Ratty

Yes, he is very tall for his age, but then his big brother who is 17 is now 6f2. Depending on which bike you buy, he could ride a 20 or 24 inch. For example the Specialized Riprock they recommend for kids between 119 and 142cm's. My son has been riding his for 2 years now. You might find he will outgrow a 20 inch too quickly.

I have been watching what bikes all the slightly older kids are riding. Doing the XCO race in Feb so will ask around then.

Thanks. He does the schools races but finds them too short and not technical enough so we are starting with XCO this year and he just did the Trailseeker XCM. 10kgs is nice and light! Agree on the hardtail and not a full suspension. He has been riding a rigid fork and its done wonders for his skills. Appreciate all the advice!

He is 8 and currently 139cms. Wanting to get a bike for his birthday in June.

Thanks. It's a nice bike for a kid, but I don't think the right one for XCO and XCM. My kids isn't interested in jumps etc,

My son is fast outgrowing his 24 inch bike. I'm looking to buy a 26 or 27.5 inch bike. Scott has some really good options, but unfortunately don't seem to import them into SA. Specialized don't seem to have stock of the Rockhopper 27.5's which he would fit on. Please hit me with options. I'm not looking for an entry level bike, I want something a bit better and lighter as he will be racing XCO this year.

The schools XCO series in the WC has over 100 riders in the Primary school age groups. It's complete mayhem especially when the laps are less than 2km's. The Trailseeker XCM series is harder for parents when the kids are still very young as you have to let them cycle off into the distance with no support and hope they return safely. It seems this new school series is only catering for the older kids. I think a lot of the kids could easily transition from the XCO schools series to actual XCO races, but parents just don't know about it. As someone who knows about them, I still struggled to find information. My son has raced in the school series the last 2 years and is finally old enough to start with the WP XCO races. It's going to be interesting to see how big the jump is from the schools series. I know the Bloemendal track they raced last year he can easily ride. In the school series, the sub-nippers and nippers finish their race in less than 10 minutes. So you drive all that way for 10 minutes of riding. At least with XCO they will be riding for a little bit longer.

Sub-nippers (7-8) - 10kms Nippers (9-10) - 20kms I think all other age groups up to 15 do the 20kms and the after 15 it's 40km's.

I struggle to get my heart rate up in the pool so don't get points for a swim (other than the gym visit) With cycling on the road, I can manage 70% for 30 min, but can't get 80%. With running I can just jog on the flat road and I get over 80% For me my heart rate fluctuates a lot with different temperatures so the hotter I am the higher my heart rate will be. Need to dress warm if I want my points. I think with swimming I just don't get hot enough.

I want a breakfast voucher !!! I love the power oats.

Mine was spinning nicely, then almost stopped on one of the bigger prizers and then started spinning again and landed on a coffee / smoothie voucher. Oh well.

It works the same as the team / individual rewards. Friday is the last day to achieve it, but they allow a few days for peoples info to get in and only award it the next Wednesday so we have to wait until Wednesday to spin. I almost missed mine as I forgot my watch yesterday so didn't get my 100 points for 10000 steps. Needed 300 points today so had to go run in the howling wind. Vitality Rewards works for me :-)

. Just WOW !!! This thread has really been an emotional roller coaster. You forgot just how small and fragile babies are and I can't even comprehend holding a baby as tiny as Karmi. She is a little superstar and is absolutely gorgeous.

Team Reward only in place until end of October :-( I wonder what the people at work think when I come into the office every day with a Vida-e coffee when we have an expensive coffee machine in the office. I got 4 rewards this week: 1 individual, 1 team, 1 surprise, 1 vitality drive and still have 2 from last week So total 6 rewards to use !!!

I don't know how women deal with this. I would hate my husband to see everything I spend money on !!!