How do kids train in your country?



dot

New Member
Apr 28, 2003
268
0
16
50
We had a discussion with cycling fellows and as a result I would like to know how kids, 12-14 years old train in your country. Do they train alone or in groups, do they train at sport schools, clubs or on their own, how do they race, how coaches manage the process. Just an outline, two-three sentences are enough, we ain't need no secrets :)
 
Rich kids go to cycling camps, with all the advantage of professional trainers.
Middle class kids ride their bikes around with friends.
Poor kids get jobs.
 
In our country, the small kids who are not fit to ride without any support is being trained under training camps and sometimes they practise under their parents guidance.
 
Kids in my country create the 'cycling enthusiast groups' and they ride the cycle together. Well, cycling groups are common in my country and most members are kids (12-14 years old).
 
In Canada, rich people go to bike camps, and regular people go biking with friends. At the 12-14 year old age, I didn't even know people "trained". Most people seem to bike casually.
 
Most of the kids in my neighborhood at least all go cycling as a group down at to the canal down the street. It's a two lane bike/walk path paved that goes for around 5.7 miles. Very beautiful scenery alongside the water and you get to watch boats pass at a constant as well!
 
Here in Slovenia is very comum to see kid "training" at everyday commute to school and home. They do everything by bike! It is amazing.
 
Kids mostly learn to ride their bikes for recreation; anyone who wants to take it to the next level and participate in professional cycling would have to attend seminars and lessons with their parents. Usually they are pretty expensive though, especially in third world countries, where cycling is basically a rich man's (or kid's) game. You need to buy the right equipment, professional grade bikes and padding, and the tuition too. So, yeah, it's really expensive if you want a career in cycling professionally.
 
In South Korea (where I reside) most of the kids will often train around in groups around the parks or cycling routes we have specified by the government, some of the most experienced ones will even have plans to go all the way from Seoul to Busan, which is quite a feat considering it takes 3 hours in bullet train to get there. You often see a lot of cyclists with fancy gear doing their own thing, but I am not quite sure what their training consist of, most of these I have talked to though are just cycling as a hobby and have a ton of fancy gear because they really love all the feats, sort of like you'd spend money in a mobile game if you have some spare cash in order to improve your experience.
 
In my hometown there never is any "formal" training. Parents always are the first ones to start teaching the kids how to ride their bikes. Often though I always see older kids "training" younger kids. And when they learn how to ride their bikes, they always take turns racing each other and as they do that they learn a lot of other things.[basic bicycle maintenance for example].
 
As far as I can remember, when I was a kid there no formal or organized training at all - it was expected that your parents will teach you cycling. We had a sort of exam for "biking license" (it was abolished since) in the elementary school, but there were no classes. I doubt if it has changed much, certainly not in the countryside.
 
Unfortunately, Serbia is not very good in professional cycling. We have some other sports that we are good at. We do have the Cycling Union of Serbia and we have some youth at our hands but still this is not world class. I believe that we have teams and within those teams groups are having trainings. I see them often riding around the city in their colourful suits so I guess it is growing.
 
Hey there! Sounds like cycling in Serbia is making some strides, even if it's not quite at the pro level yet. I've heard that having a strong youth program is key to building a solid foundation for any sport, so that's awesome to hear!

As for road cycling vs. MTB, well, I'll be the first to admit I'm a bit biased. But hey, variety is the spice of life, right? I'm always down to give new things a try, so who knows, maybe I'll join one of those colorful roadie pelotons one of these days... as long as there's a gnarly singletrack nearby for some post-ride shredding! ‍♂️

Cheers to the growth of cycling in Serbia, and keep on pedaling!