U11 youth Road Racing
 

Hello all,

My son is 10 and has a racing age of U11. I was hoping to find an average speed or distance that a 10 yr old should be able to accomplish so I can steer my son the right direction. I have not been able to find anything though. Is signing up for a race the only way to find out if he is good enough or on the right track?



thanks for any input.

Not sure this will gain a lot of traction, I think this sub forum is pretty dead but the title caught my eye since I have a 10, soon to be 11 in May, y/o. Firstly, if he's interested in racing and it's his thing, just get him out there, regardless of how fast he can ride. I think getting more kids to join and participate is more important to only having kids 'fast enough' to enter, because otherwise it's always just going to be a select few competing. My son doesn't race, but we got him a road bike, and in our neighborhood we do a circular loop and we average 13ish, I'm sure it's not the hardest he can go because we don't ride hard, but I don't think it's too much higher than that. I don't know any any others kids who ride or race averages so I can't speak to the average 10 y/o, just my singular observation point.

Racing is so dynamic that timing someone's average speed riding solo is not much of an indicator. Just enter him in a race and make sure he understands that he's likely going to get dropped his first time out. It has been quite a while for me, but I recall 10-12 criteriums being 25 minutes, over which time they generally covered 7 or 8 miles. As a 12 year old, I generally averaged 14 mph for a ~1 hour ride solo, so you can see the average speed in a competitive pack is noticeably faster.

My daughter and a team mate of hers went out for a 22mi ride and averaged 13.2mph with moderate winds and a lot of chatting, both are 11.5yo, and turn 12 towards the end of the year. Her solo with me pushed 14.5 on a 17.5mi ride and just over 14 on a 24mi ride all within the last 2 weeks.
My middle kid who is 9 can keep up with her and even stay ahead of her at times but doesn't have the staying power, when we did a 10mi ride, the three of us, we averaged almost 15mph with the 9yo pushing the pace but they couldn't hold that speed for longer than the 10mi. When pushing, both kids have averaged just over 20mph on the 200m sprint. Compared to others their age, the 9yo last year was at the front of the pack when racing in his age group, the 11yo, then 10yo was very much middle of the pack, but usually not far off the front group, if that helps.

Thank you for the responses. We will keep at it with the training rides during the week. He keeps getting stronger and stronger. He wanted to give racing a try sooner, so he is signed up for his first time trial tomorrow morning. There is one other racer that is U12. Should be a good starting point.



Thanks again everyone.

I wanted to give an update to this thread for any other parent wondering. My son did the time trial... it was a 10k(6.2 miles). He finished with a 16.5mph average speed. He was 27seconds behind the winner. Wind was a factor , but I think my son did pretty good.

The next training ride after the race was significantly higher in avg mph than what we normally do(13+ normally, this was 14.5 +). Lol my son dropped my fat ass on that ride. I was thinking, what the hell? Where did this speed come from? :)

He is signed up for more races this summer. Both mtn and road. We shall see. :) I think he has a long way to go, but he is getting stronger every ride and I am proud of him.

Age comparisons are hard. Things change a lot as they age. Focus on fun now and showing up. You can get an idea of sprint vs endurance now. Speed is far less important than winning. You can be slower and win. You can be a wheel sucker and win.

Dad brag warning, but because you asked.
About 22 mph on a TT bike. Age 11 maybe 25-26 TT bike. Likely under 20mph on road bike @ age 10 or 11 we didn't time it because he was riding a TT bike. They changed the rules later and you had to use a road bike.
Age ~15 >25 on a road bike. 30+ on TT bike.
Equipment and training matter a whole lot at low ages as most kids have vastly different equipment - and training.

FWIW the national record for 10-12 is right around 25 mph and 15-16 is just under 30 mph.
https://usacycling.org/resources/nat...tional-records
I don't know when they took away TT bikes, but even back in the 90's most of us younger kids just rode our road bikes with maybe a clip-on bar. I doubt road bike vs. TT bike is a 6 mph difference, or I would have been a world class contender with just an equipment change. It sounds like your child is in the upper echelon of competition, but local races are likely a little tamer.

I was trying to say it does not matter all that much till older. Pages of philosophy could be put here. If the sport is about just having fun as a kid, that is one thing. If it is about cycling being a job, that is another.
My kid is fast and decided to not make cycling a job. As you might expect, the fastest times are not always Nationals. Valley of the Sun in Feb in AZ was competitive as it was used for selection on who would go to Europe. Recently LUX just picked them, but this is their last year. Things change quite often.

Ah, got it. Definitely agree.

Some of those records listed were not set at nationals, and I understand that it doesn't count for a record if it's not a standard distance measured out to their liking, but most records are set at major events because that's what the athletes were training to peak at. Just pointing out that your numbers are probably a little high for what the OP should expect in grassroots entry level racing.

Sure. At particular events, or on Strava. It is also very weather dependent and who shows up. Strava is about records, while races are about winning - they are different.

Pro 1 on TT Results (wmrc.org)
17-18 on road with restricted gears Results (wmrc.org)
Bummer is the adults were not restricted as the kids were. #2 in adult was a restricted gear junior on jr gears. So hard to compare anything.

I was and am quite disappointed that USA Cycling is pretty much about developing Euro/Olympic pros / and pushing PC agendas (particularly today - see LUXcycling).
They don't really have a system where kids can just race. The focus is all about "development" / something later vs having fun as a kid now.
They propose limits on: rim material, TT/Road bikes, where you can hold your arms, gears etc. They suck the fun out.
Sometimes this is done for coaching, sometimes for "safety", but I think mostly for control. They handicap kids when competing against adults. This is the only sport that I know of where in the same event one group is limited based on age. In general, it just made the whole thing a drag.

I pulled junior out and got him rowing. He hated rowing.

Well, I would consider records at UCI and USAC events to be entirely different than records on Strava.

Yeah, I remember having to run junior gearing even in the adult categories. Wasn't a big deal for me since I was never up to contesting a sprint at the adult level, but I saw plenty a junior spinning their legs into a blur as the pack finished the race at 40+ mph. I definitely felt that anyone who could run with the adults, should be able to be equipped like the adults.

Here is my point. UCI / USAC the kids have limited gears. Strava, a group ride they might not. They can better adult times when not restricted. Why do I want to know someone's record when performing handicapped. Sure we can compare year to year, but only for juniors. I'd like to compare against all cyclists.

Part II
Race conditions vary a whole bunch. USA venues change. UCI, we don't have any for juniors ~ kinda except USA Nationals they blend the rules.
A racecourse that is repeatably used year over year that is the same for all categories and typically has the same weather is great to look at for both race times and Strava.
This is such a segment. vos tt | Strava Ride Segment in Buckeye, AZ
But again, we don't know what the equipment was. In the last 10 years juniors have had changing restrictions on...
-gears
-spokes in wheels
-A TT Bike
-Aero bars
-Aero WB
-Put forearms on bars

I see what you're saying. Thanks for clarifying.