Parents! 3 Tips for Successful Racing with Kids
In the fall of 2021 I had the pleasure to assist at the final Race Cascadia Youth Enduro Series (YES!) race of the year. As I watched kids rip by, it was neat to observe the various levels of intensity both kids and parents brought. I love seeing so many kids out riding and racing bikes and I hope the trend continues. I came away from the day with 3 main takeaways I’d like to share.
1. Be your kids number one fan.
Photo by Nikki Rohan
This means you support support support your kid. Don’t coach them (unless you are a coach). Support looks, feels, and sounds very different from coaching. If you are your kid’s coach, do your coaching before race day. I was shocked by the number of parents who were following their kids down the course shouting beta on every turn, root, and rock. Cheers of “pedal faster! Watch the root” and “pump on the next roller” echoed throughout the canyon as kids from ages 7-17 ripped through the perfectly tacky trails. Mom, Dad, I LOVE the encouragement you are providing for your kid. But let’s take a moment to think about the difference between useful encouragement (support) and distracting information.
If you are shouting trail specific beta such as “watch the root” or “pump on the roller.” You’re too late for the vast majority of athletes. I used to be a trainer for the Positive Coaching Alliance, where we learned that even professional athletes take an average of 3 seconds to respond to a coach's cue. In the case of mountain biking, the trail is coming at you so fast it’s difficult to hear information, process it, and react accordingly. Reaction times will be slower for newer riders and riders unfamiliar with the trail. Other factors working against your well intentioned trail beta include the difficulty of hearing with a full face helmet, gunning it at race pace, and wind (it’s literally difficult to hear while riding). Since you are riding behind your little speed racer, by the time you have seen a feature and shouted instructions, the brain on the bike in front of you (your kid) has already seen and in a split second processed how they are going to handle said feature. This leaves your well meaning shouts not only irrelevant but distracting and a distracted rider is not as fast as a focused rider. As well meaning as all your trail info is, save it for the pre-ride when the kids have time to process and apply the info you are providing. During the race stick to simple words of encouragement such as “Go! Yes! Nice! Awesome!”
2. Your kids bars are too wide.
The trend in the bike world has been for bars to get wider and wider with the thought being wider bars provide better leverage and are more stable at high speeds. This is true, but only to a point. Ergonomics comes into play and when a kid’s (or anyones) hands are positioned too far outside of their shoulder girdle handling and strength is compromised. One of the best ways to figure out bar width is to close your eyes and place your hands on a set of bars and feel where your hands naturally want to rest. Play around with the positioning until you feel comfortable and strong!
I saw a number of kids whose hands were holding on a good 1-2” inside their bars! Leaving an extra inch+ of bar hanging off is just asking to clip a tree or branch. Our proprioception tends to end with the end of our limbs, thus it’s really difficult to know if you’re going to clear that tree or massive rock if you have extra bar between the outside of your hand and the tree itself. Your local bike shop will be happy to trim your kids bars down, easy fix. Also check out my piece on 6 Tips for Biking with Kids, where I talk about the importance of brake set-up.
Notice the overhang on the bars. This means the bars are too wide. Photo by Nikki Rohan.
Notice the riders hands are at the end of the bars. This is an ideal set up. Photo by Nikki Rohan.
3. The most important question to ask at the end of the race.
Did you have fun? You could follow up with, what was the hardest part? Did you give it everything you had? Or, where did you feel fast/slow/challenged? The question NOT to ask: how did you do? Asking how they did immediately goes to a results oriented question and places the emphasis away from an area of control. For example, your kid may have had the best race of their life! They may have ridden better, faster, smoother, and with more confidence than any other ride. But maybe they didn’t place well. Would a poor race result on paper outweigh the great ride and effort? What would you rather emphasize: The race result or a lifelong journey rich with challenges, learning, and growth? It’s a rhetorical question and my hope is you answer with the latter. In a survey of college athletes, 70% said the bus ride home was their favorite and most memorable part of playing team sports. NOT winning championships or medals. What you emphasize is what your kids will emphasize. If you dwell on results and times, so will your kids. If you stress the enjoyment of riding bikes, the competition that makes you work harder than you would normally, and the benefit of a thriving bike community, your kid will also find value in those things. If you want your kids to continue racing, to keep pushing themselves and improving, the racing and race experience, first and foremost needs to be fun!
Photo by Nikki Rohan.
Keeping kids involved in healthy forms of recreation, like mountain biking, has many long term benefits from staying focused on school, a healthier relationship with drug and alcohol use, and provides a positive outlet for energy, frustration, and anger. As a mountain bike coach, my number one goal is for kids to develop a lifelong love of riding bikes. Most parents I know, when they stop to think about it, also want their kids to love riding bikes. But often, in the heat of a competitive moment, we lose sight of the larger picture in pursuit of a small shiny trophy. When I was racing, I always said to myself, ”as soon as riding feels like a chore, or stops being fun, it’s time to stop racing.” Remember to think about why you want your kid(s) to ride bikes. Think about the larger picture. I love how racing provides a challenge, the opportunity to push yourself, meet new people, and ride new places. For kids, who are still in the throws of development, don’t get hung up on the results, they are merely one component to the myriad aspects that makes riding bikes rad. The race results are not nearly as important as the feelings of fulfillment that come from a solid day of riding bikes with friends or family. Keep racing, keep pushing to improve, and never stop having fun!
Live in the Hood River area? Sign your child up for a Brave Endeavors MTB Program! If you found this article helpful and want more similar content, check out my 6 Tips for Biking with Kids, or Subscribe to the Brave Endeavors Newsletter. Each week I share useful information on the topics: Think, Train, Ride.