Did my first riding of the week today. Didn’t do too much as it was really windy but I managed to cleanly manual the new first jump on the first straight at Bath today. I practiced the first straight for about and hour then called it a day as the wind was getting steadily worse.
A bunch of stuff arrived for my Son today. He now has a Haro race lite expert xl frame to build up with 170mm Shimano Saint cranks and Answer expert wheels. I am going to hopefully build the bike up tomorrow afternoon if I get a chance as I am helping out at the track all day tomorrow as there is training.
I also got a tyre and tube and an 18 tooth freewheel on my Onyx rear wheel which I picked up from Crucial at the weekend. It as a new sprag clutch so should not slip any more. I am going to test it out at Bristol track on Thursday to make sure that it is OK before I race on it at the weekend.
I am going to take the Haro wheel that I have been using for the last couple of weeks with me just in case I need it again. If the Onyx hub is OK then I will probably sell the Haro wheel again to put the money towards getting my Curtis finished.
I am really looking forwards to racing at the weekend as it has been a long winter and I can’t wait to see how much I have improved over the winter. I also really enjoyed racing at the Lynfi Regional last year apart from the second jump on the first straight and the fact that I had a really bad final after racing really well all day.
04/04/18
Had a really good training session with Matt Eaton today working on my Manuals and jumping ready for the Regional at the weekend. We worked on getting more height on my jumps as I will need to jump high to clear the second jump on the first straight at the weekend.
I am going to do the same training tomorrow and my Son is going to video it so that I can ad some content here and also see how high I am getting now.
By the end of the session I was jumping as far at half speed as I was at full speed at the start of the session. Also full speed at the end of the session I was whipping the tabletop and clearing it easily. I was also getting over the back of the bike and pushing the bike out in front of me.
The kids waiting for the next session loved it so I must have been doing something right 🙂
05/04/18
Went to the track but I was really tired and had a sore neck from sleeping funny so I didn’t do too much really. Was really bad at jumping today even though the weather was excellent with no wind and the track was really dry!!!
Going to go again tomorrow and try again.
06/04/18
Went to the track again today as my friend wanted to ride a bit to take his mind off of some stuff. We had a really good time and basically played jumping the table top again.
I started to get the height again and was getting better in the air.
Off to Wales tomorrow for the first regional weekend of the year.
I should have been resting today but had so much fun it was worth it.
7/4/18
Work up sore as anything today. Think I should have rested yesterday after all!
Did maybe 10-15 laps in 2 hours and for the whole time my legs were hanging from all of the training I did during the week.
I got the first straight dialled and then called it a day to rest up for racing in the morning.
8/04/18
Legs were still hanging this morning so I took it easy in training to save the legs for racing. I only did 2 gates as well for the same reason but I had the gate timing down as it is really similar to the Bath gate luckily.
Had really good Moto draws so finished 3rd, 2nd and 5th. I also got a really good semi draw but decided to choose an outside gate which in hind site was a bad move. I gated really well but just couldn’t get over into the berm and went from 4th to 5th in the first berm and I couldn’t get back past so qualified for the B final bit gutted but I learned a lot from the race so not too bad.
The B final went pretty well. I killed the gate and first straight and came out of the first berm a little bit in front but went backwards in the second half of the second straight but I managed to finish in second just. I almost lost a place on the line because I stopped riding before the line so another important lesson learnt.
I am pretty happy with the way I rode on the whole. Especially with the leg pain all day. I also learnt a lot of valuable lessons during the day too like not going too high on the berms and not giving up before the line so it is all good.
I also need to focus on my manuals for the next couple of weeks to try and carry more speed around the track for the next race.
9/04/18
Resting today as I am really aching and the stiff neck is also back. Hopefully I will be ok by tomorrow to get back to training. I was going to race again this weekend but I am not sure if I would be better to not race and train more this week or if I should train less and get some more race experience.
10/04/18
Had to have another rest day today as my legs were hurting and I had a stiff neck again.
Weighed myself again today and was horrified to see that I am back up to 102.60kgs that is over 3kgs of the 5kgs back on from the weight that I lost this year!!!
I am going to go on a low carb diet to go with my fasting which I am still doing. I have noticed that I have been eating much more sweets, chocolate, crisps and bread lately so I am going to dry to cut out all carbs starting Thursday (I have a bunch of stuff in the cupboard s to eat tomorrow then it is on a strict diet for the next month or so to see what happens.
I have decided that I am going to race at the weekend as well so I am going to visit the track that I am going to race at the weekend tomorrow to get some practice in.
11/04/18
Had another sofa day today as my legs were really sore still and I had a basketball match in the evening so I didn’t want to over do it.
Match was good and I was able to play probably 3 of the 4 quarters or a little more so pretty happy.
I have signed up for the race at Andover on Sunday so I am going to go there in the morning to practice as I will not be able to go to the practice on Saturday as I have to do work on the track in Bath Saturday.
15/04/18
Went to Andover for round 2 of the second round of the south BMX 2018 summer series. Rode ok but the level of riding was really high and there were 48 riders in the supercruisersclass. I got 7th, 3rd and 7th. On a positive note I was not dead at the end of the races like I was last year so I have definitely got fitter. Also some of the jumps that I had problems with last year I was able to manual through this year. I left before the finals as I was soaking wet, tired and cold.
A long day but really good fun and I took away a lot of positives from the day.
19/04/18
Haven’t ridden the bike or done any exercise this week except for a basketball game and Pilates on Wednesday. I have 2 days off as I was supposed to be racing at Leicester this weekend at rounds 3&4 of the British BMX series but it was cancelled.
As the weather was really nice I decided to walk to the track which turned out to be a bit of a bad idea as it was really hot and all up hill.
I got to the track and did a couple of pump laps and then did some full speed first straight. To my surprise I manualed both jumps on the first straight cleanly for the first time this year so I peddles the berm and when I jumped the tabletop I did a tap manual by accident. I had been thinking about learning them this week so I guess my body did what I had been thinking about without me knowing. I did another 5 in a row and then did some 3rd straights and called it a day.
The track was riding amazingly fast which helped but I am really happy that I learnt tap manuals and I now have to learn to do them on long doubles.
It was so hot by the time I had finished this that I called if a day.
20/04/18
Got up early and built up my son’s bike so that he could use it at the weekend.
Met up with my friend Matt at bath track this morning and we played around with some lines on the first and third straights before setting up the gate to do some times first straights. Unfortunately the gate had other ideas and it broke before the first gate! We found out why the gate had failed and took off the faulty part so I could buy a new one then I went home to eat as I was running gates in the evening. The evening gates session was really good as the track was running amazing and it wasn’t quite as hot as it had been. I was a bit tired but did some gates and had a good time.
21/04/18
Got up early and met up with a friend at 9:30 to set up the gate and have a play before gates. Ran the gates session and did a few gates and then went home to rest.
22/04/18
Got up and went for a ride to the 2 tunnels here in Bath with my son. Had a nice time except there were no lights in the second tunnel so we couldn’t see to go through it.
I then went to Bristol track for a bit to meet up with a friend and had a play. I was really tired and also it was quite windy so I cut the session short to go home and chill.
23/04/18
Woke up this morning really sore so I am taking the day off to rest. I plan to train on the track tomorrow and Wednesday and then go to a pump track thursday and rest again Friday ready to train at Exeter Saturday and race there Sunday.
24/04/18
Got up and went to the Bath track and worked on my manuals and tap manuals in the 1st and 2nd straights today.
I then did a bit of 3rd straight work to work on longer manuals.
25/04/18
Busy day today. Had Pilates at lunch time so rode the bike but had to ride the dialled 20″ as the cruiser had a flat tyre. After Pilates I ate and chilled for a bit and then went to Bristol to ride the track for a bit and watch some of the racing. I couldn’t race tonight as i had to leave early to play basketball. I also picked up a gt speed series cruiser frame and a couple of new tyres from the coach who was selling them. I am going to build thread gt up tomorrow to see if I like it or not and if I do I will race it instead of the dialled cruiser at the weekend.
I then had our league final but had to leave after 3 quarters to go to work for 10pm.
All in all a good day.
26/04/18
Didn’t have time to ride today as I was building up the speed series only to find that the tyre was too big to fit in the frame so I have ordered a 24×1.60 power block that I will pick up on Sunday.
The bike looks good built up and I can’t wait to ride it when it is finished.
While I was in crucial I changed the rims that I am going to use for the Curtis so they will be ready next week.
I am going to re-shape the chain tensioners tomorrow and paint them Matt black to go with the bike ready for it to be built up when the wheels are ready.
I am going to buy new brakes and a new bottom bracket as well so that I can use all 3 cruisers without changing too many parts. I was going to sell my dialled but I am now thinking that i may keep it and build up the GT as well.
29/04/18
Got up early today and went to Exeter for rd2 of the south west series. Was really nervous as the last time I raced here I broke my collar bone and 3 ribs.
Got over the nerves by the start of Motos then got a bit nervous again in my first Moto when I almost got taken out but managed to finish 5th. The second Moto was better and I managed to finish 3rd right behind 2 of the top riders so I was pretty chuffed. My 3rd Moto I think I finished 4th or 5th i can’t really remember. Did just enough to make the semi’s so was better than I was expecting.
The semi went pretty well and I was in 4th going into the 2nd berm but got cut off out of the berm and had to settle for 5th so made the B final again.
Was pretty confident going into the final but I was stood around too long without a coat on and got cold. Had a pretty good start but something in my back went half way down the first straight and I had to pull up and roll the rest of the track. Gutted.
To be honest I don’t think I would have won the final anyway as my first straight had something missing today but I would have probably finished in 3rd if my back hadn’t gone.
Now have to rest up to try and get better for this weekend as rd3 is this Sunday in cornwall.
30/04/18
My back was really bad this morning and it was a struggle to get my socks on and I had to get help to put my shoes on.
I have bought ibuprofen and also been using ibuprofen gel and a heat pad all day to try and get the back better.
It is feeling much better this evening although it got progressively more sore as the day went on to the point I had to go home and lie down in my lunch break.
I am pretty sure that I will be ok for the weekend but can not be 100% sure and I will have to keep it warm.
I have been thinking about my first straights and I think I need to go back to the 37×16 gearing as my first straights were definitely better last year on that gearing. I will sort this out this week ready to practice this weekend at Cornwall.