[Closed] What discipline for an 8 year old ?

Thought this was going to be about the removal of pudding priveledges.

As you were

Whatever he enjoys the most..

Lots of cyclo-cross have categories for young ones and are a good crack. My lad, same age, been trying grass track racing locally, seems they have a good laugh. Race or play?

Motocross and BMX?

cloudnine - Member

Whatever he enjoys the most..

At this stage we've not tried anything else, so it's impossible to say what he'd enjoy more or less really. I don't think he'd suit massive distance racing at this stage, but he loves winning and something like a short circuit race with some sprinting would potentially really suit him. He's got legs the size of tree trunks and seems at this stage more suited to sprinting than being a lightweight mountain goat.

CX. It can lead to both MTB or road, is very friendly and there are normally lots of local events. But, make sure neither he nor you take it too seriously, he's a kid, let him ride for laughs.

Edit, or BMX, that's a great way for kids to learn the joy of bikes.

Despite me being a KTM fanboi, Mrs Weeksy (and indeed myself) don't really want to push him into MXing, partly down to the expense of a decent MX bike, but also the crashing and shattering bones aspect. Also, i don't do MX/dirt with engines, so it wouldn't potentially be quite as bonding. We live just over the hill from Blewbury where there's an MX track and you see lots of very angry parents shouting and abusing their kids, not the sort of thing i want to see/do with my lad.

All of it, don't rule anything out. The best riders can do it all well and do it all to get better. Start with whats local and see how he go's.

CX is good during CX season. Jnr loved it, all the kids who raced got to know each other really well and all became mates (usually because they had to do something for the hour their parents were racing - so they basically played!). He's now 15 and although decided he didn't want to race anymore still chats to all his CX mates from different clubs on Facebook etc...

But as Mike said have a go at everything. Check out the BC website for Go Ride racing, there should be loads on at the moment as BC have a big Olympics push. I used to organise 6 Go Ride races a year, usually CX and grass track. Even have a go at road racing, there's usually a closed circuit somewhere close by to most people.

Have a look at joining a club too. Go ride sessions are a lot of fun for nearly all younger kids who just like riding their bikes. At our club we never pressured anyone in to taking anything seriously.

I have seen a guy on the newbury cc facebook page offering kids coaching for both road and cx I think. Worth a look.

The kids cx scene round here seems massive, bigger than xc. possibly a friendlier / safer introduction to bike racing than xc? but the two arent mutually exclusive, xc in summer, cx in winter, think its the same kids doing both (definately the same adults).

Advnatage (round here at least) is lots of clubs running cx training sessions so plenty of fun outside of jsut racing.

Early days, let him do loads of different things. Keep the football up and ride a bit too. When my daughter was swimming competitively from 10-14yrs it took over everything (inc social life) so be careful.

8 is pretty young for organised sports aside from football and rugby I think. I am not aware of any mtb cycle clubs for that young. Do CX clubs take 8 yo's ? I would suggest taking him to track and doing mtb together. Get him a bmx ?

I help out at Glasgow Riderz and my 13 yr old rides with them. At that age I'd say as many options as possible, including the football, as it's complimentary exercise. Getting him into cx and xc would be great, also mini downhill. Road tends to be better when a little older and some more developed road sense. That said, I rode Strathaven 50 yesterday with a few mates, at a slowest rider easy pace, and there was a girl from EKRC in front of us, with her dad, the whole ride, and she was under 11 I guess.

There's kids grass track racing in the park near us in early summer.

Think it's run by the local club (Twickenham) & the council.

Worth investigating your local options.

Have you thought about BMX racing? Great for bike handling skills, hugely good fun and good for developing fitness. Not massively expensive and I've found junior racing to be incredibly positive and inclusive.

My 8 year old loves BMX and MTB and uses the skills in the former when he's riding the latter.

Have a look at BC go ride events see whats local.

My eldest is 7 and he has done a few mtb, track and road (gokart track) and enjoyed himself on all of them though he did complain bit on the track as he was on a mtb racing against racing bikes. He has also done a few of the wiggle/uk cycling mob sportive on the downs and had fun. I would say at his age just keep having fun maybe look a joining a local youth cycling club

Pfft. Tried to contact our local kids cycling club, got zero response so far. Great.

Cyclo Cross is a great choice for winter. It will keep both of you motivated to get out even in bad weather and with age groupings he will get great racing. I also think there is a greater 'camaraderie' than club road rides and road racing which makes it more fun.

Bin Dun, but

NO PUDDING......!! 😆

not sure why you feel the need to pick a discipline - at that age most of the kids are riding in a mixture of events. Some really keen parents will buy specialist bikes for the disciplines but just stick sensible tyres for the event on the islabike and he'll be fine.

Our club took riders from the age of 6. They saw it as fun and games on a bike, which it is really. We would spend periods focussing on CX, grass track (the kids called it their velodrome), and road (car park or school playground). Essentially the sessions covered the same common skills, but the kids loved to focus on different things. Every few weeks we'd have a family ride or a MTB ride in the local woods. Most kids rode the same bike for all the disciplines a few had a MTB and a CX bike (which they would use for road).

Molgrips - usually these things go through to one person who is a volunteer and/or might not be great with technology/check their junk/spam folder! If they're on holiday or away things can sometimes get held up. Try again and maybe copy in a different club email address just in case or give them a call if there is a number.

Apparently the local club have a waiting list...

So i rekon we'll have a crack at XC rampage and see how he gets on there 🙂

http://www.xcrampage.com/

No Facebook for a week! 😆

CX seems to be the natural starting point for kids round here* at local clubs. Builds skills and fitness for whatever direction he goes in from there.

Unless you live in Peebles, their kiddies MTB clubs are HUGE!

Weekly - Waiting list? Where are you based?

Weeksy even, autocorrect!

I say really depends on where you are and what is happening local, If you going to be travelling over a 2 hours + to do track it might get to much of a hassle!
As he ride off road already,
As above CX, as local races allow MTB bikes and I don't think they restrict gears.
Or if there is a closed road circuit near by try that but just be aware that there is gear restrictions for the riders under 18 (in there age cats) but the one off/give it a go, races you can lock out some gears with the limit screws.

As for him riding against older riders, i would not worry I sure he hold his own if he doing 32km rides!!!

[url= https://palmerparkvelo.net/ ]Palmer Park Velo[/url] in Reading, but there is a waiting list. It will be a longer waiting list post Olympics. Track bikes provided.

Hillingdon Slipstreamers is further afield but similar waiting list.

EDIT: PPV got me started on mtb - they have regular sessions at Swinley, some CX and road bikes. Not just track. Sign up ASAP, expect to have a place come cold autumn/winter weekends.

TiRed/Weeksy - my experience is that those clubs who base themselves at places with excellent facilities like PPV and Hillingdon will have waiting lists. But there are loads of other clubs not so lucky to have the facilities who will also provide some really good coaching/sessions.

That BC area is central, Josie or Mac could help with clubs https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/go-ride/article/goridest-Regional-Development-Staff

It's a fair point. PPV and HSS are successful partly because of their access to dedicated facilities. Children aren't allowed on the road. Full stop. So finding good circuits is key. There is a shortage in the South East and BC are looking for another site. Whichever club coaches on it, when it finally comes, is likely to be just as successful.

We (Twickenham) run some grasstrack sessions as Go-Ride racing in the summer, as already mentioned. We also do coaching sessions on a Tuesday evening for younger riders, who then progress to a Richmond Park youth ride. Mac runs cyclocross training in Richmond Park in the autumn. There are courses run every holiday in Black Bush Park in Slough by WDMBC as well.

I've run after school sessions on tennis courts, I'm sure other schools do the same. BC may have more information in your area weeksy.

Sunday is his first XC race. XC Rampage over in Checkendon.... He's now stepped up to an Islabikes Beinn 24, so he's got a bit more rolling than he previously had.. He's happy and looking forward to it lots.

Neither of us have any idea what to expect really. He's a little scared it may be overly techincal, but i've assured him it won't be.

I'm interested to see if it's lycra clad whippets on carbon bikes... or a bunch of kids playing in a field....

Cool 🙂

Mke sure its about the fun, I can't tell you how serious some parents are at kids sports events. Over the years I've wished I had a great big W.nker / B.itch stamp I could have used on people's foreheads which fortunately I did not or I would have been part of the problem.

That goes without saying, it's the one thing i try to instill in him, if we do any semi-serious activity, "If you're not having fun, we won't do it any more".

I'm all for a bit of competition and want him to do well.. but there's limits to it.

I did have him practiscing his race starts last night though. Gear 3 to start on grass, straight into gear 6 is apparently the optimum for him. That's the limit of our race prep though. "pin it"....

He'll be the one in a pair of jeans shorts and a motorbike t-shirt... not the lycra 😉

One of the hardest things with starting is finding somewhere that they can participate in the right skill/fitness bracket. It's nigh on impossible to keep them motivated to improve if they're getting lapped by the whole field on lap 3. So long as they're in the mix with some other kids, then you should find out pretty quickly if it's something they enjoy or not.

He must have done something pretty bad if you're using cyclocross for discipline. Murder? Armed robbery?

Great choice with XC Rampage. The course there is mostly flat with lots of rooty singletrack and one or 2 logs. The logs are buried in and smooth so easily rollable. Overall - not that technical at kids speeds. The kids races are on a shorter kids course with a set number of laps. There's usually a good turnout so should be a fun morning out.

Gorricks are bit different. There it's about 3/4 of the adult course so kids need to make decisions about A/B lines and the overall difficulty is similar to an adults xc race. For young kids it's a big loop out, so I would suggest a good level of competence and confidence for this. They are a good race, but much longer than the other 8 yrs races.

And for next year - the Southern XC's. These are great with really good and separate kids short courses. After the race there is free BC coaching on the kids course to help kids improve their technique and lines. Again - this is really good and works well.

Good luck at XC Rampage. Not sure if we're going yet as the weekend looks packed right now, but if we're there we'll be in Pedal 2 Pedal kit. Come and say hello and my kids can show your lad around for a practice lap or 2.

Thanks Yak.

I'd be happy enough to send him out in a skills context for Gorrick, he's capable at all the blues of Swinley and a couple of reds, so no worries there... he'll get round... but the debate would be on psychology really, whether he'll want to be out there pounding for a decent time/distance.

XC Rampage seems to be 10-15 mins, which will suit him fine.

matts - Member

One of the hardest things with starting is finding somewhere that they can participate in the right skill/fitness bracket. It's nigh on impossible to keep them motivated to improve if they're getting lapped by the whole field on lap 3. So long as they're in the mix with some other kids, then you should find out pretty quickly if it's something they enjoy or not.

The result thing will be VERY interesting.. I can't see him winning, but i think he'll be a long way from propping up the back too... If we assume 20 riders... i'm hoping for top 10 with an optimistic for top 5.

He certainly enjoys cycling, he loves the technical stuff, Stickler at Swinley etc and loves climbing hills, he's a bit weird that i think he likes hills more than fun stuff... but he's an absolute beast on the hills anyway with it...

I think Race1 will be a learning curve for how hard/fast he can go and not blow up etc.. i think he's likely to pull the pin hard and then explode about 50% of the way through...

(Which is likely to be 30% more than i explode in if i do it too)

Great stuff. They are a perfect introduction to kids xc imo. And as it's a short course, he'll be racing other kids all the way round so easy for motivation.

Try and get there at least 1/2hr to 45mins early so sign-on and practise isn't rushed. Have fun!

Qn mate,

I assume we can both ride the practice together or do they split it ?

Yes - you can ride the kids practise laps together. The adult laps split off, but given the later timing of your race, no need for you to practise until after the kids races.

thanks chap.

p.s. the last thing i'd need to do is practice and tire myself out !

This sounds like quite a fun challenge! How many disciplines you try out in 6 months? Might even give it a go myself!

Well it went pretty well this week. We knew a bit more after last week about where to go and what to do, so it was a it less chaotic.

Lining up on the grid was very serious. Although my lad was in the 10 and under catagory they also race alongside the 12 and unders in same race. So they seed/group them as per the 12s first, then the smaller kids behind them. All in all there were about 60 in the class... Which made it all a bit chaotic. My lad ended up on the back row (of about 8 rows), but he cracked and worked hard and rode well. Had a minor off losing the front end on lap 3, but got up quickly and recovered well.

He seemed to enjoy the battling and overtaking, wasn't too phased by being overtaken by the 12's on their full on CX kit.... So all good. He was carrying great straight speed, but IMO he needs to work on gearing as he's finding himself trying to power out of corners in too heavy a gear and really he wants to be spinning it more out of the corners to get better speed/power transfer. But it's all good, he's hot, sweaty and smiling 🙂

As to finishing position, i have no idea at all, due to the classes it was chaotic out there so no idea who was racing who etc... Was a lot of very very serious kids too, all SPD'd up at 8-10 years old in full team kit lycra !

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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

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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.

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

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Leading the race on the back striaght just after end of lap 1.

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Crashed, muddy and coming over the line for 2nd place.

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Brilliant,he will be kicking your ass in a few [s]months[/s] years 😉

fasthaggis - Member

Brilliant,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