Getting into pro teams

[classic1]

I would move countries.... Australian rode cycling is in disarray...... why they persist with their handicap format for road races is beyond me.... australian riders have **** tactical skill on the road as cycling Australia persisted with this approach...... every race should be a scratch race..... handicap races means the best time trialist wins and in juniors that means the strongest... however in scratch races the best tactical rider wins..... australia has the other problem that its drivers have no respect for cyclists and do their best to scare them...... strange country...... move to europe like hessler........

Dumbarse. WTF are you talking about? No. 3 road cycling nation on the planet. We didn't get there farking TTing up and down the M1. Australian riders are renouned for their tactical skill and have been for years - because most of them have a track background. A mate of mine rode in Holland and his DS reckoned the Aussie were great because he didn't have to tell them how to position themselves in a peloton, unlike the stupid cheeseheads he normally looked after. And if this sounds like negative racism and parochilism, well it is!!

And as one or two others have said, there are very few handicaps anymore, except at club level. Seeing as most club level cyclists aren't fronting up at the startline in the Tour of Flanders and the good kids are picked up by the sports institutes as schoolboys or juniors your arguments don't hold any water.

 

[whiteboytrash]

Dumbarse. WTF are you talking about? No. 3 road cycling nation on the planet. We didn't get there farking TTing up and down the M1. Australian riders are renouned for their tactical skill and have been for years - because most of them have a track background. A mate of mine rode in Holland and his DS reckoned the Aussie were great because he didn't have to tell them how to position themselves in a peloton, unlike the stupid cheeseheads he normally looked after. And if this sounds like negative racism and parochilism, well it is!!

And as one or two others have said, there are very few handicaps anymore, except at club level. Seeing as most club level cyclists aren't fronting up at the startline in the Tour of Flanders and the good kids are picked up by the sports institutes as schoolboys or juniors your arguments don't hold any water.

I won a junior state road title on tactical nouse alone.... I rode with all these meat head juniors who were bigger and strong than I was but I was smarter... that’s the sort of cyclist Australia breeds... big, stupid dumbarse cyclists...... I remember it well... all the meat heads start telling every one to work so we can get to the finish line as quick as possible so they can bunch sprint... fark that I thought they will kill me in the sprint.... so I sit in the bunch and refuse to work... occasionally a dumb **** would stick his hand out at me and tell me to do some work and I said nothing..... we get to the first and only hill of the day and I attack.... of course they catch me but a few got dropped, so I attack again and a few more got dropped and the meat-head dumb arses catch me again... with nothing left I attack again at the top of the hill and drop some more and 3 meat heads catch me again.... you see they follow... so what happens now... they see that there are less meat heads so they start time trialling to the finish line and I sit on the back of them.... again occasionally they asked me to work but I said I did all the attacking and that I was spent and had nothing left so they leave me alone.... then with 3 km to go I start attacking again any they all get dropped...... I'd done zero work all day but with 7 attacks I won alone......... that’s how you win a race.... Australian cyclists just want to time trial...... and yes right you are they are very good track cyclists but that’s all the are because the big meaty dumb **** cyclists love the track... cos they can ride real hard and win.... funny thing after that win dumbarse big cyclist comes up to me and said “what did you do that for ?” – I said “what ? win the race ?” he said “no ! attack ?”…….. the stupidity of those riders and that’s what the handicap system breed…. stupidity……

 

[Jono L]

Wow, my hero, you won a state champ. Maybe back in your days of wooden wheels and leather knix the aussie system lacked a bit of something but I can assure you that that's not the case at this point in time.

 

[classic1]

See, if you were really tactically smart you would only have had to attack once and made it count.

You are generalising. I reckon big strong dumb pricks with big motors are great because they have their uses. There are big dumbarse road cyclists the world over (not just Oz) that God put there for a purpose - to chase gaps for me. Hallelujah! Don't knock 'em. Riding like that has nothing to do with the handicap system, unless you are talking mentally handicapped.

BTW, what state and when?

 

[whiteboytrash]

Wow, my hero, you won a state champ. Maybe back in your days of wooden wheels and leather knix the aussie system lacked a bit of something but I can assure you that that's not the case at this point in time.

Won it on a Peugeot with a Reynolds 501 frame, mavic wheel set and from memory I think it could have been a mavic group set as well ! no internal brake cabling and shimano clip pedals......... awesome bike but riding it was like dancing with the statue of liberty... it was a hard bike to move around....

 

[Jono L]

unless you are talking mentally handicapped.

Also known as beign a trackie

 

[whiteboytrash]

See, if you were really tactically smart you would only have had to attack once and made it count.

You are generalising. I reckon big strong dumb pricks with big motors are great because they have their uses. There are big dumbarse road cyclists the world over (not just Oz) that God put there for a purpose - to chase gaps for me. Hallelujah! Don't knock 'em. Riding like that has nothing to do with the handicap system, unless you are talking mentally handicapped.

BTW, what state and when?

I'm not going to give my identity away but in Victoria and in the 80's....... junior....... although I think in those days it was called juvenile scratch race ?

 

[dm69]

I am also against the handicap form of racing. For the rider its very boring and if you dont catch the bunch all your learning to do is work turns.

Now I just ask to ride off scratch If I think I can manage, atleast your racing for fastest time which is generally a more prestigous prize anyway.

Thats not to say there aren't plenty of scratch races around, Incase you havent noticed WBT Cycling in Australia IS actually moving to a more european style. Take note of the increasing number of Open Teams races these days.

WBT: I disagree that were all "meatheads"...Come down and have a race with us, could be fun!!!

 

[classic1]

I'm not going to give my identity away but in Victoria and in the 80's....... junior....... although I think in those days it was called juvenile scratch race ?

Well **** me. I was a juvi in the 80's, I think u/16 in 86 and 87 IIRC.

 

[whiteboytrash]

I am also against the handicap form of racing. For the rider its very boring and if you dont catch the bunch all your learning to do is work turns.

Now I just ask to ride off scratch If I think I can manage, atleast your racing for fastest time which is generally a more prestigous prize anyway.

Thats not to say there aren't plenty of scratch races around, Incase you havent noticed WBT Cycling in Australia IS actually moving to a more european style. Take note of the increasing number of Open Teams races these days.

WBT: I disagree that were all "meatheads"...Come down and have a race with us, could be fun!!!

cheers dm69 but I've actually moved to London now so well away from the Oz bike scene... in saying that I've picked up the bike again and riding through the English countryside with a few trips to Europe....... very nice…..

I will say one other thing about Oz cycling that's a positive.... the season is matched with Europe.... ie when its winter in Australia its summer in Europe but its still road season in both hemispheres...... athletics doesn't do this... so when good aussie athletes who are competing well in the European summer are excepted to come back to Australia in their new off season and compete in the aussie summer to qualify for major championships... cycling got this right... track didn’t…. athletes suffer because of this….

 

[classic1]

Also known as beign a trackie

No, thats only the track sprinters. Too much Stanazol and hanging around a gym rots your brains.

Besides, I used to be a roadie jono.

 

[whiteboytrash]

Well **** me. I was a juvi in the 80's, I think u/16 in 86 and 87 IIRC.

fark ! thats my era ! which club ?

 

[classic1]

Morwell/Latrobe Valley.

 

[whiteboytrash]

Morwell/Latrobe Valley.

I'm from Western Victoria......... from the country.......

 

[classic1]

Geez, that narrows it down to about 12 clubs.........

I didn't ride the road much as a juvi. I think I road the state title and test race the first year and had a bad fall smashing my face up the next year and only rode a couple of opens. I was a better junior.

Chris Neate, Cameron Sharp, Todd Oliver Cameron McKinnon were some of the better juvis when I rode, and of course Shane Kelly on the track.

 

[whiteboytrash]

Geez, that narrows it down to about 12 clubs.........

I didn't ride the road much as a juvi. I think I road the state title and test race the first year and had a bad fall smashing my face up the next year and only rode a couple of opens. I was a better junior.

Chris Neate, Cameron Sharp, Todd Oliver Cameron McKinnon were some of the better juvis when I rode, and of course Shane Kelly on the track.

I remember Cameron McKinnon ! and Cameron Sharp...... Cameron McKinnon was a good track rider... think he won an aussie title....... what pedal system did you use when you smashed up your face ? not those keywins ? or whatever they are called.....

 

[classic1]

I remember Cameron McKinnon ! and Cameron Sharp...... Cameron McKinnon was a good track rider... think he won an aussie title....... what pedal system did you use when you smashed up your face ? not those keywins ? or whatever they are called.....

Clips and straps. Did it out training one night. Saw the car parked on the side of the road. Didn't see the trailer hitched to the back of it.

I didn't know McKinnon to speak to. He was a year older and hung it up as a junior IIRC. Knew the others well or reasonably well though, at least when we were kids.

 

[helmutRoole2]

Back to the thread question:

Of the hundreds of people I ride with weekly, there's one possibly two juniors who might make it as N.American pros, and we know this because they can beat everyone except the pros most of the time.

When you see them you know they are good because they win.

I raced with Tyler Farrar when he was 16 and I was 36. I was seasoned, strong Cat.1, training daily, racing 50 times that year, clean, and he beat me in every sprint and in every break we contested. I could not beat this kid under any conditions save a alpine ascent and even that was ify.

There was one rider in the region who could beat him half the time in sprints and breaks. This guy was a former national elite crit champion three-four years removed.

In the N.America, there's probably seven regions of racing producing one, maybe two such talents a year. So, figure in N.America alone, 15 such talents emerge. More than half will lose interest, some stop because of health reason, some financial. By the time it's done, one or two from N. America will emerge annually with a shot at a Pro Tour contract.

To the original poster: If you are such a talent and you keep racing and training, you will know it in the next six months to a year. And then you won't have to worry about direction, coaching, equipment... it'll all be taken care of for you.

 

[whiteboytrash]

Back to the thread question:

You mean getting the thread back to an American slant and about you ?

 

[sideshow_bob]

Stupid **** as if..... handicaps don't always finish in bunches...... all the smaller clubs from the country generally have one guy off scratch trying to catch groups of 2-4 up the road..... Australian cycling needs to get its head out of the sand and become more European.... even American cycling has surpassed it.... Bosnian cycling for that matter...

See you seem to be a bit challenged in the reading department. My original quote referred to handicaps at the elite level, not a country club race with 4 starters.

I think it's a bit disingenuous to call Australian cycling **** the year Australian cyclists have won Paris-Roubaix and placed in the TdF, or how many grand tour stages/green jerseys has McEwen won again?

Australian cycling is just fine, though I wouldn't suppose living in Britan you'd really have much of a clue about the current state of affairs. Maybe Australia could take some lessons from Britan in turning out world class cyclists ... oh wait, Britan doesn't produce any.

--brett