need some advice from pros please?

[bgoetz]

Originally Posted by An old Guy .


I hate to burst people's bubbles but ...

Currently a lot of ex-professionals are riding as Cat1 in the US. Their jobs as professionals simply went away. When the top US professionals get to Europe they are at the bottom of the professional ranks.

There is a good list of professionals that have come from the US that have done real well in Europe. I would go as far to say that in the past 10 years the United States has produced more GREAT pros than almost any other single country. Now as to if the US produces as many quality pros is certainly up for debate, but it seems that we produce more than our fair share of the greats..

I think what you were trying to say is that the difference of "any Joe" racing as a Cat 1 is far from a good pro in Europe and I would agree, but I think that is exactly what the poster that you responded to was trying to say, if you want to be the best you have to put yourself up against the best and see how you stack up.....

I would argue that it is not so much a difference in talent as it is experience at racing at a level where everyone is that good. There are certainly great athletes in other country's who have the speed, skill, size, strength that the greatest NFL players have, what they don't have is the experience of going up against so many others that are just like them....

 

[An old Guy]

Originally Posted by bgoetz .

There is a good list of professionals that have come from the US that have done real well in Europe. I would go as far to say that in the past 10 years the United States has produced more GREAT pros than almost any other single country. Now as to if the US produces as many quality pros is certainly up for debate, but it seems that we produce more than our fair share of the greats..

I agree a large number of riders from the US have gone on do well in Europe. My point was that Pro level in the US is much lower than Pro level in Europe.

There was a first person article in one of the bicycling magazines. The fellow was one of the top US professionals. He was used to other riders marking him in races. Being a team leader and center of attention. He got a job in Europe. No one notice him. He had to fight to keep up. After a year of so that he improved. But it took a lot of hard work.

 

[bgoetz]

The level of competition is definitely better in Europe, the talent pool is just so much deeper. Lance even talks about how big of a wake up call it was when he first went to Europe, he was real close to giving it up. If I were serious about becoming a pro though, Europe is the place I would want to be, it is the gateway to maybe someday being able to race in one of the grand tours....