2025 Race Blog - Year 9 - Still Lunging for the Line!

[Mikku]

Happy New Year Radsters! It’s January 2025, which means it’s time for a new race blog - my ninth since I started racing again! Tbh, I did question whether to keep going with these but this site is going to die a sad, lonely death if nobody posts anything, so here we go again for another year of racing in the Land of the Racing Sun and beyond.

My BMX year has already kicked off with a practice session down at Gonzo Park in Mie Prefecture. I hadn’t been there for a year or so, and although more modifications have been made to the main track (to make it even more mtb friendly), there’s still plenty there to keep me occupied, so it’s worth visiting once in a while, just to mix things up a bit.

Looking ahead, KBU has announced its annual, three-race winter series in Osaka, with the first at Oizumi on 19th Jan, so am looking forward to that. Am also planning to hit up the new pump track that’s opened not too far away, possibly next weekend if the weather plays ball. Beyond that, I intend to sign up for my two, regular race series at Oizumi and Joetsu, both starting in April. After last year’s exploits in North America, I’d also love to race abroad again in 2025. I have various ideas, the most ambitious (not to mention expensive) of which is to race at the Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in November. That’s definitely a bucket list goal, so I’m not sure it’ll happen but it’s nice to imagine, at least.

Bike-wise, I’m still undecided whether to race the Redline or GT this year, but will keep tinkering with the former for the time-being, to see if I can make it feel as good as the latter. If not, I’ll revert back to the GT and try to sell the Redline. Race kit and gear-wise, I’m basically happy with what I’ve got at the moment, though will no doubt pick up more bits and bobs during the year.

So that’s it for this first post of 2025. As always, I will update the thread with news as and when, and feel free to chime in along the way. In any case, keep it Rad in ‘25! Cheers!!

Mick

[Mikku]

First race of the season in Osaka the other weekend. It was a bit chilly to begin with, but the sun came out to warm up the 11 riders in the over 30s mixed class! We were divided into two racks of 5 and 6, with the top 4 going through to the main. I was in the second rack of six and rode okay, just not fast enough, going 5/5/6 to miss the cut. I also got pipped at the line in the 3rd moto which really pissed me off!

Stayed on afterwards for a bit of practice and also got to ride an OS20, which was a bonus. It felt okay over the jumps and rollers but a bit cumbersome through the rhythm section. I must admit to being tempted by racing one of these but for the time being, still love riding a normal 20" bike, so will keep doing that whilst I can.

Whilst prepping the Redline the day before the race, I also noticed that one of my front spokes was bent. I decided to race it nonetheless but when I mentioned it to one of the guys at the track, he got out his spoke wrench and tightened up the offending spoke and a few others to help me get through the day unscathed. Another of my rivals, who is apparently the resident wheel-builder, then offered to take my wheels home for some tlc, having noticed that the rear wheel was also under-tensioned. Top guys, both of them!

With the Redline now wheel-less, and having no other 20mm-hubbed wheels to fit the Avian forks on it, I have therefore called the GT back into service for training purposes. After recently been riding the longer Redline (and that larger OS20), the GT now feels really small in comparison. Admittedly that's not helped by the fairly recent switch of stems, which I reckon has lowered the bars by a third of an inch. I'm therefore going to play around with some headset spacers to rectify that and may even go further and switch out the 8.25" Renthal bars for the slightly larger, 8.5" Cult race bars that came on the Redline. On the subject of bars, I'm actually planning on trying some even larger bars for the Redline, just to see how they feel. Never-ending, this bike-tinkering, eh. I should spend more time and effort trying to improve my bike skills and speed rather playing with parts, but we all know that's not as much fun!!!

Next race is in three weeks's time.