Recruitment is an axiom that is one of the strongest alibies you can use in any discussion in any organ having anything rudimentary to do with biking. The chairman of a bike team I used to ride for (a former euro-pro), used this trick ever so often when building contact with local politicians. And on every possible occation, he would have media, kids and politicians gathered for the first part of a race weekend, usually culiminating in an E1 category MTB race. Although he was as slick and cunning as you can get, I gotta give it to him- youngster-recruitment is a politically correct slogan that sells like hot ****. If you are afraid of local trails closing in front of you, forget about health issues, obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, etc, just push your offspring in front of you- the most legitimate argument you can ever use if you wanna achieve something.
But I am no politician, and I don't work in the human resource department, so I don't give a damn about fraternizing, nor do I have to buy into this ****. Stop and think. Why is it that important to get kids into cycling? Let's look at a few myths:
a) If no recruitment, cycling as a sport will die.
Answer: ********. Where I live, people in categories 30-50 sign up like crazy 12 months in advance to participate in boring mountainbike-marathons mainly on fire roads and gravel!! As long as there is money to gain from such arrangements- they will exist.
b) It is important to make kids pick up cycling, for health reasons.
Answer: Again, this is ********. Cycling is not the only endurance sport you can participate in for a health benefit, but it is one of the most cost-intensive. Besides, to compete in cycling as a kid, you need to lay down a lot of training hours- a lot more than is needed to achieve most of epidemiologically documented preventive health effects. As for becoming a pro, you need to be in a small percentile range of the most talented to become a pro, and if you don't succeed, it was all for nothing!!
Bottom line: is there any reason at all (besides using it as a stray man argument for your own competition needs, daddy) to push kids into racing? From my point of wiev, there is none.
But I am no politician, and I don't work in the human resource department, so I don't give a damn about fraternizing, nor do I have to buy into this ****. Stop and think. Why is it that important to get kids into cycling? Let's look at a few myths:
a) If no recruitment, cycling as a sport will die.
Answer: ********. Where I live, people in categories 30-50 sign up like crazy 12 months in advance to participate in boring mountainbike-marathons mainly on fire roads and gravel!! As long as there is money to gain from such arrangements- they will exist.
b) It is important to make kids pick up cycling, for health reasons.
Answer: Again, this is ********. Cycling is not the only endurance sport you can participate in for a health benefit, but it is one of the most cost-intensive. Besides, to compete in cycling as a kid, you need to lay down a lot of training hours- a lot more than is needed to achieve most of epidemiologically documented preventive health effects. As for becoming a pro, you need to be in a small percentile range of the most talented to become a pro, and if you don't succeed, it was all for nothing!!
Bottom line: is there any reason at all (besides using it as a stray man argument for your own competition needs, daddy) to push kids into racing? From my point of wiev, there is none.
