The journey from small guy to teenager...

[G.P]

Its going to be a busy year!
A paper round to save up petrol money ?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

If you've got time when you go to Fort William have a drive down the west coast from Glasgow to Stranraer, its truly superb scenery, and there's the hill that feels like you're going uphill when you're going downhill, it's a weird experience.

[weeksy]

Its going to be a busy year!
A paper round to save up petrol money ?

I'm not sure there's enough papers in the world.

We/He potentially has a Saturday job in Jan though in our local bike spanner shop, which should help

as well as the 'coming soon' which deffo will help

[G.P]

Its going to be a busy year!
A paper round to save up petrol money ?

I'm not sure there's enough papers in the world.

We/He potentially has a Saturday job in Jan though in our local bike spanner shop, which should help

as well as the 'coming soon' which deffo will help

Just joking, good move to get him into spannering though, knowing how the thing really works can only help

[weeksy]

Its going to be a busy year!
A paper round to save up petrol money ?

I'm not sure there's enough papers in the world.

We/He potentially has a Saturday job in Jan though in our local bike spanner shop, which should help

as well as the 'coming soon' which deffo will help

Just joking, good move to get him into spannering though, knowing how the thing really works can only help

Yeah it's 50/50 about making him a more rounded human by a bit of interaction with others, but also about learning about bikes.

I think it's starting to dawn on him just how big an opportunity he's getting here.

[Mr Moofo]

and a long weekend in Glencoe booked too

Take midge spray! (I guess it depends which part of summer, but, when we camped there it was like the gathering of the clans for flying things ).

"Smidge" is the stuff you need
In May you should be okay - but by July / August it will be feeding frenzy.

I still have the mental scars of being eaten alive growing up there as a kid.

[Crosshair]

That’s awesome. Well done James

Freddie gets paid £1.50 a day to poo pick his pony fields before school but it also helps him appreciate the daily grind that goes in to getting prepped for an event.



Will make him appreciate what he’s getting from Dad for free every time he says “can you just…”

[weeksy]

Well the boy has approval from the health and safety committee (@Welsh Muffin ) to get back out racing this weekend.

It's Forest of Dean. Likely on a course we know well.. So a decent little entry back for him. I'm properly curious as to how he goes out there back on the bike, especially as we'll be flying with the new air Boxxers instead of the coil XFusions. But with the Shockwiz installed and a decent bit of feel he's now seemingly developing, we should be golden. Debating where we do Saturdays testing but i fully expect it'll be at Forest of Dean knowing him. He loves it over there, obviously i'm a fan too so it'll be a good little weekend of it. If a little on the chilly side !!!

[weeksy]

[MingtheMerciless]

Love the sound of the tyres on cold ground!

[weeksy]

Well the race was cancelled due to crazy amounts of snow at FoD meaning you couldn't see the track.

2022-12-11_11-19-10 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

So on way home we jumped onto the local woods and went practicing and setting up his forks.





Getting the forks dialed in. Obviously we're using the Shockwiz, but it's as much the boy and me getting the feel for things too. I can get it pretty close, he gets it closer, then the Shockwiz fine tunes it.

2022-12-11_11-18-51 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-12-11_11-19-01 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Yesterday we were chatting with his team mates Scarlett and laughing about a gap jump from drop line into jump line “don’t be daft, no one would do that”

“Hold my ”
When you consider this was the first ride since the massive crash at Rogate it was amazing to see how quickly his confidence and balls came back

[Beancounter]

and a long weekend in Glencoe booked too

Take midge spray! (I guess it depends which part of summer, but, when we camped there it was like the gathering of the clans for flying things ).

"Smidge" is the stuff you need
In May you should be okay - but by July / August it will be feeding frenzy.

I still have the mental scars of being eaten alive growing up there as a kid.

Avon Skin So Soft is apparently very good too. Or a flamethrower.

[weeksy]

Well it seems the boy has settled on the Boxxers being the forks of choice for this season coming, which is good for us as it gives more compatibility with the world in general being a 110x20 standard boost. Add that to the 148x12 rear on this one and it makes the world pretty simple really.
As always, on practice day i was chatting to a few people about various aspects of racing, i like to try and get as much knowledge and perspective as possible.
One of the guys was a parent of Preston Williams, who i must admit, i'd not heard of... but is clearly incredibly quick on a bike.
https://www.rootsandrain.com/rider14014 ... s/results/

He was saying the first thing they really really noticed was a massive number of wheels being trashed at bigger races. Which made me think "well, how many wheels do we actually need then". We've currently arguably got 4 sets ready to roll, with 2 bikes and 2 spares for each... but they're not compatible with eachother so it's 2 pairs of 2. But that should really be enough i'd think.

It's a shame that he runs 27.5s in a way as we could've stolen then wheels from the Slayer for 3rd choice hahhaha.

Now we've bought the van though i do need to give some consideration to how we get everything in it and stored for a weekend of racing, i've got all winter of course, but i'm sure that'll fly on by.
It's the little things like tools, footwear, wheels etc i'm thinking about, more so than the bikes themselves as i've got the bikes sorted on stands and they seem to work really well. But things like the wheels i'm thinking a cargo net onto the side panels and sticking them on the side, i think they'd be a bit too big for the doors, but on the sides, maybe above the wheel arch will work pretty well i reckon.

Was also looking at one of these. But not sure it's actually big enough to hold anything of real consequence. e.g a Full face helmet, trainers etc.

[Mr Moofo]

If wheels are being trashed, should you not be buying beefier wheels rather than just more of the standard sort?

[weeksy]

If wheels are being trashed, should you not be buying beefier wheels rather than just more of the standard sort?

I don't think you grasp the severity of some of the tracks mate. The pros are running strong wheels and trash them daily, often multiples.

We're not in that scenario as he's slower and lighter.. but the bigger tracks i expect there to be some residual damage at times.

[Mr Moofo]

If wheels are being trashed, should you not be buying beefier wheels rather than just more of the standard sort?

I don't think you grasp the severity of some of the tracks mate. The pros are running strong wheels and trash them daily, often multiples.

We're not in that scenario as he's slower and lighter.. but the bigger tracks i expect there to be some residual damage at times.

I have no doubt of the severity - and 85kg riders will hit the ground hard. And pros don't pay for stuff - and are kid of paid to trash them to see what works.
But surely James ( until he discovers beer, Gregs etc) will be not be that wheel trashy?

[weeksy]

I'm certainly hoping you're right matey..with 4 sets i can't see us destroying them ALL in a weekend, especially on 2 different bikes..

If he's cased it that hard that often, the odds are he's lying upside down

[Mr Moofo]

I'm slightly surprised - as that would suggest that the bottom of the hills in Morzine there should have been a graveyard of bent and dead wheels. I didn't see one. ( I am assume here that proof and elite riders are more skilled that the average Morzine weekender - so less incline to trash stuff).

Whilst James ride far more gnarr than I ever will do - I have never trashed a back wheel - even when I was 141 kgs and rode down the Rothorn in Lenzerheide.

Time for a wheel building course , methinks

[weeksy]

Time for a wheel building course , methinks

That's certainly something i'm considering as an option yeah. I see wheels as a bit of a dark art, but i think the reality is, they're just wheels. Once you've done a couple, it'll be fine.

You see a fair few at various races at Pearce/wherever, but not tonnes.