Week 17 of "52 Weeks"
by John Lee
Nov 26, 2009
I'm attempting to compete in the Mega Avalanche in 2010 - It's a journey of 52 weeks till I actually get there and it's gonna be tough! Read on to hear more about my week of hitting big jumps, training, getting lost and filming with Nico Turner
Inside are the pics, video diary and loads of letters from the alphabet, which form words that will tell you about week 17 in my training for Mega Avalanche in 2010.
Inside are the pics, video diary and loads of letters from the alphabet, which form words that will tell you about week 17 in my training for Mega Avalanche in 2010.
Monday
Wow I am so tired this morning after the BMX race yesterday - I think today will be dedicated to catching up with my race calender and working hard on improving my organization of this project. Sweet this means rest!
Tuesday
My mum arrived last night which means one thing - Free day of riding! Headed out with Nico Turner for a session at Ambergate woods and Rushcliffe 4x track.
Rushcliffe was quite windy and wet which makes the largest jumps quite odd to jump in all honesty - as you end up blowing off to the side! Had a good time and headed down through the traffic madness of Matlock commuter cars of metal for a date with the wet and swampy Ambergate DH tracks.
Managed to get a few good runs in and work on my sliding sweeping turns on the off camber that I have been working on recently. With some good shots in the bag and the winter sunlight being kind to us we headed home with a very happy session of filming achieved.
Wednesday
Decided to take my son to softplay down the road and pop into Haro for a quick chat. Had some coffee and cake with some friends in the local cafe and headed home for an afternoon of Turbo training and weights.
Thursday
Mother in law arrived today and took Elijah off for some Gran time! Yes mate - Tomo is on the mission for a day of riding and Ribbesford so after an early start we are on a mission to the new trails for an exciting time of what we didn't expect. After getting lost for the Ump-teenth time we eventually found the bare forest filled with an abundance of Rad trails! We began on the red route which featured tons of sweet berms and rocking tabletops to get your teeth sunk into. After a few runs our eyes were drawn to bigger things!
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| Tomo railing some berm! |
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| Getting to grips with my Xeon on the intro berms |
After a few drop ins we managed to start some sessioning on some larger gaps and jumps which have been holding me down at certain tracks and other places I ride. With all the jumps dialed in on the top section, it was down to the 15ft double halfway down the black route for me to rediscover my balls!
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| Hitting the large double with confidence |
Woop - Nailed it!
Tomo was beginning to work hard on a section further down after a crazy long table top and then into an off camber shoot and step up. After a while we soon discovered some fast lines through the techy section and we were flying through it with ease after the work we had put in!
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| Tomo getting funky on the step up |
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| Gapping the step up with some sort of style |
We took a lot of time really working hard on the Black run and getting in as many runs as possible before the Darkness fell upon us, drawing an end to our day. Here is our helmet camera action from the day!
On the road we hit some crazy traffic and then we managed to get lost and then end up exactly where Tomo's girlfriend lived - so our situation worked out pretty sweet and got us home fairly quickly - good job Tomo!
Friday and Saturday
I went away for 2 days with some guys from church to Xcel in Bradford. Had some great times mixed with great food, teaching, coffee and laughs!
Sunday
Headed over to Nico Turner's house and then to a very wet and windy Rushcliffe for some sprinting and jumps - after being blown to pieces and getting soaking wet I headed home for a Sunday tea and session on the Turbo trainer to get rid of some excess energy!
Great week done - thanks to all our sponsors
John Lee aka Jumble
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13 Comments
- + 2
Trekbiker2
(Nov 24, 2009 at 14:36)
cool keep it up and youll be pinnin it seems like you could start hitting some serious rock gardens since thats about 95% of the race
[Reply]
im up in kendal in december riding marinlmasher - fancy going for a DH ride?? - im not into bad mouthing and being rude - so if your game - id like to see what I can learn from you.
considering all of johns commitments... i personally think he's an amazing rider...
i certainly couldnt juggle that many things in my life at once:S
if your so mouthy marinlmasher, then why dont you enter the mega... see how you do? besides its early days still, theres 35 more weeks to go...
keep going john... your storming now!
i certainly couldnt juggle that many things in my life at once:S
if your so mouthy marinlmasher, then why dont you enter the mega... see how you do? besides its early days still, theres 35 more weeks to go...
keep going john... your storming now!
Avalanche isn't that bad you know. It depends if you really want to be competitive or not. I went to have a giggle with mates and didn't do too badly. Judging by your vids you'll be fine. You can pass about 80-90 xc riders in the first mile. As long as you've got the fitness to keep ahead of them (they hold you up when the track gets tight and tech) you'll be sorted. Here's a hint. Make up a team name and you get placed on the grid closer to the front. I didn't know this and ended up starting on the back row of my pack.
Dude! Your riding has progressed so much, it is so evident in both of these videos. Your training and hard work is obviously paying off. Keep doin 'er!
Good work mate, u're looking like u've lost loads of weight compared to the 1st wk. Keep it up and good luck.
Great progress John, your riding is really coming along and a lot more confident.
Nico's filming and editing is also getting more crisp....nice one guys
Nico's filming and editing is also getting more crisp....nice one guys
[Reply]
Nice work juggling all your commitments, not easy with a child in the house and props to your wife to being supportive and letting you get out to ride so much. Easy to see your riding is progressing, hows the training coming? Are you seeing a differnce in your weight and fitness levels?
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