Child Cyclist....Coolest thing I've seen!

[Head Hunter]

So yesterday I go out for my normal ride.

As we approach a couple of cyclist, one of them is really small!!!

When passing, it's one of our friends with his 7 year old son. The son, has a true racing bike, wearing tights, jersey and all, and a cool pair of shades!

We shoot the breeze with them a little. At one point, the kid was going 17 mph!!!

He's 7!!!!

I can see it know, in the next few years this kid will be leading the pack.

BTW, his bike, according to his father, cost $750!!!

But man, it was one of the coolest things I've seen!

[Kaiser]

Where did he get the bike? We have a 8 year old kid here at the velodrome who is the only kid in his heats on a road bike (his size). When we asked his mom where they got it, she said her husband had to build it from scratch. After looking for a while, no one made road bikes for kids under 10-12 years old. So she told us.

BTW, my 6 year old can go (for about one block) 14 mph on his crappy heavy bike with big knobbies (I was riding with him and my odometer was on). So....17 mph is doable for a kid, esp. if he has a small road bike with aero clothes.

[hard_rox]

Kaiser,

would that be the Northbrook velodrome? when do they plan on completing renovations? you must be thrilled to have that work being done.

i've been to Trexlertown PA veledrome twice to see my then future brother-in-law race. Its great to see the events in person. unfortunately there's nothing close to me here in MA and my brother-in-law has long since retired from competition.

[Kaiser]

Yep, the NB Velodrome. A few miles from my house. They are supposed to be done in October, but I don't know if they will open it up until next year. It looks pretty finished right now. The cool thing is that local residents can ride on it anytime there are no events - it is open so you can just roll in.

They have cool Thursday night open races, and while I have yet to compete in one, I go there to check out the action since my friends all ride fixed gears (they have open catgories for road bikes as well). The cool thing is that they have one race for any kid who can ride on two wheels, so you see 5 and sometimes 4 year olds racing one lap. The other cool thing is that the last place finisher in regular format races always gets the biggest applause on Thursdays...very cool motivation to get anyone to try it.

[hard_rox]

it's great they allow the public that much access to the track. i don't remember trexlertown's policy. i'd love to ride on one, cranking around the banked turns in a low gear. the only potential downside is a crash....nasty. the wood tracks are the worst. my b-in-law (ken carpenter) had a few monster splinters in his back & leg from a spill.

i'd definitely dust off the cob webs on my bike to ride around one. since that probably won't happen, i'll have to tune it up once my son is up on two wheels. maybe he'll be one of those kids on the mini road bike with the shades.

[Jean-Paul]

My son is 6 and can't even ride without his training wheels yet. I am trying sooo hard not to push him a little harder, but it is really hard. He is just really sensitive and it might have a really negative effect. It's hard not to be a little jealous when I see kids doing what headhunter saw, or an 8 year old completing a short adventure race. *sigh*

[ODB]

Here is a sweet kids road bike w/24" wheels built by a top bike company from right here in Little Rock:

Orbea Carrera