Monday morning laps

Got up at 5:30 this morning again and went to Bristol to get some laps in. I forgot to weigh in this morning again before I ate breakfast so I weighed myself after breakfast and was surprised to have dropped below 99kgs for the first time in about 2 years. I only lost 0.1 kgs this week but I think I lost more as I had eaten and not pooped before the weigh in 😀 so I am hoping to drop a lot of weight next week.

I was feeling a bit groggy this morning after the crash yesterday and my vision is a bit blurry so I decided to take the longest route possible and peddle as much as possible all the way around the outside of the track to get some endurance training in for Sunday as the track is long!

Also the track is really wet as you can see from the photo so I didn't want to cut up the racing line too much.

I did 3 pump laps to warm up then 6 laps peddling around the outside at about 70-80% of full speed with 5 minutes rest in between laps.

After 3 laps my legs had gone to Jelly so I knew it was working. I finished up the 6 laps and had to take 5 minutes rest before I started trying to jump the first double on the 3rd straight (second to last straight). I tried to jump it for about 30 minutes and then did the same on the first jump on the the first straight for about another 20 minutes.

I then called it a day as my neck was a bit sore from the crash yesterday.

After training I went to Crucial and picked up the Thrill from having its gearing changed.

I then took the Dialled frame to be stripped and powder coated in Radstock. I chose 5% matte black as the colour as it looked a bit greyer which I liked. It will take aboit a week to do and will cost £50 + vat so a pretty good price.

I am now at home resting as I have to work tonight.

Crashed again

Had a busy day today. Went to paintball with my wife, son and 2 of his friends.

When we got home I packed the car and drive to Wales where I am racing next weekend to get some practice in.

The track is great and I had a really good time until my last run when I tried to pull manual the second jump on the first straight and got it wrong and went over the bars! Hurt my wrists a bit and my head but all ok.

After I hit the ground my tyre blew off the rim which was a bit weird but made sure I couldn't try it again.

The tube blew up and blew the tyre off of the rim.

I have fixed it now and also put more air in both tyres to see if they feel better tomorrow morning when I go to Bristol to do laps in the morning.

The Thrill is also ready to pick up so I will pop in and pick it up and then drop the Dialled frame in to be stripped and painted on the way home from Crucial so hopefully the dialled will be ready to build in a week or so.

I am going to try and sell the Sunday as I am not using it and it is too different to my race bikes and I want to build the Dialled as a jumping/ pump track bike so that I can use it to practice jumping and on the pump track over the winter.

I am also thinking of selling the Thrill and using the money to build up a set of training wheels to keep the onyx rims just for racing then I can use the same bike all the time but keep the onyx wheels in a good state for racing.

I want to try some higher bars to see if I can jump a bit better on the Yess with higher bars.

Bath gates

Went to gates at Bath yesterday and had a really good training session.

Learnt to gate with my head up using the lights and it worked really well.

I had the Yess back and it was looking good after its service.

The Yess is feeling a bit strange after I have been using the Thrill for the last week. The tyres feel a bit weird after getting used to the maxxis dth tyres again. Also the bars are too wide and I will need to cut them down this week.

Windy training

Woke up at 4:30 am so figured that my body doesn't need a rest today!

Messed around until 8am and then went to the track to get some laps in.

Did 3 pump laps followed by a half speed manual lap to get warmed up followed by 3 full speed laps.

I then decided to practice 3rd straights as the wind was behind me.

Wet session then sprints

Did a wet session at the track this afternoon. Did 3 pump laps followed by 5 1st straights and tabletop on the second straight the 5 3rd and 4th straights.

I am really liking the Thrill and I am manualing it really nicely. When I get the Yess back I want to get the bars the same height and width as the DK bars on the Thrill as they seem to be the perfect height and width for me. I am not even freeing the bike when I ride now except for the cranks feeling long and the gearing too low.

I did a couple of near perfect first straights and managed to do tap manuals on the first jump hitting the balance point and also hitting the balance point on the second jump as well.

I then did 6 50m sprints with 3 minutes rest in between as the track was starting to get wet and I didn't want to mess it up too much.

I am going to take the day off tomorrow as I want to pop over to Gary at Curtis bikes to have a chat about the new frame and how it is set up as I can't remember what options I chose.

I also want to ask him about flat peddles as he said he had found some really good ones and I need to get flat peddles this month to put on the Thrill to start learning to peddle properly. I also want flats to make it safer to try jumping as I can jump off if I need to.

F1 debut went OK

Had my F1 debut at Bristol tonight and it didn't go too badly. I got 4th, 3rd, 4th in my motos and 4th in the finals so I am pretty happy.

Especially as I raced on my training bike that I have only been riding for 3 days and the gearing is too low. I was shocked how I got less tired when I was vying for position tonight compared to my full laps on Monday morning where I died at the last berm. Tonight I was able to go all out until the line every race which I haven't done before.

It was doubly good as not only was I not running the correct gearing I wasn't using my onyx hubs which make a big difference too especially on the first straight and out of the berms. The Thrill was riding so well that I didn't notice any difference really.

I can't wait until the next race which unfortunately will not be for a few weeks as I am working nights for the next few weeks I think.

I really like the Thrill and I definitely think that I will keep it for a while. I am going to get it re-spraid matte space grey next month after the Brits and get it stickered up too.

On the way home I dropped the bikes off at the container and picked up my dialled mx24r frame to take a closer look at it and also to take the bottom bracket and headset out ready to take to paint.

I was able to get the bottom bracket out easily which I didn't think would happen but the headset would not come out! I am going to take the frame to Julian House tomorrow morning to get the headset taken out then I can take the frame to strip and paint.

Once it is powder coated I will swap it out for the Thrill frame while it is painted up so that I can test it out before deciding what I am going to do with it. I may sell it with the bits that I have now and then put new bits on the Yess and move the old bits to the Thrill or I may build all three up. Alternatively I can paint both frames up and then sell them as I have a custom Curtis coming at the end of the year which I will need to pay for and build up so I will need the cash.

Next week what ever happens I need to buy some 175mm cranks as I can't ride the 180mm's for much longer as my knee is really sore again after tonight.

I also want to get the Yess aluminium forks on the yess ready for the Brits I am thinking that I should get dxr's for the Yess as well so that it is as well built up as it can be so I have no excuses.

Pumping laps done

Went to the track yesterday in the. morning and did 10 pump laps followed by another 10 full speed first and second straights.

The pump laps definately helped as I was hitting the berm so quickly that a couple of times my back tyre washed out. I was also manualing the first straight really well on the new bike.

I am really liking the new bike and think that it will make a perfect training bike once I have 175mm cranks on it as it feels pretty similar to the Yess but a bit less stiff. It manuals and jumps well so I am happy with it.

I was talking to the Thrill development team manager the other day and they are doing resprays for the new season at a reasonable price after the Brits so I might send the frame off to them to get it re-painted in matte pearl grey and restickered too.

I also spoke with a local company about getting my dialled frame stripped and powder coated Matt Black. I am going to remove the headset and bottom bracket this today. I also emailed dialled about replacement stickers but have not heard anything back from them yet.

I was planning to go to the skatepark this morning with my son but it is raining so that is not going to happen so I am going to get all the bits that I have to sell on the internet to get them sold.

I also need to get my cranks on the internet to try and swap them for 175mm cranks asap so I may as well make the most of the wet weather and do that today too.

The idea is to swap my 180mm dxr cranks for 175mm dxr cranks and put them on the Yess and then put the Cliq cranks on the Thrill.

I will see how this works out. I may end up selling the dxr's and buying new cranks for the Yess.  

Monday morning laps at Bristol

Even though I am on holiday this week I got up at 5:30 and did my usual training at Bristol. The track was a bit damp but the weather was dry and sunny so it wasn't a problem and the wet track made training harder which is good.

I forgot to tape the stopwatch to my bars last night so I will have to start timing next week.

I am liking the thrill to train on it feels fine and when I am riding I don't notice the bike at all which is a great sign.

The only thing I am noticing is the gearing which is 36x16 and much more tiring than the 37x16 that I run on the Yess. It is all good training and hopefully it will help with my conditioning for next year when I maybe start Nationals.

I also need to change the cranks as my left knee is really sore again after doing my laps this morning. I think I may try the 170mm cranks that I have spare so that I can get my dxr's onto the internet to try and find someone to swap them for some 175mm dxr's.

Training today I did 2 pump laps followed by 6 full speed laps with 5 minutes rest in between. After the 6 laps to get home as my wife had to get to work earlier this morning and I had to stay with my son.

We are going to go to a pump track later today so it's not a big problem not doing any more training today.

I also need to get the wheels that I have left over from my son's bike to get some extra cash to put into the Yess for the new aluminium forks.

Training cancelled

Looks like the training in Wales will be cancelled today due to bad weather so I am going to go to the track here instead to test out the Thrill ready to go full on in the morning at Bristol for my laps training.

I have just Weighed in and I am down 0.2kgs to 99.05kg. hopefully by next weekend I will be under 99kgs.

I am planning where to train this week at the moment it is looking like Bristol Monday, Burnham Tuesday, racing at Bristol Wednesday, Burnham and maybe Bideford on Thursday, Bath or Bristol Friday, Bath Saturday and probably rest on Sunday.

I may try and get to Wales during the week if the weather gets better and the track is open but not sure.

Great gates session

Had a really good gates session today. It rained for the first 20 minutes and then was sunny 😀.

The track was a bit soft as we had heavy rain all night last night and some more this morning. On a positive note there was almost no wind so it was all good.

I started off doing a couple of pump laps followed by a few full speed laps while the gate was being brought up to the track from the container in the car park.

I then helped set the gates up and then did about 10-15 gates where I went flat out until after the tabletop on the second straight.

I jumped the tabletop every time so I was pretty happy with that. I also got my manuals back on the first straight after casing the first few.

After I had helped pack up the gate I went home, washed my bike and then had a shower and put the dirty washing on and then took the Yess to crucial to get a service and a new chain.

I am going for a half link chain this time to be able to slam the back wheel as far forwards as possible to help with the manuals.

I am also getting new grips as I am putting the old ones on the Thrill which I picked up from being built up.

I am pretty pleased with the Thrill
 It definitely needs spraying as the aluminium is pretty thrashed but it will do for now.

My friend who bought my son's Yess frame is going to take it to be powder coated in a couple of weeks and I have already said that he can take my Dialled frame to be stripped and powder coated at the same time when he is cool with. I have decided that I am going to get the dialled either Matt black or Matt grey but I haven't decided which yet. I may go with Matt black and then get the thrill painted Matt grey as that is the Thrill team colour next year.

I will think it over.

Here is a photo of the Thrill as it is at the moment:

The forks look a bit strange at the moment but the are just temporary until I buy the Yess forks for my Yess next month then the black eleven forks that are currently on the Yess will go onto the Thrill and the landing gear's will go with the dialled frame once it is powder coated Matt black. Hopefully by this time next month the dialled will be ready and I can build it up while the Thrill gets stripped down to go away to be powder coated.

Easy session

Had an easy session to ease my way into a busy weekend. I did 5 pump laps followed by 5 3rd and 4th straights going flat out from the last double on the second straight. I focused on peddle manualing the tabletop that I was trying to jump yesterday and manualing the doubles smoothly to get extra speed to really go at the 4th straight. On the 4th straight I jumped the tabletop, manualled the 2 doubles and jump the tabletop and pull manualled the single at the end.

I then did a couple of first straights but my knee was sore and it started raining again so I decided to call it a day.

Bath Jumping Session

My knee is hurting and clicking a lot so I decided to rest another day and instead have a play on my Sunday Model C that I bought a couple of months ago and is just taking up space in the shed.

The bike is nice but it is too different from my race bike so I think I will sell it and use the money to build up the Dialled bike to use as a jumping bike.

When we got to the track it was really windy and also the rain had cut up the track quite a bit so I decided that it was a good day to try and jump the long tabletop on out of the second berm.

It took me a good 10 trys but I finally got the front wheel onto the landing.

I am just editing the video to see if I actually cleared it cleanly or not. I think if I was on my race bike I would have definitely done it as it is much smaller and lighter than the Sunday.

My son also managed to jump the small tabletop on the third straight for the first time ever so a good day all around.

Rest Day

Decided to take a rest day today as my left knee was really sore and I have a busy weekend coming up as we have gates on Saturday and then gates in Wales on Sunday so I will need some rest I think.

I have used the time that I would normally be training to start writing posts for my new Linux blog that I have been meaning to start for ages but never had time to do it before.

I am now going to get all the stuff I have for sale onto ebay to get rid of it.  I am also going to go to the tip to get rid of some more stuff from the container ready to give it up at the end of the next month or so.

I am also going to start a new blog with information of all of the tracks that I visit in the UK which will be a long term project and a lot of work but I think that it will be worth it.

I also want to sort out my go pro chest harness to start uploading videos to youtube again as I have been really slack with videoing practices lately.

I also want to use the go pro to film videos to use on the track guide to gove more information.

I am going to start with the SW region tracks and then add local pump tracks too as I plan to go to a load of local pump tracks with my son next week when we are on holiday so I can use this footage as well.

Fun Session this morning

My Son decided he wanted a day off of school today so we went to the track instead. He is in the last week of school for the year so we didn't think that it would be a problem.

We did 5 full pump laps followed by playing about jumping different jumps and manualing different jumps.

We were at the track for almost 2 hours so it was a great workout too.

We then went to the container and got his old bike and I took it apart ready to give to the guy who has bought it at the weekend. Tomorrow I will get the rest of the bits that I have there and put them on facebook to sell.

I want to clear out as much as possible from the container so that we can get rid of it by the end of next month. There isn't too much left to get rid of although I need to do something with the dialled fame as well.

I think I am going to sell the Thrill once it is built up as well to clear some more space. I am also thinking of selling the Sunday as well because it hasn't been used for over a month as I don't have time. It is also really different from my race bike which isn't a great thing either. I am not sure about selling it though as I will loose a lot of money on it. I may just use it to ride to work on for now and then see if I can find time to use it in the off season.

Tomorrow I plan to go to the track and do 6 full laps followed by box sprints in the car park.I am planning to do 2 sets of 5 sprints with 5 minutes rest in between reps and 10 minutes rest between sets. I want the sprints to be 40m in lenght.

Great session today

Had a great session this morning. Went to the Bristol track early and did 3 pump laps followed by 6 full laps at full speed with 5 minutes rest.

I then worked on the third straight where I am really weak. I learnt to peddle manual over the first jump, bunny hopped the speed bump, jumped onto the third jump and then jumped into the corner.

Adding the peddle manual on the first jump made the rest of the straight really easy and meant that I was flying by the jump into the corner making it really easy.

Last week I was trying to pump the first jump and I killed all of my speed making the straight really hard so I am really pleased with my progress.

Early morning session

Woke up at 5am without an alarm this morning so decided to have an early session at Bristol Patchway track and then take the thrill to Crucial to be built up.

I did 3 laps pumping to warm up followed by 4 full speed laps with 5 minutes rest in between.

Mid week racing done

Got my mid week racing fix at Bristol tonight. I won all of my motos and final as there weren't many people there this week. I rode 30+ again and I think this was my last tome riding in this age category. I will move to F1 the next time I ride as the F1 guys are really fast so it will be much better training.

Also picked up my SE Landing Gear fork which are brand new with brand new stickers on them. I am going to take the bike to Crucial at the weekend to get the thrill totally built up ready to start using next week.

The Yess is in need of a tune up as well so once the thrill is done I will leave the Yess for a service.

I have sold my DXR cranks to a friend already so I can buy some new cranks 175mm DXR's for the Yess next month so the Cliqs peddles can be moved to the Thrill as at the moment it has 170mm Haro cranks from Dylan's old bike on it which I think will be a little small for me but it will help with learning to spin. I am going to put 36x16 gearing on it as well so that I learn to spin oer the winter ready for next season.

Knackered

I have had 2 rest days due to being really tired from last weeks training and race.

I was ready to train again yesterday but it was really raining so I decided to rest again ready to race at Bristol tonight. I have been talking to people and they have said that I should be moving into F1 from the over 30's to get more race experience.

I have taken this on board and after my 3rd moto on Sunday where I got cut up out of the gate I thing F1 is definitely the way to go as all the guys that race f1 are faster than me so I will have to step my game up to compete with them. It will also get me loads of experience being in the pack as opposed to being out in front which I need as a few of the guys ride regional elite and are really fast and there is no way I can beat them out of the gate and down the first straight at the moment.

I will also pick up the forks for the training cruiser so that I can build it up tomorrow so that I can start using it instead of my race bike to train on as my race bike is living in the kitchen at the moment which is not ideal as I don't want to leave it in the shed where as with the training bike I am building I will happily leave it in the shed as it is worth less that a quarter of my race bike.

I can then leave my race bike in the container for now so that it is safe and secure.

Not a great result

Things didn't go to plan yesterday racing. I did really well in my first 2 motos getting a 4th and a 3rd and keeping up with the fast guys then in my 3rd Moto I got cut up out of the gate and couldn't get passed the guys in front and finished 6th so missed out on the semis and went straight to the C final.

My final went really well and I won it and beat a national rider who I have only beaten before when he was injured. So a bit of a positive result but still not happy with the way the day went.

We have almost a month until the last race of the season and I am currently in first place in my age group but I will have to finish first in my age group in the last race to win which I don't think I will be able to do but you never know.

I am going to start sprints tonight to try and get my second and third peddle back as I am feeling slower out of the gate since I stopped doing sprints.

I forgot to weigh in yesterday so did it this morning and I am 101kgs which is over 1kg more than last week but I have put on muscle again as I was training really hard last week.

I am going to start body weight circuits again tonight as well to improve my overall base fitness.

Great training session

Had a great training session today with Ryan Stack at the Bath track ready for the regional tomorrow.

He really got us to peddle over jumps which really helped

get more speed around the whole track.  I am feeling a bit more confident about tomorrow now.

I have changed back to a 37x16 from the 36x16 that I had on this morning. Luckily a couple of my friends helped me dial in the bike ready for tomorrow and it is now flying.

I am loving the 175mm cranks too and my knee is hurting much less today than it had for the last month or so. I also felt like my peddle strikes were smoother and I wasnt rocking from side to side like I did on the 180mm cranks.

I need to get the peddle off of the cranks and then clean them to swap for some 175mm cranks so that I have 175mm cranks on both bikes.

Dylan is loving his new bike now that I have changed the pedals and the bars, grips and brake lever for the ones from his old bike.

It turns out that the bars from the DK are actually cruiser bars and almost exactly the same size as my S&M race bars so I am going to use them on my cruiser build.

I am just cleaning our bikes ready for racing tomorrow then I am going to take Dylan's only bike to bits ready to sell the bits and then go to the container and build up my cruiser as the tubes and rim tapes arrived from Crucial last week as well.

I was chatting to one of the guys from Bristol and he is looking to see if he had any landing gear forks left at his work as he works for one of the biggest distributors in the UK and they have a load of new old stock left over hopefully.

If he has some forks left over then I have all of the bits to build up the thrill next week to use to do sprints on the way to work in the mornings which I really need to get back to doing asap.

I have built up the back end of the thrill with the 170mm cranks that were on Dylan's old bike for now until I can get some new cranks for my race bike then I will put the cliq cranks on the thrill.

I have also finished cleaning and polishing the race bikes ready for racing tomorrow.

Bike built up

Got my bike built up today as Halfords finally got my pedal washers in.

I got the cliq cranks fitted and the 36 tooth chain ring fitted. My brakes are rubbing a bit so I may need to take the bike to Crucial tomorrow after training to get the wheel aligned correctly.

Here is a picture before the chain was tightened.

I can't wait to try the bike out tomorrow at training and gates to see if my knee hurts less on the shorter crank arms and lower gearing.

My knee is still really sore but I was OK to do some work on the track this morning. Someone hired a leaf blower which was amazing at blowing the dust off of the berms and start hill. It is amazing how much dust was still left on them after brushing. The track looks really good now.

Pump day

Had to have a pump day today as my left knee and right ankle were both sore today.

I did 10 full pump laps and am getting better at pumping all the time. I think I will do this once or twice a week from now on as it really helps with carrying speed which I am really bad at.

I then did a couple of full speed to the first jump and then pump the rest of the track but had to stop as my knee really hurt.

I haven't been able to put the new cranks on yet as the washers haven't arrived yet and I wasn't able to take the dxr's off as they were too tight so I had to buy a new tool to remove them.

My son's new bike arrived this morning and I have just built it up. It isn't that great but it is good enough for him to use as he isn't too interested about riding anyway. To be fair for the money it was really good as it was less than £300 delivered so can't complain.

I am going to pick him up from school with it and then go to the track for a quick ride on the way home. I also want to pick up his old bike from the container to get his peddles off the bike as the ones that came with it are really cheap and nasty plastic ones that will slip at the first sign of rain!!! They also don't spin around too well either.

Took Dylan to the track and he loved the bike! He wants to change the grips, pedals and break lever for the ones on his old bike which I figured he would. I also noticed that the bike does not have any chain tensioners so I will get the ones off of his old bike too ready for training on Saturday morning.

He was so stoked as he jumped the small tabletop on the 4th straight first time which he hasn't been able to do on his Yess due to the size. In fact he over jumped the jump. Here is a video of his 3rd or 4th attempt where he has got it really smooth.

I had a bit of a play as well but my knee is really sore. I have loosened the cranks thanks to my new pliers ready to swap out the cranks tomorrow. I have decided to drop a tooth on the front as well to see if this relieves some of the pain. Also the track has very little flat out peddling so I should be OK to go lower on the gearing to get more speed out of berms and in between jumps. I will try it out on Saturday and if I don't get along with it or if I loose too much ground at the end of the start hill I will go back to the 36x16 for race day. 

I am going to rest tomorrow and also I have started taking ibuprofen to reduce the swelling in my ankle which is huge and to relieve some of the pain in my knee. I am going to wear my knee support tomorrow as well when I am brushing the berms to make sure that it is supported.

Cranks arrived

The cliq weaponz 175mm cranks that I bought off of Facebook arrived this morning. I have cleaned them up and I will fit them tonight once I have been to my container and picked up the grease as I left it there and I have cleaned and de greased the cranks so need the grease to fit the cranks. They are not in too bad a condition for the money and will do until I can get the money to buy some new 175mm dxr cranks. I have most of my son's bike to sell so I should have the money in am month or so ready for the Brits.

My son's new bike is on its way as well so I will have a busy end to the week building bikes.

I have decided that I am going to build the Thrill frame as my training bike instead of the dialled bike as I want to get the dialled frame stripped and painted professionally to build it up later on once I have sourced replacement stickers and found somewhere to do the painting.

Also the Thrill is closer to my Yess in terms of material and geometry so it should make a better training bike.

I think I have everything to build the bike except for forks, rim tape, a tube (the one I was using exploded in the car) and some peddle washers as the cliq only came with one washer.

I am going to get the washers, rim tape and inner tube online now and the forks will have to wait until I get some cash from selling my son's bike bits that are left over.

I am now jumping into the shower ready to go to the track to do some more full laps and hopefully second straights again as it looks like there is not too much wind.

I also want to brush the start hill again and also the first berm to get them ready to race on Sunday.

I went to the track late again today. I arrived at about 12:15 did 5 pump laps and then did 6 full speed laps and was really tired after that so I did 10 first and second straights and then went home.

It was too hot for sweeping today so I left it for tomorrow. I am going to rest for a couple of days as my legs are feeling really heavy and also my tendinitis in my left knee is starting to act up so better to rest for the weekend than push it.

Good days training

Had a good days training again today. As the wind was light when I got to the track I did first and second straights and second berms.

I focused on taking the berms as tight as possible and at top speed. I also focussed on pumping into the jumps and that made it much easier to manual as well.

I did 15-20 of these and then the wind picked up so I changed to doing 3rd and 4th straights. I did another 15-20 of them as well.

I between training I swept the start hill ready to race on Sunday.

I am now well and truly knackered so am resting up to go back again tomorrow.

Great session today

I got to the track a little later that planned today (11:30 instead of 10am) and was feeling tired so I decided to try drinking redbull before training and I must say it worked as I had much more energy than I had before I drank the redbull so I am going to try this all week to see how it goes and if it works I will drink it before racing as well.

I warmed up with 4 pump laps concentrating on pumping into and out of the jumps and I got around the track really easily.

I then did 6 full speed laps with 3 minutes rest in between and I was concentrating on really going flat out around the berms and not braking and also manualing everything that I could. There was a really strong head wind on the second straight which made it a little hard to go flat out on the second straight but this is normal and will be there on Sunday so I pushed as much as possible.

On my second to last full lap I managed to do my best ever first straight ever, I managed to tap manual the first doubles so well that I sat on the back wheel and then I got so much extra speed from this that I did my longest ever manaul on the second double where i manualled over the whole jump and continued manualling down the back side of the jump.

I felt really good and was going flat out for the whole of each lap only getting tired getting to the line where as before I was knackered by the start of the last straight. On the second straight I was able to jump the 3rd (table top) manual the 4th (double) and manual the 5th at speed which I have not done before.

I then did 10 third and fourth straights where I went from peddle manualling the 6th (table top) pumping the 7th (doubles) jumping the 8th (table top) manualling the 9th (step up) Jumping the 10th (table top) manualling the 11th (double) pumping the 12th (double), jumping the 13th (table top) and pickup manualling the 14th (single) to peddle manualling the 6th (table top) manualling the 7th (doubles) jumping the 8th (table top) jumping onto the 9th (step up) Jumping the 10th (table top) manualling the 11th (double) jumping the 12th (double), jumping the 13th (table top) and jumping the 14th (single).

The new line worked really well and I went from struggling to get to the line to accelerating over the line just by changing up a few thing.

Tomorrow I want to practice just the 3rd and 4th straights to get them really dialled and I want to try and change up the 9th (step up) so that I am jumping it and also jumping everything on the 4th straight which I think I am capable of.

I wanted to jump the 11th as well but I don't really think that there is a need to jump it as manualling is fast enough.

If the wind is better tomorrow I wan to also work on the 2nd straigtht as I have been told that jumping the 4th (double after tabletop) is faster than manualling it so I want to try it and see. I also need to work on my lines on the berms as I am not going tight enough at the moment.

Today I concentrated on using proper technique to get around the turns and I think that I may take some cones with me tomorrow to practice the technique on the flat as well.

I am not going to do full laps tomorrow as I want my legs to get a bit of rest ready to go flat out wednesday again.

First and second straights

This morning I went to the track and did first and second straights as my legs were feeling a bit stiff after yesterday's gates.

I am going to the track tomorrow morning to get down to some serious training for next Sunday's race.

I will be doing 6 full laps followed by starting to practice the new lines I am going to start with the last straight as it is the easiest to learn and then I will move onto the third straight when I have the forth straight sorted.

I also washed my bike ready for a hard weeks training.

I have had a change of plans about the dialled 24" as I have had to buy my son another expert bike as the Yess pro he had was just too big and he isn't enjoying riding it. This means that I can use the seat, post, clamp, stem, grips, breaks and chain tensioners on the dialled. I am waiting for my cranks to arrive this week then I can use my 180mm dxr cranks on the dialled I just need to get forks and bars and then the bike will be ready to use.

Back to training

Got back to training yesterday after not riding all week.

Had a pretty good gates session where I did a few gates but felt a bit weak in my legs although I managed one gate where I beat my friend on his 20" who normally beats me easily.

After about 10 gates we did some practice on the third and 4th straights where I jumped the first set of doubles which made the rest of the straight much easier.

I want to try and work on he following for next weeks race:

Jump the second double on the second straight.
Jump the doubles on the 3rd straight and the Jump into the berm on the third straight.
Jump both sets of doubles on the 4th straight.

Tap manual both jumps on the 1st straight.

Inside lines on all 3 berms.

This week I am going to do full speed laps every day and then focus on learning all the new lines above.

Incorporating the new lines into the next days full laps.

This morning I had my weighin and I have dropped 1.1 kgs from last week to exactly 100kgs. Happy I have dropped weight without doing any working out but I am a bit worried that the lost weight is muscle not fat.

We will see next week when I weigh in if it was muscle or fat!