New Pee Wee Dad

[Jacob Kapostins]

We are planning on coming out to Bartow for our first-ever hare scramble. My son (Ryder) is 5 years old and rides a yamaha pw 50. His only real experience is riding on a closed grassy golf course. I took him to crooms this weekend and he had a tough time riding through the soft dirt (even the little bit that's on the 50 track). He fell a lot, and got frustrated. Some nice folks assured me that the dirt is more compacted and easier to ride at Bartow. Is this the case for all the pee-wee hare scrambles?

Is there somewhere I can take him to help prepare for these types of races?

How long does the PW class run for?

Can I see the whole track?

Anything I should be prepared for as a new pee-wee parent?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jason Croley]

Honestly if your son is just starting out and has no real experience do not bring him to race just yet. Your best bet for getting experience is taking him to MX tracks and letting him practice and also race so he gets use to being around other kids. Your son could start out in Pee Wee Beginner which is a 15 minute race. No you will not be able to see the whole track. At most races you will only be able to see a portion of the track. There are normally parents and course works all over the track, but it helps if you can teach your son to pick up his own bike and get going on his own again. Most all of the tracks have some type of sandy spots. There are some that have sandy sections that makes all the kids work hard. All the tracks are different and have different challenges for the kids. The race track is not a place to bring a kid to learn how to ride. Bring them to race when they are able to perform the basic skills on their own and can make some decisions on their own. The Pee Wee Beginners start 30 seconds behind Pee Wee C. He will have any where from 15 to 25 kids in his class. Plus however many Pee Wee C riders there are. So during that race it gets very congested on the track. If you have anymore questions please feel free to ask. Not trying to scare you off, but just giving you honest/real answers.

 

[Jacob Kapostins]

Honestly if your son is just starting out and has no real experience do not bring him to race just yet. Your best bet for getting experience is taking him to MX tracks and letting him practice and also race so he gets use to being around other kids. Your son could start out in Pee Wee Beginner which is a 15 minute race. No you will not be able to see the whole track. At most races you will only be able to see a portion of the track. There are normally parents and course works all over the track, but it helps if you can teach your son to pick up his own bike and get going on his own again. Most all of the tracks have some type of sandy spots. There are some that have sandy sections that makes all the kids work hard. All the tracks are different and have different challenges for the kids. The race track is not a place to bring a kid to learn how to ride. Bring them to race when they are able to perform the basic skills on their own and can make some decisions on their own. The Pee Wee Beginners start 30 seconds behind Pee Wee C. He will have any where from 15 to 25 kids in his class. Plus however many Pee Wee C riders there are. So during that race it gets very congested on the track. If you have anymore questions please feel free to ask. Not trying to scare you off, but just giving you honest/real answers.

Thanks for the quick and detailed response! I'll work with him these next couple weeks and see how he does. I definitely want him to experience new challenges. He does good on the cone tracks I setup for him in grassy fields and is a very cautious rider. I'll take him to an MX track this weekend to mix it up with some kids his age. He really wants race so I don't want to deny him the opportunity to learn and have fun. 15 minutes seems reasonable for him, I was worried about the heat but I think he could hang in there for that amount of time.

 

[Jason Croley]

No problem. If you have any more questions please feel free to reach out.

 

[Dr! Still Bill]

I don't mean to disagree with Jason's advice, but there are always plenty of PW's who have little (or zero) experience. It is likely that your kid won't be the slowest or least capable out there. Personally, I feel that the kid should be able to pick up their own bike off the ground, get on, and start it. This is certainly not always true. I see it at every event. Bartow-1 might be one of the smoother PW tracks, I think. One thing that always bothers me is seeing little kids racing with no gloves. There are rocks, sticker bushes, and hot exhaust pipes out on the course.

 

[Jacob Kapostins]

I don't mean to disagree with Jason's advice, but there are always plenty of PW's who have little (or zero) experience. It is likely that your kid won't be the slowest or least capable out there. Personally, I feel that the kid should be able to pick up their own bike off the ground, get on, and start it. This is certainly not always true. I see it at every event. Bartow-1 might be one of the smoother PW tracks, I think. One thing that always bothers me is seeing little kids racing with no gloves. There are rocks, sticker bushes, and hot exhaust pipes out on the course.

Thanks for the reply Bill! Good to hear that Bartow is one of the smoother tracks for his first race. I grew up racing MX so I take riding gear seriously!
Usually, when he falls, his leg gets caught under the bike and I haven't taught him out to get out of it yet. I'll definitely work with him on picking the bike up and starting it on his own before we get to the race.

 

[Ryan Steffey]

Can I see the whole track?

If its the same area as the last couple years, it doesn't have great viewing if your nervous about him being out there alone. There are parents and course workers around though. You can run around and usually catch him go by in about 3 spots here. Its pretty hard, but usually had 1 or 2 soft corners that would give some of the new/younger kids some trouble.

Anything I should be prepared for as a new pee-wee parent?

Usually there will be some fast "c" kids that will blow by him if hes just starting. My boy just moved up to 65s, and started racing at 4. It never bothered him, but my girl did not being lapped by the faster kids in "C" when she was riding PW Beginner.



Thanks in advance!