Ok so for years when riding with my kids i go a bit then wait up on them. About a year ago i noticed i was having a job to keep pace with my 14yr old son. I upped my training and been riding every day since, definitely increased my own speed & fitness, but now the tables have turned and he is waiting on me! 😯

Well, he’s 6 and not beating me yet 🙂

Off road – he’s always been faster downhill
On road – not a chance come hammertime 😈
On track – at 17 he can out-sprint me

Teen1 is 15 kilos heavier than me, but about the same height. Hills are not his forte.

Ok so for years when riding with my kids i go a bit then wait up on them

I’ve always ridden behind them, to provide coaching, encouragement and protection. Road and off-road.

Abigale was from about 14. At 17 and a summer in the Alps we don’t stand a chance.

offroad, about 16 I reckon.
on road, about 5 yrs ago when I went offline. but if it is a hilly tough ride, I can just about do him.

I’ve always ridden behind them, to provide coaching, encouragement and protection. Road and off-road. draft them and beat them in the sprint

Fixed!

My Dad was never faster than me. Never seen him ride a bike though.

My eldest was 15, he’d been getting a bit gobby when we were doing wws up at Thetford..so I said fine, next time we’ll do the same race..he done me by a minute.

I’ve got 16 yr old twin boys – uphill they’ve been spanking me for the last couple of years but on fast flat sprints, I’ve still got them! They’re not great on rides longer than 20 miles either….

…guess what, I love taking them on 25 mile rides with a flat sprint at the end!!!! 😀

Not yet. 🙂

Same here with my 15 y.o., he can outsprint me on the flat and up hills but he fades fast on longer rides. Cheeky monkey actually shot past yelling “come on old man” last week. I’m 58; I’m not old yet.

His other problem is lack of technique and three times on hard sprints (last time showing off in front of local kids) his foot has come unclipped and he has crashed. You can’t chastise your child though when he is sitting on the grass holding a pringled front wheel and weeping tears of shame and embarrassment.

Hmmm faster… !5 year old is faster downhill, but I am faster up and have more endurance (he so needs to work on his fitness..)

8 year old – well I always ride behind him so hard to tell. I can keep up, and sometimes he slows me down, but occasionally he pulls a slight gap 🙄

3 year old – hah no chance! However he can jump better than I can 😳

That is one of the things I look forward to when my boys are older, that and them buying a round at the pub.

I cheat (at every thing) so he has no chance. competative dad from the fast show has nothing on me 😉

When we bought my eldest a bike for his 4th birthday, he got on it and rode off down the street first time. Couple of days later he asked: “Daddy, am I faster than Bradley Wiggins?”.

He’s 6 now, and I’m still ahead, but I don’t fancy my chances for too long. 😆

@16 my boy could beat me over a mile but couldn’t touch me over 10

My lad was also 16-17yrs old when he got faster than me at xc. Then he got into dh and now i don’t see which way went downhill but catch up a bit on the flats & climbs 😉

Well not yet (51 vs 20’s) but my daughters don’t really ride mtb’s 😉 As an aside my daughter could do 25m breaststroke faster than I could do 25m crawl when she was 10 and I was 37 !

Interesting replies, which all tell me that teenagers have loads of explosive strength but no ability to measure their output and consequently little stamina. My own son is certainly very bad at maintaining a steady speed.

My son began complaining of pain on the outsides of his kneecaps a couple of weeks ago. We went down to the LBS and got the owner to cast an experienced eye over his position, which could be wrong since he is growing fast and we are adjusting the seat height every three momths. The bike shop bloke reckoned the seat was OK but commented that my son should be concentrating on spinning easy gears and that in junior races he would be bollocked by a coach or an old-timer if seen mashing in the big ring and stressing his knees. My belief is that the muscles grow fast in a teenager who is awash with testosterone but the skeleton takes a little time to catch up with the stresses being placed upon it.

My oldest son beat me down The Beast when he was about 12 on his first proper big MTB ride on a fully rigid Kona that nobody else in the family would ride because it was such a dog. Uphill he could beat me from about the same age until he ran out of steam.

My 13 year old has been able to outsprint me running since Easter but on bikes I’m still king. He’s not bad though:

10 miles road: 30minutes and 50 seconds
Flying lap of Calshot velodrome (142m): 11.3 seconds
At SSUK this year he rode 3 laps in about the time it took me to do 4.

</proud parent>

About 11-12 downhill but he was in the Nationals, XC by 14 he had the better of me. On a motorbike from 15 I was history and now (at 18) he’s so so much faster than me, running, cycling, downhill, motorbikes – I still have the edge on him in cars but I reckon this season, we are sharing a car in the regional Hillclimb champs, I will be demoted about half way through : (
Ps I am now slowest I have been at everything since my early teens!

Well he didn’t beat me as such, but put it this way, he was as fresh as a daisy after seemingly coasting up the fire road at the start of Cannock’s Follow the Dog.

Age 9.

I am faster up and have more endurance

Would actually agree there i still give him a run for his money going up hill but overall i am afraid he beats me hands down.