Forum menu
Looks very pleased with himself! Central League Cyclo-cross starts next week. Entry on the line is always available. Cheering is obligatory! Having a go is all that matters. That and falling in the mud of course.
Xc rampage next weekend, see if he can destroy his crash demons from last weekend and get a good finish. With luck I'll present ride course with him just in case.
Don't worry about the children in Lycra, my son wears full Lycra for racing, but that is because he is in a club (pedal2pedal) and he thinks it is brilliant he can wear club kit and race, he is only 6, but has an absolute blast! In his mind he is racing Niño Schurter each race 🙂
I might be around for the next xc rampage, like yak says, keep an eye out for children (and a slightly portly dad) in pedal2pedal kit! If the adult in the kit looks trim and fast that is yak not me 🙂
9th out of 27... which considering his class is 10 and under and he's only just turned 8, we've got to be VERY happy with.
He lost 40s on lap 1 to his closest competitors. If he'd lapped the same as them he'd have got 7th
Well the feature is trickier than I expected. Its not a massive hill but you need to be in the right gear so you can roll the crest with pedals level so you don't bash them.
My lad has been instructed to get in the woods first so he can attack it correctly
.Great start, sitting in 2nd into the woods
Leading after lap 1
Crashed again! Same place.
Finished 2nd!
I feel..Children should be encouraged but you need to temper this with moderation. 32km for a 8yr old is alot. What if he burns out, sacks off bikes due to a bad experience? Keep his hobbies varied, introduce him to new interests. So he has a range. Don't sack off football but have a variety.
Sorry to say there is more to life than one hobby.
My son rides, swims, plays footballfootball in a league, is learning the ukelele and is about to start boxing.
I don't want him to have one sport. What if he's a natural at canoeing or a world class sailer? Isn't it a Dads job to add variety and try out as much as possible now?
Lol couldn't be further from the world really mate. He had done 2 years of football for a team, he plays flute in an orchestra, he swims a lot and enjoys plenty of time with mates.
The 32km was a day out along the canal in France on holiday with jellies, cakes, bread and cheese. The last thing it was for him was a chore.
He's just told me its way more fun than football.
I have to agree with Hora...
It is good that your son is doing the races, but it sounds as if it (you?) could become a little too competitive/focused if not careful.
It shouldn't really be too serious.
I remember daft parents shouting at players (and other parents and the ref) when I was playing u10s football and u12s Rugby League. My Dad only ever shouted encouragement for which I am grateful.
It is hard to balance encouragement against pushing. My 6yo daughter has now started showing an interest abd more aptitiude in games/sports and physical activities, including her bike, having until recently not been keen
-which is good. I have resisted the urge to push her towards riding and other things too much.
It is also important that children aren't always involved in "organised" activities.
Free play is very important too.
I will admit that I would like the children to do wrestling or judo (they both like a bit of grappling), but not for the medals and wouldn't force then into it.
My children will hopefully see that the healthy, active lifestyle of their parents is preferable to the sedentary, unhealthy life that many others appear to have....
I have known quite a few people who were pushed into sports at a young age because their parents wanted it and then abandoned them all. Others took the sport very seriously and did nothing else.
Yes, it could be the way to produce a future world champion, like Lewis Hamilton, but would you want your child to resent you or to turn out like Victoria Pendleton, other than the Gold medals?
He's done 3 years of judo too.
I honestly can't put into words just how wrong I'm now being perceived as being. Its so so not what me or him are about.
Even his t shirt shows our attitude
[URL= http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/boy%20and%20wife/IMG_20160925_103706_zpsoz0bjk4l.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/boy%20and%20wife/IMG_20160925_103706_zpsoz0bjk4l.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
OK, and it is a wider issue than you personally, but you did write:
My lad has been instructed to get in the woods first so he can attack it correctly
About an 8 year old.
That advice was so he could have a clear run into the technical feature and not make it harder by having someone next to him as many would get off and walk it
Do they ru a coaching session or two alongside the racing? Mud Sweat & Gears do for the youngsters, big up to Steve for running the sessions. If you can find racing locally that does this he'll get loads more from it.
Nope, certainly something that we'd be interested in for sure. Also debating taking him next time I go to Jedi.
Sitting thinking about it here based on the comments and I'm not sure why its wrong for me to want him to win or for me to give him the best chance of that with a bit of advice. Without getting too serious here, it was clear from his dnf race that he's one of the fastest in the race for outright pace, so makes sense to guide him to use that to his advantage?
It's a proper friendly series and I was chatting to a few stwers but also the parents of the lad who won the race, he's a road racer and this was his first xc race, he was also just out having fun.
My lad rides bikes pretty much every day, racing his mates round the green and close, today's race was very much in the same vein of fun and having a laugh.
Nothing wrong with your approach weeksy. Your lad is quick, and your advice about the technical feature is sound. I was even coaching some of our lot on it prior to the race. This is a local xc race with a really good kids turn out, and pretty much all of them had a cracking time.
Thanks mate. Nice chatting this morning. Maybe in a few weeks I'll stay for the adult race and prop up the rear of the field.
An 8yr old doing 32km?
I'm out.
Why? It was a proper lovely day out. Climb at the end was tough for him but he loved it.
hora - Member
An 8yr old doing 32km?
I'm out.
A bit harsh there, Hora.
I'm sure the lad was fine once he understood the benefit of training in different zones, all-out power intervals and periodisation 😉
For coaching alongside the racing, try the southern xc series. Finished for this year now, but they have really good kids races followed by BC coaching on the kids course straight after the kids podiums. Works well imo.
Cheers yak. We'll see if his interest levels remain until next year.
Skills are much harder to learn when you're older. So I'd say BMX would be useful to get the basics down with some xc or trails thrown in.
Well done Weeksy jnr, always nice to achieve something at any stage of life. Bit surprised at the negativity on this topic.
Another vote for (race) BMX. Amazing for skills, race discipline and fun. Far more friendly crowd at my lad's club than some of the more traditional road/cross centric clubs we tried. My 11yo started at 9 (which is comparatively late; they start from 4/5). He can manual, jump and whip his way round the track and have a huge amount of fun. The local club also have them at the velodrome and even have watt bike sessions for the older kids. He even gets on a road bike occasionally..
I'm not sure I get the criticism of an 8yo riding 32km. It's about 20 miles, so not really that far and by the sound of it was more of a day out with the bike as transport than anything else.
When Jnr was about the same age we did a 60km charity ride. We took it easy, rode for an hour - stopped for cake, rode for another hour and stopped for chips, rode for another hour and stopped for an ice cream. He got loads of shouts and encouragement from others riding, there were others of a similar age riding. When we finished he got the football out the back of the car and wanted to play football for most of the afternoon. 7 years on and he still talks about it as one of his favourite days out on the bike.
Some kids are quite delicate and would struggle with it. Others are a bit more robust and happy to do whatever is thrown at them. So I don't think it's right to judge what weeksy's lad has done.
Thanks hammer.
In the same week he climbed Mont Rome in burgundy, which may not be a mountain but is a massive hill.
After his 32km ride we played football 3 times that day and also cycled to buy bread.
He's not scared of a bit of work.
Fwiw, I've never once made him race or ride, he asked if he could do it after watching the Olympic xc race.
Swinley forest he asks me to go often and wants to come out on an adults ride so he can race us up the hills. I'm fairly sure he'd beat several of us too!
After today's race he rode 2 more laps, to go with the 3 he did pre race, then home, lunch and 2 hours of football, some cycling and Xbox.
We then watched return of the Jedi before he went to sleep with his new fluffy dog teddy he got for doing brilliantly today.
Chapeau 8)
Lined up... techincally on the wrong side as it's a tight right hander, but i know he'll be in the top 2-3 anyway by the time we get there
[URL= http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/boy%20and%20wife/IMG_20160925_094231_zpsmavokps2.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/boy%20and%20wife/IMG_20160925_094231_zpsmavokps2.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
Leading the race on the back striaght just after end of lap 1.
[URL= http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/boy%20and%20wife/IMG_20160925_095001_zpsnhzgltpy.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/boy%20and%20wife/IMG_20160925_095001_zpsnhzgltpy.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
Crashed, muddy and coming over the line for 2nd place.
[URL= http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/boy%20and%20wife/IMG_20160925_095328_zpswymouego.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/boy%20and%20wife/IMG_20160925_095328_zpswymouego.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
Brilliant,he will be kicking your ass in a few [s]months[/s] years 😉
fasthaggis - MemberBrilliant,he will be kicking your ass in a few months years
You're not wrong there ! he wasn't easy to keep up with when we were doing practice in the morning. Although i blame my poorly ribs for that. 🙂
I'll be the first one to applaud him though when he does trounce me properly.
He took his trophy into school today to show off at assembly, he's very proud of how he did... I'm sure he'll babble on about how if he'd not crashed he would have won lol.
Think we've got a morning practicing skills and sessioning a few things at Swinley on Saturday, then will be potentially racing CX at Abingdon on Sunday, but depends if he fancies it... I'm pretty sure he'll be trying again the Sunday after in XC Rampage though... we'll be doing the techincal feature of DOOM ! a few times in the morning again that's for sure.
Thought I'd use this thread for an update on the boys practicing today.
I am at the Scottish equivalent of 1st year 6th form and have a couple of mates who race XC MTB and Road at a national level, I see day in day out, that they are too caught up with training, same with my friends who are swimmers who train nonsense hours a week and have no social life except the swimming friends. I on the other hand run a bit and MTB, having a good fun time, trying to beat my PB's and just enjoying the great outdoors. This isn't too say don't get your son into racing but Having the freedom if the outdoors is great. If I was rearing a younger person into sport I would seriously be just letting them make their own decisions whilst taking them into the outdoor and mountains lots!. My parents didn't ever suggest racing, they just took me too the mountains and I guarantee you that out of my friends the one who will still be cycling and enjoying themselves will be me. When he becomes a teenager - sport = endorphins AND endorphins = happy/not so grumpy teenager!
Most of all HAVE FUN
Not quite that simple in leafy Berks. We're trying to keep it fun as above, the racing was his decision. I do totally get your point though.
2nd year of 6th form (after A-levels) I pushed of to Belgium for 4 months to race.
Absolutely brilliant fun. Masses of socialising and seeing a bit of the world from a different perspective. Did similar every year until my early 30s.
[b]weeksy[/b] - you (and more importantly your lad) seem to have a pretty healthy attitude to the whole racing thing. My two (now 6 and 11) have raced go-ride stuff since they were 4, but I've never pushed them and it's always been about having fun. The problem with go-ride racing is that it's too short and they don't get to ride very much! The plus side of that can be that they get some good time playing and messing about with their racing mates, but this year they've been much keener on getting out and riding, and not racing. So we haven't done any races at all, but we have done some great fun riding. It is easy to do that living where we do though (North York Moors). I can see the attraction of racing more in a more suburban area!
As long as your lad's having fun and enjoying it then it's all good. Mine have both done some road racing, tried a bit of BMX, and the older ones also done some cross and track riding. Most of it is all fun, but it only takes an imbalance of competitive parents to make it suddenly not fun. Road stuff is most prone to it, and also prone to the arms race in bikes and kit (seen my 5 year old line up at an under-8s race against a lad on £1k weels and £200 helmet!). That's not to say don't do it or put them off, but keep the relaxed attitude and hope it rubs off!
And to answer Hora, my 6 year old is perfectly happy doing 20+km off road and the 11 year old happy doing 50km and has been doing good distances since he was 5. And some kids do looong rides, because they want to. No forcing mine, just Jelly Baby incentives, all fun.
My son made the pages of cycling weekly by the age of 5
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/inside-mad-world-six-cyclocross-race-video-140088
Enjoys the cx races but they tend to be quite short, he enjoys the competitiveness but we have never pushed him
Now aged 8 he takes part in lots of different sports, most recent being surfing, was stand ing by end of first lesson so ultra keen on that at the moment
With cycling tennis Cubs swimming surfing football he's kept busy and t this stage were just happy to give him the opportunity to try things
As he gets older we reckon he'll choose what he enjoys the most
As he gets older we reckon he'll choose what he enjoys the most
That's how we've played it, he's done tennis lessons, golf, swimming, cricket, etc, then we did 2 seasons of semi-serious football and now his 'thing' is cycling.
Apparently this weekend is the local village event, last year we had a meltdown pre-event as he took a strop for some reason and didn't want to ride it, it's a 5km event. He ended up then deciding to ride it about 5 mins late after the start and finished 2nd. When he found out it's this weekend he instantly jumped at the chance to go for the win instead lol. Sometimes you can try your best and make it all about the FUN, but they're blokes deep down and have a competitive spirit, so it looks like i'll be chasing him on the 5km and we're out for that. Then probably the Wessex CX series on Sunday.
My youngest had a complete melt down a local town-centre crit event last year. Massive wobbly and refused to race the 1-lap Go-Ride races (too many people). But then he announced at the last minute that he did want to race the proper Cat E race - so a 5 year old in the under 8s. He loved it. Plugging away solidly (on his own!) for 5 (longer) laps 🙂
[url= https://c8.staticflickr.com/1/499/19027390695_b055bb6605.jp g" target="_blank">https://c8.staticflickr.com/1/499/19027390695_b055bb6605.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/uZommg ]Ezra top corner[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/jon_b/ ]Jonathan Bateman[/url], on Flickr
I'm more surprised that Weeksy made it 20 miles than that an 8 year old did 😀 😉 😀
Weeksy- don't listen to the naysayers- it's only Jnr that counts and I think you're balancing it perfectly. You've exposed him to lots of opportunities in a non-forceful way and right here right now, this one has grabbed him a bit- good on you both!!
That it's something you are into is only a credit to your relationship. If it was rubbish- he'd probably hate cycling (and polishing motorbikes 😉 )
Today was very very interesting for the race. 5 miles with 4 significant climbs in there. Straight out of the gate, boom... we're in 2nd place following another kid from his school, well, technically not as the other lad has now moved up to senior school which makes him 11. First climb was tough, the pace they were both going was quite hard... The other lad pulled away, my lad closed back, then repeat. My boy is very much a Contador not a Froome, power, then rest, power, rest... as opposed to the Team Sky, limited power, maximum gains.... But i tell him to cruise a bit and he doesn't really listen.
We got to the top of that one all together and with i'm guessing at least a 1min gap to the next ones behind.. . Down the descent and along, we're all holding position... Hit the next climb... my lad has a heartbreak and meltdown... just too much too hard, breathing crazy and struggling... we eased off a lot and the other guy pulled away... about 50m lead over the crest and then a descent into the next part... My boy held station but it was too big a gap, the other lad pulled away, we're now about 4 miles in and we have i guess a 4-5 min lead on 3rd place so we take it easy, as we get to the last climb, the leader is just a smidgen before the end of the climb, my lad is toast.. really struggled on this climbs, it's about 100m length and a decent 9-10% climb. We had a little meltdown near the top, but fought through it and onto the last descent.. My lad flew down but it was too little too late. Through the village and into the park and it was all over.. 2nd place... He was shattered. That said, i'd worked pretty damn hard myself... on 90% of the ride i couldn't have gone much quicker, but a couple of times of course i could have.
2nd considering the age of the winner and some of the others was brilliant... We were a good 5mins ahead of 3rd place, so got to be happy with the result.
Emotionally my boy is in a good place and happy with 2nd.. he's proud of himself and his result.
It was a bit of a 'race' day/ride rather than a fun day/ride, but it went really well overall.
Were you riding along with him and shouting instructions or does "we" mean "he" and you were watching from the sidelines?
We did the ride together. It was out of the village up onto the Ridgeway, along 3 miles and back to village.
I wouldn't go as far as shouting instructions, we were chatting and I was guiding him with advice as I knew what was coming up next etc.
His comment as tea tonight was that he wasn't bothered about not winning, it wouldn't matter if he came last as it's all about me and him being out riding.
Couple of fairly big crashes today, partly due to loads of kids out there and partly due to the terrain, it's an airfield circuit and they start with about 75-100m sprint into the technical grass section. Couple of comings together and some screaming kids with gravel rash... ouch !
Front 20 are gridded on championship points, but only the under 12s count, the rest is a free for all.
It was a harder race to watch from than the last CX race as the course goes off into the scrublands, but when me and the boy rode it earlier it was brilliant, couple of swoopy bits, droppy bits, uppy bits and round and round bits.. then out over the runway and onto the other side which was a flatter technical section.
Due to the fact that the numbers are not grouped into say '500-599 is 12s, 600-699 is u10's...' etc you have absolutely no idea who's who and who your kid is racing against... Or not... You just watch and give encouragement when he goes past.
I did notice on the last lap he made some great overtakes against 3 kids who looked very like they were in his class... but it's hard to say.
He came back beaming and happy. "I had to stop once for a second daddy as i thought my heart may explode"... i laughed lots with him about that.
Another great morning racing though. Looking forward to XC Rampage next weekend now.
[URL= http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/IMG_20161002_102830_zpsizio05vc.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg167/weeksy59/IMG_20161002_102830_zpsizio05vc.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
6th out of 38 in the under 10s class. That's pretty darn impressive. I hate to bang on about him being out aged in his class, but he was only 8 in Aug.
Well that didn't quite go according to plan. Got there in plenty of time, the course was being run in reverse today which made the usual falling off obstacle a little easier actually, so no problems there in practice.
Lined, up, got ready to go and the race began... BOOM, it's a donkey of a start and he's got it all wrong.... lost loads of places and was back in about 15th place. He picked up a few places on the run into the woods. They pop out of the woods and i have to admit he took longer than i expected, but there's not many passing places in there. A couple of overtakes and he's back in the woods....He's lost a lot of ground though and it's quite clear today is not our day to be chasing podiums... He comes home in 8th place. Good thing is, he wasn't phased by that, it's all good and he's happy.
So happy in fact he asks if he can enter the U11's race which comes up next and we rush to get entered and paid, new number and off we go... they're off within 30s of him getting to get line and his start is slightly better... But not massively so... Instead of the 25+ riders who were in the U9's it's only 8 of them for this race and the pace is a LOT higher... The bigger faster 26" bikes along with the bigger faster kids and he's battling nearer the back than the front. It seemed a long 3 laps, with him battling and overtaking the kid in front/behind, he went for the overtake up the start finish and then went in longer grass and lost momentum, but then on the 2nd lap he went past the kid and gapped him, also pulling out a gap on the next rider... Coming home for a nice 6th place finish.
I was very pleased he'd gone out for the 2nd race as i think he was a little disappointed in Race1, so it did him really well to get out and crack on again. It's also helped by the fact he clearly enjoys it, so it's all good.
All in all, not quite the day we'd hoped for.... but a couple of good life lessons for him 🙂
He's now recovered and is back out playing with his mates.
I've cleaned, spannered and lubed his bike and we're all good for next time out.
Today brought a foggy start and a damp track at XC Rampage. We'd discussed tactics, which were "nail it off the start and ride like a crazy guy"
Lined up and BOOM ! he nailed the start, leading into the woods and leading the riders into the technical section.... First part of the job done, it's quite hard to pass in the woods section, so if you lead into it, the odds are, you'll be leading coming back out of it. The time passes quite slowly when you're waiting... then he pops into sight, where was 2nd.... oh, about 4-5 secs behind..... Good lead...
He then cruised a little on the grassy section, the 2 riders behind caught up about 2secs of it... but my lad was off and into the woods again in 1st still.
It was at some stage of the next few mins it all went wrong for him... As a parent, you get to know your kids crying and sobbing noise and we both looked at eachother as we heard a squeal and crying/sobbing.... The riders came out of the woods, but the boy was no-where in sight... Yup, he'd binned it..
He came out of the woods and was still riding, getting on with it despite the fact he was sobbing while riding... I think he finished 6th but we'll wait for results to confirm that.
Lots of tears after the race, he'd not crashed just the once, but twice.... No major injuries apart from a bit of bruising and a battered bit of emotions..
I made him smile at least with a Lego Minecraft toy for doing so well overall.... I was properly proud of him for getting back on and finishing ! Top performance.
That's the end of the series, so it's time to make some decisions as to what happens next. We won't decide that for a little while though as he's away on holiday for half term.