how old is too old to train to go pro? - Page 6

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

Iagree Why bother posting at all .Do you feel big now Bodacious?? Maybe your the one with the little ****!!!!

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

Mate you gotta just enjoy your racing and not worry about the future so much. As long as you get the right discipline and training routines you'll go well, some kids are built like a full grown man at 16 while their competitors have barely aged at all, everything starts to even out around the end of 19's. Half the guys that do well at juniors drop out by U23's. I only started racing when i turned 16 and I'm doing fine against all the kids who've been racing since they were 10.

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

All trolls are! Just like other excrement, they're best left untouched, though I suspect his post might have been tongue-in-cheek. Don't ask which cheek.

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

ride for enjoyment
race for yourself.
If your good enough it might happen if your chase it hard enough.
tdf 07 kom winner at 17 saw his saw his first bike race and said I might try this sport 3 yr later he won that same pro bike race.

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

There are plenty of guys who are seriously dedicated, train more than the pros, live like monks, make the kind of sacrifices noone else would dream of making and they still don't make it as a pro.

Then there are other guys who are pretty lazy, go out drinking, eat what they like, skip training if it's raining and they'll make it as a pro.

Here's why - Genetics. some guys are just blessed with naturally high VO2 max, LT and with training their FTP etc goes through the roof very quickly. Other guys putting in even more training time will have less talent, and less room for improvement.

I started at 24, and I will ride next season 9now 28) on an elite amateur squad in Holland, but there is no way I could ever go pro. Racing in the elites is unimagineably tough, and there are plenty of guys there who have been the best in their category since their early teens, guys who can really hammer it, and maybe one or two guys a year gets a pro contract. Probably a lot of guys are good enough, but there just aren't so many jobs.

If you want to have a small chance of making it is a pro here's what you need to do.

1) Make sure you have a VO2 max of at least 77, and an FTP of about 380w, weighing under 70kg preferably. Make sure you have at least 4 years of riding 20,000km a year under your belt.

2) Invent a time machine and go back to being 21

3) Make sure you have been regularly podiuming in top amateur competition (preferably in Europe)

4) Ideally you would also want to have been spotted by a coach and put on a junior / espoir team that "feeds" pro squads.

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

+1 for your excellent post. It's good to hear reality from a guy who's been competing at the top levels for a long time.

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

I should have also added that you need to also be prepared to:

1) be very poor for years as an amateur doing a crap part time job to pay the rent
2) Never have time for things like relationships, parties, holidays
3) Be prepared to uproot and live in another country, learn a new language etc.
4) earn comparitavely little (unless you are brilliant) compared to other sportsman.
5) Get sick / injured a lot and still be forced to race by your team manager. or endure the top level cycling vicious circle of "get sick, race poorly, get dropped from the team, don't race, race poorly" etc etc
6) Endure the constant lack of job security and regular income.

Some guys I know have slept in their car or in a tent for weeks in Belgium going to Kermesse races every day.....boiling up pasta at 6am on a camping stove whilst shivering....washing after the race in a pub washroom etc.

When you're 21 this is a fun adventure....if you're in your mid 20's and have been earning nice money this kind of life can really suck.

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

Not to mention the drug dilemma you'll find yourself in.

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

+2 on your post. It is nice to see a post which talks in terms of reality and does not romanticize the experience. Being in the film/publishing business I know how we can make the Lance experience seem like the common and not the exception.

Still reading my bodybuilding magazines as I guess I will never stop, I recently read a great article in Planet Muscle which talked about designer genes and how we will probably see the beginning of this in the Bejing 2008 Olympics. They have already saw some young people that they say kind not be compared. They are sure it is designer gene work which can not be caught with any test.

So do not worry in the future, not my children but my daughters will be able to pick the superstar they want to have... If you do not sense the sarcasm, I do not know how to be more blunt.

I am just kind of sick of the whole gene argument. Shouldn't than Lance's children become superstars and has anyone tracked Lemond or Mercks ancestory. OK so the argument may be that it passes a generation or two...shouldn't someone though along their lineage line continue to have similar success? In fact there was a study where they tracked the lives of the so called "gifted" ones and most performed average or below average in life.

I am sorry being a guy who was told by alot of teachers and parents, you are going nowhere fast, to now have more success in life than they have, I credit it to simple hardwork and sacrafice. I admit it took me twice as long as it took some others to achieve some goals. I do not mind...I am willing to go the distance...are you? Drive is all that matters...

I much rather have my ankle of steel ( more hardware than an ace hardware store), 42 years of age and trying to get my ftp to 300. For me it is just so much sweeter when it happens. The journey is all the matters and why some many become bitter.

There is so much more to life than genes and if I was 21 and got into cycling earlier beyond being a messenger...I would try to hang out in those same places and ask them to pass some of that pasta man, I am hungry! lol.

I am convinced humans can achieve beyond even what they believe they can...it is a great time to be alive!! Enjoy my friends..., my 4 watts/kg is coming!

-Js

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

I think we need to define what becoming a pro means. Domestic pro on what would have been D3(I can't remember what it is called now). All you need is someone to sign you up. I know quite a few "pros" who arent anything special, but they aren't making any money racing. They just race for a pro team. A continental pro in Europe is tougher, but I think a guy with average abilities could make this happen with 100% dedication in 4 years. To win races at this level you better be really lucky or at least in the top5% genetically.

Protour race winner... Average guys need not apply.

Not to degrade anyones efforts, but with a tiny amount of training and 1/3 of a sense of race tactics ANYONE can win a cat3 race in the US. I think racing cat 3races is similar to adult co-ed softball. Anyone can do it if they wanted to. This has been my experience in 21 years of racing.

So... to the original poster, you probably aren't going to win the TDF. I think you know that. That puts you in a pretty big group of people. That being said, If you want to ride in the pro peloton at any level, go for it!! The worst that can happen is that you will have a great time that you will remember for the rest of your life. You will learn a ton about yourself; Things you had never considered. Finally you will develop your work ethic to the point that you can become successful in almost anything else you want to do.

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

hey bullgod, you are such a little liar. Even neo pros get paid like 200,000 salaries. I don't know about you guys but camping at 20 degrees eating pasta and pee freezing before hitting the ground is like my dream.
As for the drugs question: shooting EPO in my balls would be like heaven. Who would not want some EPO in their balls/ovaries? I'll be first in line .

God bullgod, you may be elite status now but you don't know anything about pro cycling.

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

lol...

But I have to argue with one point, my pee will not freeze at 20 degrees before hitting the ground...but it would be really cool to see.

Think of all the cool ice sculptures I could make....

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

hmmmmm - if that's where you intend to put EPO when you get it, I'd say you are showing your own ingnorance about things.........

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

Long time? 4 years is not that long.
Top levels? I don't know what level BullGod is competing at, but going to Holland to race as an amateur for the first time makes me think that this is not a top level.

Re: how old is too old to train to go pro?

Look what we find out, bodaciousguy isnt even a pro, just a cat 2

Re: Poll: What's your Functional Threshold power?

FTP: 351 watts
Wt: 74.8 kg (72.6 in season)

Hopefully FTP will be at 400 watts by end of January/beginning of season



Quote:
Originally Posted by strader


the holster 370 67 5.52
Camoscio 340 62 5.48
scotmart 385 72 5.35 19:58 (47:21 on a 37.8km course)
musher 340 64 5.31
clausfod 414 78 5.307
bigmatt 396 75 5.28
joemw 354 68 5.20
whoawhoa 335 655 5.15
gvanwagner 325 64 5.08
MikeMUK 360 72 5.01
c.walton 325 65 5.00
BullGod 340 69 4.93
musher 318 65 4.89
PSUCycling 325 67 4.85
Hooj 367 76 4.83
Markster 335 70 4.79 19:57 51:55
2007 bikeguy 340 72 kg 4.71 W/kg, 12 minute power 400 (+?) w @ 100 rpm
rmur 400 85 4.71 (PT Pro, SRM add 10W )
bodaciousguy 351 74.8 4.69 (Horrible Cat 2 climber)
Dirtcoach 305 65.6 4.65
postal_bag 345 75 4.6
gonzalovilaseca 310 68 4.56
kennethn 320 70.3 4.55
JohnMeyers 350 77 4.54
Atsic 285 63.5 4.49
NomadVW 345 77 4.48
peterpen 290 65 4.46
zaskar 280 63 4.44
midbunchlurker 275 62 4.43