The NYCF is a program that promotes racing at a young age. It is in place to give kids the needed support to excel. As the winter season starts lets make sure racing does not ruin our kid’s enjoyment of the bicycle. Let me share our story. We are a long time racing family & this story offers some perspective.

 When we, the Maier family first joined the NYCF with our kids it was 2000?. Our kids were around ages 9 or 10. We were a very enthusiastic family. Our kids did good & excelled in racing. We were very impressed that our kids won races. With all the hoopla that winning races generates our kids told us they wanted new bikes, a coach & wanted to become Olympic champions! High hopes but we encouraged them. So we did what we could to get those kids what they needed. This was pretty new to us and all was good.

In this time, the younger years; we had become acquainted with older nova people who had been a part of the NOVA program for years longer than us and had teenage kids. From what we saw these older nova people didn’t participate in the program as much & seemed to give off a negative vibe ~ kept to themselves. At the time we didn’t pay much attention. Didn’t really understand what these older nova folks were all about.

Years & time went by & our kids grew. Over the years racing brought us many happy memories. The best thing about it all was just the time spent together as a family. In all our travels we had lots of good adventures. Our kids become real experts. Little pros... Racing was becoming more of a job for the kids. Much because of all the winning the training became a job. The more success a kid has as a junior the more pressure they feel as they get older. This pressure can have a very negative impact on what should be a lifetime habit of enjoyment and health & ohh no we had become old nova people!.... Now I understand…!  

Now that I have old nova people perspective, what would I have done different? . . . Here are a few ideas that I probably heard from those old nova people.

1) Don’t overdue it. No matter if the world is telling you that your kid is going to be the next world champion. Cycling is a sport of training & being young is about having fun. Training and fun don’t go together until you’re a little older, like 42.

2) Keep the season short & focus on a few races. Do other stuff. It is easy to get caught in a year round racing season living in Arizona.  Winter turns to spring then summer and next thing you know its fall again ~ and still racing?

3) For many kids the best time to become a “racer” is the teenage years. This gives the kids something that can be their own. 

4) For the Mom’s & Dad’s who can’t wait to get the little ones out doing cross country bicycle rides ~ engineer the rides to be fun, make them one way downhill with a pizza party at the end (and ice-cream!).