Been having some deep and meaningfuls with the boy in the past week or two as his recovery continues from the broken arm. I'm more than happy that he's 100% up for more racing and continuing with the project of getting faster and better and hopefully moving to Nationals as planned next season.
Today may well be his first proper ride in 8 weeks.... Still only gentle stuff, but outside and with some dirt thrown in.
We're off racing in 4 weeks time, so not that long to find some speed again, but if the pain levels and recovery allows, we'll get a decent bit of practice in
The only question is, do i do the first race with him... it's at 417 on the fast flowy blue...
weeksy wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 8:19 am
Been having some deep and meaningfuls with the boy in the past week or two as his recovery continues from the broken arm. I'm more than happy that he's 100% up for more racing and continuing with the project of getting faster and better and hopefully moving to Nationals as planned next season.
Today may well be his first proper ride in 8 weeks.... Still only gentle stuff, but outside and with some dirt thrown in.
We're off racing in 4 weeks time, so not that long to find some speed again, but if the pain levels and recovery allows, we'll get a decent bit of practice in
The only question is, do i do the first race with him... it's at 417 on the fast flowy blue...
Obviously - it’s the only time you might better that him
I’ve some mates local to Cannock, be careful leaving stuff unattended as it’s become of a bit of a theft hotspot and also armed robbery of cyclists with a “man down” trick.
"Of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?"
"My dear Doctor, they're all true."
"Even the lies?"
"Especially the lies."
First day back on the bike for daft lad and he hears 3 kids talking about a gap from one line into the other. Apparently it's a 'thing' so the daft sod goes and hits it.
It's only about 20' so not really an issue but is off camber and very unknown lol.
So, how was the day on the bike for the first time. Well technically the 2nd as we spent last night playing with some of the bouncy bits to get it in the right area.
Then today was 417 flyup, with both suspension testing and back to back testing on the GT Fury old 18. The conclusion was, he loves the new purple one, but was only fractionally quicker on it.
Throughout the day he tried a 300 spring, 350 and 450, settling on the 350.
On blue raccoon he was 1.5s quicker on the purple.
He also set a 2s PR on Dubby Skipper and it's 14th overall on Strava.
I think tomorrow we're removing the Magic Mary off the back of Barney the purple dinosaur and fitting a DHR.
Along with fitting a spare set of SRAM Guide Rs we have, he wasn't that keen on the TRP Slate, but could easily just be pads. But we'll keep things the same anyway and put Guides on.
Then it's a bit of testing and race next Sunday.
I also tried it and liked it, but with the fork springs I simply couldn't get it to work for me. Just too soft. But was to be expected
So it's race weekend once again after 11 weeks off with the broken bones.
This is the course. Nice and flowy, fast and ballsy. It's an easy course but like all, hard to go stupid fast on.
Obviously the lad is a bucket load quicker than me, but so are most people lol. But he's generally a solid top 10 here and sometimes top 5-6. With his lack of bike time and strength this isn't a biggy for him, but I'm still expecting a top 6-7.
Spent an hour sorting both race bikes this morning so he's good to go and race. All cleaned, bolt checked, lubed and ready.
Just a question of getting out of bed and shooting over in the morning then a day of standing around for me and racing for him.
I must admit I act all bravado like at the time as though it doesn't affect me, but inside I'm fighting the tears back. He went into this weekend feeling a bit negative as his jumping has been off after the long layoff.
His best time in April was a 1.45.7
Today he set a time of 1.39.9
He's quite insightful as a rider and thinks lots about things, his lines, body position etc. When I came back with the result of run 1 and said "4th, 1.40" he says "silly daddy" in reply. Until I showed his the sheet. He was properly made up.
We the talked about 1 particular corner and a potential short cut, which gives a great line into the next, if you can schralp it tight enough that is.
So he gets permission to ride the corner at lunch and instead of taking the corner like that, he picks up the back end and flicks it out while on the brakes in a 15mph corner, this gives him a sweet line into the next.
That was potentially the difference between 4th and 3rd.
The good/bad part is, they don't announce the times after race 2, you wait for your name to be called and see if it is or isn't. Happily his was.
He went into the weekend with "top 10" in mind, I'm obviously a little biased and felt 6-7th, so a 3rd place is a massive bonus.
He was on the purple bike for the day, having tried both in practice and felt it was arguably a little less stable, but faster.
Tues evening we're getting the suspension set up so maybe it'll even improve from there.
Next weekend is Pearce at Hopton. A big step up in tech and competition of riders. But tonight, it's a beer for me and a happy boy lying on his bed.
2022-08-31_03-58-50 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr
2022-09-25_08-53-31 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr
2022-09-25_09-12-07 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr
