Today I concentrated my training on jumping the second doubles on the last straight as I was watching some old videos of people racing at the Bath track which is my local track and they jumped the tabletop, jumped the first doubles maualled the second doubles and jumped the last tabletop.
It was going well and after about 45 minutes I cleanly jumped the doubles really smoothly 3 times then on the 4th attempt I slipped a pedal in the air and crashed!! I managed to not hit the ground but I have hurt my wrist a bit and I hit my nuts on the saddle and then the back wheel trying not to crash!
My wrist is still a little sore but I should be OK by tomorrow morning.
I have decided that I will bite the bullet and put the clipless pedals on the bike this afternoon and for the rest of the week I will get used to the pedals on the track.
I am going to pump and manual everything for the first couple of days and then towards the end of the week I will start trying to jump with the clipless pedals.
Monday, 25 April 2016
Sunday, 24 April 2016
Relaxed training today
Had a relaxed training session today with the boy. Just played around really and videoed a couple of runs to see how the camera was. The footage is below.
jumping day
Went to gate practice yesterday morning and after about 2 gates the gate died so myself and a couple of the kids went and started jumping the medium table top on the third straight. After half and our we went to the big table top at the start of the second straight and after about 10 attempts and a lot of casing I managed to perfectly jump the table top twice in a row.
I then went and practised manualing a bit and I am now able to consistently manual the last set of doubles every time.
Really pleased with my progress.
I then went and practised manualing a bit and I am now able to consistently manual the last set of doubles every time.
Really pleased with my progress.
Wednesday, 20 April 2016
Good training session
Just got home from an early morning session at the track. I did about an hour and a half and focussed mostly on manuals.
It was a pretty productive session as I can now manual both of the doubles on the last straight 2 out of 3 times. Unfortunately the time it goes wrong it goes really wrong! I will keep practising for the next few weeks until I can manual all of the jumps on the track. For this week I am just going to concentrate on the last straight to get it dialled.
A couple of runs I was able to Jump the small table top and manual the two doubles and jump the last table all in rhythm. It felt really good and I now know what I am shooting for.
Hopefully after a week of training I will be able to manual everything on the second half of the track and then I can concentrate on the first half of the track which is bigger.
Once I have bath Dialled I want to start riding in Bristol more as the track is way more technical and similar to most of the tracks that I will ride in the SW series.
I am going to go back to the track after lunch and take the video camera to try and get some video footage to try and see where I can improve my technique. I will post the video here later.
I have also found out that my gearing is wrong. Apparently the best gearing on a cruiser is 41 x 18 and my bike came with a 41 x 17 gearing. I am going to test this in a minute as I am going to swap the maxxis DTH wire tyres from my old GT onto my Redline as I like them better then the Tioga Power Blocks that came with the bike. The Tioga's will be fine on the GT as I am using it to ride to work and do some sprints on the way so the tyres will make little to no difference.
Also Sunday night I bought some clip-less shoes and clips as I want to start clipping in to see if I can keep up with the rest of the guys as there were only 3 people including me out of 22 that raced on Sunday that used flats. My thinking is that I have to learn to ride properly anyway so I might as well learn with clips so that I don't have to re-learn to ride with clipless pedals later.
I am going to use the clipless pedals that came with my Redline on my GT to practice riding to work and then when I am used to them in a couple of weeks I will buy a new pair of clip-less peddles for the Redline.
The shoes I bought are Shimano AM45 MTB SPD shoes that were discounted from £75 to £42 on Chain reaction at this link http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-am45-mtb-spd-shoes-2015/rp-prod55370
Hopefully this added to learning to manual will mean that I will be able to at least keep near the top guys for the rest of the year.
I am setting a goal of placing in the first 3 in a B final by the end of the season!
It was a pretty productive session as I can now manual both of the doubles on the last straight 2 out of 3 times. Unfortunately the time it goes wrong it goes really wrong! I will keep practising for the next few weeks until I can manual all of the jumps on the track. For this week I am just going to concentrate on the last straight to get it dialled.
A couple of runs I was able to Jump the small table top and manual the two doubles and jump the last table all in rhythm. It felt really good and I now know what I am shooting for.
Hopefully after a week of training I will be able to manual everything on the second half of the track and then I can concentrate on the first half of the track which is bigger.
Once I have bath Dialled I want to start riding in Bristol more as the track is way more technical and similar to most of the tracks that I will ride in the SW series.
I am going to go back to the track after lunch and take the video camera to try and get some video footage to try and see where I can improve my technique. I will post the video here later.
I have also found out that my gearing is wrong. Apparently the best gearing on a cruiser is 41 x 18 and my bike came with a 41 x 17 gearing. I am going to test this in a minute as I am going to swap the maxxis DTH wire tyres from my old GT onto my Redline as I like them better then the Tioga Power Blocks that came with the bike. The Tioga's will be fine on the GT as I am using it to ride to work and do some sprints on the way so the tyres will make little to no difference.
Also Sunday night I bought some clip-less shoes and clips as I want to start clipping in to see if I can keep up with the rest of the guys as there were only 3 people including me out of 22 that raced on Sunday that used flats. My thinking is that I have to learn to ride properly anyway so I might as well learn with clips so that I don't have to re-learn to ride with clipless pedals later.
I am going to use the clipless pedals that came with my Redline on my GT to practice riding to work and then when I am used to them in a couple of weeks I will buy a new pair of clip-less peddles for the Redline.
The shoes I bought are Shimano AM45 MTB SPD shoes that were discounted from £75 to £42 on Chain reaction at this link http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-am45-mtb-spd-shoes-2015/rp-prod55370
Hopefully this added to learning to manual will mean that I will be able to at least keep near the top guys for the rest of the year.
I am setting a goal of placing in the first 3 in a B final by the end of the season!
Monday, 18 April 2016
First race out of the way
Got my first race it of the way yesterday. I have to be honest the level was way higher than I was expecting and I didn't do too well. On a positive note I was in the top 3 or 4 out of the gate every race and then after that it went down hill.
I now know where I need to improve (everywhere!) I also need to improve my fitness a load as the tracks are much longer than I am used to. I noticed that 90% of the races were won by who ever got to the first berm the quickest so I am going to practice a lot on my first straights. I also need to improve loads on my technique and really concentrate on learning to manual properly as I am at the limit of how fast I can pump. Also the majority of the tracks are designed so that in order to go really fast you need to pump and jump the majority of the obstacles.
I am going to try and ride more in Bristol as the track there is much longer and it is a really complex track that will help out with the tracks that I will race on this year.
I also plan to go to Burnham on Sea to train as they have gate nights on Tuesdays and Thursday nights so that is 2 extra nights a week training.
I will also talk to the bmx coach about private lessons to try and get me better faster.
I now know where I need to improve (everywhere!) I also need to improve my fitness a load as the tracks are much longer than I am used to. I noticed that 90% of the races were won by who ever got to the first berm the quickest so I am going to practice a lot on my first straights. I also need to improve loads on my technique and really concentrate on learning to manual properly as I am at the limit of how fast I can pump. Also the majority of the tracks are designed so that in order to go really fast you need to pump and jump the majority of the obstacles.
I am going to try and ride more in Bristol as the track there is much longer and it is a really complex track that will help out with the tracks that I will race on this year.
I also plan to go to Burnham on Sea to train as they have gate nights on Tuesdays and Thursday nights so that is 2 extra nights a week training.
I will also talk to the bmx coach about private lessons to try and get me better faster.
Friday, 15 April 2016
Nice morning training
Had a nice morning training at the track. I bought some troy Lee body armour as I have been starting to go too fast for my skills on the new bike. I also bought a numberplate ready for my first race on Sunday.
Here is a picture of my bike in the sun.
Here is a picture of my bike in the sun.
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
Signed up for first Race!
I signed up for my first race last night although I haven't been able to train as much as I would have liked due to my ankle being crap!
On a positive note I uses the week off to get my bike dialled in and it is feeling much better now.
I trained this morning for an hour and a half and was focussing on trying to manual the tabletop which I did a few times so I am pretty pleased. I am definitely getting faster and I am getting out of shape much more due to getting to the jumps faster.
The other things I discovered last week is MucOff which pared with my new Lidls hose pipe and spray gun connector makes cleaning the bike really easy and fast. I cant believe that I struggled for so many years so that I didnt spend an extra £10 a month!
It is sooo easy! You basically rinse off the worst of the mud and get the bike really wet and then spray it with MucOff. Wait 5 minutes and rinse the bike off again.
Here are a few pictures of the bike after it has been cleaned.
On a positive note I uses the week off to get my bike dialled in and it is feeling much better now.
I trained this morning for an hour and a half and was focussing on trying to manual the tabletop which I did a few times so I am pretty pleased. I am definitely getting faster and I am getting out of shape much more due to getting to the jumps faster.
The other things I discovered last week is MucOff which pared with my new Lidls hose pipe and spray gun connector makes cleaning the bike really easy and fast. I cant believe that I struggled for so many years so that I didnt spend an extra £10 a month!
It is sooo easy! You basically rinse off the worst of the mud and get the bike really wet and then spray it with MucOff. Wait 5 minutes and rinse the bike off again.
Here are a few pictures of the bike after it has been cleaned.
I forgot to say that a couple of weeks ago I swapped out the pedals for Answer MPH Senior Pedals (http://www.crucialbmxshop.com/answer-mph-senior-pedals.html) and a super light weight saddle I bought a Box Echelon Large Seat that came with a carbon fibre short seat post (http://www.crucialbmxshop.com/box-echelon-race-saddles-large.html) it is also surprisingly comfortable and really light!!
I also left it at Crucial BMX in Bristol and they gave it a once over, straightened the back wheel and also put on new chain ring bolts as the old ones were not gripping any more.
There is nothing that needs doing to the bike now I just need to learn to ride it!
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