01/01/2018
Went to the track this afternoon and did a few laps but it was really windy and wet so I decided to do my first sprint session of the year.
I did 30m sprints and managed to do 8 sprints which is the most that I have ever been able to do in a session up until now so my fitness is definitely improving.
Here is the video of one of my sprints I think it was my 6th sprint of the day:
02/01/2018
Woke up and drove to Bristol Patchway as I had arranged to meet a friend there at 10 am. It was really cold wet and windy so I did 5 full speed pump laps and then we did some practice on the second to last straight before calling it a day as it was too windy to do much and it was getting colder. I got back into the intermittent fasting again today and waited until 1 pm to start eating so that I can have my last food at 9pm tonight as I am working until 2 am tonight.
I left the session feeling a bit guilty as I didn’t do too much but there wasn’t much point staying any longer as the conditions were so bad.
My new jump bar arrived today so I think I will have a high jump session tomorrow on the tabletop and then maybe a bunny hop session afterwards on the flat before I do my sprints. The bar is pretty well made and is easily adjusted. Also the Base is empty so I can fill it with sand to stop it being blown around by the wind. I am just trying to find my tape measure so that I can mark inch intervals on the poles so that I can quickly see how high I am jumping.
I decided today that I am going to drop my handlebars back down on my cruiser as my manuals are much worse with them higher and also I don’t seem to be jumping as well as I used to be able to which again I think is due to not being able to lift the bars as high as I could when they were lower. I will play around with the bar height tomorrow as decide on the best height.
03/01/18
It was really wet and windy today due to Storm Elina so I gave the track a miss. I woke up really early so I decided to go to my parents and get all of the bits that I need to build the Yess 20″ back up (Cranks, Stem, Grips and brakes). On the way home I stopped off at the track and did some box sprints in the car park. I did 10 25m Box sprints and then called it a day as I have had a headache all day probably due to the lack of sugar from stopping drinking coke. To be fair 10 is the most sprints that I have been able to do in a session anyway so it wasn’t too bad and it was definitely better than doing nothing even though I did much less than I had planned to do.
I have just looked at Strava and my fastest sprint was 27.3Mph which is 5 miles an hour more than my usual speed so I am getting faster and it was REALLY WINDY today 🙂
04/01/18
got to the track at about 11:00 am this morning and it was really windy. I stood my bike upside down by the car on its handlebars and back wheel and it blew over and got blown across the car park. After this I decided to switch to flat peddles instead of clipping in which proved to be a good idea (more of that in a bit). I git to the track and tried to do a pump lap as it is one of my pump days today (every Tuesday and Thursday) and I got pushed down the start hill and down the first straight so fast i was going as fat without peddling as I normally do peddling! As I went around the first berm I got smacked in the face by the wind and got pushed backwards!!! I was only just able to peddle the rest of the straight as the wind was a really strong head wind. I then pumped the third straight which was pretty fast again due to the wind assistance and I was just about able to pump the 4th straight.
I decided to practice manualling the first jump on the 3rd straight and then pumping the rest of the straight and the 4th straight. I did about 5 of these but gave up on the 4th straight as well as the wind was too strong by this point. I was manualling really badly so I decided to drop the bars back to the height they were all last season (one small spacer underneath the stem only). I had left my allen keys in the car so I battled the wind back to the car and put the allen keys in my bag and got pushed back to the track by the wind. I dropped my bars and did a couple of first jumps on the first straight until the wind was too strong to stay on the start hill without the brake jammed on! I then went back to the second berm and did a few manuals of the 3rd straight. The bike rode much better with the bars dropped back down so I decided to try a faster manual of the first jump. As I got into full manual a gust of wind hit the front wheel like a sail and spun the bike 45 degrees or more sideways which caused me to get pushed along sideways with the front wheel being held up by the wind and me with one foot in the air trying to counterbalance the effects of the wind and trying not to die! Somehow I managed to get the front wheel back on the ground and ride off of the side of the track and stop but I decided it was better to quit while I was ahead so I went home.
05/01/18
Took the Day off today as I have the Ryan Stack Training tomorrow afternoon so I wanted to be fresh for it.
As I had some time on my hands I popped into Crucial and dropped the wheels from the DK in to get a new Profile Freewheel, new rear spindle and also remove the green spokes that came with the wheels and also make sure the rims are straight.
In the afternoon I went over to Curtis Bikes to pick up my new frame from Gary as the stickers were ready.
To say that I am pleased at how the bike looks is an understatement. It looks amazing Gary was also really stoked with how the dark grey stickers came out:
Once the Wheels are ready I am going to take all the bits to Gary and we are going to build the bike up and get some pictures for his site before I get it covered in mud and dirty.
As the dropouts are enclosed I am either going to have to use a 36t front sprocket or get a half link chain to use the 37t sproket that I run at the moment. I may take the opportunity to go down to 36 x 16 like most of the really fast riders use as I have 3 months to get really good at spinning out of the gate. I am getting better at carrying speed around the track so it may be the ideal time to learn to spin. I will have to see when we build the bike if I can stay on the 37t or not. I didn’t really want to use a half link chain as I have heard that they eat sprockets so I may get the 36t on the front as I already have one in the shed.
I have decided to re-use as much of the bits as I can from the DK and the shed for now and then replace the parts before the start of the season like the bottom bracket and probably get a new set of onyx wheels build up for racing on and keep the DK wheels for training on.
I am going to go to Crucial tomorrow and buy the rest of the bits that I need to get the bike build and see how long they think the wheels will take to finish. They didn’t have the freewheel in stock so it will definitely be late next week before they are ready I think. I can’t wait.
06/01/18
Had a really good training session with Ryan Stack today. Stayed on flats today which turned out to be a bit of a bad idea as I couldn’t keep my feet on the peddles properly but I got better as the session went on. He finished off the session with the eliminator where we had to keep doing laps until you finish a lap in last place. I managed to do 6 laps before I got knocked out which is a record.
I am going to do this once a week from now on to get my fitness up quickly.
07/01/18
Did my weigh in this morning and I have dropped just over 1kg this week. I am down to 99.65kgs so I am moving in the right direction.
I took the day off today today as I was sore and also had my family coming over to celibate my birthday.
08/01/18
Took the day off of work today as it is my birthday so I spent the morning at Bristol track. I did 5 full laps where I went 80% to the first jump and then pumped the rest of the track and then I then paracticed first straights jumping the second jump to see if they were faster than manualling the second jump or not.
I am not sure yet but i got much better ant clearing the entire second jump which was definitely faster than casing the jump. The session was cut short after a generator at a factory behind the track caught fire and filled the track with horrible smoke.
On the way back to the cars I picked up my new training helmet from my friend who got a discount as he is sponsored by the manufacturer. The helmet is the same colour way as my new bike so should look pretty good when I put some of the Curtis stickers on it.
09/01/18
Woke up at 4:30 this morning and my legs were really aching from yesterday and it was really cold and raining so I decided to give the gym a miss and went back to sleep. My legs were sore all day so I have taken the day off as a rest day.
10/01/18
Lunched out the gym again this morning but went to Andover track for gates after work. I was only able to stay for about an hour but I did 15 gates and got used to the gate pretty much. I then went to Trowbridge and played a basketball game and I was surprised how much fitter I have got over the last month since the last time I played.
11/01/18
Didn’t get to sleep until gone midnight after playing basketball Wednesday night so I didn’t even try to get up for the gym this morning. It was my bosses leaving lunch at work today so I had a couple of cokes with my food which wasn’t the best. I had my first Pilates session after work which was great and I feel much better already after just one session.
12/01/18
Woke up to go to the gym but I was really aching from basketball still and my abs were aching after Pilates yesterday so I decided to rest today and get up early tomorrow and do a gym session as I have no gates tomorrow. In the afternoon I went out on my park bike and managed to stretch the chain so it kept slipping all the time! I have a new half link chain ready to fit so I will do this over the weekend so that I can start using the park bike more. Also I need to do something with the break as it is pretty useless at the moment. Just heard that there are gates at Bath tomorrow so I will be going to gates instead of the gym. I also built up my 20″ Yess again as I have some one who wants to buy it so I wanted to use it a bit more next week to make 100% sure that I want to sell it. Also found out today that the profile freewheel I ordered will be another 3 weeks so I have got a normal freewheel fitted for now so that I can get the wheels next week to build up the Curtis.
13/01/18
Had the first gates session of 2018 at Bath bmx track this morning. I had a really productive session and worked through my snap issues that I had noticed in photos of the Bristol series at the end of last month.
Basically I was not snapping my hips forwards at all and had my back rounded instead of straight. I was also looking down too much. I fixed the hips issue pretty quickly which helped a lot. I will have to work on the looking down thing a bit more as I had to keep checking myself all the time and lifting my head.
I had to leave a bit early as I had to go to my dad’s birthday lunch.
I got a message from Crucial to say that my wheels are ready so I am going there tomorrow to pick them up. This means that the Curtis is ready to be built up next week. I have the last couple of bits to buy tomorrow when I pick up the wheels.
14/01/18
Met some friends at the Bristol track and had a little ride. I didn’t do too much as my bike was really sounding bad as the chain was slapping and the wheel bearings were crunching. I did a few pump laps peddling the start hill and then I practiced first straights jumping the second jump into the corner.
We then went to Crucial and I picked up my wheels for the Curtis and also the last few bits to build it up this week.
15/01/18
When I got up it was really raining and windy so I decided that I would go to Bath instead of driving to Bristol today.
When I got there it was raining really hard so I decided that I would do box sprints down the start hill. I did 3 pump laps and the I did 10 box sprints from the top of the start hill to the first jump. I also practiced manualing the first jump. By the end of the sprints the wind had got up and it was raining really hard so I called it a day and went to my parents to pick up the DK frame and forks that I had stored there as I needed the bottom bracket and headset spacers to finish the Curtis build.
Gary got back to me and we have arranged to build the Curtis up tomorrow so I started building some of the stuff up to save time tomorrow.
I fitted the bottom bracket, seat and cranks to the Curtis frame this afternoon and also fitted new stem bolts to the stem, new lock on ends to the grips and then fitted them all together. So tomorrow we only need to fit the headset to the frame and then we can fit the forks, bars and wheels to the frame then fit the brakes and it is all done.
16/01/18
Had a rest day today as I have been over to Curtis Bikes to build up my new bike.
We have had a few issues with the fitment of the rear axle as it is a prototype dropout and it is only 4mm thick which is much thinner than the aluminium frames that the hubs are made for. We are getting some 5mm washers made up to make the axle fit.
I am also going to contact the hub manufacturers (Onyx and Stealth) to see if they can make up some custom axles for me. I will need one when I get my new wheels made up anyway so I might as well ask now.
Can’t wait to ride the bike as it feels really good and is not too much heavier than my Yess.
Gary has posted some pictures on the Curtis Bikes facebook page and the bike looks great:
17/01/18
Got to the track and it was really windy so I did a 5 pump laps to warm up and then I did am mini eliminator where I did 5 laps without stopping riding from the end of the track and up the back of the start hill to start the next lap.
This felt pretty easy and I could have maybe done a few more laps before I stopped but I had to go as I had to get home to get ready for Pilates at 12:00.
I had a really good Pilates session as well today where we focused a lot on back flexability which was good as I think most of my knee issues are caused by lack of back flexability, I definately felt better walking to pick my son up from school than I have for a while.
18/01/18
Had to take the day off today as I had to help friends move house so I had no time to ride. Id over 13000 steps though so got some exercise in.
19/01/18
Had to take my son to school this morning so I met up with a friend at Bristol track to get some laps in. He was pushing me to try and jump the first jump which I am a long way from doing but I got better and also to try manual jumping the same jump. I almost got the manual jump by the end of the session.
My bike was riding like a pig and the bearings in both wheels were really noisy! At the end of the session I got fed up with then and sprayed them with GT85 which helped a lot. They are now spinning as they should and also much quieter than they were before. I am going to take the wheels off and clean and grease the hubs tomorrow as gates has been cancelled now. I also need to take my new bike to Crucial to get it built up properly ready for the washers to be ready next week.
On the way home from Bristol I popped in to the Bath track to get a few first straights in. The bike was flying compared to how it has been riding especially after I oiled the chain I was manualling the first jump easily.
20/01/18
Gates were cancelled this morning due to bad weather so I took the Curtis to Crucial to get it checked over while we wait for the washers to be made up.
In the afternoon I took the Yess apart and cleaned everything. The Headset was full of rusty mud as were the wheel bearings.
While the Yess was in pieces I spoke to my friend who was buying my dialled to see if he wanted to swap the Dialled + money for the Yess and he agreed so I have left the Yess in pieces for now.
21/01/18
I woke up and did my weigh in and I am down to 99.45 KGs today which is the lightest that I have been for a while.
I was supposed to take the Yess to Andover today when I went to watch the racing but it was really raining so I decided to stay home instead. I took the frame to my friends house. He is going to take the Dialled frame to the AGM on Tuesday night so that I can build it up ready to race on Sunday at Bristol. I have Friday off so if I need to I can pop the bike in to Crucial for them to look it over.
Tomorrow night I am going to take the Yess 20″ apart and re-grease it just in case I have to race on it on Sunday if there is some issue with the Dialled build. I can’t see any issue but it is better to be safe than sorry. I also want to make sure that it is OK before I sell it at the end of the month as I have someone who want to buy it.
I will also need to use the 20″ tomorrow night as it is the only bike that I have to do sprints on.
22/01/18
Got up at 4:30 and got to the gym for 5am this morning. I did 20 minutes on the bike and then 4×15 leg sleds with 140kgs on it followed by 4×15 sets of calf raises on the same machine with the same 140kgs on it. I then did 4 x 15 with 50kgs on the leg curl machine. I gave the leg extension machine a miss today as there was a guy pretty much sleeping on it so I went and did another 20 minutes on the exercise bike.
23/01/18
Didn’t work out today as I was really sore from doing weights yesterday.
Had the club AGM tonight and I picked up the Dialled frame from my friend who I sold the Yess too. I am going to try and build it up tomorrow but I am not sure I will have time.
24/01/18
Got up at 4:30 and got to the gym before 5am this morning. I did 40 minutes on the exercise bike until I couldn’t do it any more as my legs were really sore. I then did 20 minutes on the treadmill walking to try and get rid of some of the stiffness. I have Pilates and Basketball this evening so I didn’t want to do too much.
Had a really good pilates session which got me nice and limber for the basketball match. I am getting much fitter and I can sprint the court without getting tired now which make layups much better. I also got a bunch of steals and rebound as well so all in all a good day. I also did over 13000 steps today thanks to my car being broken.
Hopefully I will be OK to play basketball again tomorrow night as well. I am going go give the gym a miss tomorrow to rest up for tomorrow night.
25/01/18
Got up again at 4.30 this morning and got to the gym by 5 and did 45 minutes on the exercise bike until my legs were too sore to carry on. I then did 15 minutes on the exercise bike to finish off the session.
I was supposed to play basketball again in the evening but my wife had to work so i had to stay home with my sons.
26/01/18
Had the day off today so I took the dialled into Crucial to be serviced ready to race on Sunday and I picked up the Curtis to have a play on as it was ready.
I had arranged to meet some friends at Bristol track so i took the Curtis there to ride.
Unfortunately the back wheel moved when I peddled it so I couldn’t ride it. Luckily my friend let me ride his cruiser when he wasn’t riding it so I got some laps in after all.
27/01/18
Picked up the Dialled from Cruical in the morning and took it to Bristol track to get used to it. Unfortunately the weather was really bad when I got to the track so I decided to not ride and get to the track early in the morning to get some laps in.
28/01/18
Got up early and got to the track just before 10am and got some laps in to get used to the Dialled. It felt really good after the first lap so I was really pleased.
The racing was really good today. There were 23 over 30 riders today and about 10 sponsored riders who ride nationals so there were now easy races. In my first moto I gated ok and was in 3rd place going into the first berm, after the second straight I was in second and catching the guy in first. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to pass the guy in first but I did hold off late charge from the guy in 3rd. I also beat a rider who I had never come close to beating before so really pleased. He said that he couldn’t believe the improvement in my riding.
In my second race I finished 2nd again this time being just behind a good national rider who is almost 10 years younger than me. Apparently we were a straight ahead of the rest of the pack so again really pleased. A friend who hasn’t seen me ride for 6 months could not believe how much fitter i had gotten or the amount of speed that I am carrying now.
In my 3rd moto my legs were shaking with tiredness on the gate so I took it easy and tucked into 3rd place after the 1st straight and pumped the rest of the track to finish with an easy 3rd to make sure that I made the A final.
I had a terrible gate in the final but still managed to be in 4th place coming out of the 1st corner.
Myself and the guy in 3rd were swapping places for the next 2 straights. On the last straight there was a 3 way race for 3rd which I lost to come 5th. Still I was happy with my race apart from my gate which was terrible. I also need to work on the last 2 straights of the track as they are my weakest of the track.
29/01/18
Went to Bristol again today but the weather was really bad. It basically did a few pump laps and then did 10 last straights and then gave up and went home as it was too windy and wet.
30/01/18
Went to Bath today and the weather was totally different to the last few months it was warm sunny and no wind. I did 10 pump laps then practised 1st straights and jumping the first jump on the second straight then called it a day. Went home and cleaned the bike as it hadn’t been washed for 3 days and was really crusty and muddy.
31/01/18
Back to winter weather again today with heavy sideways rain and loads of blustery wind.
I did 5 pump laps then a few first straights and then I did an eliminator of 5 full laps riding back up the start hill to do continuous laps of the track. It was totally killer.
I have a friend come over to play from Bristol which was good and he helped me get my sprint technique and manuals. He said to focus on keeping my weight on my legs not my arms which really helped. I will practice this for the next few weeks to see if it helps.