As I put the finishing touches to ‘For the Love of Mountain Biking’, I gushed in the concluding chapter about the tantalising prospects for the upcoming season.
A Finalé trip was booked and fast approaching, my internal wish list of bike-based progression goals was crystallising, and the World Cup would be returning to Les Gets. Wahoo!
Inspiration for the content of future books was bubbling through my mind and trip ideas were swirling. We also had a full calendar of racing planned. I say “we”, but really I mean my son Thomas. I’m just the mechanic, driver, manager, chef, co-sponsor and chief parental socialiser.
Thomas had had a very successful racing season the previous year. He pedalled away with a regional enduro title, and this year would be his first time old enough and eligible to compete in officially sanctioned regional and national downhill races in France. He was buzzing.
Never one to inflate expectations, I was also quietly fantasising about my book becoming a breakout international bestseller. I could see publishers tripping over themselves and beating down the door to get my moniker on a lucrative multi-book deal, one that would fund every venture and escapade for the foreseeable future.
The metaphorical “ink” was barely dry on that book before the plans went sideways. The warm embrace of spring was just beginning to tease us into long, lazy, two-wheeled days in the mountains when T spannered himself. The final ski race of the season, and he binned it, big style!
Broken collarbone. Three months out. Doctor’s orders. Daymn!
Needless to say, it was time to adjust the plan, pivot direction, adapt, improvise, and overcome. Onwards and upwards and all that.
A lot has happened in the couple of years since, as it does for all of us, and as it has for the world at large. Jeeze!
My book continues to do pretty well by all accounts, but my vision of instant global domination and unlimited future funding may have proved a tad lofty in hindsight.
With everything that’s going on, I’ve decided to start writing a bit of a blog again. Mostly because I love writing like this, but also because it feels like a good place to pull everything back together, if only in my own mind.
I like to follow an urge, and it feels like it’ll fit in with the things I’m working on, the other stuff that’s going on, and my tendency to shoot off on random tangents. I love a random tangent.
Thomas took his injury setback like a champ. He quickly reconciled his fate and turned his attention to short-term PS5 mastery. As soon as he could, he started rehabbing to get back on the bike ASAP.
His first ride back went well, until he landed awkwardly at the end of the day and sprained his ankle ligaments… Doctor’s recommendation – Another month off.
He wasn’t going to miss the World Cup action, though. He spent the week limping up and down a sodden downhill track in Les Gets, covered head-to-toe in mud, with that mud-covered toe peeping out of a partially destroyed, supportive medical ankle boot. Loads of the other fans loved that, though. Spirit of the sport summed up in a mud-covered, 13-year-old, injured superfan.
He soon got back out on the bike, but his racing season that year was a write-off. He raced, but he was nowhere near as strong or bike-fit as he needed to be. He persevered though, training and practising to get as good as he could.
Winter came around once again, along with the ski training and racing programme, which ramps up year on year. By the end of it, he was feeling strong, doing well, and skiing brilliantly. He got some terrific results in major competitions, and exactly one year on from his crash, he returned to the scene of the collarbone crime and scored himself a second place. Get in!
Bike season whipped round again on the seasonal merry-go-round, and something was immediately noticeable… A lot of the kids on the race circuit don’t spend their winters skiing and don’t stop riding bikes. Many of them had made a noticeable and significant leap forward.
The injury-compromised summer, sandwiched between two ski-focused winters, had really taken its toll.
We talked things through, scribbled out potential progression paths on a piece of paper, and came to a conclusion…
If MTB was indeed his number one priority and he wanted to roll the dice and aim for the top, it was decision time.
At the ripe old age of fourteen, he needed to make a choice. If he wanted to try to pursue a bike racing career, he’d have to scale back the skiing, and we’d need to maximise bike time year-round.
It was a no-brainer. He was (and is) obsessed, and he was really excited. He’d just been carried along on the conveyor belt of status quo and hadn’t really considered that other options were even a possibility.
We scheduled a sit-down with his ski coach and delivered the news. It was a nerve-wracking prospect for Thomas, having been in the system for more than half his life, but the coach was great. We kept a foot in the door by dropping down a group so he could still keep skiing and training, but with far more time and flexibility to ride whenever possible throughout the winter.
The coaches have been very supportive throughout, and as sportspeople and ex-racers, they understand the choices, compromises, and sacrifices that come with it all.
As a result of this pivot, we are in the closing stages of a rather odd winter, one where we’ve actively looked to head in the opposite direction of the incoming snow to try and find bike riding opportunities.
Who knows how far he’ll get, but you never know until you give it a go. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with his dedication to train, learn, and progress. Many of the ingredients he needs for success are already there, and I’m delighted to sprinkle in my contribution of parental support wherever possible.
If the race career works out, awesome. But whatever happens, he’s a great kid and he’ll do well. My other one is pretty awesome too. X Biased and just the way it should be 😉
Well, that brings me to the here and now.
After a weird winter season, “we’ve” got “our” first bike race of the year this weekend.
Thomas sits his mock Brevet exams (a bit like GCSEs here in France, but a year earlier) today and tomorrow. Then we set off for a weekend of racing in Millau, where he’ll share a track with some of the best in the business.
Millau is apparently famous for its glove industry, and for having had the tallest bridge in the world for the last 20 years, until it was knocked off the top spot last year.
It also hosts one of the first independent downhill races in France each year… This year, it sold out in less than 24 hours! The likes of Loris Vergier, Henri Kiefer, Myriam Nicole, Marine Cabirou, and the Alran twins are gracing the start list. Phew!!
As a first-year U17, Thomas now gets to ride the same track as the big dogs.
Well, I’ve got to go now and wrestle with some new tyres and tubeless slop ready for race day but I’ll let you know how “we” (he) gets on.
As you may have guessed, this blog will definitely have a strong vein of bike racing content, with our packed provisional calendar of regional, national, British, and European races pencilled in.
But it’s also going to get a bit random. I’m a bit spesh and pre-wired to brainstorm and meander, so I’m hoping to resist the urge to bottle it all up and just let it all hang out instead.
I’m also a bit sporadic on my social posts but I’m hoping this blog will help with my posting consistency. There are links at the bottom if you’d like to follow, like, share, comment, and all that.
You can follow Thomas too (managed by his parents), although I’ll issue a pre-emptive parental advisory warning for some of the soundtrack lyrics, that is, they’re not suitable for parents… especially mine.
Anyway, have a great day, and catch up soon.
