European championships DH @weeksy08 racing adventure.

[Yorick]

My comments were generic, rather than personal.

[Count Steer]

James is 15. There's time for him to do all the extra media stuff when/if he gets to the next level (if that's what he wants to do in the years to come). No good waiting until he's a superstar and then offering support. At the moment it's just about helping him do a couple of European races, let's not boil the ocean eh? If people want to they'll give support, nobody has to. The end. Or le fin.

All the same...allez! allez!, allez!

[weeksy]

[Potter]

Over on the other place it was all like "why don't you sell your Ebike" or "why don't you just race/do/etc less" it ended up with me having to almost justify my existence and if i wanted to go out and buy a beer, some dick would hold that against me.

I was going to pull the whole thing and just refund everyone...

Sad but not surprising, there are some really bitter people out there.

I'm not sure I agree with the comments saying that your boy should be the one doing it, let him do the racing and dad (as his manager) can raise the money, you don't want him subjected to the people who will throw abuse and unkindness at him. If he puts a video up or starts posting this stuff himself then he'll get grief from it, people can chip in or not chip in, but as you've seen some people will unload their bitterness and resent and I wouldn't want my lad subjected to it.

Just my opinion anyway.

[weeksy]

Over on the other place it was all like "why don't you sell your Ebike" or "why don't you just race/do/etc less" it ended up with me having to almost justify my existence and if i wanted to go out and buy a beer, some dick would hold that against me.

I was going to pull the whole thing and just refund everyone...

Sad but not surprising, there are some really bitter people out there.

I'm not sure I agree with the comments saying that your boy should be the one doing it, let him do the racing and dad (as his manager) can raise the money, you don't want him subjected to the people who will throw abuse and unkindness at him. If he puts a video up or starts posting this stuff himself then he'll get grief from it, people can chip in or not chip in, but as you've seen some people will unload their bitterness and resent and I wouldn't want my lad subjected to it.

Just my opinion anyway.

i was just about to start with "you'd be astounded at some of the comments".. but you wouldn't...

but, to follow, you'd be astounded at some of the comments with a young lass called Kara who's somewhat of an Instagram content creator, she's moved from being bloody rubbish to half decent on a MTB in the last 3 years, she's given a bike or two as sponsorship, but every vid she puts up she gets 50% of "yeah go " or "you're rubbish why are you sponsored".. It must be heartbreaking at times the levels of crap she gets thrown at her. And of course you're right, i don't want the lad to be subjected to that. Not that he's rubbish lol, but the fact that people out there are not always that nice. Although i don't always know why.

[wull]

Seems to be the norm with social media, you get absolute fuck nuggets of mammoth proportions.

When I have some spare cash I’ll throw some your way.

[Taipan]

I'm with Potter on this. You're his manager, you take care of the funds and raising of, and let the boy earn the points and wins. He has social media so we can follow on there if needed and i'm sure he thanks his sponsors anyway, but I gather there is a thread on his progress as well where you update everyone.

[Weeksy08]

Big thank you to everyone for helping get me to France, it’s going to be incredible and will be a great time. Updates will be on my thread but you can also find updates on my instagram @weeksy08.

[Couchy]

Over on the other place it was all like "why don't you sell your Ebike" or "why don't you just race/do/etc less" it ended up with me having to almost justify my existence and if i wanted to go out and buy a beer, some dick would hold that against me.

I was going to pull the whole thing and just refund everyone...

Sad but not surprising, there are some really bitter people out there.

I'm not sure I agree with the comments saying that your boy should be the one doing it, let him do the racing and dad (as his manager) can raise the money, you don't want him subjected to the people who will throw abuse and unkindness at him. If he puts a video up or starts posting this stuff himself then he'll get grief from it, people can chip in or not chip in, but as you've seen some people will unload their bitterness and resent and I wouldn't want my lad subjected to it.

Just my opinion anyway.

i was just about to start with "you'd be astounded at some of the comments".. but you wouldn't...

but, to follow, you'd be astounded at some of the comments with a young lass called Kara who's somewhat of an Instagram content creator, she's moved from being bloody rubbish to half decent on a MTB in the last 3 years, she's given a bike or two as sponsorship, but every vid she puts up she gets 50% of "yeah go " or "you're rubbish why are you sponsored".. It must be heartbreaking at times the levels of crap she gets thrown at her. And of course you're right, i don't want the lad to be subjected to that. Not that he's rubbish lol, but the fact that people out there are not always that nice. Although i don't always know why.

It’s one problem of social media it’s given a voice to those that should never be heard.

[weeksy]

Accommodation booked

Screenshot_2024-01-23-19-13-05-275_com.airbnb.android by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Right then, so. We've made a change to this after discussions with British Cycling and Katy the coach.

We're now going a few days earlier and racing in the European Championships in Champery. It's a greater prestige event, world cup track, massive event and the ridiculous possibility of becoming European Champion.

It's the place of one of the most famous DH races in history with Danny Hart being spectacularly commentated on by Rob Warner


We've now booked our train and working on the plan for extra days accomodation.

The discussion will continue in his racing thread mostly, but wanted to give you the info

[Skub]

I bet you are all buzzing.

[weeksy]

I bet you are all buzzing.

We are mate yes. It'll be slightly tense as we currently are not 100% on entry dates due to the French Federation being, well, French. But we should be able to make all this work.

It'll take some changes in training and riding for the boy as it's a very different course, so he's started a new programme of training and we're off to different places that more closely match the terrain he'll be riding.

Our only question is whether we stay the extra days in Morzine which is 1hr 10 driving in the mornings, or whether we do the first 2 nights in or around Champery.

[weeksy]

Just booked our parking, got and area 10m x 5m for our van and teammates van along with gazebo.
€100 for the parking but no concept of how close or far away it is from where we need to be

[Yorick]

Just booked our parking, got and area 10m x 5m for our van and teammates van along with gazebo.
€100 for the parking but no concept of how close or far away it is from where we need to be

Shit. How many nights?

[weeksy]

Just booked our parking, got and area 10m x 5m for our van and teammates van along with gazebo.
€100 for the parking but no concept of how close or far away it is from where we need to be

Shit. How many nights?

Nights? That's for the daytime.

Nights are £125 per night for the accommodation

[Yorick]

Just booked our parking, got and area 10m x 5m for our van and teammates van along with gazebo.
€100 for the parking but no concept of how close or far away it is from where we need to be

Shit. How many nights?

Nights? That's for the daytime.

Nights are £125 per night for the accommodation

Double Fark

[weeksy]

I don't know how much you'd expect it to be. It's a resort, ask noggin how much any accommodation is for her resort and I'll be it's that easily.

In the grand scheme of things the European Championships is an extravagance of course, but it's all part of the big picture both in terms of racing, sponsors and just real life experiences for the boy (and us)
By the same account, it's also a small part of the season, last year cost approx £15k to go racing.
But in top of that there's the time, we're leaving tomorrow lunchtime and getting back Sunday night at 8om. So it's a massive commitment all round.

But, it's worth it when podiums comes off or the boy has a good run. It's just what we do.

[Count Steer]

Did you plump for Champery or Morzine? Probably worth extra to be closer.

[weeksy]

Did you plump for Champery or Morzine? Probably worth extra to be closer.

We're parked in the official competitors area in Champery but we're staying in Morzine. We couldn't get any accommodation viable in Champery. It's 1hr 10 driving for 3 mornings which in truth barely registers to me and him these days

@Couchy and @crust are making the trip too.

We may even have his mechanic there too, even though he's not often the mechanic it would be cool for things like wheel rebuilds

Entry for the event opens on Monday morning at 8am so hopefully that'll be smooth