is it bad for a 14 year old boy to be cycling long distances

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  • Tempestas
    Tempestas Posts: 486
    I posted one link, I also suggested you do a search and read up more about it.

    The Doctors pages with research findings are quite hard to understand for some people, but worth reading and re-rerading.

    Also one of the most common results turned up by a google search is links to weight training forums. Read them and you should understand my point.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    I did search more - I showed you four links wasnt it ? And one specifically about weight lifting - that had studied it and said that weight lifters do not get LVH.

    Although there is a possible link between anabolic steroids and LVH. Hopefully not too many of our juniors are popping steroids ?
  • Tempestas
    Tempestas Posts: 486
    Selective reading......

    Most of the ones I read linked excessive weights to LVH, although I do agree that quite a few results also linked it heavily with steroids, as steroids increase muscle growth.

    I guess we will beg to differ on this subject which is well and truly off topic as it was about distance, not gearing.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Ok - fair enough - but excessive weights arent exactly the same as riding a 52*12 are they ?

    Trying to think back to when I was 14 now - to return to the original question...

    I was cycling with a club so rides of 80 miles or so wouldnt be uncommon, and by the time I was 16 I could do 140 mile rides - just to prove that I could. My ar$e hurt for a bit after though....
  • sampras38
    sampras38 Posts: 1,917
    love2ride wrote:
    Hi
    I'm 14 and i was wandering if it is bad for me to cycle long distances as i am still growing.

    if it is how far can i cycle?

    Floyd Landis was famous for it..;-)
  • sylvanus
    sylvanus Posts: 1,125
    My cousin was a hugely talented cyclist, member of Mac Wheelers and drove himself like a nutter from a young age. He gave it all up at 18/19 but there is a strong suspicion that it contributed to his LVH / Cardiomyopathy whihc is what killed him in his sleep aged 42.

    As a blood relative, I was checked out in great detail - ECG and ultrasound but thankfully I and others in the family are clear. Given the (small) risks I think there is an argument for making sure that teenagers don't push themselves too hard on the bike (or in other sports) unless they have regular heart checks to make sure they have inherited / acquired no higher risks. Despite all the stories of EPO killing young Dutch and Belgian cyclists, its clear that some of the deaths are 'natural' and related to cardiomyopathy.

    Read the biography of John Ibbotson at the bottom of this page:

    http://www.fit-for.com/#/foundingmembers/4514340169

    Read this to see what his family / fund are doing to combat the problem:

    http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/cycling_weekly_ ... e_ages.htm

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