The journey from small guy to teenager...

[MingtheMerciless]

That's blood amazing riding along the tape like that! Chapeau!

[weeksy]

Race 1, currently in 1st place.

[weeksy]

[weeksy]

Well it was a bit of a short-notice thing this event and in some ways a bit of a slog. Friday afternoon brought a fair bit of traffic which made the trip down slow going... but eventually we got to where we're supposed to park at 6.15pm. It wasn't necessarily that we wanted to ride the track, but with a new venue i like to at least know where i'm going. Weirdly this one had the parking and the event over a mile apart (although it actually transpires we could have parked at the venue).
Once we'd checked it out it was food, beers and chilling.

The morning brought bacon, coffee and a chilly start. The lad was moaning about being a bit cold "MTFU and get on with it boy" was about all i could manage as far as inspiration goes. We ended up chatting with one of the organisers for a while on the way to the top and were discussing where we'd come from. "oh, if you've travelled all that way, you must be here for the win".... The boy laughed and said "i'd like a top 10, maybe a top 5..."... Me, i was a little more confident in his ability though and thought he'd be on for a podium based upon entrants.

With the Pearce race being cancelled it seems none of the big boys had ventured down for this, so i knew it was a weaker field that we'd often see. Giving us something of a decent chance. The course walk was done and the boy was picking his lines and his why and where to go... It was WAY better than i expected for a local race and i'm most envious of the wood these guys have to play on.

While practice was on i spent a lot of time watching and chatting to various people including a few coaches of the Project. 'Ewan' was apparently one of the kids to watch and he'd only done 2 runs in practice because he felt he was good enough to win. He was asking who my lad was and i pointed him out on the DH bike and flying over the next section.... I had to laugh as Ewan didn't look quite so confident.

Just in the lunch break things got really funny. Behind the pit area there was a trail with a 22' gap jump, not massively tall but a decent length jump... 5-6 of the 13-16's were lining it up, running into it and not hitting it. I said to the boy "go hit that, it'll freak them out".... What does he do, but he walks over, checks the take off and landing and hits it first run. Their faces of "oh dear" were funny. We then had a laugh chatting with another of his age cat, Felix who also hit it.... My lad then hit it again towing his mate from our village who we'd also taken to come and race.

There was semi-live timing through and app so as race 1 went off, i could see where things were.. 15-20 mins later he was down the track and looking smooth,... but so were plenty of others.
Run 1 brought a P1 in his class and the 3rd quickest time of the weekend. As i walked to meet him at the push up, i asked him and he replies with "that went OK, i'll be happy with fifth".... "oh, you'll love being first then"... His face was a picture and we were both beaming. He had a decent gap over 2nd place of 3s... which at this sort of level is pretty meaty a gap, but you never know if someone made a mistake or left a bit of safety margin in there.
His time overall was 2s off the best, whether he could make anything up was open to debate though, he felt he'd had a sweet run at it.

Run 2, he was one of the last off the gate.. but happily even before his run i knew he'd won as his new buddy Felix was the only one who'd close the gap and he'd only pulled 1s on my lad, so still 2 behind.
In run 2 he managed 1s quicker overall, but he didn't pick up anything on fastest of the day in the U16s as both of those guys picked up a second as well.

So not only his first podium, but of course his first win... BOOM !

THe weekend, well actually the week as we've been to Afan, Fod, bought a new bike, BPW, hotels, fuel, then with the racing, has been CRAZY expensive... but i feel so so happy for him that i've given up caring and he's crazy happy to have won. Of course we both know that in his next race which is a Pearce, he'll be finding things a lot harder in terms of terrain and position, but hey, we'll take the win all day.

The afternoon finished with chocolate ice-cream and Dominos pizza in the car on the way home... Doesn't get any better than that in a 13year olds mind.

Today will bring some strip down and checking of the bike... but even if he wants to go out riding, i don't think i actually have it in me !

I'm sure we'll be buying a few more pics, but you'll have to accept a re-post for now.

2022-04-23_10-29-30 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[Couchy]

Awesome result very happy for both of you

[singlesman]

That’s a fantastic result, big well done to both of you, all that hard work is paying off.

[weeksy]

2022-04-24_07-45-21 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-04-24_07-45-14 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-04-24_07-45-08 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-04-24_07-45-02 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-04-24_07-44-56 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-04-24_07-44-52 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[Dodgy69]

Boyz got style, well done Weeksy junior.

[Crosshair]

Awesome result and some more cracking pics
Well done JW

[weeksy]

This is next race up. Proper big boy stuff

[weeksy]

[weeksy]

[weeksy]

This was sooooooo big!!!!

I think the biggest thing he's done.

[Taff]

jeepers. nutz!!

I noticed that take off on the way up the hill...it's getting on for about 6ft high isn't it?

[weeksy]

jeepers. nutz!!

I noticed that take off on the way up the hill...it's getting on for about 6ft high isn't it?

Dan stood under it and it was taller than him

[Mr Moofo]

Did you then follow him?

[weeksy]

Did you then follow him?

You know better than to ask that. I do plenty of tricky stuff, but it's only tricky to me, not him

[Mr Moofo]

Did you then follow him?

You know better than to ask that. I do plenty of tricky stuff, but it's only tricky to me, not him

[weeksy]

I think he's looking forward to getting back onto his GT too as all weekend he's been on the Status. It was quite funny though as he was complaining about it all day at Parkend, nearly having me batter him to death actually. But then over the weekend did arguably his 2 largest jumps i've been. The one on Rubber Duck i posted about was honestly ridiculous.

Take off is the orangey bit by the tree on the left of shot, landing is where the lad is standing with the bike.... All of this on a bike he tells me he's not fully confident with

2022-05-31_07-55-36 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[Mr Moofo]

I think he's looking forward to getting back onto his GT too as all weekend he's been on the Status. It was quite funny though as he was complaining about it all day at Parkend, nearly having me batter him to death actually. But then over the weekend did arguably his 2 largest jumps i've been. The one on Rubber Duck i posted about was honestly ridiculous.

Take off is the orangey bit by the tree on the left of shot, landing is where the lad is standing with the bike.... All of this on a bike he tells me he's not fully confident with

2022-05-31_07-55-36 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Any plans that you ever had for retiring earlier need to be shelved - now ....