway, but now I just can't imagine the skills involved to do that!!!
Full respect

[weeksy]

Getting there on the settings... Hopefully this looks better, but if not you should be able to increase the resolution.

[weeksy]

I rarely watch his videos cos they scare me!!! And that one did - I wasn't much of a cyclist anyway, but now I just can't imagine the skills involved to do that!!!
Full respect

Doing that is simple enough.... Doing that at his speed is a whole different game !

[Count Steer]

Oh, and the previous set of pics could be used to illustrate 'look where you want to go'. Eyes like lasers

[weeksy]

Oh, and the previous set of pics could be used to illustrate 'look where you want to go'. Eyes like lasers

It's a different world isn't it... the focus the kids have, everything is just dialled... and don't forget, my boy is 'OK'... rather than a Superstar of the sport.

[weeksy]

[Count Steer]

'Oh ' Language young man!

'I ain't got no gears!' Mechanic!!!! A word if you please.

[weeksy]

'Oh ' Language young man!

'I ain't got no gears!' Mechanic!!!! A word if you please.

First time we've ever heard him swear

[Noggin]

First time we've ever heard him swear

[Count Steer]

'Oh ' Language young man!

'I ain't got no gears!' Mechanic!!!! A word if you please.

First time we've ever heard him swear

It's one of those growing up things, first tooth, first steps, first day at school, first 'Oh '

[weeksy]

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/it-doesnt ... acers.html

Fantastic article about junior/privateer racing in WCDH series. Obviously it only really is of full interest if you're somewhat involved, but as that's what is the boys longer term dream/goal, then it's of massive interest to me.