I'm a proud papa!

[ofcounsel]

I took my 8 year old son on his first "road" ride today. We rode 16 miles along the Santa Ana River Trail, and from south Huntington Beach to north Bolsa Chica State Beach. At the end, he said he was not tired at all and wanted to go further. But I figured we have plenty of time to do some longer rides!

He said now he wants a "bike jersey" and some "butt pad shorts."

It was a proud dad kinda day.


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[rustychisel]

Very cool for you and the family.

My 3 year old grandson just graduated to pedals on his bike for the first time, thrashing around a French holiday camp. The next day followed that up with 8km along the river Loire cycle path, where we cycled and had a picnic (and fell asleep in the baby carrier on the return leg).

[cadence90]

He said now he wants a "bike jersey" and some "butt pad shorts."

:beer:





And so it begins:
"Hey, papa, does that Colnago C60 bike come in my size, or do we need to order a custom-made one?"

:D

[ultraman6970]

2 thumbs up :)

[Fishbike]

Never underestimate the value of good butt pad shorts

[Cicli]

Awesome.

Enjoy every moment.

[73Bronco]

Congrats, that's very cool!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

[soulspinner]

:hello::beer:

[David Kirk]

I love it.

dave

[BLD 25]

Cool!

[ColonelJLloyd]

Awesome. Great for you guys!

If my 5yo is an indication kids will look for any reason to say "butt".

[NHAero]

That is So great! Is he a Campy guy, or Shimano?

[nobuseri]

Nice work and way to get ‘em started early!

[wc1934]

You need to change Soy Un Perdedor - to you are a winner!!!
Nice job Dad.

[Tandem Rider]

Nice work!! And so it begins...:beer:

[etu]

awesome!

[gasman]

Oh Yay on that !

[zlin]

Way to go, guys!!

[makoti]

Nice! The cycle continues... (get it? Ha! I crack me up)

[tiretrax]

Congratulations. I hope he stays interested. Mine quit riding around puberty.

[numbskull]

Tire him out? In your dreams. Get ready to be humbled.

[ofcounsel]

Thanks guys!


Tire him out? In your dreams. Get ready to be humbled.

Yep, I'm sure it's coming soon :) The kid can already ski through the trees much better than I. It's only a matter of time before he's climbing higher and riding further on his bike.

[krw6184]

Congrats! Nicely done. :banana:

[acorn_user]

Nice. My son is 7 and enjoyed some rides in England over the summer. I bought him some Santini shorts from Prendas. I'm very pleased with them.

[Louis]

He said now he wants a "bike jersey" and some "butt pad shorts."

Big decision: Is he an Assos or a Rapha sort of kid? ;)

Congratulations.

[ofcounsel]

Nice. My son is 7 and enjoyed some rides in England over the summer. I bought him some Santini shorts from Prendas. I'm very pleased with them.

Thanks for the tip! I'll check them out!

Big decision: Is he an Assos or a Rapha sort of kid? ;)

Congratulations.

I found a Rapha kids jersey the boy likes for under $30 at Competitive Cyclist! So Rapha it is!

[DAG]

Much better than toting them in a trail-a-bike.

[buddybikes]

Nice, properly fitted helmet. We were in Grindelwald Switzerland about 7 years ago walking through town, right in the town square - "busy" intersection the police and volunteers were doing training of 8 year olds for proper biking rules of the road. So cool, must of been 25 kids doing it.

[93KgBike]

Congratulations, that is awesome! He looks proud.

[Tony]

Nice! Ofcounsel, you seem like a great dad.

[pdmtong]

Congrats...your son is getting to the age where his physical maturity can lead to some great riding.

Being on the road on road bike is a necessary experience on the cycling learning curve. I recall the shots of your son(s) at the pump track etc. and this will just add to their skills.

you already know that no kid rides just to ride. I made sure there was a stop or end involving something my daughter could get excited about. Like hot chocolate with real whip cream and one of the bakeries along our way.

I bought full size runs of REI padded baggy shorts for mtb and padded lycra shorts for road for my daughter to wear from about age 4-10. she got her use out of them for sure. Performance is an option too as cannondale offers kids clothes..

Once she got bigger, she could wear XS women's clothing and had a lot more (but more expensive too) choices.

I waited a long time for SPD-SL and SPD and proper shoes as well as Five Tens just because of growing feet and cost.

Like a helmet, padded shorts, a jersey, and gloves IMHO are a must to make the riding more comfortable.

[ofcounsel]

Thanks everyone! I ordered him a set of bibs from Wiggle. They're surprisingly hard to find online in U.S. stores.

We discovered a few things about his new bike as well while on this first ride:

(1) At 38cm, the bars seem a little wide for him. I'm going to try to find a set of 34cm or even 36cm bars with a short reach and a short drop (around 100mm drop or less);

(2) the Shimano Claris shifters, even with the reach adjustment shims installed, are a bit too stretched out for his 8 year old hands. He has to reach quite a bit to move the shifters, doesn't have a lot of leverage from to brake from the hoods, and has to stretch really far to brake from the drops. This could be a safety issue.

After doing some research, I found that Microshift makes a set of short reach, Shimano compatible shifters. Reviews from other parents say they work well for kid sized hands, and Amazon had them for $80, so I picked up a set. I'm also going to add a set of cyclocross style in-line levers so he can have a braking option while riding on the top of the bars.

Overall though, the little Diamondback Podium 24 was a really good deal. I ordered it from the Diamondback website, and the total cost shipped it to my door was only $311.

And yep, we grabbed some ice cream at mile 13! :)

[bianchi10]

congrats!!! That's so exciting :beer:

[pdmtong]

(2) the Shimano Claris shifters, even with the reach adjustment shims installed, are a bit too stretched out for his 8 year old hands. He has to reach quite a bit to move the shifters, doesn't have a lot of leverage from to brake from the hoods, and has to stretch really far to brake from the drops. This could be a safety issue.

the 8sp sora shifters on the trek kdr1000 had too much throw for my daughter to shift from the small to big ring. so we had to stop and I shifted it for her after being done with our climb (she did our benchmark 3.3/1300' at age 9 (two stops, 45 minutes)) on the way to a 30/2500' day.

the 9sp tiagra on her 44cm specialized dolce were slightly better.

the 10sp 105 on her 48cm specialized ruby are just right.

it took some years, but the lever throw and her physical maturity finally converged. that said, once she is out of college I will get her an eTAP bike...electric is the way to go for people with small hands.

On Friday we are going to Northstar-at-Tahoe for our tenth year of lift-assisted DH...one last father-daughter trip before moving her to university.

Enjoy those mile 13 ice creams...the time, as everyone will tell you, goes by too fast.