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.

Rest Day and Picked Up Yess

Tuesday I went to bath track and did 20 or so pump laps on the Thrill. I tried to peddle too but the bike felt strange and the bottom bracket kept crunching which didn't fill me full of confidence.

Yesterday I had a day off as I have a busy weekend ahead.

This morning I did a weigh in as I forgot all week to do it. I am back down to 98.9kgs so moving in the right direction again.

Got a call from Crucial to say that my Yess was ready to pick up so I went there at lunch time to pick it up. It is all ready to go but the bars and grips are really grated up from scraping down the start hill.

Luckily I have sold my Sunday today so I have some cash free although I think I will wait until after the Brits next weekend to swap the bars. I think I will get some new grips as they are really bad.

As I sold the Sunday I spent all afternoon running about after boxes, packaging and tape ready to post the bike to the new owner tomorrow so no riding today.

I plan to get the Sunday packed up tonight and then get up early tomorrow morning to get some laps in early at Bristol and then drop off the Sunday at the depot after. I will then go to Crucial and get some new grips and then go to my parents to pick up their car ready to go to Derby on Saturday or Sunday to get some laps in on the track there ready for racing next Saturday.

As I think I have said before I will not be able to practice in next Friday on the official practice as I have to work so I need to get the practice in this weekend. There are gates sessions Saturday so I will try and make them and then maybe go again early Sunday morning to get the rest of the track as dialled in as I can before racing.

I have had a quick look and most of the top riders are already registered so it is looking like it will be hard racing and I am expecting to get moto'ed but we will see.

Productive session

Had a productive session at Bristol track this morning despite the rain and a dead leg from my crash on Saturday.

I decided to so pump laps this morning as my leg was hurting so I didn't want to stress it too much before the Brits in a couple of weeks. I did just over 20 pump laps this morning after 2 warm-up pump laps. I think I am finally starting to carry speed around the track and I was definately getting much more speed over the second half of the track compared to normal. In fact I was actually doing the second to last straight faster today pumping than I was the other week peddling.

I did about an hour and a half before I had to stop as the rain was getting too heavy and I was starting to cut up the track which I didn't want to do.

This afternoon I am going to take the Yess to Crucial to get it serviced ready for the Brits and get the new kmc chain fitted that arrived yesterday. I was going to do this yesterday but my son caught his finger in the car door 🤕 as week were going to the track so we spent all afternoon/ evening in A&E getting his finger looked at. Luckily it looks like there isn't too much damage so he should be fine in a couple of weeks.

I am going to try and get the Dialled headset cups put in to the frame while I am in Crucial as I have decided to keep my spare bike for a while so I am going to build up the dialled while I get the Thrill painted up. Also the Thrill need a new bottom bracket as the one in it is a bit crunchy. I am going to build the dialled up for training now and they build the Thrill up with the bits from my Yess as I was going to do with the dialled and then sell which ever one I like the least out of the Thrill and the Dialled in a couple of months.

I have to replace the bars, grips, brake and seat on the Yess now anyway as they got pretty mashed up when I crashed on Saturday. I may even get the bars and forks powder coated along with the Thrill frame I am not sure yet. I am thinking matte black bars will look good with the matte black frame and forks.

Crashed again

Went to gates at Bath this morning and it was going good until about the third or fourth gate when my chain snapped and I went over the bars and landed on my head.

Luckily I think I have done more damage to the bike than myself this time. I have cut up my right knees, elbow and little finger and am a bit groggy but considering how hard I hit I came out of it really well.

My helmet is really scratched as are my bars and my right grip ripped off of the bars as it scuffed along the floor.

I decided that I will not go to Crucial today as I am probably better off not driving as I am a bit dizzy and have a bit of blurred vision.

I have been chatting to people and they think that it is a good idea to do the Brits as it is really good experience that you can't get anywhere else without racing Nationals so I will think it over. I still have time as I can cancel the hotel up until the day before the booking and not get fined so I will think a little more about it.

As I had no chain after the crash I did a couple of pump laps and then a group of us had a couple of pump races. I won one and then was second in the other which wasn't too bad considering the blurred vision.

I have decided not to build up the dialled frame up yet as I need to fix the Yess now before the Brits. Looking at the bike quickly I might be able to get away with just a chain for now. Next month I have the the SW champs in the second weekend in September and then it is the off season so I think I will build up the dialled with the bits from the Yess and then build the Yess up with new bits ready for next season.

This will mean that the Yess is like a new bike for next season and also that I can sell the Thrill as a complete bike. Also the bits on the Yess are better than the bits on the Thrill so I will have a better training bike and a better race bike next year.

I am going to drop off the Yess and my son's bike off at Crucial to get serviced ready for the Brits for me and for next week for his bike as the his break is not good and also his chain is loose and he has no chain tensioners on it and now he is jumping I am a bit worried about the wheel moving.

I am just looking which chain to go for but I think I want to go with a half link chain to make sure that it is as strong as possible. The chain I snapped was a hollow link chain which obviously was too weak for my weight and power 😂

Good week training

Had a good week training this week I did nothing on Monday as I was aching from racing on Sunday, pumping laps on Tuesday, nothing Wednesday as it was raining a lot, Thursday I had a really good session with my son where we practiced the 3rd and 4th straights for about an hour and then I did 5 pump laps followed by 5 race laps where my son peddles and I pumped. We also worked on his line selection as it was pretty poor in places. After the first race I gave him until the first straight headstart as the first race I overtook him by the second jump on the second straight. By the last race I couldn't catch him until the last straight although I let him win as he was getting a little annoyed.

I also learnt nose manuals which I have been wanting to learn for ages. My son also pump jumped the last jump on the 3rd straight so a good night all around.

Here is a video of my first ever nose manual.

Weigh in

Woke up at 3:30 am and couldn't sleep any more. I think I had too much redbull yesterday!!!

I am going to stop drinking it for a while until the Brits in a couple of weeks as it isn't good for me and also I am starting to get used to it.

My legs are aching a lot this morning so I am not training until tonight after work to let them recover a bit.

I did my weigh in today and I am back over 100kgs at 100.55kgs which is not good but it is all muscle and water weight as my legs are bigger and more defined after this weekends training and I have been drinking a lot of water the last couple of days so my water levels are high.

I am still debating whether to go to the Brits or not as I have to work on the Friday night so I will have to race with around 4 hours sleep so it is going to be pretty miserable.

I am thinking that it may be better to wait until next year as it is pretty pointless going if I am not going to be able to compete at the top of my abilities. It will also mean that I don't spend money for nothing too.

It will also mean that I can get some more training in for the SW champs instead. I have also been thinking about National races. I think I need another year riding mainly regionals to toughen up before I start riding nationals as it is a completely different level of competition.

I think next year I will do all of the regionals and some of the south regionals too to get used to racing at a high level and then go to Nationals. I also want to save money to buy a van and also to be able to get hotels for all of next year's reginals so that I can train on the Saturday and race on the Sunday and not be tired from driving to the race in the morning. I found it much better doing this and the two races I did this I did really well.

I am still a bit annoyed that I didn't make an A final this year but this was partly because we were mixed in with the 17-29 age group which last year we were not and they are all really fast so it makes it hard to make the A final.

I did come close qualifying first in the B final in one race so I didn't miss my goal by much.

I have now switched to winter training mode and starting next week I am going to start doing circuits on Monday, Wednesday and Friday's and sprint training on Tuesday and Thursdays.

I also intend keep going with the pump Tuesday and Thursdays as I think it is working really well.

My focus for the winter improving my manuals and jumping. I need to start practicing manuals on the flat as apparently this is the best way to learn to stay on the balance point and also it teaches the correct technique to picking the front wheel up (weight back and down over the back wheel) which is essential for jumping property.

I need to get out of the habit of manaukling and jumping with my arms and start using the correct technique or I will never get any faster.

Great weekend in Wales

Had an amazing weekend it Wales racing at Llynfi Bmx club for the last round of the SW series of the year.

I practiced really hard for 3 hours on the Saturday but I was just not able to jump the second jump as I wanted to do today I stuck to manualing it instead which was a bit slower but much less painful than casing the jump.

After about 10 minutes of training I went back to clipping in and also put my lower s&m bars back on as I wasn't comfortable with the flats and hig her bars.

I did better than I expected to getting 4th, 3rd and 3rd in my motos to qualify in 5th place for the semi final which is the second best that I have qualified this year so pretty please.

I was also able to race the whole if the track without getting tired so really happy about that too especially as I was really sore from Saturdays training.

My semi didn't go too well as I finished seventh but the level of riding today was really high so not too disappointed.

I was more disappointed in my final as I got cut up down the first straight and braked instead of holding my ground so lost loads of ground and was not able to catch up so I finished last.

In hindsight I should have picked either gate 1 or 4 instead of gate 2 so lesson learnt.

On a more positive note I beat a couple of people that I haven't beaten before and also out snapped a couple of National riders so I am coming along.

I also surprised myself and some of the guys that I was racing as to how much speed I was generating on the last 2 straight so my pumping days are definitely paying off.

I still felt like I wasn't pumping into jumps as consistently as I should but it gives me something to work on for the Brits in a couple of weeks.

I am waiting to see where I finish in the overall standings for the year as the 2 guys behind me in the rankings were only doing their seventh race today to qualify.

Hopefully the results will be up soon so I will be put out of my misery sooner rather than later.

Peddles and wrist guard arrived

My peddles arrived yesterday at work and my wrist brace arrived this morning. So when I woke up I popped into work and got them.

I bought Nukeproof Horizon Pro Sam Hill flats in black. On first impressions they look really wide and light and have good long pins. Apparently they are the best peddles to use with five tens so we will see.

I have just finished fitting them.

The wrist guard also seems really good but I will reserve judgement until I ride with it.

I can't wait to take the bike to the track later today as I had to have the day off yesterday as it was raining hard all day and I had to post some wheels that were at my parents house so I had to spend most of the day running errands.

****UPDATE****

I didn't go to the track today again as I was really tired so went to sleep all afternoon instead.

First jump session done

Got up and got all padded up with my leg/ shin pads, hip pads in my shorts and my motocross body armour which was overkill for what I was doing but better safe than sorry.

I consentrated on jumping the first tabletop on the third straight at probably half speed and consentrated on getting as much compression before the jump and as much pop off of the jump. By the end of the hour and a half of practicing I was knackered but getting my front wheel over the landing going pretty slowly.

I was also practicing relaxing and popping off of the rest of the jumps on the third and fourth straights. I want to try and change the bars from the Thrill onto the Yess and out flats on the Yess and try it tomorrow. I also want to try and send at least the first jump on the first straight tomorrow to bet used to jumping doubles. The idea is to try and send the second on the first straight by the weekend.

I need to mess with the brake on the Yess as well as it keeps rubbing which is annoying and slowing me down.

I think with the higher bars the Yess will be easier to jump as it is a bit shorter than the Thrill so is a bit easier to get over the back end when I compress.

I am going to try and remember my camera tomorrow so that I can video my training to see if I have any chance of getting over the second in Wales at the weekend.

My new flat peddles are in the post so hopefully will be here before the weekend so I can practice with flats on the Saturday and then clip in for racing to get an extra boost over the jump.

Tomorrow I also need to practice doing pull manuals onto doubles as I will need to this on the third and fourth straights to get enough speed to keep in frony of anyone who doesn't jump the second jump on the first straight.

I booked a hotel for the Saturday night so we don't have to get up too early on he Sunday morning and to keep me fresh for the racing.

I am still deciding if I race fully padded up or not and at the moment I think that I may fully pad up to have more confidence to send it during the racing.

The motocross body armour only feels strange for 10 minutes when you put it on and then it is ok. I may use it for the training on the Saturday and then use my Bmx body armour for racing on the Sunday I will see how I feel.