The journey from small guy to teenager...

[Noggin]

I can't imagine for a moment that it will be the last!! PMA Weeksy FFS!!!

Lol still got to be realistic though.

Realism is ok, but don't let it dampen anything too much. You are all working bloody hard, and James is improving all the time - I am sure that he'll be up there again

[Taff]

Maybe the first and last time we'll ever see the boy ranked #1 in the country

rankings by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Love this

[Count Steer]

Maybe the first and last time we'll ever see the boy ranked #1 in the country

rankings by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

I'd get that nicely printed and framed to put on the wall above the trophies.

[weeksy]

As always the purchases keep coming.

5 new bearings for the Bontrager rear wheel, then a set of springs for it. A race entry for Feb, then another, then a new tyre


That should cover him for a while though now i hope.

Friday brings race entries for some of the big races which is going to rock in at £1000+

Should get his suspension back tomorrow from TFTuned and installed in the bike and it'll be ready for BPW this weekend. I'm looking forward to it.

[Count Steer]

£1000 for race entries? Wowser. Out of interest, do the prizes for those match the race fees? It looks a bit like the gold rush where the guys that made the money were the ones selling the spades, not the ones doing the digging. The guys making the money in DH might be the ones running the events!

[weeksy]

£1000 for race entries? Wowser. Out of interest, do the prizes for those match the race fees? It looks a bit like the gold rush where the guys that made the money were the ones selling the spades, not the ones doing the digging. The guys making the money in DH might be the ones running the events!

There's no prizes.. or none worth mentioning. The World Championship is £2500 for the winner... Which tells you all you need to know about the rest.

If i'm not mistaken, a National win gets you £250 for male. But that's only in the Elite class.. the rest get nothing.

Race entries per National is £103 this year.. there's a total of 6. Pearce is slightly less at £95, there's 4 of those. But all open this week.

Making it as a racer at the lower levels will not earn you money, not in the slightest. Well, not from prize money, you need sponsorships and a pro-contract for the money.. But i suspect there's less than 20 males making enough to do OK out of.

Weirdly, there's as many if not more who are non-racers, like Macaskill, Wibmer, Fairclough, these lads will be/are making money from Youtube/Insta/product sponsorship etc...

The racers outside the top 20 are racing for pride/fun/prestige, rather than money. This is why we have not only a racing plan, but a longer term plan for him outside of racing (but still in MTB) that should give him a career if that's what he chooses.

The guys running the events are not driving round in £100k motorhomes for sure, so you'd assume they're making a living, but it's not making them rich.

[Mr Moofo]

How long is a tyre lasting?

[weeksy]

How long is a tyre lasting?

Unknown currently it's not wear that's meant we've bought the new one.

So, he's got 2 sets of wheels for 29 on the Session.
Both are now running Argotal Super soft DH on the front and Kryptotal super soft DH on the rear.
Thoughts are that when conditions dry, he'd potentially be slightly better with a Kryptotal DH super soft on the front as it's better in drier conditions.

It's arguably over-thinking things a little, but that's what I do However, the tyres won't go to waste either way.

[Count Steer]

Re the entry fees. I hadn't realised the £1k covered so many races, I sort of assumed when you said 'big' races there'd be about 4... a bit like Classics. So the organisers won't be so minted as they'll have to hire a fair bit of kit/staff etc. Even some of the bike manufacturers seem to be in a bit of a hole at moment. Probably needs a bit wider TV coverage (I remember when 'cyclo-cross' was a regular thing on the Beeb (iirc) - as was 'moto-cross' which was every Saturday afternoon, pretty much).

[weeksy]

Re the entry fees. I hadn't realised the £1k covered so many races, I sort of assumed when you said 'big' races there'd be about 4... a bit like Classics. So the organisers won't be so minted as they'll have to hire a fair bit of kit/staff etc. Even some of the bike manufacturers seem to be in a bit of a hole at moment. Probably needs a bit wider TV coverage (I remember when 'cyclo-cross' was a regular thing on the Beeb (iirc) - as was 'moto-cross' which was every Saturday afternoon, pretty much).

DH is struggling with a new move from RedBull TV to Discovery+, this has meant a different structure where it's also at times hitting Eurosport (as does CX racing) but is technically pay-per-view rather than free. I get it free with SkyQ, but others are now having to pay. Or not as the case may well be. In the US and other locations it's even more complicated and expensive and they're now struggling to get an audience.

How they get past this and appeal to a wider market, i don't really know. But for me they need a plan to introduce different sponsors like the roadies and CX, they all have sponsors outside of their sport. MTB/DH you only get sponsored by closely associated companies, usually MTB related. Therefore if that market is struggling for various reasons then you're struggling to get in any money for the teams.

In the near future the lad/we will be announcing a new sponsor which isn't directly (completely) MTB associated and whilst it's only a small foot in the door for him, it's got potential to snowball in the longer term as well as being his first personal sponsor outside of his team association.

[weeksy]

Thanks to the lovely people at TFTuned the forks and shock are fully serviced and ready to roll for this weekend.
IMG_20240201_100421 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

IMG_20240201_102138 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

IMG_20240201_100442 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

IMG_20240201_102126 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Both are back in the bike along with a new Headset bearing top and bottom, just need to service the Hope Pro5 hub with new pawls and springs and then fit the wheels, torque up all the bolts and get it ready for BPW on Sat.

[weeksy]

IMG_20240201_151459 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Nationals all entered

Nationals by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

He better appreciate how bloody good I make his bike !

[weeksy]

28/01 100% FoD
18/02 Stile Cop booked
25/02 100% FoD booked
7/04 Gravity Rheola
14/04 National DH Rheola booked
11/05 Pearce Rhyd-Y-Felin booked
25/05 National DH Fort William booked
22/06 National DH Antur Stiniog booked
06/07 Pearce Bringewood booked
21/07 National DH Rhyd-Y-Felin (National Champs) booked
04/08 National DH Glencoe booked
10/08-17/08 Morzine booked
18/08 Les Meniures French DH Cup
31/08 Pearce Bucknell booked
14/09 National DH Rhyd-Y-Felin booked
28/09 Pearce Hopton booked

Just 2 left to book, but in our defence, they're not open yet to bookings

[weeksy]

[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.

[Mr Moofo]

^ fuck me, that was some riding ( and some commentating!)
Will James be beating that time?

[weeksy]

Lol well as he won the world cup with that, I doubt it. But it's unlikely to be that exact configuration of track either.

Katy was commenting the other day how much he's come on lately as a rider, which I also noticed last night when riding with him. I used to see his at specific point on the same track when we'd go down together, he'd be by tree A when I was in turn B etc. Yesterday he'd gone past it way earlier

[Mr Moofo]

Lol well as he won the world cup with that, I doubt it. But it's unlikely to be that exact configuration of track either.

Katy was commenting the other day how much he's come on lately as a rider, which I also noticed last night when riding with him. I used to see his at specific point on the same track when we'd go down together, he'd be by tree A when I was in turn B etc. Yesterday he'd gone past it way earlier

Ah, the teenage immortal / stupidity suppression gene