Child's first Sportive

powenb

Hi all

My son is 14 and has been riding properly now for 4 months.
We can get out two/three times a week.
Currently one is a 20 mile evening ride at 15 mph avg and the other is a 40 miles club ride with a cafe stop at 16/17 avg. but we are planning on slowly increasing his milage.
I would like to book up a couple of events to keep him motivated and give him something to look towards.
I was thinking of booking up a 50 in April and was hoping to book a 100 (there is also a 75 at this event) in June.
Do you think this is doable?
Or is this pushing things too far too quickly?

Thanks

Mikey41

IMO, the 50 shouldn't be a problem, but for the 100 it would be good to get up to at least 70 miles regularly before going for it. June might be too soon, but it all depends on him really.

If it was me, I'd do the 50 in April, 75 in June and look for a 100 later in the year.

powenb

Thanks.
I don't want to push him too hard too early.
There is a couple of 100's locally after that. One is mid July and one is mid October.

nochekmate

100 miles is a very long way for a lad that age - you risk putting him off if it doesn't work out.

My eldest son used to find it hard work cycling 50+ miles when he was 16 years of age - he just seemed to 'run out of petrol'. Cycled regularly but not big mileage. He went on to do LEJOG when he was 18 in 9 days

Ease him in, there's plenty of time to tackle longer distances.

powenb

nochekmate wrote:

Ease him in, there's plenty of time to tackle longer distances.

Maybe two or three 50's would be better in his first year then?

Jim C

Nothing wrong with 50 or 100 @ that age. Check minimum age for entry - that's likely to be the biggest hurdle

Audax wouldn't be a problem at any age

imposter2.0

powenb wrote:

Hi all

My son is 14 and has been riding properly now for 4 months.
We can get out two/three times a week.
Currently one is a 20 mile evening ride at 15 mph avg and the other is a 40 miles club ride with a cafe stop at 16/17 avg. but we are planning on slowly increasing his milage.
I would like to book up a couple of events to keep him motivated and give him something to look towards.
I was thinking of booking up a 50 in April and was hoping to book a 100 (there is also a 75 at this event) in June.
Do you think this is doable?
Or is this pushing things too far too quickly?

Thanks

Don't know where you are, but my suggestion would be to get him into a youth/go-ride club. There is a vibrant youth racing scene in the UK and it's well worth a look - would probably do his motivation no end of good...

Silly Old Hector

Why not let him try the 50 and if he likes it, he can make the decision?
What's his motivation for doing a 100 ?
Is it your ambition or his ?
Does he have friends into cycling ?

I never liked my parents telling me what to do - you can probably tell.....

madtam

My son has had bikes from a young age but only pottered around on them or played in the local wood. However last year he had a growth spurt and at 13 years old was big enough to get a full size MTB (well 26" wheels anyway). During the summer he enjoyed riding it a bit more and then as I had got a CX bike for commuting and general local riding, I had started trying Strava. He discovered Strava and for a while recorded local rides on bridleways etc coming across segments where he would go back the following week to try and get faster.
It was just a bit of fun and his rides were 8-10 miles with road sections at the start and finish as he set off to ride some local off road routes. However he got a bit frustrated at seeing on road Strava segments that were so much faster then him.
Following a local MTB challenge in September that was 17 miles mostly off road and certainly over some hills, where he was first back on the day he was well pleased with himself and wanted to try cycling more. However the weather went downhill and he lost a bit of interest. So since hist 14th Birthday is just before Christmas, and in order not to lose too much momentum we splashed out and bought him a shiny new Ribble winter trainer which I thought would be a decent all round road bike (in my opinion it is a cracking bike for the money).
This turned out to be a winner and although the cold winter months were hardly conducive to a new cyclist he did get out for a run on many weekends and would clock up 20-25 mile runs whilst recording Strava times.
Of course over time things seemed to flag a bit and other distractions came along so by the summer holidays when he had more opportunity and better weather he wasn't getting out as much. So we talked about another event (we had done the full course of a local MTB challenge in May but at 30+ miles off road and with a lot of climbing he had struggled a bit) and as my longest ever ride and only been 50 miles I had seen and fancied the King of the Pennines sportive. This is a bit of a challenge at just over 100 miles and over 11000 feet of climbing.
We didn't make our minds up until August, about 3 weeks before the event so didn't have much time for training. But fortunately I had the week off at the end of August so we did 3 rides of 50 miles 60 miles and 70 miles during the week and that set us up for the following weekend.
It was a good event and apart from having to wait at the top of some of the climbs whilst I caught up with him, I think he enjoyed it. The last couple of climbs were pretty hard work and probably the 80-90 mile section was a tough part to get through but he is well pleased at his achievement and he has continued to ride most weekends even when the weather isn't great.
We are just talking about signing up for the local Brian Robinson sportive which is about 75 miles and pretty hilly in April next year when he will be 15, and he has been out with a local cycling club on a couple of occasions although he has found the pace constraining.

After writing all the above I guess what I was simply getting at was absolutely book something to aim for and the 100 miles is probably something worthwhile as a target. You have time to work up to it and if successful he is likely to be rightly proud of himself.

markhewitt1978

powenb wrote:

Hi all

My son is 14 and has been riding properly now for 4 months.
We can get out two/three times a week.
Currently one is a 20 mile evening ride at 15 mph avg and the other is a 40 miles club ride with a cafe stop at 16/17 avg. but we are planning on slowly increasing his milage.
I would like to book up a couple of events to keep him motivated and give him something to look towards.
I was thinking of booking up a 50 in April and was hoping to book a 100 (there is also a 75 at this event) in June.
Do you think this is doable?
Or is this pushing things too far too quickly?

Thanks

How about telling your son you're aiming for a metric century? Then; one you've done this 2-3 times then tell him you are looking towards a 100 miler. Agree with others that telling him about 100 miles now risks setting him up for a fall if he's not up to it.

Mikey23

For young runners, there are very strict rules about the distances that juniors can run in cross country, local events etc. I think on the basis that a young body is still building and can be easily damaged. I would have thought that a repetitive exercise like cycling would carry the same dangers though perhaps not to the same extent.In my humble opinion, talk of 50 miles, 100k and 100 milers is nonsensical. I would add that this is not a qualified opinion but perhaps it is worth checking out thoroughly ie beyond the random opinions on forums like these. I would want to encourage my kids if they have enthusiasm and aptitude but I wouldn't want to cripple them in later life...

Anonymous

I think its too much and to be honest do not really see the point of the distance goal.
How about sticking to the shorter distances (50-60'ish miles) but improving times?

cougie

I started cycling round about 13 or 14 with my mates. Our first big trip was 50 miles and the previous best we did was about 20 miles or so. We did it on heavy steel bikes and wearing jeans and our school coats - possibly not the best.

After that we joined a club and we'd do 70 mile rides with the club - but you'd only be on the front for 1/4 of the time or so - so much easier than you'd think.

I'd definitely think the 50 would be achievable - but the 100 would be what - 7 hours ? I think that might be a bit of a stretch.

stringybob

My son is 12 and he has been out on 50 mile + rides with me since he was 11. The most he has done was about 75 miles this summer which he managed quite comfortably. Just make sure he sticks at his own pace and as long as he's enjoying it he'll be fine