The journey from small guy to teenager...

[lostboy]

He's a teenager, what do you expect?!

[weeksy]

He's a teenager, what do you expect?!

I've not had a teenager before.... plus, none of the other 5 crazy teenagers even considered doing it.

[lostboy]

He's a teenager, what do you expect?!

I've not had a teenager before.... plus, none of the other 5 crazy teenagers even considered doing it.

I was talking about the moaning, not the gap jump!

[weeksy]

He's a teenager, what do you expect?!

I've not had a teenager before.... plus, none of the other 5 crazy teenagers even considered doing it.

I was talking about the moaning, not the gap jump!

Ah right

Tbf to the lad, he's not often a moany kind of kid and it was in part because i asked him questions

[lostboy]

I've not had a teenager before.... plus, none of the other 5 crazy teenagers even considered doing it.

I was talking about the moaning, not the gap jump!

Ah right

Tbf to the lad, he's not often a moany kind of kid and it was in part because i asked him questions

You'll learn. That's just inviting trouble!

[weeksy]

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

You've lost me with this one too.

[Taff]

Another view of that jump shows how big it is.

[weeksy]

He's just had another 1:1 session with her.
Very very talented apparently, made me blush a bit

He seems to get a lot out of the sessions though which is all I can ask.

[Mr Moofo]

He's just had another 1:1 session with her.
Very very talented apparently, made me blush a bit

He seems to get a lot out of the sessions though which is all I can ask.

That's impressive !

[weeksy]

[MingtheMerciless]

He’s quick, you need to bring him to Friston to the DH area for some KOM bashing

[Crosshair]

That’s so cool. And lovely of her too

Well done all three of you

[weeksy]

[weeksy]

[weeksy]

The coming weekend is Pearce at Rhyd y Felin taking on the big boys of 13-14 DH racers. Currently there’s 26 entered, I’ll be happy with him coming home in 1 piece, inside top 20 and all bloody wet myself. Him and Katy spent time learning to see lines, find speed, learn tracks. So it will be cool to see if he can do so there. Jump on a few wheels and see where it goes.

Bike is ready, apart from the spare rear wheel which is being rebuilt and should be ready for the weekend. We’re also taking the Status just in case.

He’s got new goggle lense arriving and he’s full of confidence. They've now been fitted along with tear offs

Spare pedals on the way and a spare saddle, just in case the spare wheels plus a 2nd bike isn't quite enough lol.

I think this week will be really gentle in terms of riding, we’ve ridden 5/6 days so let the legs rest up.

It'll be an early start on Sat to get there for a decent practice

[weeksy]

I put this here as it echos parts of where I am and the boy is. It's such a brilliant video

[weeksy]

Race weekend is here then...Car is loaded, bikes are ready. We're taking both the Status and the Fury, with the Status being the emergency spare bike. Along of course with 4,000 spares, tools etc.

We've packed all the food (mostly X-buns) for the weekend and we're all good to go.

The boy is sporting a minor tweak on his hamstring as he's pulled it a bit at school, but it'll be fine, he's got a tubigrip on it for now but shouldn't affect him on the bike.

I'm going to spend most of Sat watching lines, racers and of course the boy, see if we can work out where he can gain speed. Sat evening we can do a track walk, before heading to the Premier Inn.

[weeksy]

Well there wasn't really much to tell from today in honesty. We set off early and cruised up, bit of bacon from Greggs on the way and a couple of coffees.

The boy signed on while I set up the gazebo.



Bike was checked, lubed and out he went . That really was when the fun began as the rain came down and turned the course from damp into muddy..





The boy did 5 runs in practice, sliding out twice on the same corner but not even slightly hurt. He followed a few people down learning lines, getting tips and we then walked a decent chunk of the track too.
I think he was slightly disappointed not to be gapping some of the features, but I was trying to keep his feet on the ground and the pressure off him, just telling him to relax and enjoy the day.

We washed the bike 3 times during the day just to try and keep the drivetrain clean and running nicely. Also swapping the front wheel to a maxxis shorty after the rain came.

But other than that, there's not much to say in honesty. We're now chilling before heading out for a curry.

[weeksy]

So today was race day and as always it brought a very very mixed day.

The day started dry but even overnight wetness brought a certain level of mud.
2022-06-12_08-31-44 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

The boy was soon ready to roll and in his race kit.
2022-06-12_08-32-12 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2 runs of practice went smoothly and happily... he then jumped on for race run 1.... He was down 3rd on the hill and i stood near the finish to watch the last bit.
2022-06-12_08-32-03 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

It's a very fast ending on fields after a woods section, with a big drop then 3-4 woops/rollers.

As he came into the arena i was just getting my camera ready for a few shots as he come to the line and the boy launched woop 1 and then landed long, it spat him into the air and he then landed back wheel first with the bike at 45deg and as he then bounced he flipped and went about 10' into the air, landing about 15' away from the bike. It was of course game over and the medics were called.
After 5 mins or so he got up to lots of applause from the onlooking crowd.
Another 10 mins later and he's allowed out of the medics tent and essentially he seemed to be fairly OK..

Well, until he got up and tried to walk... Which didn't go well. He was in a fair bit of pain on the area just above the thigh and a bit of overall 'ooooh' and 'arrrrrgh'

We had 3 hours until run 2 and the discussions commenced.... Well, after i'd sorted the bike that is.... He'd lost the chain and checks showed a bit of play on the headset end, which was sorted and he tried a bit of gentle riding around the paddock which went better than i expected.

It was then onto magic 'recovery pizza' which seemed to help lots.
2022-06-12_08-31-52 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

We cycled down to the uplift to make the final decision and he popped off a few grass verges etc and gave me the thumbs up

Off he went and i went to wait. Sadly this was FOREVER due to issues with the drop being blown out and repaired by the Pearce crew. Awesome but also multiple red-flags which brought a load of re-runs.

Eventually the juvenile class was out... My lad was due down first...

Oh, not any more... they were now running reverse order for his Cat, so he was last down.

It was a very very long wait, watching the other riders come down. Eventually he was on track... You could see the split times on the screen but it wouldn't change anything so i didn't check them, however at the 2nd split i saw on the finish screen he was 24s down on the leader.... Considering who the leader is (national race winner multiple times), i'll take that...

As he came towards the section of doom he took a different line, the left line and that's slightly slower but a lot safer...

Coming over the line he'd hit a 19/27 placing.... Awesome !!!! He babbles away telling me how he'd basically had his worst run of the weekend and cruised it down. I don't know what his finish time was but i'm guessing close to 4mins, with the leader at a 3min 20. But i was more concerned with trying to fight back some tears.... I was a little emotional ! Which really isn't me... not at all.

But to jump back on the bike after that crash and do another race run on a National level track really hit home with me how brave the lad was.

After the run, we jumped in the Qashqai of despair and headed home.. Happy, content and a 19th out of 27... We'll take that.

[Crosshair]

Awesome result in the circumstances
And fair play for getting back on the horse