Balls to the Wall!

Yo!

An awesome weekend just past, Friday night i headed over to check out Laurens new pad, its pretty cool, quite small but the all inclusive rent will allow her so save some money and live a little more independantly, she seemed stoked on it and after all her belongings were put in place it looked quite homely.

Friday night we went out for a Curry with one of her workmates Mark, and his wife, a good night of banter and some delicous food! Poshest curry i've ever had anyway!

Saturday I helped out Lauren and the guys do a BMX coaching day at Derby track, its a pretty lame track, with limited jumps and turns etc, so to develop any sort of program is difficult, I took the experts with TM Rich Camm and Matt Ryder and we just worked on pumping, some manualing some work in the turns with high low manuevores and things like that, there is no gate to give gate advise and nothing overly technical either, but the kids seemed to get into it.

It was a horrible day with horizontal rain and a biting wind but the amount of kids that showed up was incredible, and all the kids and parents seemed to really enjoy the day, we had a big race at the end with massive trophies for every class, medals and prizes, the kids were beaming ear to ear! I was stoked to be a part of it!

After some good food i headed back to Sheffield to get my race head on for the DC vs. AT MX extravaganza!

Sunday morning was such a contrast it was a beautiful day, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We headed over to Worksop i travelled with my race rival, pro racer AT, some call him the G.O.A.T its not an insult it means the greatest, of all time. Coach Cooper was in the truck to, seperating the 2 big race rivals, tensions were running high, you could feel it in the air..



My enemy, the G.O.A.T, Alec Townley.

We arrived at the track, Warren and Cooper had bought along their race tuned bikes and Devan was there on his mini moto, we did a couple of laps and i was stressing as i had boots on, i was knocking it into neutral and hitting the rear brake all the time, i was in a mess, i ended up flipping the thing too - i was pretty bummed out and I was losing my cool, especially when i saw Alec cool as a cucumber invertly whipping it out over the 90 foot triple step up.. Not really but he did seem to get into things a lot better than i did!



Me, warming up on the mini moto!

I had a go on Coopers bike next and being a bigger bike the boots actually helped i felt really stable and could change gear and I began to relax and have some fun!

Its a flat track with no jumps but some really good turns, switchbacks and a super fast straight, it was really cool!

I then had a go on Warrens bike which was going to my race machine later on, it felt sick! Its a 4 stroke so it doesn't scream and hit a power band like Coopers, its more of a low down tourque power which can pull hard in the low end but doesn't have the beans in the high end revs, you can change gear though to get all that speed you want, but i didn't need any more complications today!

Warren and Cooper went head to head with a 6 lapper race and after a good start by Team Greens Warren Harper he lead the tace out, but the OC was all over him like a rash, trying where he could to pass, trouble is there isn't many places to pass, Warren rode defensivley and held off the OC to take the win! An awesome race though!



Warren and the OC doing battle!

We lined up for our 1st race, the pressure was on, the engine were revving hard, elbows pushed to the skies watching for the starter to give us the single, you could cut the tension with a knife, unblinking focus, heart pounding in my ears, a nervous cool sweat developing, the flag went down! The revs came up and the bike stalled.

Dang!

Being the gentlemen we are we waited for one another as we did this a few times each! Argh! Very frustrating!

We both soon nailed it though and Alec got the holeshot he pinned it ahead of me into turn one railing low, i was hot on his heels into the tight second corner, Alec lost it a bit and fell out of the corner leaving me with a clear line through! I got the lead on the race and held it out through the 4 laps and took the win! Bam!



Me, on Team Greens factory Kawasaki KX250f having a practise lap!

Alec wasn't having any of it! Race 2 was going to be a 6 lapper! Thing was I crashed in the tight second corner - damn! So we racked it up again and lined up for moto 3! Alec was going for glory! We got under way and again Alec holeshotted, kept his cool and maintained the lead position in the 1st lap, he had me! DAMN! It was a 6 lapper so i just tried at every opportunity to bust a move but it wasn't happenning. I was chewing on his roost the whole way round! Alec got a bit lose on the long sprint straight before the final turn on lap 4 and i thought i had my chance but he saved it and kept the lead, going in to the final lap, i just pinned it hard up behind him and went into the super tight corner faster than i previously had done, i managed to swoop the inside, blast the AT with some roost and take the lead. I held him off and took the 2nd race! I was stoked! But Alec made me work for it, he put in 6 flawless laps!

An amazing day, thanks to Warren, Cooper and Devan for letting us ride their bikes, it was aweosme, bloody awesome! When i think about it I get a huge smile across my face!

Whens the next round?! :)



Late!

Pushing weight, gettin' straight..

In the words of Skinnyman!



After my programme development with Kelvin at the weekdn i've had 2 hard sessions in the gym focussing on the things that Kelvin showed me.. Its been hard, but i'm enjoying the sessions with Warren i'm doing 2 leg sessions a week for now, one Tuesday am and another Thursday am.. These combined with a swim or 2 a session at the climbing works and then mixing it up with some other bits and bobs is keeping me very busy, but also committed! I have an aim and i feel with every bit of pain i'm getting closer to reaching my goal.

I'm giving it my all to remain focussed, driven and positive about everything.

Today my legs are incredibly wobbly though, hopefully this is a good sign! Just taking it easy at work listen to the new Wilhelm Scream album - Awesome!

Tonight i'm heading to the works skatepark with alec and Max to have some fun on my bike, i just hope my legs have recovered enough by then! Chilling out tomorrow maybe have a little recovery road ride in the morning before work.

This weekend i'm helping out with a kids coaching session with Lauren and cycle Derby, and then Sunday it's time for the main event.. DC vs. AT AMA Supercross race.. sheesh!

Todays pictures, Warren and I going "big" in the gym, these were taken purely for comedy-blog-purpose as the leg press wasn't in our routine today.. But you get the idea.. Buff!

The first weeks always the toughest..

Its been a pretty intense week, but i'm feeling good for it, work again has been super busy, but its paying them bills so thats all that matters right..

Monday i chilled, after the heavy session on the road bike on Sunday i needed to rest up, so i just had some good food, watched some good TV (The Wire) and maxxed relaxxed.. Tuesday I got up and hit the gym with warren, it was our first leg session and it was good going, it was more of a test run to see where we at and what we can do, want to do and get an idea on things. Tuesday evening i hit the pool and swam a few lengths. Wednesday night i hit the bowling alley, i got 1 strike, it is a well known fact, and i'm not ashamed to say it, that I suck at bowling.

Still, had a good time, and had a beer on the lane which went down a treat.

Thursday morning Warren and I did an upper body session, it went okay, i'm not entirely sure of how much of this i need to be doing, i feel reasonably good upper body wise, but maybe to keep trim and tone up a few places, i'm sure it'll help my climbing career, eh Warren ;)

Thursday night I went to the bouldering centre and had a killer time, completing problems i had failed on the previous week and stepping up to a few more, i'm really enjoying the climbing thing and i think if i can maybe do once a week i won't be nailing myself and i'll still be developing my technique and keeping strong.

Friday i just chilled and hung out with my boy Will, we had a beer, some Nandos and watched some funny shit on the internet. Always good to hang out with Will and the West Street crew, good people, for sure.

This morning i headed over to Rotherham to meet Olympic athlete and potential medalist Kelvin Batey, possibly one of the nicest men involved in BMX and one of the most dedicated, he gave up his morning to meet me and have a speed endurance sprint session, i ended up geting a puncture on my 3rd set of reps, so he kindly finished his set and lent me his bike, it was hard work and at a couple of times i thought i'd spew, but i kept it down, gave it my best and felt good for it. Sprints are intense, and these sets involved a downhill sprint of about 80 meters, a quick turn at the bottom, ride to the start, turn and sprint back. Ouch! We did 4 sets of 4. Kelvin, on his last set did a 5 setter.. The guy can push it for sure.

We then went to EIS, i've been in the athletes gym before, but this time we had it all to ourselves, Kelvin broke techniques down for me, checked my form on the squat and the deadlift and wrote me a killer programme which i'm going to be doing for the next 11-12 weeks, it consists of mainly leg and core work, i'll throw in some press ups, chin ups and some free weights to keep my upper body in check. Kelvin is currently doing 3-4 sets at 160kg. Spiders! I'll be starting at 90kg for 8 reps, building up a good base before the heavy stuff in January. I finished the day with an hour at Bolehills, making sure i wasn't a complete meathead and i could still throw it down at the track and have some fun!

Its all pretty interesting for me, but i'm sure it sounds lame to you! I'm pretty excited about where things are going, i'll get some shots on the ixus of Warren and I going big in the gym next week.

And maybe a shot of us in our speedos.. Sheesh.

Late!

Miles, miles and miles.

Hello all.

First of all, i just want to say a huge keep your head strong, fight like you've never fought before and beat this thing to Ben Forwood. I have recently read he has been checked out at the hospital after having some pretty awful headaches, after an MRI and CT scan they found the problem to be from a tumour on his brain. It is said to be growing and it's critical that he is operated on as soon as possible.



Ben Forwood is a true gentleman, a wonderfully skilled and superfast BMX rider, with some amazing results on the european and world stage in the last 2 years. A rider on the dialled bikes team, i read that mike over at Dialled is pretty cut up. Ben was the first rider to be on the team and has been there since day one. He'll beat this Mike. Believe!

We all love you Ben, you are stronger than this thing, and i believe you'll beat it. I'm backing you every step of the way, as i'm sure every BMXer who knows you is too.

I had a blog in mind but I'm not feeling it to write anymore. I'll keep things brief.

Crappy week work wise, intense workload and not a lot of downtime. Climbed a bunch, 3 hours on thursday took me until now to recover from it! Swam a bit, rode my road bike some. This weekend i hit gates at Chesterfield on Saturday morning which was mint, i felt like i was getting some good ones. Stayed there for about 2 hours then headed back to Sheffield with Lauren and hit the pool for an hour or so, i was pretty done in. We had a nice curry with the 51 Junction Road crew then Lauren headed back to Peterborough to ride Chicksands trails jam on the Sunday.

My plan was to head to Goldcoast and race for kicks at the new track in Lytham, but after a bunch of trouble with the van i was let down again, and 3 of my buddies were riding out to Matlock on the road bikes, i made a snap decision to do that instead. Feeling it now! Just over 50 miles it was pretty serious, but i'm stoked i did it, i felt like i accomplished something today!



A picture from Herne Bay last week - sweet track.

The week ahead, gym x 3, climbing x 2 pool x 2 and hopefully some road bike in the evenings. Heavy.

This hasn't been a good year for BMXers, but the whole community believes in all of you, stay strong.

DC x

Like a fish out of water..

Yo! 'sapenning?!

Things are good this end, had an awesome weekend just gone, headed to Manchester to hang out with one of good old Essex buddies Dave patten, he lives it up big in the new Hacienda apartments, they are seriously fresh, we rolled heavy and had some beers and some food then headed to the clurb. We rolled up and they doormen took an instant dislike to me, telling i was too casual, maybe trainers and a Segment hoodie don't cut it in the money district of Manchester on a friday night?!

Who knows, but Dave ain't feared he and I headed back and he hooks me up a Saville Rowe number 1 suit.. Custom fitted and hand tailored, it felt like i was wearing air! It was serious money, man, if anything hapenned to that suit i'd have been financialy screwed! I got back to clurb and the doormen had nothing to say, we entered and hit the G&T's in a big way, it was super funny and i was pretty mash up! Really good to see Dave and hang with Will and Lucy there too, super funny business. In at 5 after hitting some rouge party which wasn't that cool, they had taped their fridge door shut for Christ's sake. Who does that?!

Saturday after i'd had some food i headed down to Derby and rode the track for an hour, can't wait for the Derby track facelift its so boring. Lauren just bought a new van a Nissan Primastar and its pretty mint, we headed down in it to Essex and spent some time with the folks and hanging out twith the Fam. On Sunday morning we headed down to Herne Bay a new track built by Phil Charnley, its super fresh! Phil has done an amazing job and i had a really cool day. They have a good thing going down there right now, and i'm stoked that it isn't a million miles from my Parents, it means i'll have somewhere to go over Christmas for some sessions!

Really good to see Phil, its been too long Brother! Also good to catch up with my buddies Russ Parsons, cameraman extraordinaire Steve Bodey, Humps and Fam, Alex and Scott Dick, Terry and Lewis, rad day some good sessions going down!

Get there if you can!

This week has been okay, been super busy at work and with the early nights its been hard to motivate myself after i've ridden home, but last night Warren and I the pool in our speedos and did some hectic cardio, it was a great deal of fun and i felt as if i achieved something, tonight i'm hitting the climbing wall which i'm pumped for and tomorrow i have my gym induction, then i'm going to hit the pool again afterward! Bam!

This weekends plans hit Chicksands on Saturday for a trails jam and Gold Coast it up on Sunday for some fun North style racing with a Blackpool flair - Can't wait!