The journey from small guy to teenager...

[weeksy]

https://www.rootsandrain.com/event14062 ... n/results/

[weeksy]

Friday straight from work it was up the semi back way to Wales. It was slow as it was a BH weekend and we got there after about 4 hours.
He went on a track walk and we cooked food and had beers.

Eventually after meeting and greeting tonnes of paddock mates, it was bed for a bloody freezing cold night sleep, or lack of it.

Sat brought practice, with the new pivot spacer his bike was perfect and 21/22 in the Kryptotals once again all was going fine. He was loving the track and looking quick.
Several riders needed spanner work on Sat from a brake bleed, to seatposts issues and a gear inner and outer.
After practice it was beer and banter then one of the lads asked about his boys rear wheel. It had so much play it was barely attached
So his rear wheel was stripped down after confirming we had all the correct bearings and replaced. He just stood there looking bewildered as me and another set about it. Job done.

After a slightly less cold night in tent but still a rubbish sleep, we were met with sunshine again



Coffee and bike check done and a short practice session. Which brought another 2 mechanicals to the gazebo, one for a shock issue and a snapped gear cable.
Race run 1, he came down in P5 and we were reasonably happy with that apart from the fact his mate Geordie pipped him and was sitting in P2. Damn.
But he'd made some mistakes and felt he had more.
Pizza and a beer and race run 2 was upon us.
His mate Trowbs hadn't put in the best run 1 and was in 9th, but came down and stuck it in P5 this demoting the boy to 6th.
He came down 2.2s quicker on run 2 and put it in P4. Whoop.
Sadly it was short lived as the lad he'd stolen P4 from put it back into P3 and we were back in P5. George ended up P3, which was ace for him.

I can't honestly see how the weekend could have gone a lot better, he was fast, happy, positive and smooth. Everything you want. He was 1s off 2nd place, it's that fine a margin at these races.
A long slog home got us back at 9ish, unloading the van was an hour and now I'm collapsed on the bed.

It's a tough sport this is

[Dodgy69]

That Nathan would of got P5 in elite with that time. Well done James.

[weeksy]

Nathan is a World Cup junior racer and last year's junior series champ. So arguably he wasn't our target as we knew he'd win. The rest were the goal and 1s off the P2 we're pretty happy with.

[weeksy]

Today was tyre fitting, exciting huh. I fitted 4 different tyres to a spare Hunt wheel. I thought at FW last time that one of the tyres was knackered, but weirdly they all stayed up fine today.

So we've got 3 rear wheels and 2 fronts for the weekend, which is of course Fort William again for British National. 

I have to admit I'm tired, so so tired. Lol. I was out this morning on the Fuel for a couple of hours and the fitness isn't bad, but I'm just tired, stiff and achy. Lol. But, we're going up and seeing what we can do again. 

We've been having a LOT of next bike discussions in the weekend, more than I'd care to remember lol but I still don't have much of an answer yet. We do have a shortlist of 3 main players

Atherton a200

2026 Session 

Zerode G3

I know which I think it'll be, but I'm keeping the options open until he's done the day at Atherton. But if it goes how I expect, I'll be telling them to start building it soon. However it'll likely be frame only rather than full bike. But I don't know if they can run an air shock yet, so another something I need to look into. They're also mullet and he's always got on with 29/29 and not preferred the mullet on any bike. That said, most things seem to be going mullet now, so he may have to forget that plan.

All good fun, it's an adventure. 

[weeksy]

randr-photo-15432320-4000px-by-fstop-media by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[Mr Moofo]

So which bike are you getting - the Atherton?

[weeksy]

So which bike are you getting - the Atherton?

Honestly no clue matey. We've got a demo the weekend after Fort William and in truth it comes down to 2 things

Preference
laptime

If the Atherton is slower than the Session it's a non-starter. Although if it's pretty damn close and can be dialled in over time then of course it's a contender. There's little things he doesn't like, the main one being 'mullet'.
However the mullet is fairly par for the course at the moment in DH bikes, including the Zerode G3 which is mullet only.
I would prefer the S200 in terms of cost and looks... but it's not my bike and i've been shown a few pics that show the build quality on the S200 isn't as good as the A200.
The easy option is the Session 2025, but we're waiting to see what happens for 2026 on them. they've added a load of adjustment to the development bike being used by a couple of riders, but whether anyone outside of pro levels needs the levels of adjustment is open to discussion of course.

If your question was different than that, in terms of what bike are YOU getting, meaning me... then i've been told in no uncertain terms i'm not good enough for a DH bike LOL. Which i thought was a little unfair from both of them, but arguably it's not completely unjustified. But if the cards fall nicely on this deal i'll arguably end up with his Session as mine for whatever i need.

[weeksy]

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/first-rid ... e-box.html

Well that's thrown another discussion point in...

[MingtheMerciless]

If you get the Canyon make sure it comes with a supply of drive side chain stays………#matewithbadexperienceofcanyonwarranty

[weeksy]

If you get the Canyon make sure it comes with a supply of drive side chain stays………#matewithbadexperienceofcanyonwarranty

It's a very very different one to previous years.

I'd say the 17th is going to make some decisions for him. Riding the Atherton will either seal or kill the deal stone dead. If it kills it, then that's either the Zerode or Session really.

[ChrisW]

randr-photo-15432320-4000px-by-fstop-media by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Shot.

[millemille]

randr-photo-15432320-4000px-by-fstop-media by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Was that taken during practise or qualification/racing?

[weeksy]

Practice. Race jerseys for racing (99% of time)

[weeksy]

Lots of discussions on the PB thread about the Canyon, both in terms of it being over-techy in terms of pivots/bearings and quite a few horror stories on warranty like above.

So basically the Canyon has moved off/down the list of potentials.

I'd say arguably we're on a shortlist of 3 and in this order
Atherton
Zerode
Session

I know it arguably sounds a little daft to talk about it now, but some bikes like the Zerode and deffo the Atherton are not a buy now pick up tomorrow type scenario. All Athertons are made to order and there's a waiting list, so it's about 3 months currently from order to collection. In the ideal world i'd like the replacement by the end of the season so after the last proper races he can spend winter on it getting used to it. (Less important with the Session arguably)

[weeksy]

Well it's time again for the wheel killer that is Fort William. Yeah I know we were there just 10 days ago, but we're heading up there again tomorrow.

We're once again back to 3 rear wheels with a new Halo Skelta rim installed and a full complement of pawls and springs putting us back to 108 engagement on the wheel.

He's starting the weekend with the DT Swiss ex511 which has just had a full spoke tension and true. 

Had an interesting discussion about another potential bike deal which was crazy cheap, but all involves a bit of demo testing before we consider that option.

Anyway, that's for another day, tonight is sorting the van, kit, food, riding stuff etc....its never ending 

[weeksy]

Well a decent day done with no issues at all, so I'm chilling out now and then we're off to Airbnb for the night. It'll be nice to have a decent relax on a weekend evening.

Bike went well all day. Lots of chats with a few people and I was gifted a stunning machined piece for a TMD for when it arrives that fits nicer than the Tapered spacer as the Boxxers are 1 1/8. We also had a look over the TMD and had it apart etc to see and feel the differences.

Bike chats have continued but I still can't see him on a Trek next year. But it's still way too early to say.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

[weeksy]

[weeksy]

So the weekend has taken a bit of a twist/turn and I've become redundant. One of the bigger paddock teams have requested the boy pits with them for the weekend, they'll give him full paddock support, spannering, setup, repairs etc. it's a team we've known for a while and had some discussions previously but this is the first time doing this. There were some discussions last night between us all
It does mean I have no job now other than chilling and drinking coffee.
I have made up a sign to hang around my neck "will spanner for beers"
It'll be an interesting insight for him into a more professional world and as to whether that's something he wants to go down as a scenario. As always at the moment, I'm trying to stay out of it and letting him decide if it's yes or no. But as he's getting older, it's not on me to make all these decisions.

Interesting times

[weeksy]

He's done a pair of Saints cranks today. Snappes off a spline. Luckily  we carry spare new cranks so they've gone on. I just handed the box to mechanic lol. Bizarre.