New bits for the 20"

Got some new bits for the Year 20" to get the gearing to pretty much the same as the Yess 24".

I am riding a 37x16 on the 24" with a 24x1.75 Tioga power block which gives as ratio of 55.54.

The 20" was with a Tioga powerblocks 20x1.60 and a gearing of 44x16 which gave a ratio of 53.59 which was much lower and explains why I was so tired racing he other week.

I am now changing to a 20x1.75 powerblock on the rear and changing the gearing to 42x15 to give a ratio slightly higher than the 24" at 55.78 which is as close as I can get it I think.

As I said I have bought a new powerblock folding 20x1.75 tyre and a new box 15 tooth sprocket. I already have a rental 42 chain ring that I will use for now although I have a new rennen 42 tooth chain ring in the post as I prefer the look of them to the rental chain rings.

I also bought a bunch of inner tubes to re-stock my parts box.

Here are before and after photos:

Picked up Dialled

I got up this morning and washed the Yess Cruiser again as I did a really bad job yesterday. I then went to Crucial and dropped off the Yess as it has a crunchy headset and picked up the Dialled.

I also got the box brake lever fitted to the dialled while I was there.

I also picked up my son's wheel ready for us to ride tomorrow.

When I got home I washed the Yess 20" as well as it was still really dirty as I only rinsed it off yesterday.

It is looking really good now.

I am taking the day off again to make sure that I am well for the weekend. 

Dialled Ready - 25/10/17

Had another rest day today as I was still feeling rough.

I did get up and wash my bikes as they were still muddy from training on Monday afternoon.

I got a call from Crucial to say that the Dialled was ready to pick up apart from needing a new brake lever.

Luckily the Box Lever that I had bought arrived so I went into work and picked it up and put it in the car ready to take to Crucial to be fitted tomorrow.

I am going to drop off the Yess 24" as the new box headset that I bought is crunching which is not good as I only bought it about 3 weeks ago!!! Not very impressed with the durability. Once the Yess is all done I am going to take it to my parents to leave it stored in their Garage for the winter as I am just going to use the Dialled and the 20" Yess for now.

Rest Day - Getting Ill

I woke up this morning feeling really tired so I went back to sleep after eating breakfast until about 12:30.

I then went out and ran some errands and went to lunch with my son.

When we got back I went to sleep again and when I woke up my stomach was bad and I had diarrhoea and was feeling sick.

I have been working all evening so far but have been having frequent trips to the bathroom which is not pleasant.

I am not sure if this has been caused by me eating an entire Dominoes Pizza last night or if I am getting tonsillitis again as I get a bad stomach a couple of days before I get ill when I have tonsillitis so I will see.

Unfortunately this meant that I was not able to ride today but that was probably for the best as my left knee was pretty sore this morning when I woke up.

Revised Training

Had training this afternoon with the Bath club coach Matt Eaton.

I used my Cruiser for most of the training and I found that I am really bad out of the gate on flats now :-) I kept lifting my feet off of the peddles all of the time!!!

It was a really good session and I have learnt that I really need to work on my manuals so I am going to spend a month focusing on manuals and then once I am better at them I will start with sprints and the other skills. We did a really good practice where we went half speed and tryed to manual the long tabletop on the 3rd straight and I was really really bad at it even though I can manual it at full speed. This showed that my technique is really off. For the rest of this week I am going to to pump laps followed by lots and lots of manual training on this tabletop followed by flat manuals in the carpark before I go home.

I am going to put flats on my 20" to use it to practice on as I am feeling more comfortable on it than the cruiser at the moment. I am going to take the Yess Cruiser to my parents house again tomorrow as I am not going to use it until next year. The Dialled is being built up with flat peddles as well so I can use this when I want to ride the cruiser for the winter.

This will also give me time to heal my ribs as they are obviously not totally healed yet and were sore again today. After a month or so I will start going hard with the sprints to get faster again.

Bristol racing

Went to Bristol track today to race in the first round of the Bristol Winter series.

Started off OK and I did a few laps to warm up then did gates. This is where it went wrong. I hit the gate on the first gate and went over the bars. Luckily all I did was graze my knee. I did 4 more gates at hit the gate every time!!!

In my first moto I hit the gate again but managed to stay on and finished second although my ribs were sore and I was knackered. The second moto I managed to gate well and won the race although I really hurt my ribs and was really tired and decided to call it a day so that I didn't agitate my ribs any more.

I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't race all the races as there were 2 national riders racing today and I finished just behind one hitting the gate in my first moto and I beat the other in my second moto. All made better by the fact that I was riding my 20" that I had only ridden for 3 days before racing.

I am resting up now as I have training tomorrow as long as my ribs are better.

In hind site it may have been better to have not raced today but you live and learn.

I had better news this afternoon when I sold my Ice Cruiser Frame so I have some cash to pay off the credit cards so the dialled may be saved to a while yet or I may seel it to pay off the credit cards a bit more :-)

The results for the racing were posted and even though I only raced 2 races I still had 4th pick for the A final and didn't finish last overall :-)

Hoping to be healed for next months race so that I can make all 4 races and then move back up to f1 for the next race in December.

Weigh in

Managed to sneak under 100kgs this morning in my weigh in at 98.85kgs.

As long as I can keep my weight dropping every week I will be happy. I can tell that I am gaining muscle too so the weight loss is a bonus.

I am a little worried as my left knee is really sore at the moment which I hope is caused by the cold wet weather and not by my knee getting worse. This knee has been a problem since I hyper extended it when I was 11 and is due to get arthritis in it about now so I may have to go to the doctors to check it out next week.

I am getting ready to go to Bristol to race this morning an am excited to be back racing but a bit apprehensive as I haven't managed a full lap of the track yet! Also the weather is crap so not really pumped to be getting out of bed of I an honest.

Picked up 20" from Crucial

Picked up the 20" Yess from Crucial early this morning and went back to bath for gates but unfortunately gates were cancelled.

The Yess is now looking amazing and riding even better. Swapping the cranks, stem, bars and tyres has made the bike even lighter. I did a few first straights to get used to the bike ready to use it for the Ryan Stack training this afternoon and race on it  tomorrow. 

I am going to leave the 24" at home this afternoon and tomorrow and just use the 20" as I really want to get used to it for the start of the season. 

I dropped the dialled off at Crucial to get built up with the bits off of the 20". I still haven't decided what I will do with the dialled. At the moment I want to keep it to train on but I may have to sell it to pay off the credit cards I am not sure yet. 

Dropped Yess off at Crucial

Took the 20" to the track this morning early and did some training.

I then took the bike and the bits off of the Dialled over to Crucial ready for them to build up ready for the weekend. I am putting on Renthal bars and Tioga powerblock tyres as well to make the 20"as close to the cruiser as possible.

Both bikes ride really similarly already so I am hoping that by setting them up the same I may be OK to ride both bikes next season and not have issues with not feeling right on the bikes when swapping between 20" and cruiser.

Bits ready to take to Crucial tomorrow

When I got home tonight I took the cranks, stem, grips and brake off of the dialled and put them in a bag ready to take to Crucial in the morning after training to be put onto the Yess 20" ready for the weekend.

I am going to train on the 20" tomorrow morning and then on the Yess cruiser in the evening and Friday as well. Hopefully they will be able to get the bike finished by Friday afternoon ready for me to ride Saturday and race on Sunday but I will find out tomorrow if it is possible or not.

First straights

Didn't get much sleep last night thanks to national rail doing maintenance on the tracks near our house from 1am until about 5am.

I still managed to get to the track after work although I was a really tired. I did 3 pump laps followed by 25 first straights. I used my clip less peddles today to get used to clipping on on the 20".

I am really loving riding the 20" yess and I am definitely going to swap over the bits from the dialled onto it. I plan to take the parts off of the dialled tomorrow night ready to take them along with the Yess to Crucial Thursday morning to be built up.

I will the leave the dialled there when I pick up the Yess to be built up to sell as I do not have space to keep all 3 bikes. Also with all the bits on the dialled from the Yess I can sell it cheaply and still make a profit.

I have decided to ride the Yess as it is for now apart from the parts that I am swapping over from the dialled.

I have also decided after talking to a friend at the weekend that I will get more out of racing over the winter compared to just training as you push yourself much more in racing than training.

I have decided that I am going to race on the 20" and race over 30's on Sunday and then race on the cruiser in the deep south winter series where I will most likely be racing lots of National riders.

Hopefully next month I will be fit enough to race both 20" and Cruiser at the the next Bristol winter series. Riding 20" in the over 30's and cruiser in F1. I am just going to race cruiser at the deep south as the level is too high for me to keep up when  tired after racing on both bikes. 

20" at the track

Took the YESS type O to the track tonight to do some laps. Once I had pumped the tyre up from 20psi to 80psi the bike rode really well.

Just like the Yess cruiser I have the bike handles amazingly and feels really fast. I even got manualling at high speed by the end of the session.

I am going to take the type O and the dialled to Crucial tomorrow to swap over the cranks, stem, grips and brakes as I want to race the type O this year after riding it and the Dialled is going to be my winter training bike or maybe I might sell it to buy some onyx wheels for the type O I am not sure yet.

All I know is that I am loving riding both of the Yess bikes so I am keeping both now. I really like the dialled but if I sell it then I could have onyx hubs on the type O as well as on my cruiser which would be even better.

Busy day

Had a busy day today. Got up at 5 am and picked up the bargain of the century! I won on eBay last week a 6 month old Yess type O pro xl frame with sei parts kit for £150!!!!! When  I saw the condition of the bike I gave the guy another £50 as it was an insult to pay so little for a bike that was £899 new.

Brought it home and then had a nap and then walked to the track with my son and had a play. Unfortunately I didn't check the tyre pressures before I left so I couldn't really ride as they were too soft.

My son did a bit of jumping and then one of his spoke nipples snapped so we walked home!

I have to say that I really liked the Yess from the little that I rode it and can't wait to ride it more this week. I am going to leave the flat peddles for now but think I will put the clip less peddles on it for later in the week.

I then got my Dialled ready to train in the morning by putting on the cool down post and seat and also lights so I can get up at 5 again in the morning and the bike is ready to go.

Bristol session again

Got to the track and played around again today. I took my Yess and I have changed my mind again. The Yess is much faster than the dialled so I am going to keep the Dialled as my training bike and the Yess for racing.

Playing at Bristol

Had a really good day at Bristol Patchway today. I did 3 full pump laps followed by 5 first, second and third straights. After this my friend arrived and we messed around doing lines on different straights.

I am really liking the Dialled and I jumped a lot of jumps that I haven't done before especially on the last straight. I am seriously considering selling the Yess again and building the Dialled with the Onyx wheelset and the Chris King bottom bracket.

I hurt my ankle a bit more today so I will need to take care of it and use the ankle brace for a while when riding. I am going to switch to clips again for a couple of weeks as I have hurt my big toe using flats today.

The track was running really well today and the rain held off although it was a bit windy.

I managed to do one full speed lap but I was blowing out of my arse afterwards but at least I managed the lap.

I want to take both bikes to the Bristol track and do some timed laps to see which bike is fastest. I may do this tomorrow as there are no gates in Bath. I want to see if I am faster on one bike than the other to see if I would be OK on the Dialled or if I am faster on the Yess. I am thinking that I may be better off breaking down the Yess and selling the frame and forks and keeping the rest of the bits to go on the Curtis when it is ready. Then if I really want a Yess again later on I can buy one.

I thing the Dialled and the Curtis will be the best pairing of training and race bikes as they are both chrome and have the same 21.5" top tubes.

I am also seriously considering breaking down the Yess Type O that I am picking up at the weekend and selling the frame and building up a cult race frame or buy another Dialled 20" frame. The SEI parts are all really good so the bike would be race able and similar to the dialled.

I am seriously considering racing 20" and Cruiser next year to get more experience and improve my fitness as well. This is especially important as I want race Nationals in 2019.

Pump day

Got up early and went to Crucial to pick up my Yess and also I bought a seat clamp for the Dialled and also some new winter gloves.

I also got a crucial sticker and stuck it on the Dialled.

I think it makes the bike look much better. I am going to get a custom Dialled Bikes sticker made up later on but for now the bike is fine as it is.

After I got back from Crucial I got changed and went to the track with the Dialled. I did 10 pump laps again followed by 6 full speed start hills and first jumps. My manuals are starting to come back and I managed 3 out of the 6 manuals cleanly. I the  had to stop as I tries to peddle manual the tabletop on the second straight and pinged one of my ribs so I stopped to not agrivate the rib any more.

My ankle that I twisted yesterday was OK. A little sore and it came out of alignment a couple of time walking up the start hill which hurt but nothing too bad.

I was much happier with my fitness today than I was on Tuesday and I think the rest day helped alot. I wasn't tired after the pump laps which was much better than Tuesday when I was blowing hard after 4 pump laps. I could have done more first straights if I hadn't of hurt my rib so it is looking better for next Sunday's race than  it was on Tuesday.

SORE

I woke up really sore yesterday morning (Wednesday) so I decided to have a rest day. I basically stayed in bed and watched Netflix most of the day.

To make matters worse I stepped down a hole in the grass when I was walking to pickup my son and now my ankle hurts and is clicking when I walk. Luckily it was my knackered ankle so it doesn't have any ligaments to damage.

Also I got a call from Crucial to say that the Yess is ready to pick up.

Pump laps

Got woken up at 8am this morning so got ready and went to the Bath track and did some pump laps.

I am really sore from yesterday so I will take it easy for this week and then try and ramp up ready for Bristol on 22nd.

It looks like it may take a bit longer than the 2 weeks I have until Bristol to get back in shape as I struggled to do 10 pump laps with rest in between which was my warmup before I crashed!!

After the 10 pump laps I managed 5 full speed start hill manual the first jump. My manuals are really bad again  but I managed one out of 5 manuals clean without nose bonking the top of the double so there is room for improvement.

Tomorrow I am going to try and 3 pump laps as warm up followed by 6 full speed laps with 5 minutes of rest in between to see if I can do it or not.

I have to say I really like the Dialled bike now after changing the bars. I need to get a 30mm seat clamp as the one that I have on it at the moment is too big so the seat moves a bit which isn't too much of an issue but it is a bit annoying.

Dawn raid at Bristol done

Got up at 5:30 this morning and went to Bristol track to get some laps in.

After doing my 5 pump laps I realised that I was not in any condition to do full laps yet so I did 10 first and second straights instead with the focus on getting faster each time and also pumping into and out of every jump.

It was my first session on the dialled and I must say I liked it. I also loved the flat peddles that I bought (nukeproof Sam Hills) and they worked really well with my 5ten shoes so well in fact I didn't really notice a difference from clips after I got my feet placed correctly.

I then went to the parcel force depot around the corner from the track and dropped off the wheels that I had sold and the went to Crucial and dropped off my Yess to be serviced ready to race next weekend.

I also bought new Rental bars for the Dialled so that it is exactly the same as the Yess.

I then went home and fitted the bars.

I am going to clean up my S&M bars that I took off of the Dailled and get them on Facebook to sell.

Relaxed Bath session

Took a friend to the track for a roll around which he loved. He even managed to jump the first table top on the last straight.

I had a couple of laps on the Yess and was knackered. I had a go on the dialled and loved it. I didn't try manuals or jumping but it felt really good. I am going to do laps at Bristol on it tomorrow early so I will have a better idea then about it.

Here are a couple of photos of the bikes.

Tomorrow morning I am going to swap the bars from the Yess onto the dialled as I will be using it most and I want to get used to the renthal bars. I am dropping of the Yess at crucial for a service so I will get another set of renthals fitted so the bikes have identical front ends to help with swapping from one bike to the other for races.

I also have to post the wheels that I sold on Friday so I will drop then off at the deploy near the track on the way to Crucial after I finish training.

Building up the Yess

I have started building up my Yess.  This morning I put on the seat and seat clamp that I bought last weekend.

I am now getting ready to go to Crucial to buy the rest of the parts that I need so that I can ride this morning.

I picked up the forks that I bought off of facebook on the way to Crucial and then I bought the following bits to build but the Yess:

Renthal 24* Cruiser bars (http://www.crucialbmxshop.com/renthal-motoxl-20-bars-12722.html):

Crupi i-beam stem 52mm (http://www.crucialbmxshop.com/crupi-i-beam-stem.html):

Box 2 headset (http://www.crucialbmxshop.com/box-two-integrated-headset.html):

Ciari headset spacers (http://www.crucialbmxshop.com/ciari-anelli-headset-spacers.html):

ODI Vans Lock on grips (http://www.crucialbmxshop.com/odi-x-vans-lock-on-grips-coloured.html):

I then went to Bath track and built up the bike and did some gates.

I felt OK on the bike rib wise but everything felt weird as I haven't ridden for so long and I have lost a lot of leg strength. I am going to start back doing full laps on Monday morning to blow away the cobwebs and try and get rid of the awkward feeling on the bike.

As a bonus Julian House called at 5pm to say that the dialled was ready to pick up so I ran over there and picked it up before they closed.

Body armour Arrived today

My new body armour arrived today from Chain Reaction. I went for the Leatt Body protector 3DF Airfit 2017 as it gives the highest rating of body protection and it also supposed to be really comfortable.  First impressions are really good although I haven't tried it on yet and I left it at work so I have no pictures yet. 

I am going to Crucial early tomorrow to get the rest of the bits to build my Yess back up so bars, stem, grips and headset then it is ready to ride or sell whichever I decide. I am then going to do a few gates to get back into riding. I am going to have a really light session tomorrow to see how I go and then start back slowly next week ready to harder the week after ready to race on the weekend after.

I am not expecting too much as I have been basically bed ridden for 2 months but I want to get back into riding as quickly as possible. I am going to race the over 30's as I am not ready to race the F1 again yet.  My ribs are feeling pretty good walking now so I think I should be able to start back on the bike now as long as I don't go overboard which is a problem but I need to be more controlled. I have also pilled on 3 kgs so I need to burn that off asap. 

I am planning to do mostly pumping for the first week or so to get used to the bike again and then the week after start back with the sprints, manuals and bunny hops. I am on lates next week which means I can get a lot of track time in during the day which I need to get back in shape and get the bike control back. 

New bits

Just bought a bunch of bits off Facebook to get the Yess back in one piece.

I got some identical Elevn forks to the ones I have on the Dialled, I also bought an identical box seat and post and also some box chain tensioners and a box seat clamp so that I can put the Yess clamp back on the Yess.

This will mean that the Yess and the Dialled will have identical front ends so they should feel pretty much the same.

I will need to buy identical stem, bars and grips and then the bikes should be identical.

Hopefully this will mean that it will be easier swapping between the 2 bikes for training and racing.

Here is a photo of the forks.

The Seat, Clamp and Chain tensioners are being taken off of the bike below:

More bits for my bike

Had to get up early this morning and got to Crucial and buy some bits for the dialled so that it could be built up. Basically the chain tensioners that I had would not work, so I had to get some different ones I went for the profile ones that have just one hole and seem to have the longest bolts. Also most of the dialled mx24r's I saw on the internet were using them so I figured that they would work.

While I was there I decided to get a 37 tooth chain ring as well as well as better chain ring bolts. I also bought a brake cable and bolts to hold the brake to the brake mounts.

I then dropped all of the bits off to be fitted.

 Yesterday I dropped off my flat peddles and peddle washers to be fitted to the bike too.

They said that the bike should be up together next week sometime. I said there was no rush as I will not be able to ride for a couple of weeks anyway and it is better that the bike is in the shop as I will not be able to ride it 😂

My ribs are getting better but I have pain in my shoulder blade when I sit for too long and the ribs under my arm pit are still a bit sore. I will definitely have to take a couple more weeks rest I think.

More rest needed

Decided that I need another week of rest before i get back to cycling as my ribs are still sore.

I cleared out most of the stuff in my container and took it to my parents to store temporarily. I also put the spare handlebars that I had lying around onto ebay to sell. Last night I also put the old wheels from my son's bike on ebay as well.

I am still not liking the idea of selling the Yess so I think that I will keep it for now. Maybe later ion in the winter once i have got used to the dialled I will sell the Yess but for now I want to keep it to race on as I really like it.

I am just pricing up the cost of building up the Curtis and that is going to have to wait for a while as it is going to be expensive.

Weighin

Did my weigh in this morning and I am up 1 kg again from this time last week which is not the best but it is pretty good considering I was working in the office this week and I normally eat much more in the office than when I am at home.

This morning I went to my container and started emptying it out ready to give back at the end of next week. I brought my mountain bike back and I will clean it and get it ready to ride next week.

I was going to use my exercise bike but there is nowhere to put it so I am planning on doing some gentle rides on the mountain bike this week to ease back into riding in a couple of weeks when my ribs are better (if they are).

I also organised my shed so that I can fit the Dialled in it when it is ready and used the shelves that were in my container to get all the smaller stuff up off of the floor and out of the way.

Next week when I get paid I will but another set of shelves and then get everything organised properly as I still have a few more boxes to go in the shed that will not fit at the moment.

I also want to put up some hooks to hand up some more stuff to get everything up off of the floor. I also remembered that I have some more stuff to put up on ebay to sell so I will clean it up today and then put it up later this afternoon.

Really want to ride

Went to gates this morning and I am gagging to ride but I am still not ready to ride as my ribs are still really sore.

It is looking like I may have to wait a bit longer than I thought to get back on the bike. I think that the 1st of October is going to be a bit optimistic for a return to training.

I am now thinking that I may hold off until the middle of October ready for the first winter series race at Bristol tonight on the 22nd.

I am going to get my exercise bike from my container tomorrow so that I can start getting my legs moving ready to start riding again in a couple of weeks.

I have put the ice frame up for sale on the internet to see if there is any serious interest or not. I am seriously thinking of selling my Yess frame too and just keeping the Dialled until the Curtis is ready and building it up to race next season. I was talking to people today at gates and they recon that it will be worth about £250 so i am going to take some photos today and will put it on the internet as well and see if it will sell.

To be honest the dialled is a good enough race bike for me so if I have to race it all winter it is not a big deal. At the moment it is more important that I work on improving as a rider over worrying about what bike I am riding.

Everyone says that the dialled bikes are really good race bikes so we will see.

I am going to hold off on selling the Yess for a while to make sure I like the Dialled but I am thinking the smart option for now is to sell the Yess and put my onyx/box wheels on the dialled and then sell the Yess frame, the wheels on the dialled that have not been used yet and also the cliq cranks. With all of this money will be enough to pay for the Curtis frame and make a start on building up the Curtis.

Dropped bike off to be built.

Dropped my dialled off to be built up at the local charity bike shop as I didn't feel well enough to drive today as I had my first ever migraine last night which wasn't very nice at all and I am still feeling a bit rough.

They are going to fit the bike in between jobs so it may take a bit longer than normal but as I have at least a couple of weeks until I can ride I am not bothered about how long it takes.

As I said to them it is better that the bike is with them so I can't ride it before I am ready.

Here is a picture of the brake that I bought it looks pretty much new.

I am now going back to bed to rest up as I have the day off from work so I am going to make the most of it.

Brake arrived

The brake arrived today but no one was home to collect it so I will have to go to the post office in the morning. The pedal washers arrived and were posted through the letter box so I have them already.

I went all day without fizzy drinks so pretty pleased with that although I have a massive headache from lack of sugar.

I have the day off Wednesday so I will take the dialled to Crucial to get it built up. Can't wait.

Picked up cranks

Picked up my cranks today and have just fitted them to the bike.

The bike is looking good. Once the chain ring, chain and brake are on I think it will look good. Can't wait to ride it although I think that it will be a while yet as I have re-broken some ribs at the supermarket this morning so I don't think that I will be riding any time soon.

I was sorting out my parts box this afternoon and found that I had a chain ring and chain ring bolts so I have mocked the bike up so I can see how it will look once built up.

I really like the look and can't wait for the brake and peddle washers arrive this week so I can get it built up.

I am going to go into the bike shop near my work tomorrow to book the bike in to be built up at the end of the week if possible. If not I will drop it off in Crucial in a weeks time when I am on lates again and can get there.

The chain ring that I have is a 39 tooth and usually I ride a 37 so I am going to ride a harder gearing for now to build up leg strength when riding as I don't have to be fast at the moment. As the winter progresses I will drop the gearing to a 36 on the front to work on spinning ready for the season.

I am going to still race on the 37x16 unless I find that I am slower when I time my laps.

I have made a deal with my son that we will one our sprints over the winter to see how we progress over the winter.

I forgot to say that I have dropped 1.5kgs from my last weigh in to 97.5kgs so I am moving in the right direction but I am a bit worried that I am loosing muscle not fat which is a worry.

I am also getting back to being addicted to Dr Pepper after a week of drinking it so I am stopping again tomorrow. I drank a whole 2l bottle this afternoon which is not good at all.

I am going to have to nip this in the bud before I get addicted again and undo all of the work I have put in in the last 8 months.

I am going to get the ice frame and take some pictures tomorrow after work and then get it on the internet to sell as I want to get some cash together to pay for my Curtis.

I am also going to get the old wheels from my son's bike on eBay as well to get some more cash saved up.

I am going to see if I can pop over to visit Gary at Curtis this week as well to see how my frame is coming on as he called on Friday to say that he had picked up the dropouts for my bike from the laser cutters. I can't wait to see them 😀

Built up Dialled MX24R this morning

Got up and built my Dialled MX24R up this morning it is still missing some bits but I will pick them up later today and then finish building it up tomorrow.

I am happy with how it looks and have a feeling that it will ride really well once it is all built up.

I was trying to get some new stickers but I think I like it as it is so I will leave it alone for now.

I am quite liking the chrome wheels as well and when the dxr cranks are on it I think the bike will look good.

I am going to hang the Yess in my parent's garage for most of the winter. I will take it over today so that it is out of the way.

When the brake arrives next week I will take the dialled in to Crucial to be built up properly and make sure it is 100% ready for the hard winter it has coming. I think I will get the headset bearings changed while I am at it as the ones that came with the frame are a bit grindy which I don't like at all.

Also if the bike is in Crucial I will not be tempted to ride it and mess up my ribs before they are healed.

I took a couple of photos of the Yess before I broke it down for the winter so that I can look at them when I miss it 😂

This is the last time that it will be in this configuration for as I am going to start adding new pieces ready for next season.

Winter Training 2017

I have worked out the following outline for my winter training:

Winter training 2017

Fitness (Monday, Wednesday and Fridays)

Body weight circuit followed by stretching

Basketball (Wednesdays when on earlies and Sundays)

Bike Skills (Tuesdays and Thursdays)

Sprints

Manuals

Bunny hops

Wheelies

Track Skills

Full speed laps (Monday, Wednesday and Friday)

Pump Laps (Tuesday and Thursday)

Gates (Saturday)

Races (One Sunday per Month at Bristol) Other Sundays are rest days or play days.

Shifts:

Earlies

When I am on earlies there will be no time to go to the track so I will just do Bike Skills in the evenings. My early weeks I tend to do much less training and use it as kind of rest weeks compared to the weeks that I am on lates. I plan to try and get up early and do my fitness before work as I can get up at 5:30 am and do the fitness (probably without the stretching) before I go to work. This will leave evenings to do at least an hour of Bike skills after work. Alos I will play basketball

Lates

When I am on lates I have time to do the track training and also the fitness. On my lates weeks I will swap the skills sessions for track sessions although I plan to still do Sprints as Pump laps are much less tiring on the legs than full laps so I will be OK to sprint after pump sessions.  

I will now start planning the specific details of each part of the training in order to get ready to start next month if my ribs are better by then. 

Wheels arrived

My wheels arrived today and they look really good. They are definately brand new and never been used. The engagement seems pretty good too and they seem pretty much the same as the bombshell wheel set I sold with the S&M Speedwagon which were excellent wheels.

I have been mulling over what to do with the Yess and I have decided that I want to keep it as I really like it so I am back to selling the Ice frame and building up the Dialled bike again with the front end of the Yess. I bought a second hand Shimano dxr brake set off of Facebook today so I will have a brake system so it will make it much easier to swap the bits over to the dialled when I want to use it.

I am going to leave the cliq cranks on the Yess too and use the second hand Shimano dxr 175mm cranks that I bought off of Facebook at the weekend which are at a friend's house and he is going to bring them over tomorrow.

I will then need a chain ring chain ring bolts and a seat clamp to be able to build up the dialled as my training bike with flat peddles on it for winter training.

Over the next couple of months I will slowly build up the Yess with new forks, stem, bars, grips and seat and then it will be complete again by the start of next year.

I will put the money from the ice frames towards the Curtis frame when it is ready then slowly build up the Curtis next year as I want to build it up right with onyx hubs, disk brake and top of the line but it's.

I have been updating my bike check blog and so far this year I have had 6 bikes 7 if you count the Ice frame that I am not even going to build up. By the end of the year this will be 8 bikes as I will get the Curtis frame as well. I am not planning on getting any more bikes for a good few years after this. I plan to keep a minimum of the Yess and the Curtis and depending on how I like the Dialled I will keep it too. I am guessing that I will stay with the 3 bikes as I really regret selling my Dialled Staystrong 20" and really enjoyed riding it so I can't see the 24" being any less enjoyable to ride.
If the worst comes to the worst the dialled can be used as a pump track/park bike and I can keep the Yess and the Curtis for racing on the track. Once all 3 bikes are built up I will only spend money on bikes when something needs changing. Like I said earlier I want to spend the rest of this year and next year focusing on saving money not spending it.

I will build up the dialled tomorrow without a brake until the one I bought today arrives then it will be my daily winter bike for the next 5-6 months. I am really looking forwards to riding it after staring at it every day for the past 2 months!

I have been looking at how to store my Yess for the winter and I think that I am going to try and get a bike box and some bubble wrap to store it is and then put it in the roof of my parents garage out of the way. As I said earlier I am going to leave the cranks, back wheel and brake on the bike so if I want to race it it is all dialled and ready to just put the seat and front end back on it and off we go.

More bike decisions

Although I really love the Yess I have decided that I am going to put the new wheels that arrive tomorrow onto it and also the 180mm DXR cranks I have for sale and then sell the Yess as a complete. Once it is sold I will buy the rest of the pieces that I need to finish the Dialled and also add the Box/Onyx rims that I have on the Yess at the moment and the cliq cranks. It makes sense to sell the Yess now as it is still new and there is no point leaving it lying in my garage for the winter. Also if I really miss the Yess I can get another frame next year and sell the dialled.

Once I Sell the Yess I will have enough cash to finish the Dialled and also pay for the Curtis frame when it is ready.

I will only need stem, bars, grips, seat, clamp and brake system to complete the bike. I want to get box bars and stem so I may dip a bit more into the money than I am planning at the moment but there you go :-)

I am also going to sell the Ice Frame as I am not going to have the money to build it up now as I will have the Curtis to build and I can put the money into my van fund.

This will leave me with the dialled and the Curtis to train and race on which should be fine. Also as I am not racing Nationals now next year I don't need such an expensive bike to be competitive as I would at nationals.

Got the Yess back

So happy. I have picked up my Yess today. The wheels are now both straight and the front wheel has a new rim.

Looking at the old rim it broke along the join so was kind of a defect really. Just unlucky that it was the point of impact of the crash I guess.

I had a quick ride on the bike from my car to my Son's school as I didn't want to leave the bike in the car and it was a mistake. My ribs are really sore again. I am definitely not going to race at the weekend now.

 I will start taking the front of the bike, the seat, cranks and the brake off of the Yess tomorrow and build up the dialled ready to get it fully built up when the wheels arrive on Friday.

Bike news

Go a call from Crucial today to say that my Yess is ready to pick up so I will pop in tomorrow morning and pick it up.

I also got an email from the guy who I bought the new wheels for my dialled mx24r to say they should be with me on Friday.

I have just noticed that I haven't put up a photo of the dialled bike so here is one:

Also here is a photo of my broken front rim.

Tomorrow I am going to take some photos of the Yess and do a bike check before I take the bits off of it and build up the dialled mx24r. I am then going to take the Yess to my parents house to store it until I need to build it up to race at the end of October for the first Bristol winter series.

I handed in notice on my container at the weekend as well so I need to get some space cleared in my Parent's garage to store all of the stuff in the container.

Depressed

I have come to the conclusion that I can't race at the SW champs on Saturday and I am gutted!

I have been rethinking my strategy for the rest of the year and I have decided that I am going to take the rest of the month off to make sure that my ribs are fully healed and then go straight into heavy training for next season's regionals. I am also going to use it as a cheat month where I will drink fizzy drinks and eat crap to get it out of my system ready to eat better over the winter.

I also bought batteries for my scales today as the battery ran out last week and I haven't got around to buying a replacement until today.


Over the winter I am only going to commit to the Bristol winter series and maybe do a couple of deep south races at tracks I like and I will save as much money as possible until the end of the year.

I am just arranging to clear out my container to save me more money now that I only have one complete bike at the moment. I am trying to get some space cleared in my parent's garage to store the Yess and the ice frame for now until I need them and I will get the Dialled built up fully once my wheels and cranks arrive.

Over the winter I am going to ride flats to get used to them again and also to learn to peddle efficiently.

I am going to split my training  into 3 areas:

1. Bike Skills.
2. Fitness and conditioning.
3. Track skills.

Skills will be working on the base skills off of the track. This includes bunny hops, manuals, wheelies and sprints.

Conditioning will be basic physical conditioning so bodyweight exercises and stretching basically.

Track skills will be putting the training all together on the track. This will involve training as I have been all year with a mixture of full speed laps, pump laps and breaking the track down into parts to improve performance on each faze of the track. It will also include jumping which needs to be a big focus for the winter to get my jumping up to a level that I need it to be by the start of next season so that I am not having to slow down for that one big jump on most tracks that is the difference of me keeping up with the fast guys.

I have set myself the goal of jumping the second jump at bath by my birthday in January so I have October, November and December to get there.

I want to start to ride some different tracks as well over the winter as at the moment I am getting good on Bath and Bristol as I ride there a lot but I need to get used to other tracks too.

When I am on days I plan to start to try and go to Burnham on Tuesday and Thursdays as it is a really technical track and will help a lot in my progression and it also has a really big second jump on the first straight which I basically just hit and hold on at the moment but I need to jump to be competitive next year. They also have the fastest gate of all the local tracks which is a bonus and floodlights.

I then want to go to a different track each weekend although we are limited to the number of track as only a handful are actually open tracks. On a positive note I like all of the open tracks so it

Off of pain killers

The ribs are getting better. I have only been taking pain killers before I sleep for the last 2 days which is better. I have however had to sleep with 2 pillows under my left arm to stop it dropping down and hurting due to my body weight being on it.

Bike-wise I popped into Crucial on Saturday afternoon and looked at my front rim and I have got them to replace the front rim with a new Box rim exactly the same as the one that broke for now I am planning to get new rims and spokes for next season anyway so I will stay with the box for the winter.

I bought some dxr 175mm cranks off of facebook on Friday night which should arrive this week and then Yesterday I won a new set of training wheels off of e-bay which also should be here soon.

Photos of the cranks are below:

The cranks look a bit scratched but in pretty good condition. I will see how they are when they get here and then decide if I will get them dipped to look like carbon fibre or leave them as they are. I am not going to use them now as I am going to build up the Dialled with the cliq cranks that are on my Yess at the moment.

The description of the wheels was:

These excess 351 wheels and hubs are brand new ,built up but never used ,tyres are used but excellent, it has a 16 tooth cog From the photos they look brand new too.

For the time being I am going to build up the Dialled with the new wheels, and then take the cranks off of the Yess as well as the forks stem and bars and also the brake. I will buy a new seat clamp for the dialled and then it will be complete as I have a new kmc chain waiting to go on the bike already.

I will then put the dxr's onto the Yess with my clip peddles and then next month I will add a new brake, chain ring and bolts and then when I want to use it I just need to move the forks, bars, stem and seat over and it is ready to go.

I am thinking that by doing this I can use the Dialled bike most of the time and when I race or want to play on the Yess I can quickly swap over the front end and seat and I am away. No need to mess with sorting out brakes and chains which is a pain. It also means that both bikes will be as close to the same as possible.

I want to stop spending money on my bikes until at the earliest the end of the year so that I can start paying off my credit cards and also get some money saved up in the bank. The idea is to have saved enough to buy a van for next season.

I am still thinking if I am going to sell the Ice Frame and possibly the Yess Frame and stay with just the Dialled and the Curtis or if I am going to keep all of them and build up the ICE and Curtis bikes slowly next year. I will see how well I save money until the end of the year and also how I like the Dialled frame before deciding.

I am still debating whether I will race the Dirty South Series this winter or if I save money ready for next season.

I also want to have enough money saved up to pay for hotels for every regional race next year so that I can stay near each track and not have to go home after practice on the Saturday and drive back on the Sunday as the races where I stayed I did much better than when I had to get up early and drive to the race on the Sunday morning.

I think I am going to leave Nationals for another year so that I can get more money saved up to before I start racing.

Thrill gone

Swapped my Thrill last night for a brand new Ice Fast F-118 frame. It is really nice but has been put away to build up later once I have paid my credit card off.

I have decided that I am going to retire the Yess for the winter too and build up the Dialled bikes mx24r that I have to use over the winter while I get back into shape after my broken ribs. I am going to do the SW champs next weekend on my Yess and then get the parts moved over to the Dialled the week after.

I will then use the dialled for the next few months and then go back to the Yess early next year or build up the Ice or Curtis I am not sure yet.

The dialled should be an excellent winter bike as it should be a bit more forgiving than the Yess which is good as I want to hone my manuals and jumping over the winter so a chrome frame will be better. It will hopefully also allow my ribs to heal a bit better as well as there should be less vibration due to the chrome.

The dialled also has exactly the same top tube length as my Curtis will have so it will be a good way to ease into using the Curtis.

I am trying to get some cheaper wheels to use over the winter too so that I can keep my onyx wheels just for racing so they don't get totally thrashed with all the mud and wet over the winter.

My ribs are getting much better although I have been coughing and sneezing a lot over the last couple of days which isn't fun and is not helping too much.

I am hoping that they will be healed by next weekend but I am not sure if they will be or not. I am a bit worried as I have not been able to breath very well over the last few days which may mean that my lung got punctured or is infected either way it's not good. If it gets any worse I will have to go to the doctor and get it checked out.

Weigh in

Did a weigh in this morning and I am 97.95kgs so down 0.1 from my last weigh in.

Pretty happy as it is the first time that I am under 98kgs for at least 2 years so I am moving in the right direction.

My ribs seem to be getting worse instead of better I guess in part because I have been driving the last couple of days and loading bikes into and out of the car!

Last night I actually woke up a few times in pain. And I had to take some ibuprofen for the pain to get back to sleep. Luckily I have stopped taking the ibuprofen during the day so I was able to take it.

Yesterday we went to Crucial and dropped off my bike to be fixed from the crash and to pick up my son's bike which had had his new answer ti wheels put on. The new wheels on his bike have probably halved the weight of the bike as the original DK wheels were really heavy. He was really happy but didn't really try at gates again as his finger is still hurting a bit I think.

I am still wanting to race at the SW champs in 2 weekends time but I will have to see if I can or not nearer the time. I am going to take it really easy from now until then to heal as much as possible by the race.

Bike decisions

I have been thinking about what I want to do with my bikes over the winter.

I have decided that for the moment I need to stay on the Yess so that I get used to it for next season so at the moment I think I am going to store the dialled and ice frames then next year when I replace the parts on the Yess I will build up the dialled with the bits from the Yess. I will then build up the ice and then after that the Curtis.

The Ice and the Curtis can be displayed as kind of art as they are really good looking frames so they will not be thrown in a cupboard somewhere.

I had a look at my Yess yesterday and the bars are a bit more battered and the back wheel is really buckled from the crash so I am dropping it off at Crucial tomorrow morning when I pick up my son's bike from having his new wheels put on.

I really need to stop spending for a while to get my overdraft down and also save money to buy a van next year

I am still deciding if I will do nationals next year but from a financial standpoint I think it is better to wait another year. It also makes sense from a experience standpoint as I need to improve my manuals a lot and also learn to jump before I can compete at a National level so one more year riding regionals makes sense.

Once my ribs are healed I want to get a bit more serious about my training by doing circuit training 3 times a week with stretching afterwards and I also need to do a lot more conditioning to get my weight down more. I have done pretty well I have lost 5kgs this year so far so not too bad but I want to lose a lot of weight by next season so I will also need to do a couple of long bike rides this winter.

I also need to get back into regular sprint sessions as well as training my manuals which I have not really trained too much off of the track and it shows. I am planning to do manual training with my sprint training so that in between sprints I am practicing manuals as a kind of active rest.

As I can't ride at the moment I am currently working out a training schedule to follow for the winter. I will add it here once I have it pretty much finalised.

Ribs feeling better

My ribs are feeling better although under my arm pit is sore as today where it wasn't before.

I couldn't stand to stay in the house today so I drove to Crucial and dropped of the new wheels for my son's bike and also my Niece's micro mini to get new tyres and tubes on it as she has finally learnt to ride a bike without stabilisers and the bike had been left in their garage for about a year with flat tyres so they are shot.

I am please with how my ribs are healing and it looks pretty likely that I will be able to race at he SW champs as long as I don't do anything stupid between now and then to mess the ribs up.

I am not going to do anything this week then next week I will try to get out on the Mountain bike along the canal to get the legs moving and not stress the ribs too much.

I am going to try not to ride the BMX until the SW Champs to give myself the maximum chance of healing the ribs before the race.

New frame

Had a chat with one of the dads from the club and he is going to swap a brand new Ice F-118 cruiser frame that he won last winter for my Thrill.

Not sure what to do with it really but it is easier to store than the complete bike so I will get it and decide what to do with it later.

Here is a picture of a built up ice frame:

The frames are supposed to be really good but I am really liking my Yess at the moment so I may sell the Ice as I have the Curtis frame coming by the end of the year so I have a couple of builds to think about.

I wasn't planning on building the Curtis any time soon anyway so I may keep all three and build up the Curtis and ice at the same time to use the same wheels as they are both going to be disk brake frames.

I may also take the Yess apart for the winter and use the ice instead with V brakes for now and all of the bits from the Yess to see if I like it and if I do I can build it up from there.

I also have the dialled frame that I want to try before I sell it to see if I like it too so I am not sure what to do. Decisions decisions.

More important than bikes at the moment is body armour and a new helmet to make sure I don't get so broken the next time I get something wrong and end up on the floor I am getting too old for being hurt all the time.

I am feeling a bit better today my ribs in the back are really sore but I am able to lie flat on my back or on my side now with little to no pain of I don't move so I can at least switch between positions when one starts to get painful. I have now stopped taking ibuprofen and am just taking paracetamol every 4 hours instead of taking paracetamol every 4 hours and ibuprofen every 4 hours staggered by 2 hours.

The last time I broke my collar bone and ribs the doctor said to not take ibuprofen as it slows down the healing process so this time I have only used it for the first couple of days when the pain was really bad.

I am hoping that I can be back on my bike in a couple of weeks as we have the SW championships in 3 weeks and I want to race as the caravan is paid for and I found out yesterday that it is non refundable! So if I am going I might as well race 😀

Crashed Again

The Brits didn't go as well as I had hoped this weekend. Friday practice mas moved forwards half an hour due to a lot of people getting stuck in traffic so I only got 30 minutes sleep (3 laps and one gate) before I had to run back to the hotel to work until 2am. I was then up again for 7am to get ready to race. I missed part of the practice as I took longer to get ready so only had a couple of laps.

I did 2 gates and then crashed on my third gate and was apparently knocked out for 10 minutes on the track and I have broken a bunch of ribs on my left hand side.

This meant that I didn't get to race at all! Gutted but I would have motoed anyway as the level of riding was really high and we had 31 riders so I wouldn't have made it out of the motos anyway but it would have been nice to have ridden at least one race. Still it gives me another year of practice to get faster.

I definitely have to work on my manuals and jumping over the winter as there seems to be at least one big jump on most tracks now that is too deep or long to manual quickly and jumping is the best option.

I have a couple of months rest coming up as I can't ride now which is a shame as I have the SW champs coming up and would have loved to race that. I am resting as much as possible now to see if I can be better by then but I don't think I will be judging by the amount of pain that I am in just now.

I am going to take pain killers every 2 hours for now to dull the pain so that I can at least sleep a bit for the first week or so and then I will cut down the pain killers after about a week to see the exact position I am in.

I need to get some better body armour as I was unfortunately using my least padded body armour when I crashed which had no back padding a bit of chest padding and no rib padding.

I also have to get a new helmet again as my 100% helmet had take 2 really hard impacts in the last couple of days so I pretty much done!

I also can't get the strange smell out of it!!!!

I am looking for leatt body armour as everyone says that it is the best. I may also get a leatt helmet as they are supposed to be good. I also need padded under shorts and knee pads to go under my race trousers.

Quick pump session today

I had a quick pump session today at Bath track to get my body moving a bit after 2 days off. I didn't want to do too much as I have to race at the Brits at the weekend at Derby. Also I was on my training bike and didn't really want to push it as the cranks are too short and feel weird.

I have just had some good news from Crucial and my bike is all ready to go so I will pick it up in the morning and then go to the track for a few laps. Can't wait. I may also get some sprints in as I am feeling really lazy as I haven't ridden much at all since Sunday.

Great training session yesterday

Had a really good training session yesterday with Jools from XLR8 bike school.

Had loads of fun and learnt a lot of little things like the correct line out of corners and also lots of little things about my manuals that I didnt know like dropping your heels and he also pointed out that I am not far enough back over the back wheel which I already knew 😂

Annoyingly I couldn't finish the training as I broke my chain tensioner on my bike and my wheel went out of alignment. Or so I thought. I put some new chain tensioners on this morning but the wheel was not spinning so I took it to Crucial for them to look at. It looks like I may have broken something inside the hub as well. So not looking too good. I may have race the Brits with my StayStrong back wheel on but fingers crossed I will be able to get the onyx hub fixed before Friday morning.

Chilled session at Bristol

Got up and arranged to meet a friend at Bristol Patchway track today at 11am to ride.

We had a really good session despite the fact that travellers had moved into the field opposite the track so there were loads of kids asking to ride our bikes all the time and playing in the middle of the track.

It was also a bit windy so we could only ride some of the track.

We rode for about 3 hours on and off and pushed each other to try new lines which was good. I jumped the whole of the last straight which I have never done and I also jumped the last jump on the second straight which again was a first for me.

We were also trying to jump on to the flat part of the first jump which was ok but not as fast as manualing. I also peddle manualled it which I think will be the fastest way to get over it until I can jump the whole jump.

I have been mulling over bike stuff all last night and I have decided that I am going to just keep my Yess bike and sell everything else. I am not going to swap anything on it for now and ride it as is until things need changing. I am not going to build up a second bike either as they are too different and I am getting really comfortable on the Yess.

I may still build up some training wheels with less expensive hubs to keep the onyx hubs for racing or I may save money and build up some new onyx wheels for next season I haven't decided yet but I am going to use it as is for now.

I have a training session with xlr8bikeschool to work on skills for the Brits next weekend which should be fun. I am going to get my Mum's car tomorrow night and go to Derby early Monday morning to have a go on the track ready for the Brits on Saturday as I will not be able to practice in the official practice on Friday evening as I have to work.

Half laps at Bristol

Got up around 9 this morning and took the Sunday to the post depot to send to its new owner.

I then went to Bristol Patchway track to do some laps as it is just around the corner from the depot. To my surprise there was atually a parking space by the track. More surprising than that was that it was right by the gateway near the start hill. Result.

I then got kitted up and found I had left my gloves at home 😀

Did 4 pump laps followed by a full speed lap. My legs were feeling bad still so I decided to do first second and third straights only to save my legs for the weekend.

I did 7 first, second and third straights with 5 minutes rest in between to recover fully. I had to stop after 7 as it started raining hard and I didn't want to cut up the track too much.

My week of pumping has definitely paid off as I have never been so fast and smooth around the track. I am now able to manual the double out of the second straight which I have never been able to before and also I am able to nose manual the tabletop on the third straight which is much faster than jumping it.

I am pretty happy with my progress over the last couple of weeks especially as I crashed last weekend and I am not 100% yet.

I am really happy to be back on the Yess as well and I have decided that I am going to get a training bottom bracket, headset and wheels and tyres and sell all of the other bikes as they are too different to the Yess. I am going to build the dialled bike as a pump track bike for the winter as I want to do more pump track riding to get smoother and faster and it should be perfect as it is a chrome frame so is more durable. I am going to build it like a race bike not a park bike as I want it to feel similar to my Yess.

I am going to start getting new bits for the Yess next month and start moving the old bits to the dialled. I have to keep the Yess as it is until the middle of September as I have the SW champs on the 15th of September in Biddiford. Once these are over I will start moving parts onto the dialled.

I have decided that I am going to leave the Thrill for sale but use the wheels and forks on the dialled for now changing the tyres for the power blocks that are currently on the Yess. I am then going to move the seat, bars, stem and brakes from the Yess onto the dialled and then build up the Yess again with the same parts but new.

I will then paint the thrill frame and then sell all the bits separately.

I also want to get a new set of StayStrong hubs to build up with the current rims and spokes from the Yess and then get the Onyx hubs built up with new box rims and titanium spokes for next season. I am thinking that I may get the thrill frame painted up and restickered and either keep it or sell it as well.

I have to remember that I also have the Curtis frame coming at the end of the year but I am not going to build it up this year I just need to save some cash to pay for it.

In fact I may forget about the dialled frame altogether for now and put it on eBay as well and just put a new box rims on the StayStrong hubs and keep the Yess as it is now to keep the costs down.