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My 9 year old daughter has been a member of our local cycling club for a few years now and takes part in the local road and CX races. As her and I are both quite competitive I can’t help thinking while she’s racing that she would benefit from a bit more riding – not necessarily specific training.
At the moment she does 90 mins training with the club and that’s about it. She does also ride to school (normally walks it back with nan and friends) but that’s only 1 mile at most.
In addition she has a 30 min swimming lesson and 60 mins at the local athletics club.
So my question is, am I ok to take her out a couple more times a week for 30 ish minutes without harming her in any way? I’m conscious not to start making her see it as a chore as at the moment she loves to ride and race.
Has anyone been through this with a son/daughter and can share their experience?
Ta.
My wife works with the mother of a lad who's in a similar position.
He regularly goes out and does 4+ hour rides with his mum on top of being a national champion in CX for his age group.
Earlier in the year he did one of the Wiggle rides (the Dorking one) he did it a) about 30 minutes quicker than me and b) got a gold time. Git.
In summary - if she's enjoying it then why not? If she starts gettign aches and/or pains then cut back - they're bodies are changing quickly and you don't want to cause long term problems.
Is he 9 too? I'll make sure we don't ever line up against him!
At 9 my boy was coping quite happily with up to 15 miles off road rides. At that age be wary of overdoing it though. Too many cold wet miserable rides could put her off. Keeping her just a little bit hungry for more could be better in the long term.
A mate of mine rode to London from Bristol with his family this summer. The youngest is 7 years old and rode the whole thing (less about 20 miles IIRC where they took a train). They did it in 2.5 days.
A mate of mine and occasional forum user on here has just done a 2-day coast to coast along the Hadrians Cycleway route with his son who's 8. Think they were doing about 45 miles a day.
Self supported touring/camping (admittedly with him carrying most of the gear) but his son had a little bar bag and a saddle pack.
[i]Is he 9 too? [/i]
bit less I think...was 2 years younger than the other kids in his age group and still winning.
His mum had to show her Garmin to them to get the time ratified at the Wiggle thing after a few people who crossed the line with them protested 🙂
Thanks for all the replies.
Doesn't sound like I'll do any harm if I increase the amout of cycling but I'll be mindful of keeping it fun.
4 year old son that now happily rides 1-2hrs of Sherwood Pines red route.
Rides on average 30mins to an hour everyday whether it be larking about riding the curbs or off across the fields.
Now the nights have drawn in we are off nightriding too.
Blooming ace it is, his pace is far from slow either.
Think there was an article in The Ride Journal about a 9 year old doing a century ride in the north east?
My 9 year old can do 8-9 miles at a steady pace, but he is by no means sporty - takes after his dad!
When my son was 8 he could ride about 40 miles and over a shorter distance could tackle 1 in 7 hills .He`s now 23 and kicks my ass on the same hills 🙄
MoreCashThanDash, I remember that; it was a lovely article.
The boy's grandad had done similar, only on far more primitive technology. He then also had to cycle the 100miles home the next day iirc!