12 y/o girl starting to ride - course of action?

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efeballi
Posts: 492
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 2:50 pm
Location: Istanbul, hopefully not for long

by efeballi

Hello all,
My 12 year old sister, which was oblivious to cycling until recently, really wants to start riding with me this summer. She knows to ride a bike but lacks fitness and is not particularly good at any sport. Furthermore, she has a medical condition (don't know what exactly) which causes slight nausea and lightheadedness when at the physical limit, discovered when we tried to run/walk together.
Leaving this condition aside, I do want to get her to start cycling, but the only bike in the garage that she can ride is a folding bike, which has massively adjustable saddle height but otherwise ill-suited for her (the handlebars are higher than her shoulders when she rides) and we definitely need a new bike for her.
First thing is, what should this bike be? Common sense says 24" MTB, but she looks more interested in road riding and being 162 cm tall, she can somewhat ride a 48 cm road bike. A little too big for her at first, but she will grow into it as she grows soooo fast. There are surely some other factors affecting this.
After the bike is picked, what should I do to keep her riding and improve her fitness? Training programs, technique, all that stuff matters. People generally learn and improve these things by themselves, but I do want to give her a head start.

All opinions welcome. Let's infect her with the virus!
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rbynck
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by rbynck

I think you shouldn't really worry that much about her fitness and specific training. At 12 y/o the most important thing should be to have fun imo.
Size 48 does not sound too far off. My sister rides a size 50, which is slightly too big and she is around 165 tall.
But just take her out with you, have fun and everything else will come naturally - sometimes not knowing everything makes things more exciting :wink:

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zirxo
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by zirxo

For a 12 year old the best thing to do would be to just go out and ride the bike for fun. Maybe raise the pace on some shorter hill or for a sprint (where you ofc doesn't go all out and let her win by a couple of cm).

efeballi
Posts: 492
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Location: Istanbul, hopefully not for long

by efeballi

Thanks all for the replies.
By improving fitness, I meant extending her range and have her body adapt so that she's not suffering from km 1. A good bike fit is also crucial here.
Although she seems to like road bikes (especially Italian ones, she's gonna bankrupt me) she could be uncomfortable on a road bike and that could put her off. So I'm hesitant on putting together a road bike as her first "serious" bike, but I'm open for ideas here.
I'm thinking of sourcing a cheap aluminum frame and put a Shimano 105 5700 groupset (my current), 46/34 chainrings, 12-30 cassette, narrowest handlebars I can find and a 60 mm stem. We will look for saddles together. Wheels will be R500 or RS10s.


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SHUT UP LEGS
2015 Giant Propel Advanced
2015 Cannondale Supersix Evo
2013 KTM Strada mod. (totaled)
2011 Pinarello Dogma 60.1(loaner)
2011 Scott SUB 45(sold)

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NealH
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by NealH

Push her hard and make her sweat.....but not to the point of loosing interest. I've always considered the 12 year age as the idea age for developing a very good cardio system. The body responds well and she will carry it with her for her entire life. Encourage her to swim, maybe run some too.

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HammerTime2
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by HammerTime2

efeballi wrote: Furthermore, she has a medical condition (don't know what exactly) which causes slight nausea and lightheadedness when at the physical limit, discovered when we tried to run/walk together.!
Do you have a medical (doctor's) opinion that it is o.k,. for her to ride a bike, and to ride "hard"?

Geoff
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by Geoff

I have my 7-year-old on a Giant TCR Espoir road bike. He is tall for his age and with a shorter stem and zero-set-back post he can ride it now. It has an alloy frameset, 24" wheels and a Shimano Claris 8-speed drivetrain. That is about perfect, as it is quite reasonably priced. I would be surprised if you could build a bike cheaper that fit as well. Anecdotally, my nephew (who is 12) tried it and it fits him, too, but he would be better on the stock stem and post.

xnavalav8r
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by xnavalav8r

There is a lot of good information about youth cycling on this website:

http://www.youthcyclesport.co.uk/

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tymon_tm
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by tymon_tm

well, there's riding and there's riding. as others pointed out, the key factor is she gets to enjoy cycling. if she does, then she'll most likely increase the effort on her own. riding a bike is not just about effort for kids, and it really shouldn't be - mostly, it's about crossing various boundaries. like - how far can I go without a parent. or simply discovering new places. many kids love that, and I myself started riding more and more as a kid just to see my city and all the new places I haven't been to. this is the fun part, and fintess will just come along.

there's a second attitude, a more 'sporty' one. there's a bike club in my town, with a pretty large section of kids form 10/11 y.o. up. they arrange some group rides with them during weekends, introduce competition, most importantly: they don't just ride, they TRAIN. but every time I meet a rider of said club 'on the road' I kinda feel sorry for them as they seem too focused, too uptight and stressed about it. when I ask "where are you going", "tried to take this road" or "there's a nice place to ride by" they often respond like a robots "no sir, I have (HAVE!) to do this and that blah blah".. teens riding with powermeters, doing intervals.. unless they really want to become pros, there's no point really. when I was their age, I would go to a village nearby and have an ice cream. I actually know few guys who I remember as juniors were rocking as hell but got discouraged by doing too much and just stopped riding at all.

long post short: just get her whatever bike, see what she feels about it, what she likes about riding. try let her go on her own after a while, or with her friends, give her space to discover how great this sport is - but on her own terms.
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ghostinthemachine
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by ghostinthemachine

What he said ^^^ go places, explore, eat ice cream.

If she likes cycling, she'll progress on her own terms. *Then* you can help.
Trying to push on your terms, not hers, is a surefire way to put her off.

efeballi
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Location: Istanbul, hopefully not for long

by efeballi

Thanks all for the constructive comments.
We've discussed about the bike and we've made the final decision on a hybrid, looking around for a hybrid/city bike for her size. She's actually a bit scared of riding in anything other than empty parking lots and the like, so first thing I should do is to break this anxiety. I'm planning on doing some starts, stops, maybe some turns to both improve her riding technique and reduce this anxiety.
Our father is a doctor and while he has no clear idea what her condition is, he thinks she's clear to ride. If she wants to push herself on the bike, I'll test her on the trainer to be on the safe side.
I don't believe (I would really like it, but...) she will ever go riding alone given the neighborhood, but I'm happy to join her whenever she likes to ride.
Point taken about fitness, get her riding first, fitness comes later.



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sawyer
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by sawyer

efeballi wrote:Thanks all for the constructive comments.
We've discussed about the bike and we've made the final decision on a hybrid, looking around for a hybrid/city bike for her size. She's actually a bit scared of riding in anything other than empty parking lots and the like, so first thing I should do is to break this anxiety. I'm planning on doing some starts, stops, maybe some turns to both improve her riding technique and reduce this anxiety.
Our father is a doctor and while he has no clear idea what her condition is, he thinks she's clear to ride. If she wants to push herself on the bike, I'll test her on the trainer to be on the safe side.
I don't believe (I would really like it, but...) she will ever go riding alone given the neighborhood, but I'm happy to join her whenever she likes to ride.
Point taken about fitness, get her riding first, fitness comes later.



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Pick as quiet roads as possible and you ride behind her. Maybe drive somewhere remote with bikes and do a 30km loop and see how it goes
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Tomstr
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by Tomstr

I agree with Sawyer.

You no doubt know Istanbul better than I do but I'd say it's not a place for (beginning)cyclists. I would go somewhere that is not too difficult to ride and has good views and an icecreamstop. If that doesn't do it you may have to look for another sport for her. :)
Ride it like you stole it

efeballi
Posts: 492
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by efeballi

Istanbul is hell for cycling. I've lost count of how many times I've cheated death, but yeah okay let's stay on topic.
There are some empty lots around us, we will go and ride there until she gets bored. There's actually a half-decent bike path that runs close to us, we can ride along there until she's confident enough (and skilled enough) to ride on the road.
Loading the bikes on the car's roof rack and going somewhere remote is another option, but I can't do that every day.


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SHUT UP LEGS
2015 Giant Propel Advanced
2015 Cannondale Supersix Evo
2013 KTM Strada mod. (totaled)
2011 Pinarello Dogma 60.1(loaner)
2011 Scott SUB 45(sold)

Politecnico di Milano Ingegneria Meccanica

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