Who is the faster cyclist, you or one of your children?

[Sandy]

I know that some of you have children who ride regularly and some even race. I wondered how many forum viewers/posters have children who are faster cyclists than they are. Are you one of them? When were you aware of such? Your age and their age when it occurred, and any comments you might want to add.


:) Supersonic Spaceship Speedster Serotta Sandy :)

[yarg]

It could occur anytime that my son decided to focus on biking rather than running. Actually he would not have to focus, just ride a little bit. I was surprised how good he was with zero skills and sneakers on a good bike.

[Sandy]

I think that is called youth....or maybe heredity....or maybe both. :)



Sandy

[bkboom123]

well as a son (to tkbike on the forum) I am surely faster :beer:

[CaptStash]

My son the budding 17 year old triathlete is definitely faster on the flats. Seems reasonable as he is 6' 2" and 175. I can still kick his butt climbing though. Which also seems reasonable seeing as I spent 30 years going backwards in a single scull and have a pain addiction. He got faster than me last year, the summer before he turned 17.

CaptStash....

[roydyates]

My 25 yo son is definitely faster than me at all distances up to a century. He's probably faster at longer distances, but I haven't been able to get him to ride more than a century. I only started riding 4 years ago, so he has always been faster than me. He's kind enough to wait for me at the top of hills. When I'm really slow, he worries that I might have died.

[Sandy]

You have an unfair advantage in the hills. After 30 years of going backwards, you probably think you are going down hills when in reality you are climbing them. :)


Sandy

[Sandy]

I think we will have to wait for your dad to hear what he has to say as to the faster one. :) :)


Sandy

[Sandy]

As long as he doesn't start taking out 2 week term life insurance on you, I wouldn't worry too much. :) :)


Sandy

[bikemoore]

My oldest is 7, but the little dude can run! For cycling, I mostly pull him behind on the trail-a-bike. Looking forward (I think) to when he is faster than me on a bike.

Actually, I wanted to relay a story about helping a 15-year old beat his dad on a bike simply because his dad deserved it. I was on a 2-week cycling tour in Europe some years ago and two of the group members were a father and his 15-year old son. His son wasn't very confident of his abilities, especially given the length and difficulty of the routes through the Alps. His dad was giving him kind of a hard time through the first week. I thought his dad was pretty much being a jerk and his personality made it easy to begin thinking of way to get a little revenge. As youngsters are able to do, his son (I'm withholding names) began to adapt quickly in the second week and was getting much stronger and more confident. He could have started riding with the faster group, but I could sense that the son didn't want to leave his dad behind out of fear that suddenly being faster than his dad would make him angry. So I dawdled at the base of one of the larger mountains so that I started the climb in a small group containing the father and son. I went to the front of the group and started to set the pace on the climb. I began with a pace that I knew his father could match....then I started ratcheting it up little-by-little. His father was telling him stay on my wheel and "coaching" him along. I kept ratcheting up the pace until his father fell off but his son held on. Then I kept up just enough pressure to keep distancing dad but not lose the son. One of the other members of the group knew what I as doing and why and had a hard time containing laughter at the brand-new situation for the dad of watching his son disappear up the road. We put about 10 minutes into dad by the top, but I think his dad had actually gotten over the initial shock by the time he reached the top and was actually glad to see his son improving that much. But he was very quiet about his inability to hold the pace. I don't think he had realized that the way he was talking to his son was actually holding him back.

Hopefully I don't do that when my son gets to that point (if he cares about cycling) and I'll be able to enjoy watching him improve beyond my current ability.

[2LeftCleats]

My 26 yr old son is cat 2 and races in Portland, OR and so there's no contest. But he's patient and lets me ride with him on recovery rides. At 6'3'' and 170 he's great to ride behind.

My 19 yr old daughter is rapidly improving. Just started racing with her Little 5 team (Indiana U). Right now I think I can beat her, but looks like I'll soon be the slow kid.

[AngryScientist]

my wife is 8 months pregnant with our first child, that should give me the edge for at least 6 months :D

[Ray]

I have a 23 year old daughter who rides. We used to ride together when she lived at home and even did a couple of tours together. Although neither of us ever had a racer mentality, I was a lot stronger than she was. But she's been riding more and more and I've been riding a lot less and I suspect it'd be a different story today. But she lives 3000 miles away now so we never ride together. When we see each other we don't both have our bikes, so I'll assume she's faster but I don't know for sure. She's a little tiny woman and I'm turning into a bit of a tub of lard (at least relative to what I was), so she really SHOULD be able to out-climb me...

-Ray

[endosch2]

My kids are too young to get into riding at this point, but I do have the opportunity to ride with high schoolers on a local high school road team from time to time. This is a school where the kids do three sports a year and that has produced at least three household name cyclists, but more importantly has had stronger kids from time to time who in their day beat the big name cyclists, yet who at some point lost interest, which always fascinates me.....

They have the fast twitch strength that works for the begining of every climb, and they can do well at race pace / distances of 20 miles or less. Anything else my weak 41 year old body can usualy still beat them on. By the time some of them are 18 they get pretty strong, but it takes them until their senior year.

[Johnny P]

I don't have any kids so that gives me an unbeatable edge. None of my nieces or nephews ride so being the only serious cyclist also helps.

[Bud_E]

Neither of my daughters really rides but in every other aspect of life they are stronger, better, smarter and prettier than me.

I don't know if I'm stronger than my 2 year old granddaughter but she's smart enough to make me do all the work pushing her around in her little fire truck.

[sloji]

My son is 30, i'm 52 and a lifetime athlete and he recently put out a challenge for 1 year from now. He commutes on a bike and does not own a car so all his trips are by bike, this year he dropped from 200 to 175. I ride 200 a week and train with the college team and some cat 1-3 riders...a race is brewing. In high school he ran cross country and I could out sprint him but on any distance he could outpace me with ease, i'm 5'7 and he's just about 6ft and he just loped along at a 5 min mile pace and put the hurt on me. My theory is he should kick my butt on a bike, i'd like to see him do it but i'm not gonna go quietly...bring it on!

[EDS]

I can still out kick my seven week old baby girl. We will see what happens in a couple years.

[lonewolf48]

My son is 30 and I am 62. Until two years ago when we rode together he would draft on me. Then he started commuting by bike and last summer he was much stronger than me...to the point that on group rides I have to encourage him to ride with faster groups and then just meet me at rest stops. The nice thing is that on most rides we just ride together and enjoy being on bikes and sharing each other's company. Life is good!

[sloji]

My son is 30 and I am 62. Until two years ago when we rode together he would draft on me. Then he started commuting by bike and last summer he was much stronger than me...to the point that on group rides I have to encourage him to ride with faster groups and then just meet me at rest stops. The nice thing is that on most rides we just ride together and enjoy being on bikes and sharing each other's company. Life is good!


Ain't that the truth! My son and I are very close even though he lives in Texas and i'm in CA and I look forward to more trips together like when he was young. My brother rides too and wants to put the hurt on me and he's been training like mad and has 20 years more in his legs than I do...but I can hurt him. Bottom line though is that most the time we don't care and it's just the simple freedom of riding and traveling together. You said it best.

[vqdriver]

my oldest is still on a tricycle so......... he's faster

[don'TreadOnMe]

My youngest, an 8yr old girl, is extremely fast.
Ray will tell you, - I'm not slow.
If she wants to, and I'm not pushing her to even like the bike, she could be great.

I've been to the Tour, have been based in the Pyrenees, & those guys are pros.
I've never seen a non-pro climb like her.

Not kidding.

[Pete Serotta]

It was wonderful seeing you a few weeks ago. Hope to repeat in the next few weeks.

It is alway good to see my daughters surpass me in riding and everything else. They did pick up my stubbornness. :beer: :D



Sandy see you, Gloria, and King one of these days.... Post LOTS!!!!


Pete

[Ralph]

My son is 30 and I am 62. Until two years ago when we rode together he would draft on me. Then he started commuting by bike and last summer he was much stronger than me...to the point that on group rides I have to encourage him to ride with faster groups and then just meet me at rest stops. The nice thing is that on most rides we just ride together and enjoy being on bikes and sharing each other's company. Life is good!


Well said! I'm 69, and my sons are 37 and 40. Both ride stronger now than I can. But they include me in their riding as much as possible, which I really enjoy. Nothing better than sharing a good ride with your family.

[d_douglas]

I have a 16 month old, so as of this point, I am still much faster than her.

However, I have a 13 year old niece who is an exceptional athlete. She is one of the top XC and 5k runners in the province where she lives (BC, Canada) as well as being a stellar soccer player. She competes with girls up to 17 years old, so she is in up to her neck and still manages to win and place way up there - cool.

She wanted to run with me a few years ago and I had a good laugh as she sprinted to keep up with me, but now, three years later, I am sure that she would leave me in the dust. We have lived apart for a few years now, so I did not experience this gradually: I went from being much bigger and stronger to being geriatric in a matter of a few years!

I would love to get this girl on a road bike - I think she would burn up the road. Does anyone have a 52cm cheapie road frame in Canada? Maybe I should cough up my old Veloce group and get her started!?