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 !!!

Garmins Vivofit HR + is around the 4k range. I LOVE mine. Can use it for running, cycling, open water swimming and even used it to my surf the other day

But they will no longer care if I make it or not.....

I haven't had any crashes, but have already found 3 bugs. The funniest one being that my most consecutive goals is between 23 Apr and 29 Jul - now I know that's not true as I had a baby on the 3rd June and missed 3 weeks....

Exactly, but they are doing away with the team reward so I will no longer have that incentive. The smoothie isn't enough of a reward as I actually find it harder work to use the rewards than earning them and am often giving them to friends / family.

Its a negative change for me. I don't stress too much if I let myself down by not getting the points, but having my team mates seeing my points makes me ensure that I make the goal every week (and we *** each other out if we don't make it). They should maybe have given people the option.

My heart rate is a lot higher when shaking my arm (if I am short 1000 or so steps) than when I am walking. It actually goes up to +- 140bpm's.

I was exactly like you before I decided to active the shoe booster and Vitality baby both which have numerous flaws. Everything else works fine for me.

I can't wait to get back to swimming some decent distances. Was training with a great group of master swimmers who pushed me, but had to stop swimming with them in September when I fell pregnant as I had issues with my iron and blood pressure and kept on feeling like I would pass out in the water (especially in the hot gym pool). Only 5 weeks to go and then it won't be long before I can start again :-) Looking forward to getting back in the dams for open water swims as I love the freedom. Then its just getting up the guts to get in the ocean.

They had to stop the swim this year due to the water temp being too cold.

Vitality are driving me insane !!!!!!! The screenshot below taken from their website clearly states that all I needed to do to get 25% cashback from Sportsmans is to declare that I am pregnant at my Health Check. I queried on the 30th March why my % was still 15%. Finallly today I get the reply below. Why should I now pay for a fitness assessment when I can't even do it (35 weeks pregnant already)... We request that you complete the Vitality Fitness Assessment with the biokineticists within the Vitality Wellness Network. The biokineticist will be able to confirm that you are pregnant and your HealthyGear cash back will be increased once we have received the assessment from the biokineticist. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. And the fight continues!!