Manuals coming along

I woke up feeling really crappy with a headache, sore throat and a bit of a temperature this morning so I decided to just practice my first straights today. I focused on my manuals at top speed and they are coming along nicely I managed to do the first straight well about 4 times out of the 20 or so times I did it so I am getting more consistent 😂

I also did uphill sprints back up the start hill to get a bit of training in as well.

I also cleanly manualled the second jump more times than in any other session to date so I am pretty happy considering that I should have stayed in bed this morning.

Got home just in time as well as it had just started raining again so that is a bonus.

Training sort of done

Woke up at 6 am this morning to go to Bristol track but felt really rough so decided to sleep more and go to Bath track this morning to train instead.

When I got to the track I was feeling really bunged up and having difficulty breathing. breathing​ property after the warm-up pump lap. I decided to push on and did 6 full speed laps with 5 minutes rest in between. I did ok and managed to cleanly manual the first and second jumps on the first straight at full speed so getting better slowly.

I was dead after this so I decided not to push it too much so I did a warm down lap and went home. On the way back to the car I popped into the cycle track reception to find out how much it is to use the track to do sprints as the car park is too full at the moment to use. It is £1 so I am going to start using the cycle track to do my sprints on. I am going to go to crucial during the week to get a long seat post do use on the recovery after the sprints as I am going to change up my training a bit. Also the track will be good to use the weeks I am on earlies as they said that it doesn't get busy until around 6ish in the evenings.

I have been reading up on Bmx training and have heard a lot about the advantages of 400m sprints to quickly build up stamina to have legs at the end of the track. I am going to try them tomorrow I think and see how I go. Apparently they are really effective when done at least twice a week so I plan to do them on Tuesday and Fridays and do short sprints on Monday and Wednesday's with Thursday as a rest day although this may change as I need to do track based endurance work too.

Another weigh in

Did another weigh in this morning and I was up alittle from 102.02 kgs to 102.20 kgs which is not bad as I have done almost no exercise this week except for gates yesterday and Pilates on Thursday night.

This week I am going to have to get a load of training in as I only have 2 weeks today until the first race of the season.

I am going to Bristol track early in the morning to get some full laps in as I really need to build up my full track fitness as I have only been doing half laps for the last few weeks. I am also going to do sprints as well as I wasn't feeling to sting again this week at gates and I need to work on my second and third peddles as I was loosing ground again this week.

I am currently looking at ways to improve this.

I also want to change my hearing from 36 x 16 to 42 x 18 to see if this helps at all. I am also going to change my 20" from 44 x 16 to a 45 x 16 to try and work on my leg strength a bit. I am also looking at changing tyres from maxxis DTH to Tioga power blocks to see if that makes a difference.

Weigh in

Weighed in this morning at 102.05 kgs which isn't too bad as again I didn't do too much again this week. I was 101.80 kgs yesterday after gates which must have been lack of water.

Went to the track this morning and did some first straight practice. I lowered the bars before I started and found it much better for manualing and I was able to manual the first double cleanly almost every time and I did the second bigger double twice too. I also did a couple third and forth straights and I was able manual everything cleanly.

I am really loving the new frame and think I will keep it for a while at least.

Got the new bike

Picked up the built up Haro this morning and took it straight to gate practice in Bath. It is riding really well apart from the bars are too high now as the Haro frame seems to have a higher front end than the S&M. I will swap the stem out for the Crupi front load stem and drop the stem as low as possible on the forks. Apart from the bars being too high the bike is feeling amazing I was keeping up with a good National standard rider who was at gates today so not bad in fact I was out snapping him on the gate pretty much every time so really pleased now I have to work on my second and third peddles which is where I was loosing out to him. The new frame seems much better for manuals as well which is a bonus.

This is how the Haro looked this morning. This afternoon it will be different again and I will add another picture.

Haro Being Built Up

I took the new Haro frame and my S&M into Crucial today and it has been built up. I had to buy a new seat clamp and a new longer chain and it is now ready to pick up in the morning in time for gates and then going to Exeter for gates in the afternoon.

We picked up Dylan's new Haro Race Lite Expert XL from Crucial when I dropped off my S&M and went to the Bath track to test it out. He really likes it although he didn't really want to ride too much as per usual.

I did one full lap and 5 or 6 half laps of the first and second straights I was pleased as I managed to cleanly manual the second double on the first straight which I haven't been able to do for months. The 20" is much easier to manual than the S&M for some reason.

Here are a couple of photos of Dylan and his new bike.

2017 Bike Check

S&M Speedwagon 24"

This has been my main race bike since late last year when I came back from my broken collar bone.

Specs:

Frame - S&M Speedwagon 22" top tube.

Forks - S&M Race XLT Forks.

Rims - Box Focus 24x1.75" Black.

Hubs - Onyx Ultra 36H Black with 16t Crupi Aluminium Cassette Cogs.

Bottom Bracket - Chris King.

Cranks - Shimano DXR MX71 180 mm Cranks with 37t Global Racing Rocket V2 4 bolt Chainring and Box spiral Chainring Bolts.

Pedals - Shimano M647 SPD Pedals.

Chain - Sinz Elite Hollow Pin Chain.

Seat - Box Echelon Large Race Saddle.

Seat Clamp - S&M XLT.

Headset - Crupi Factory Integrated 1 1/8 inch.

Stem - Eleven 53mm

Bars - S&M Bruiser Bars.

Grips - ODI Ruffian Lock-On Grips.

Brakes - Shimano BL-MX70 DXR Brake leaver (LH) and Shimano BR-MX70 DXR V Brake.

Cable - Odyssey Race Linear Slic Cable.

Tyres - Maxxis DTH 24" x 1.75"

Frame replaced 18/02/17.

Dialled Bikes Stay Strong Pro XL 20"

This is my training bike at the moment I bought it so that I didn't use the S&M all the time over the winter as it was starting to rust due to all of the mud and washing.

Frame - Dialled Bikes Stay Strong Pro XL 20".

Forks - Cliq 20mm.

Front Wheel - URP 20mm front hub, halo double butted spokes and Aliennation Deviant Rim.

Rear Wheel - Haro freewheel hub, Aliennation rim.

Tyres - Tioga Power Block 20x1.75 front and 20x1.60 rear. 

Cranks - Cliq Weaponz 180mm Cranks and BB and Chain Ring bolts and a 44t  Global Racing Rocket V2 4 bolt Chainring.

Pedals - Shimano M647 SPD Pedals.

Seat - Tangent PC Seat.

Seat Clamp - Global Racing Quick Release.

Headset - Global Racing Flex Inrernal Headset.

Stem - S&M 57mm.

Bars - Ciari Crossbow 82 Rise.

Grips - ODI Ruffian Lock-On Grips.

Brakes - Shimano BL-MX70 DXR Brake leaver (LH) and Shimano BR-MX70 DXR V Brake and Shimano cable.

2015 Haro Blackout

This frame was bought to replace the S&M Speedwagon 24" as it was to long. Built up on 18/02/2017 at Cruicial BMX.

Specs:

Frame - HARO blackout 21.75" top tube.

Forks - S&M Race XLT Forks.

Rims - Box Focus 24x1.75" Black.

Hubs - Onyx Ultra 36H Black with 16t Crupi Aluminium Cassette Cogs.

Bottom Bracket - Chris King.

Cranks - Shimano DXR MX71 180 mm Cranks with 37t Global Racing Rocket V2 4 bolt Chainring and Box spiral Chainring Bolts.

Pedals - Shimano M647 SPD Pedals.

Chain - Sinz Elite Hollow Pin Chain.

Seat - Box Echelon Large Race Saddle.

Seat Clamp - S&M XLT.

Headset - Crupi Factory Integrated 1 1/8 inch.

Stem - Eleven 53mm

Bars - S&M Bruiser Bars.

Grips - ODI Ruffian Lock-On Grips.

Brakes - Shimano BL-MX70 DXR Brake leaver (LH) and Shimano BR-MX70 DXR V Brake.

Cable - Odyssey Race Linear Slic Cable.

Tyres - Maxxis DTH 24" x 1.75"

I raced one regional (SW RD2 - Torquay) on this bike as it was and did OK. I Had a few holeshots but went backwards after the second straight. I found that the bike was still a little long for me so I swapped the frame and some of the bits for :

2017 Yess Type X Pro XL

Built up the bike in Crucial BMX on 20/04/17. 

The new bike was better straight away and at my first regional on it (RD3 - Cornwall) I missed out on the A final by 1 place and won the B final convincingly so the change up was good. I have done much better for the rest of the year on the Yess.

Specs:

Frame - Yess Type X Pro XL

Forks - Elevn 

Rims - Box Focus 24x1.75" Black.

Hubs - Onyx Ultra 36H Black with 16t Crupi Aluminium Cassette Cogs.

Bottom Bracket - Chris King.

Cranks - Cliq Weaponz 175mm with 37t Global Racing Rocket V2 4 bolt Chainring and Box spiral Chainring Bolts.

Pedals - Shimano M647 SPD Pedals.

Chain - Sinz Elite Hollow Pin Chain.

Seat - Box Echelon Large Race Saddle.

Headset - Sinz 

Stem - Crupi iBeam Stem (53mm)

Bars - S&M Race Bars 5inch rise

Grips - ODI Vans 

Brakes - Shimano BL-MX70 DXR Brake leaver (LH) and Shimano BR-MX70 DXR V Brake.

Cable - Crucial BMX cable

Tyres - Tioga Power Block 24x1.75 front and rear.

The Yess is currently being stripped down to build up my winter bike:

Here are a couple of pictures of the Yess before I took it apart to build up my winter bike. When it gets built up again for next year it will have a different configuration as I am going to build it with new parts on the front end for the new season.

The Yess has had a front end swap and I got it back from Cruical today (12/10/17)

It now has the following specs:

Frame - Yess Type X Pro XL

Forks - Elevn 

Rims - Box Focus 24x1.75" Black.

Hubs - Onyx Ultra 36H Black with 16t Crupi Aluminium Cassette Cogs.

Bottom Bracket - Chris King.

Cranks - Cliq Weaponz 175mm with 37t Global Racing Rocket V2 4 bolt Chainring and Box spiral Chainring Bolts.

Pedals - Shimano M647 SPD Pedals.

Chain - KMC.

Seat - Box Echelon Large Race Saddle.

Headset - Box 2. (NEW)

Stem - Crupi iBeam Stem (53mm) (NEW)

Bars - Renthal Cruiser bars 5.5" rise. (NEW)

Grips - ODI Vans (NEW).

Brakes - Shimano BL-MX70 DXR Brake leaver (LH) and Shimano BR-MX70 DXR V Brake.

Cable - Crucial BMX cable

Tyres - Tioga Power Block 24x1.75 front and rear.

Hers is what the Yess looks like now:

Thrill Agent Pro Cruiser Team Addition

I got this bike built up as a training bike for the winter in August 2017 (around about the 20th I think) it was made up of left over bits from my bikes and my son's bikes. It also had my training wheels that I was going to use on the Yess but didn't bother as they were much thinner than my race wheels and some original SE landing gear forks that I bought off a friend.

Specs:

Frame - Thrill Agent Pro Cruiser Team Addition

Forks - Original SE Racing Landing Gear  

Rims - Staystrong

Hubs - Stay Strong 36H Black with 16t Crupi Aluminium Cassette Cogs.

Bottom Bracket - Sinz.

Cranks - DXR 180mm with 37t Global Racing Rocket V2 4 bolt Chainring and Haro Chainring Bolts.

Pedals - Shimano M647 SPD Pedals.

Chain - Sinz Elite Hollow Pin Chain.

Seat - Haro Seat and Post

Headset - FSA 

Stem - Haro front loader (53mm)

Bars - Haro Cruiser Bars (bought off of ebay)

Grips - ODI Vans 

Brakes - Haro complete brake.

Cable - Crucial BMX cable

Tyres - Maxxis DTH 24x1.75 front and rear.

I used the Thrill for about 8 days and then swapped it for a brand new Ice F-118 cruiser frame with a friend from the bmx club. I took the dxr cranks off and put on some 170mm haro cranks from my sons Haro race lite. I sold it as it was too different to my Yess so I wasn't really using it.

The Ice frame is currently stored in its box and I haven't even looked at it properly yet but this is what a built up bike looks like.

20?? Dialled Bikes MX24R

I bought this frame and stripped it and got it professionally powder coated  as the paint it had was really rough. I wanted to use this frame over the winter to get used to riding chrome frames again and also it does not matter too much if it is cleaned every day or not. I also got some new wheels off of ebay with tyres and tubes and also second had shimano dxr 175mm cranks and brake system to leave the Yess semi built up to use for winter series races when needed.

It was built up and finished today (12/10/17). Here is a picture of it built up.

The Specs are:

Frame - Dialled MX24R (powder coated 5% matte black)

Forks - Elevn 

Wheels - Excess Chrome 24" 36 hole (bought from Ebay).

Bottom Bracket - Sinz.

Cranks - Shimano DXR 175mm (bought off of facebook) with 37t Global Racing Rocket V2 4 bolt Chainring and Box spiral Chainring Bolts.

Pedals - Nukeproof Sam Hill.

Chain - KMC.

Seat - Box Echelon Large Race Saddle.

Headset - Box 2 headset 

Stem - Crupi iBeam Stem (53mm)

Bars - Renthal Cruiser Bars 5.5" rise

Grips - ODI Vans 

Brakes - Shimano BL-MX70 DXR Brake leaver (LH) and Shimano BR-MX70 DXR V Brake.

Cable - Crucial BMX cable

Tyres - Tioga Power Block 24x1.75 front and rear.

Here is a photo of the Dialled at Bath BMX Track.

Blackout arrived today.

The Haro blackout arrived at my work this morning and I have just picked it up now. It is brand new as it was described.

I am so happy as the Thrill has been a bit of a let down. We are going to Bristol again tomorrow to ride the track and pickup Dylan's new Haro race lite in the afternoon so I will drop the cruiser and the new frame off to be built up. Hopefully they can build it for me so that I can pick it up Saturday morning before gates but I will see tomorrow. We are going to go to the Exeter track for gates there after Bath as I want to practice there as it was where I had my crash where I broke my collar bone and ribs last year.

Here is a picture of the new frame still in the packaging.

Rest Day

Had to take a rest day today as I had to take my car for an MOT. Unfortunately it failed so I will not be able to train at the track on Thursday either as the car will be getting fixed to and having another MOT.

I plan to take a bike with me as we will be at my parents house while the car is being fixed and they have some nice hills to do hill sprints on so I will make the most of it.

Tomorrow I am debating going to Bristol to the track and then go to Crucial to pick up my cruiser as I can't do the frame swap that I wanted to do as the break mount is cross threaded.

I may leave the bike though as the Haro frame should be arriving tomorrow or Thursday I would think so I will have to take it to Crucial to get built up. I may just go to the track as I want to get some full laps in and also want to try and jump the second double on the first straight as I think that it will make me even faster and I will need to be if I race in F1 next month. I still haven't decided if I will go F1 or Over 30's as if I finish first in the next race I will place second or third overall even though I have only done 4 out of the 5 races. Will have to think about it a bit more.

Back too it

Got back on the track today but it was really busy as it is half term so all the parents are taking their kids to the track to keep them occupied.

I did get 3 or 4 good half laps in without any kids getting in the was so it wasn't too bad and I did a couple of cat and mouse races with my son on the second half of the track as well. I also did Pilates this afternoon to make up for the Saturday that I missed. So all in all I was feeling pretty good until the bike shop called to say that one of the break mounts on the thrill fame that I took them to set up was cross threaded. This has made my mind up for me and now the Haro will be my race bike and I will fix the Thrill and sell it again. I am thinking of getting a complete Haro race lite as my training bike for now as they will be the same size. and dimensions and then maybe selling the 20" and the Yess frame to pay for the second Haro. 

I also put down a deposit on a new Haro race Lite expert xl for Dylan as he is getting too big for his current bike we will pay the balance and pick it up at the weekend hopefully then he is all sorted for the next year until he has shown that he deserves onyx hubs then I will get him some new race wheels built up. At the moment he isnt putting too much effort in so I dont think I will need to buy them for a while at least 😀

Here is a link to Dylan's new bike Dylan's NEW bike

Here is a link to what my new frame looks like: HARO Blackout

Lazy day

Had a pretty lazy day again today. We decided to go to the Bath track instead of Bristol as it was really cold and a bit windy so we decided to go to Bristol tomorrow instead.

My weigh in wasn't too bad today considering I didn't ride at all last week and my basketball game got cancelled. I was 102.80 kgs today so still under 103 kgs.

Tomorrow I am going to take the cruiser into crucial to get the frame swapped over for the trill pro cruiser frame that I got last week. I bought a brand new Haro blackout cruiser frame yesterday as it was cheap and I have always wanted one so not sure what to do with that now. I am thinking of using the blackout as my race frame and then building up either the S&M or the thrill as my training bike but I will have to see once I ride the Thrill a bit. Also I may sell the S&M and either buy a shorter S&M or a Yess Pro Cruiser frame instead. After the cruiser is built up I was going to take the Yess frame to be built up with the bits from the Dialled to see it I like the frame or not and the if it is too small I will build it up for Dylan to ride and sell his frame. I would like to keep the dialled bike as my park/pump track bike and to ride to work on but I may end up selling it as I have someone who want's to buy it.

Once I finish writing this I am going to put my DK on the internet to sell it as I didn't like riding it so I will sell it to buy bits for my extra builds. depending which frame I like best I may build up the other one as my training/ ride to work bike.

In my head I am thinking that I will have 2 race bikes which will be Yess Frames and then a training cruiser of the blackout and the dialled as a second training 20" bike and a park/pump track bike. This is dependent on my liking the Yess.

Sick now too

Felt really ill when I got home tonight so I am going to have an early night ready to start training again tomorrow. As it is half term next week and I am on lates myself and my son are going to train every morning next week starting tomorrow withs gates and full laps in Bristol Sunday early. Then Bristol again Monday morning, Bath Tuesday, Bristol Wednesday .....

Lazy week

I have had a lazy week this week. Was unable to train on Monday night as it was too wet and icy so it was dangerous, Tuesday I had a birthday party and an AGM to go to so no time for training and to top it all off my basketball game last night was cancelled due to an unexploded bomb near the school where we play!

On a positive not I went to sleep at 8pm last night so I am really well rested :-)

I plan to go to the track as soon as I get home tonight and it is starting to get lighter at night so hopefully we will have an hour or so before it gets too dark. Feeling really lazy especially since the training from the last few weeks has really paid off. Not too worried though as next week is half term so we are going to go to a different track a day to get some laps in on different tracks we are also going to Bristol on Sunday's to get some longer full laps in.

Rest day

Took a rest day today as it was really raining and wet and cold so we decided to rest up after the racing yesterday.

I got a good photo of me racing yesterday so here it is:

Great weekend

Had a great weekend BMX wise. Had a good gates session yesterday got loads of practice on the second straight and the peddle manual is definitely faster on the table top than manualing and I did some tests by going slower around the berm and letting people pass and then gassing it up the tabletop and peddle manual-ling the tabletop then pull manual-ling onto the the first double and manual-ling the second double and it I got 2 bike lengths on a couple of people who were in front of me coming out of the berm so my practice olast week helped out. I almost died twice trying to peddle-manual the first double on the first straight tho as the cruiser is a little different to do it on than the 20" so I will have to do some practice on the cruiser next week.

This morning I weighed in and I am 102.40 kgs so I haven't lost too much weight but I am defiantly getting smaller at the waist and I can see my ribs on my chest that I haven't been able to do for a long time! also my race trousers are getting much looser.

We had racing at Bristol today which was fun I got 1st, 6th and 1st in my motos but I came unclipped out of the gate in my 2nd moto so 6th wasn't too bad! especially as my back tyre was soft so the back end was washing out all the time.

I win the final convincingly this time as I was told to slow down and take it easy by one of the Marshall's as I was flat out to make sure I didn't make a mistake and lose the final like I did last month.  As it turned out it was lucky that I slowed down or I would have been dead before the last straight as the Adrenalin wouldn't have kept me going all the way to the final.

My son also came third in his final so all in all a good day. Can't wait to get back to training again tomorrow after work.

Another good day's training

Even though it was really windy this morning I decided to go to the track anyway. As it was too windy I decided to practice peddle manual-ing the first double as I have got the tabletop sorted now so I wanted to get it dialled on the first double as I am a bit sketchy at manualing it and wheeling it will be faster in the long run.

To my surprise I got it first try so did 10 more to make sure. I even managed to wheelie the big second double on the first straight as well. I then did a couple of second straights to keep getting smoother and more dialled.

I was going to go home but the car park was empty so I did 6 sprints before I went home. I put my phone in the pocket of my hoody and measured my speed on Strava.

My top speed today was 30.4 mph which is 2 mph more than last time. So either the 20" is faster or the wind helped a lot.

I cleaned my bike today and found out that the chain was actually silver and not gold as I thought it was. Here are the before cleaning pictures:

And here it is cleaned:

The bike feels 5kgs lighter now without all of the mud.

Also my new Cruiser frame arrived today so I am going to pick it up and my Yess Pro frame that arrived the other week as well. I haven't decided if I am going to keep the cruiser frame as it is or get it painted or if I get it painted which colour to get it painted although Matt Black is winning at the moment as my wife will not notice the difference from the Speedwagon as both will be black. It will look something like this:

I also haven't decided if I am going build the Yess up now or wait until I get a new back wheel. I have the option of moving all of the parts from the Dialled onto the Yess and then building up the Dialled with the skyway wheels that I have lying around until I get the new back wheel which is going to take a while as I have 2 heavy months with car MOT, Tax and insurance to go through before I can even think about spending any more money.

I have just cut together my training from today.

Quick Training today

Had a quick training session at the track today and practised my manuals at the same time. I did 10 flat out first straight, berm and tabletop on the second straight. I tried to manual the first and second jumps and then take the berm as fast as possible to try and jump the tabletop.

I then did a couple of second straights where I tok the berm at full speed, wheelie the table top, pull manual the first double and manualled the second double.

I was doing OK until I tried to put my phone to film the training and slipped down the back of the berm and hyper extended by left knee. It isn't too bad but I decided not to push it too much.

I am going to put the go-pro in the car tonight so that I can video tomorrows training.

I am just uploading a the video I took to you-tube to share a link to it here later on.

I seem to have lost the usb cable for my phone so while I was buying a new one I bought a arm band so that I can attach my phone to my arm to use Strava and the Moov Now to start getting a bit more serious about my training as I only have 38 more days to go until the start of the season.

The 20 inch is feeling much better now and I am almost riding it without thinking about it like I ride the Cruiser. My new frame should arrive today so I am taking it to Bristol tomorrow to get it fitted as I want to get my S&M speedwagon up for sale asap as I have found a really good expert cruiser for Dylan that I need the money for.

The video is up: