The journey from small guy to teenager...

MTB, Road, Cyclocross, Running, walking, Rowing, Weights / Cardio, Diet, training plans
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weeksy
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

Post by weeksy »

MrLongbeard wrote: Sun Sep 15, 2024 11:08 pm I'm seriously surprised how may parts y'all get through / destroy.
I get you're hammering them at every opportunity, but they don't seem to be made / up for the task.
It's weight/strength really. If you make everything double the weight it'd last forever, but be impossible to ride. I guess you'd argue carbon is never up to the task of doing this really, but they chose it so we left it on.

As you may gather from the post, it's not just us, it's literally everyone.
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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So it looks like we've got a little more crazy on the cards.

Next weekend is Hopton / Pearce uplift day
weekend after is Hopton Pearce race, final round of the series
It then seems that the weekend after is Bellwald in Switzerland for the IXS DH series. A mate of his invited him over for the trip, they'll be in an appartment for a few days close to track and giving it a go. I REALLY wasn't expecting this one but it'll sure be a welcome weekend away for him and his mate. It'll be proper weird not to be there, but to head over too would be costing me £500-700 and there's just not budget for that at the moment this year.
https://www.ixsdownhillcup.com/en/race/ixs-dhc-6-2
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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weeksy wrote: Sun Sep 15, 2024 9:01 pm
2 x full set headset bearings to order
1 x Trek/MRP chainguide to order
2 x front wheel bearings on Bontrager to swap
1 x HS2 220mm rotor to order
1 x gazebo leg to order and replace
Ordered
Ordered
Replaced
Ordered
Ordered

Bike fully stripped and cleaned, new front wheel refitted. Rear wheel is squeaking on rotation so needs a strip, clean and check what item is causing that but shouldn't be too hard.

Cleaned and sorted chain guide which needed some adjustment due to being a smidgen too close between tensioner and chainring.

Jobs then.
Rear wheel squeak
New bars
New grips
Check front pads
Fit new HS2 220 on front

That should be it for both Hopton weekends, it'll then get a full strip before Bellwald IXS
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

Post by MingtheMerciless »

MrLongbeard wrote: Sun Sep 15, 2024 11:08 pm I'm seriously surprised how may parts y'all get through / destroy.
I get you're hammering them at every opportunity, but they don't seem to be made / up for the task.
Think of high end MTB's as like works WRC cars. High performance but longevity isn't really a factor as that'll add weight.
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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https://www.ixsdownhillcup.com/en/race/ixs-dhc-6-2

So he's entered into the IXS Downhill Cup race in a few weeks time now. There's still some discussions with his mate on logistics, but i don't think i'll be booking my Tunnel just yet... However, you never know.

It'll be awesome for him to go racing in Europe again this year which is kinda funny as at the start of the year we didn't even think we'd race in Europe once, let alone twice. But if this is the way the sport is heading and it sure looks that way, then he better get used to the travel and driving as we'll potentially be doing it a bit more in the coming years.

He's already got some excellent racers from the UK entered, the 2 main ones being the guys in 3rd and 4th at weekend just gone, but i'm hoping he can use a quieter paddock and the fact they know eachother anyway to use their speed to jump on wheels and pick up some more speed from them. Especially as none of them have raced there before.
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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Unusual to have a day at home but today was it as no races on this weekend.
So did a few little jobs that I've just not seemed to get around to.
First up was replacing the gear outer. On the Session this is such a faff of a job. But last weekend when fitting the new cranks the Madison Saracen tech commented that the gear changes were crap. It wasn't that long since I did the inner so suspect was the outer.
I used a reverb double barb to join the old line to the new one but then found it's too big for the frame opening port by the headset/head tube.
So the works came out which means I can reverse feed it from just by the saddle opening on the top tube, that was ok.
It also meant I could check and grease/clean the headset at same time.
You then get to feeding it through into the chainstay, it's got a really goofy routing there with crazy bends in it, but this time I trimmed the old outer and used a long inner to join both parts together and then I could pull it through using the inner, worked a treat and took only a minute instead of 45 mins of swearing last time i did the outer.
New gear cable then fitted and indexed and it shifts lovely.

Last little job was a crappy rounded bolt that holds on the top idler guide.
ImageIMG_20231211_133506 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

The standard cover leaves a lot of space so I fitted this one but I've noticed last time I took it off that one of the bolts was crap. I wasn't sure I'd get it off easily but it went better than expected and is now replaced with a new m4x10.
I'm trying to get hold of the guy who makes them as a mate keeps dropping chains and wants one. We've not dropped ours. (Well kinda, when our idler teeth were knackered we did but that wasn't the fault of the cover).

Pads were checked and rotors cleaned and all headset parts put back and torqued.

Ready for racing next weekend ☺️
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

Post by MingtheMerciless »

Time for a SRAM electric mech? In 5 years the one on my Curtis has needed adjusting once when the B tension screw unwound itself for reasons unknown and a set of pulleys.
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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MingtheMerciless wrote: Sun Sep 22, 2024 4:08 pm Time for a SRAM electric mech? In 5 years the one on my Curtis has needed adjusting once when the B tension screw unwound itself for reasons unknown and a set of pulleys.
Don't think they do a 7sp short cage mech mate.
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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RIght then, we're getting to that time again, race weekend.

We're back in Hopton again after just visiting there last weekend for practice day. But obviously with a slight different vibe as it's race weekend.
Conditions will have changed a LOT due to being pretty dry at the weekend and then it's been monsoon season since then. This weekend is looking drier, but i think the trails will be destroyed already and a mud-slop bath anyway, if not by Sat afternoon, then deffo by Sunday races.

We're going in armed with an Argotal DH pair currently, but with a Hydrotal on the spare front just in case

It's the last round of the Pearce championship and the boy is sitting in P3 in the title race, but it's a slightly spurious one as every rider drops 1 race out of 8, giving a total of 7/8 for the overall. Once i knock off the riders 1 race he's actually sitting 4th overall, but it's very very close between 3/4/5/6/7 so whatever comes this weekend will decide where they all finish. Sadly our mate Trowbs who's in P5 is out with a broken humerous, which he's not finding very amusing at all. So he's not in the race for P3 any more, which is a shame as he's been flying lately.
The boy isn't going into this weekend as full of beans as i'd hoped after his excellent showing in the last National, mostly because of the uplift day last weekend where he struggled against a mate due to some flat corners at the top and being unable to hold his wheel there. George has won races this season so it's not like he's rubbish by any stretch, but the boy was a little disappointed to lose out.
That said, he generally goes OK in the wet, so we'll so what happens.

The bike is running sweetly at the moment with a new chainguide fitted and ready to roll (was tested at weekend) everything else is 100%. We had a weird one at the weekend as i fitted new bars to the Session, same length, same upsweep/backsweep and rise but he couldn't get on with them. Sadi he felt like his hands were falling backwards. To resolve that i fitted the old bars which were pen-marked on location/angles but he only got 1/2 a run in and it monsooned so hard to say. But a little weird.
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

Post by Noggin »

I can confirm that a broken humerus is NOT funny at all, despite what the name and people might tell you!! :(

Get well soon to Trowbs and best of luck to Weeksy08 :banana-wrench: :banana-wrench: :banana-wrench: :banana-wrench:
Life is for living. Buy the shoes. Eat the cake. Ride the bikes. Just, ride the bikes!! :bblonde:
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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Trowbs is out for 3 months according to Docs today. Ouch!!!



Preview/ review of 2023 Bellwald
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

Post by Mr Moofo »

weeksy wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 6:26 pm Trowbs is out for 3 months according to Docs today. Ouch!!!



Preview/ review of 2023 Bellwald
When I broke my humerus- fractured the ball joint all the way through, impacted it by about 10 degrees, and fractured the side, it took me a good 3 months to get back on a bike. But I was told not to fall on that shoulder for 12 months “or it will break again”.
But I was 58
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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P6 in run 1, not awesome, not terribly bad.

Let's see what happens for run 2 but he ideally needs a better run for 3rd in the overall Pearce standings.
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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Well the craziest of crazy weekends was once again upon us. Hopton for Pearce.. The boy wasn't in the best mindset as the weekend before there he wasn't in love with the track. But after an evening of banter and a REALLLLLLLLY cold night in the tent on Friday we woke on Sat for practice day and he was happy all day, the bike was sweet, the track was sweet and everyone of him and his mates were having an ace time.

Until it went a little wrong. Isaac who he's going to Switzerland next weekend came in looking sorry for himself. He'd lost a chainstay/pivot bolt from the bike... Not only that but it had completely stripped the frame thread. That was game over completely..
So me and his dad discussed some plans, we had an option from a mate of borrowing their 2020 Session, great option but they have it for sale on PB and they were not feeling the love for taking it to Switzerland. In the meantime we found 2 cracks in the chainstay on the Fury... so it really was game over for the frame.
We moved onto "you can borrow my Status 160 for both Pearce and Switzerland" but it was a 3 hour drive and he wasn't feeling it for a 160 in Switzerland, so we thought "wonder if we could fit his Fox 40s"... So that was then the new plan A and B.
The boys then went nuts on Instagram/media and found a mate who would sell him a Fury frame !!! £300 but it was in Dyfi !!

So a plan was hatched, they'd pick up the frame on Sunday at 9am, i'd strip their broken Fury while they were collecting it and have all the bits ready.
ImageIMG-20240929-WA0000 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

They got back at 11.52 and i started work... It needed the shock, BB, headset, gears, brakes, chain, shifting etc... Then of course forks, wheels, seat.
His race run 2 was at 1.15 he had to leave to go up.... at 1.14 i'd finished the bike and sent him up for his race run. It was honestly bonkers getting it built in time, the headset wasn't quite 100% as the frame had offset cups fitted which took taller bearings i didn't have, i kinda made it work with some improvising.

While i was doing all the stripping i of course also had to concentrate on my boy and getting his bike race ready and out for it, as well as re-taping a tubeless setup for another mate who's wheel wasn't holding air. My boy came down in Run1 with a P6. He was a little unhappy as he really wants top 5s in Pearce now, so 6th wasn't quite there. His run was scrappy but sort of OK.

So our mate came down in P36 on his newly built bike, it's lower than you'd expect by 5-6 places for him, but it was completely new with a dodgy headset and he hadn't practiced at all today, so him and his dad were actually really pleased.

The boy was coming for his 2nd run and another mate had gone quicker on run 2 after stacking it on run 1, even though James went 2s quicker on run 2 he ended the race in P8.... again, a little disappointing but shows how far he's come to be disappointed with nicely inside the top 10 at a Pearce.
We suspected the results between him and some competitors went well, but in the end he finished P5 in the overall series results.
ImageIMG-20240929-WA0005 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

It'll be interesting when they put it online to see how far from P3 he was.

Back at the bikes and van i stripped the headset on the Fury and knocked out the headset cups and replaced them with standard offset cups that run the stock Fury bearings, which i had 4 of in spares :D
His bike is perfect and ready to go.

I've got to investigate the Session headset as it still troubles me just a bit as it's never quite 100% for week after week, sometimes feeling a bit sluggish... weird.
His bearings have been GREAT for months on the Session now, but the bottom pivot ones have given up the ghost and developed a bit of play, but that's 30 mins work tomorrow evening to get that done. The Session will then be cleaned and he'll be sent off for IXS in Switzerland.

He's very excited that he picked up £35 in cash for P5 overall... his first prize money...

I need a lie down in a dark room.
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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Just seen the final series standings

3rd. 520points

4th. 514 points

5th. 512 points.

Now that was tight for him !!!! But he gave his all :)
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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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So we're onto Switzerland !!!!
https://www.ixsdownhillcup.com/en/race/ixs-dhc-6-2

Assuming it works, there'll be live timing on there... With the boy being a teenage boy, he'll probably message his mates instead of me mostly lol. So no idea how much i'll get from him while he's away.

the Session has been stripped, cleaned, rebuilt. Little jobs for this week were
Replacing headset components to give slightly more clearance as he was getting a bit of drag from the dirt/dust cap.
Replacing main pivot bearings.
New 220mm HS2 Front rotor on the Pro5 wheel
Full bolt check on everything (loose cassette tool rear pivot spacer sorted)
Brake bleed on the spare Code RSCs for the spares box
Full check of spares, kit, etc

All in all, not too much in truth, the bike has been running sweetly lately and everything is golden. He's got just about every spare possible apart from cranks and shifter (waiting for both to arrive). He's got spare every item of riding kit, so really he's all good.

It's going to be an adventure that's for sure.

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Re: The journey from small guy to teenager...

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Well the day never quite worked out correctly, they were supposed to get there for 12 but ended up being closer to 2. So they've missed the track-walk and the first 2 hours of practice, but have 4 hours left for today to work out where the track goes.

ImageI[url=https://flic.kr/p/2qkuZG3]Image

IMG-20241004-WA0005 by Steve Weeks, on FlickrMG-20241004-WA0004[/url] by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

ImageIMG-20241004-WA0006 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr