Road Racing / Time trials / Cyclocross -Picking up a sponsor
Discussion
Afternoon,
My younger brother of age 16 has just finished his first season riding for a local CC. He has done very well, breaking club records and generally surprising riders who have been in the game for much longer, He also did very well in the recent National Hillclimb championship in Buxton - all on equipment much inferior to his competition (No carbon here, think 7-8yr old Ribble frame)
In a bid to improve fitness and try his hand in other events he has just started training for a Cyclocross event held in Dec. As he is new to the sport hes not got a ton of kit, but hes been loaned a bike for this.
Having gone through a couple ranks of football,I know its all about playing well at the right game infront of the right scout. How does it work with cycling?
Do I just need to get him to every event possible to give him experience and hopefully he'll get noticed at an event?
Thanks.
My younger brother of age 16 has just finished his first season riding for a local CC. He has done very well, breaking club records and generally surprising riders who have been in the game for much longer, He also did very well in the recent National Hillclimb championship in Buxton - all on equipment much inferior to his competition (No carbon here, think 7-8yr old Ribble frame)
In a bid to improve fitness and try his hand in other events he has just started training for a Cyclocross event held in Dec. As he is new to the sport hes not got a ton of kit, but hes been loaned a bike for this.
Having gone through a couple ranks of football,I know its all about playing well at the right game infront of the right scout. How does it work with cycling?
Do I just need to get him to every event possible to give him experience and hopefully he'll get noticed at an event?
Thanks.
The route the lads local to me have taken is to enter plenty of races, score plenty of points & move through the categories. They then applied for Dave Rayner funding & spent 6 months of this year in Belgium. One of them has secured funding for next year.
Riding on the track is another excellent opportunity for him to be picked up providing he has the speed & the talent.
Join a club that promotes races & simply get stuck in. If he's good enough (& I mean exceptional) he'll get spotted & picked up.
Good luck to him.
Riding on the track is another excellent opportunity for him to be picked up providing he has the speed & the talent.
Join a club that promotes races & simply get stuck in. If he's good enough (& I mean exceptional) he'll get spotted & picked up.
Good luck to him.
most talent is spotted on the track, from there the youth are shipped out to junior continental teams to get experience then if it works out, they will turn pro. its unlikely, but possible, that you can get to pro without going on the track but its hard work. even at a training session on a velodrome there will be a coach who should be able to spot if someone has the potential to go further.
sadly he wont turn pro by starting off in tt or cyclocross. there is practcailly no money in either and as a result little exposure. do it for the love, but there are very few sponsored riders in either discipline in the uk who do not have a road/track background. they might ride for a club/team but the only perks will be free kit from a sponsor and not hard cash. unfortunately, the track and cx season is already well underway but cycling weekly should list the local fixtures. given the season is already underway, he might struggle to feature in overall standings but if he can enter as much as he can to get the experience.
there are a few one off events such as
"hit the north" which might be good exposure if he finishes strongly and would be a good target.
dont discount cross country mountain biking either, it will require access to another bike but he sounds like he is fast and a semi-respectable bike should be adequate, most importantly its another chance to get some exposure.
If he can run reasonably well, there are also duathlons to consider. throw some tri bars on to the road bike and go like hell on the bike leg! it always amazes me how many people seem to use the bike leg as recovery!
good luck.
sadly he wont turn pro by starting off in tt or cyclocross. there is practcailly no money in either and as a result little exposure. do it for the love, but there are very few sponsored riders in either discipline in the uk who do not have a road/track background. they might ride for a club/team but the only perks will be free kit from a sponsor and not hard cash. unfortunately, the track and cx season is already well underway but cycling weekly should list the local fixtures. given the season is already underway, he might struggle to feature in overall standings but if he can enter as much as he can to get the experience.
there are a few one off events such as
"hit the north" which might be good exposure if he finishes strongly and would be a good target.
dont discount cross country mountain biking either, it will require access to another bike but he sounds like he is fast and a semi-respectable bike should be adequate, most importantly its another chance to get some exposure.
If he can run reasonably well, there are also duathlons to consider. throw some tri bars on to the road bike and go like hell on the bike leg! it always amazes me how many people seem to use the bike leg as recovery!
good luck.
Thanks for the replies.
Its still very early days for him, he was literally gifted a bike about 6 months ago from a family member. He used to play about on his mountain bike but nothing serious. But since getting hold of the Racing bike (Cheapo Claud Butler) he has impressed everyone and rides everywhere at 25mph!
Through friends he joined a local CC and started doing hillclimbs and time trials with them, this isnt neccessarily the route hes wants to go, this is just where he is at right now.
I will push him as hard as I can this winter to get fit and really go for it next season and try to get himself out there, I really think he can go places if hes willing to put the effort in.
Again thanks for your input so far.
Its still very early days for him, he was literally gifted a bike about 6 months ago from a family member. He used to play about on his mountain bike but nothing serious. But since getting hold of the Racing bike (Cheapo Claud Butler) he has impressed everyone and rides everywhere at 25mph!
Through friends he joined a local CC and started doing hillclimbs and time trials with them, this isnt neccessarily the route hes wants to go, this is just where he is at right now.
I will push him as hard as I can this winter to get fit and really go for it next season and try to get himself out there, I really think he can go places if hes willing to put the effort in.
Again thanks for your input so far.
Nice stalking. That's him.
I have to say I don't know a huge amount about cycling and the respective times between junior and adult classes etc, but from what I have heard he's doing fairly well, considering that he only turned 16 at the end of July and he's only been riding properly for 6months or so.
In the national hill climb at Buxton he came 90/175 (in all classes) and 12/30 in the juniors. However the majority of juniors who finished in the top 12 are only just scraping into the junior class age wise, so they are about 18-20months older than him.
I have to say I don't know a huge amount about cycling and the respective times between junior and adult classes etc, but from what I have heard he's doing fairly well, considering that he only turned 16 at the end of July and he's only been riding properly for 6months or so.
In the national hill climb at Buxton he came 90/175 (in all classes) and 12/30 in the juniors. However the majority of juniors who finished in the top 12 are only just scraping into the junior class age wise, so they are about 18-20months older than him.
Yea well at the moment he is a bean pole, about 6ft tall and well there's not an ounce of anything on him (well except his legs). So I suppose it depends on how he fills out.
If he can improve at the rate he has done in the last couple months in sure he'll do well, just need to make sure he keeps at it, with him being 17 next year and having just started college there are cars and girls as distractions!!
By the sounds of it he's at home stroking his new cyclocross bike for the season which arrived this arvo,It's a "pinerello", if that means much to you guys.
Any of you chaps local to us? I'm in Wells in Somerset.
If he can improve at the rate he has done in the last couple months in sure he'll do well, just need to make sure he keeps at it, with him being 17 next year and having just started college there are cars and girls as distractions!!
By the sounds of it he's at home stroking his new cyclocross bike for the season which arrived this arvo,It's a "pinerello", if that means much to you guys.
Any of you chaps local to us? I'm in Wells in Somerset.
Just a thought - if he's looking at going to uni in a couple of years then it might make sense to concentrate on getting into a college in Manchester so that he can ride at the velodrome and take advantage of all the British Cycling people there.
If he wants to get spotted then he might as well be where most of the spotters are!
If he wants to get spotted then he might as well be where most of the spotters are!
Well its alright for me, being several years older I have my own place, so its the parents who end up driving him around to these events (We wouldnt get far with his bike in my car!). Plus hes really close with a couple chaps from the CC so he quite often jumps in the van with them!
Uniwise we'll have to see, he only started college a couple months ago so its a way off yet. Plus hes not the most academic chap so I dont know whether Uni would be the right way for him to go (He is by no way stupid, hes extremely forward thinking and practical, but he is a typical LAD who puts about 1% effort into his School work!)
Ive heard talk about going to Newport at some stage, Ill have to push this and get him over for a spin.
Uniwise we'll have to see, he only started college a couple months ago so its a way off yet. Plus hes not the most academic chap so I dont know whether Uni would be the right way for him to go (He is by no way stupid, hes extremely forward thinking and practical, but he is a typical LAD who puts about 1% effort into his School work!)
Ive heard talk about going to Newport at some stage, Ill have to push this and get him over for a spin.
russy01 said:
Ive heard talk about going to Newport at some stage, Ill have to push this and get him over for a spin.
If I get some dates for open sessions at Newport I'll let you know. They did a 0900-1200 session on Sundays in 2010/2011There are talent scouts everywhere. Right now its just going to be concentrating on races and results as any coach will monitor the results and a recurring name near the top of the finishing order will start to generate interest.
As i said, his results are very good but there is a wealth of U18 talent in GB at the moment so a degree of expectation management is in order. Trying to break into a group of riders who have been part of a professional set up and coached by the best for the last few years will be incredibly tough. Try to compare it to someone starting karting at the same age and wanting to be in F1 and be aware that GB's Junior riders brought home a few medals and posted some very impressive results in Copenhagen this year.
have a look at www.abcc.co.uk too. you can find a lcoal coach for a chat and the coaching articles are usually very interesting.
contango said:
Best of luck to your brother....
Just to give you an idea of the competition, I have seen this lad ride a few times over the last couple of years, he is phenomenal and appears to be on course to becoming a pro...
http://dailycycle.co.uk/post/2011/11/01/e2809cImpo...
Wasn;t he refused from the academy? Just to give you an idea of the competition, I have seen this lad ride a few times over the last couple of years, he is phenomenal and appears to be on course to becoming a pro...
http://dailycycle.co.uk/post/2011/11/01/e2809cImpo...
contango said:
I really don't know?
I guess there is time, I would assume with a rider of this calibre, you have to plan their career......also for them to gain confidence on the way?
Look at Aamir Khan, he probably had some easier fights, when he was actually ready to step up.......?
I think he was knocked back yeh, which would have been a huge blow to him I reckon.I guess there is time, I would assume with a rider of this calibre, you have to plan their career......also for them to gain confidence on the way?
Look at Aamir Khan, he probably had some easier fights, when he was actually ready to step up.......?
Problem with cycling seems to be that you really need everything to go in your favour and be exceptional to make a decent living out of it. Its nothing like football where a lower level player will still make £500k a year,the lower level cyclists don't, I make more that plenty of pro cyclists I'm sure (given the minimum pro level salary is about £30k). For every Mark Cavendish (who earns a lot less than probably most of the Man utd team) there's hundreds of people in that pro peloton that earn peanuts.
okgo said:
contango said:
I really don't know?
I guess there is time, I would assume with a rider of this calibre, you have to plan their career......also for them to gain confidence on the way?
Look at Aamir Khan, he probably had some easier fights, when he was actually ready to step up.......?
I think he was knocked back yeh, which would have been a huge blow to him I reckon.I guess there is time, I would assume with a rider of this calibre, you have to plan their career......also for them to gain confidence on the way?
Look at Aamir Khan, he probably had some easier fights, when he was actually ready to step up.......?
Problem with cycling seems to be that you really need everything to go in your favour and be exceptional to make a decent living out of it. Its nothing like football where a lower level player will still make £500k a year,the lower level cyclists don't, I make more that plenty of pro cyclists I'm sure (given the minimum pro level salary is about £30k). For every Mark Cavendish (who earns a lot less than probably most of the Man utd team) there's hundreds of people in that pro peloton that earn peanuts.
prior to the BC/SKY set up becoming established, Brits just couldnt make the jump from the national scene to the european stage. Max Sciandri was the only one who managed it for years.
Must read that book.
You can of course be a cat 1 with a 9-5. Chap on here probably will go cat 1 next year and works a job in the city.
But there are some gifted types about, and some not. I train a lot less than one of the guys in our club, he's a similar age etc, yet he still gets dropped on our changang each week. Must be annoying for him.
You can of course be a cat 1 with a 9-5. Chap on here probably will go cat 1 next year and works a job in the city.
But there are some gifted types about, and some not. I train a lot less than one of the guys in our club, he's a similar age etc, yet he still gets dropped on our changang each week. Must be annoying for him.
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff