Is Bicycle Riding a Safe Sport for Teenagers?

The modern lifestyle promotes the sedentary lifestyle of a teenager. Without constant monitoring, their future health is at stake. The long term effect is the high risk of lifestyle illnesses at an early age.

 According to a research study, teenagers engaging in an inactive kind of lifestyle age faster and prone to lifestyle illnesses than their physically-active counterparts. Their physical health depends on their day-to-day activities. 

The age set may not engage in a structured fitness program, but their way of life must promote physical health. Sport is the most recommended event for them. As long as it involves body movements and sweating, they are good to go.

As we strive to monitor their physical health, emotional and social fitness must fit in the equation. The best way to achieve this goal is to ensure that the sport accommodates their interests and has time to socialize. Tell a teen to go and skip a rope alone; it will be a fight. If you tell the same teenager to jump the same string with his peers, you will not remind her of it.

The sporting activities that promote physical and emotional health

  1. Bicycle riding

Children, teenagers, and adults all enjoy cycling. The aerobic activity exposes the whole body to a workout exercise. The deep breath and sweat associated with the user define the exact qualities of a good workout.

Despite all the hypes about the exercise, safety measures are inevitable. You must know areas where the teen takes his rides and practice caution, especially when using the road with other road users. The high curiosity levels of teenagers prompt them to violate traffic rules causing a safety risk to all road users.

How do you make your teen a professional cycler?

  • Get a trainer to equip him with skills on the best road practice.
  • Initially, allow him to ride the bicycle within your view for corrections.
  • Purchase books to give him insights about road rules
  • Engage in activities that boost his confidence to emulate the same on the road
  • Allow your teen to cycle the bicycle with peers to improve his social and emotional health.
  1. Table tennis

Commonly known as ping pong, it’s a sport known for its high impact, unlike cycling, which is a low impact kind of exercise. It’s an excellent game for teenagers with high energy levels associated with the adolescent stage.

With the right table tennis equipment, it can be the beginning of a long journey to become an international table tennis player.

The benefits of table tennis for this age

  • Improves cognitive development of a teen-enhanced brain function
  • Promotes cardiovascular health
  • Reduces weight through instant calorie burn
  • Sharpens one brain, thanks to developed mental acuity

The indoor game is played either within an enclosed environment or outdoor. It makes it perfect for all-weather patterns. Teenagers can form a team and compete in a bid to enhance their social and networking skills.

  1. Cue Sport

Teens prefer an indoor game with minimal intense physical activity. Billiards suits this description.

The perfect game for introverts only requires a cue stick and a pool table. Its advantage is its ability to enhance once cognitive skills ideal when you want to hit the ball right at the target.

The features of the cue have a specific purpose to suit the game. It’s an easy and simple game for both novices and beginners. 

  1. Volleyball

Volleyball is a brain game. If there is a time during one’s lifetime when the brain works at the optimum level, then it’s during the teen years. Volleyball fits a perfect skill to ensure both the upper and the lower limbs are put into action.

The addictive sport promotes good sleep, ready to face yet another day. It strikes the right balance between school and social work. A teen struggling with losing weight should try continually to play volleyball to burn all the calories.

 The coordination and speed associated with the game are vital in allowing a teen to manage emotions familiar with this stage. Its uniqueness lies in the social skill development, for you need at least six people to make the team; automatically develop the social skills of a teen.

  1. Dancing

If you never danced as a teenager, then you missed a crucial life component. Dancing to music is relaxing and relieves any form of stress and anxiety. Besides, it’s one activity ideal for weight management.

Do you know why gym sessions use dancing as a form of workout? It’s a high impact exercise and fun at the same time. The agility and flexibility while dancing is responsible for strong and healthy bones.

  1. Swimming

After a hard day’s work in the school or during the hot summers, swimming makes the perfect activity to unwind and relax. Swimming improves cardiovascular health.

Do you know that swimming is even better in terms of physical exercise than running a marathon? What makes people fear physical workouts is the long hours of sweat and fatigue. Swimming; being a sport practiced underwater; you never notice the long hours of exercising the whole body. In the end, you have done more than you even expect.

Among the five activities best for a teenager, cycling has all the fun. Leave alone social networks; you interact with nature, which takes care of one’s attitude. You understand the issues of a personal point of view among adolescents. At the end of the exercise, they are tired; all they need is either a hot shower or a cold one- depending on the prevailing weather pattern- and allow the body to rejuvenate. The quality of sleep explains their alertness and attentiveness in class. What else do you expect in school for a teen?

Cycling and Ping pong

It is usually awful when you wish to visit a friend and enjoy ping pong game but you cannot, just because his flat has no space for a ping-pong table. Using ping pong bicycle, you can now have the freedom to carry the ping pong table with you. Moreover, you can enjoy ping-ponging on the pavements or in the city square.

I will take you through 5 steps of making a perfect ping-pong bicycle.

STEP 1: Sourcing old bicycles and metal tubing

First off, to ensure that the project is cheap you need to look for an old bicycle that you can cut up. You need to obtain two donor frame; 26’’ mountain bike and a 20’’ kid’s bike. From the kid’s bike, only the front fork and wheel are useful. The second bike is wholly crucial, so you need to get one that is in excellent condition.

 

Secondly, you need to source some metal tubing. If you can be able to obtain an already tube welded on 90 degrees, it will serve you better.

STEP 2: Make a frame

To begin with, you disassemble the bikes and use the bigger bikes tubes (34×2 mm) to create a structure by welding them together.

You are required to decide how long you want your bike to be. If you are planning to fix a ping pong table that is big enough for competition, you will use 137 cm tube by welding several together. Draw the first construction on a piece of paper. Beneath the paper, you will put the rear part. The structure helps you to figure out how they fit together. This helps you to weld the pieces together. Remember to use the central tube to the front being parallel to the ground.

It is advisable that you use an angle of 750 for the front wheel steering.

STEP 3: Making a steering

From the bigger donor bike, take the fork and cut it into three pieces and weld two pieces from there to a steel tube. Take the fork and add a bit of metal to it on an angle of 90 degrees. To give the wheels, more space in left turns an excellent position to move the fork to the top. Ensure that the distance between the wheel center and the hole for axis steering is the same as well as that of the head tube to the steering axis. Maintaining this measurement is crucial to ensure the turn of the handlebar is the same angle that the front wheel will turn.

STEP 4: Making a Fork

Screw the steering axis to ball joints and connect it to two holes where it is supposed to rest. Add support to the bottom tube.

STEP 5: Add ping pong table to the frame

To have everything fixed, you need to check if all these materials are in order; a frame, drive train, wheels, brakes, kickstands, two sides of ping pong table, old stands of your ping pong table, net and steering system. Make sure to get this one the best ping pong table from here: Ping Pong Perfect

If you have all these, you, therefore, need to bolt the parts together. There you now have your perfect ping pong, have fun and enjoy your efforts.

The Collegiate All Stars will be on hiatus for 2015 Look for them to return in 2016

Selected riders wear their school jerseys, but compete together as the “Kakookie Collegiate All-Stars.”

This special squad has been selected based on the final individual omnium standings at collegiate nationals of riders who are not members of a professional or elite amateur teams already registered to compete in the North Star Grand Prix.

Each team member receives complimentary entry into the North Star Grand Prix, free host housing, a support staff comprised of a team manager, mechanic, soigneur and massage therapist, team clothing and a travel stipend. All they have to do is race their bike and have the experience of a lifetime.

This is a unique opportunity for these racers because they will not only be able to test themselves against the top women racers in the country, but they will also be competing in front of the team managers of the top women’s teams in the nation. In fact, ten of the women who competed on the 2007-2013 teams landed professional contracts after their efforts on this squad!

2014 Collegiate All-Star Team:

  • Ariane Horbach    Colorado Mesa University
  • Cinthia Lehner    Appalachian State University
  • Sara Bird    Stanford University
  • Allison Arensman    Brevard College
  • Michelle Khare    Dartmouth College
  • Cecelia Davishayes    Columbia University
  • Adelaide Tillinghast    American University
  • Kelly Catlin    University of Minnesota
Team Personnel:
  • Mechanic – Gabe Masiulis
  • Soigneur – Stu Barron
  • Massage Therapist – Tom Hagerty
  • Physical Therapist – Alynn Kakuk
  • Manager – John Barron
  • Director Sportif – Jenn Reither

St. Paul Downtown Criterium Wednesday Evening, June 17

The action continues with the second stage of the day in the North Star Grand Prix. This time racers will battle each other in a fast criterium through the trendy Lowertown District of downtown St. Paul.

Full of twists, turns, and even some brick roads, this is sure to be a fast, action-packed evening of racing.

Learn more about our host city.

Fan Zone Sports Tip: The Wednesday morning time trial will determine which man starts the St. Paul Downtown Criterium in the yellow leader’s jersey, but the jerseys can change hands in downtown St. Paul, most often because of time bonuses offered during the races and at the finishes.

Event Schedule:
4:30 PM – Expo opens
6:15 PM –  Elite Amateur Race: 30 laps
7:15 PM – Park Dental/Shimano Kids Fun Race
7:45 PM – Men’s Pro/Elite Race: 40 laps
9:00 PM – Expo closes

Fixed Gear Classic

Three days of speed and excitement!  June 6-8, 2013
Kicking off the 2013 Nature Valley Bicycle Festival will be the MN Fixed Gear Classic. This thrilling event brings world class track cycling to the NSC Velodrome for three days in June.
The MN Fixed Gear Classic pits professional and elite amateur track cyclists in fast-paced sprint and grueling endurance events. The 2013 MN Fixed Gear Classic will again feature a unique dual omnium program that showcases separate competitions for sprinters and endurance specialists. Cross-over races will bring sprinters and distance racers together in search of omnium points.
The opening night of racing will take place on Thursday June 6th to coincide with the NSC Velodrome’s popular Thursday Night Lights racing series.
Events schedule:
  • Thursday June 6th – 6:30 PM
  • Friday June 7th – 6:30 PM
  • Saturday June 8th – Noon

Stillwater Criterium Sunday, June 16

Once again the Nature Valley Bicycle Festival returns to historic downtown Stillwater for our grand finale and signature event.

The Stillwater course features a trek up Chilkoot Hill every lap. This lung-busting hill climb along with the heart stopping downhill turns that will stretch the riders’ bike handling skills to their limits combine to give this criterium an international reputation as the hardest in North America.
Learn more about our host city.
Fan Zone Sports Tip: The pack will shatter on the climbs in Stillwater, with the lead pack shrinking on every lap. The yellow jersey will be under serious pressure, with challengers pushing the pace to try to make the leader crack. The jersey often changes hands on this final day of the Nature Valley Grand Prix.
Event schedule:
10:30 AM – Expo opens & Stunt Rider Shows
10:45 AM – CycleOps amateur race
11:45 AM – Women’s Pro/Elite Race: 13 Laps
12:45 PM – Kids fun race
1:30 PM – Men’s Pro/Elite Race: 20 Laps
4:00 PM – Expo closes

 

Uptown Minneapolis Criterium Friday, June 19

The North Star Grand Prix returns to the uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis for the the Uptown Minneapolis Criterium for the Friday evening event. With huge crowds that have lined the entire course every year, the riders have been energized and there has been some incredible racing.

The course has teams race past Calhoun Square on a .88 Kilometer course that comprises six tight corners and a furious race to the finish line.

With a long straightaway across the finish line into a very short run between turns one and two, speeds will descend from a brisk 35-plus mph into the low digits before ramping up again out of turn five on Lake Street. Strong racers and teams will stay up front to control the tempo and avoid accidents.

The Greg LeMond CEO’s Ride for Kids will be held at the Festival’s most popular event Friday evening in Uptown. The announcers will call three-time Tour de France Champion Greg LeMond and the CEOs to the line individually, then they’ll will ride one lap of the course, along with members of the Sanford Hype Special Olympics team,  Click HERE for more information.

Learn more about our host city

Fan Zone Sport Tip: The real spectacle comes near the end of the course as riders make turn six onto Hennepin Avenue and into a long, wide one-block straightaway to the finish line.

Event Schedule

4:30 PM    Expo opens & RBC Kids’ Zone opens
6:15 PM    Elite Amateur Race: 20 Laps
7:10 PM    Greg LeMond CEO Ride for Kids
7:25 PM    Park Dental/Shimano Kids Fun Race
7:50 PM    Men Pro/Elite Race: 40 Laps
8:45 PM    Racing ends
9:00 PM    Expo closes

Bus routes to the Uptown Festival.