Turning pro

Dave1441

I knows is very unlikely but I'd love to do it. I am 13 years old and I have been road cycling since 12.5 years old. I'm currently cycling 50 miles at the weekend and at the age of 14 I will be joining my local club because that is the youngest age they take. As said before I know it is VERY unlikely that i will turn pro but I'd love to do it. My question is how would I go about getting noticed and scouted for a national team, I know racing is the obvious answer but where would I have to place, 1st, top 5, top 10 etc. when I join the club I will start racing so any advice now will be much appreciated thanks.
Btw I turn 14 next June.

Herbsman

Do the racing first, and think about turning pro afterwards.

ugo.santalucia

Dave1441 wrote:

I knows is very unlikely but I'd love to do it. I am 13 years old and I have been road cycling since 12.5 years old. I'm currently cycling 50 miles at the weekend and at the age of 14 I will be joining my local club because that is the youngest age they take. As said before I know it is VERY unlikely that i will turn pro but I'd love to do it. My question is how would I go about getting noticed and scouted for a national team, I know racing is the obvious answer but where would I have to place, 1st, top 5, top 10 etc. when I join the club I will start racing so any advice now will be much appreciated thanks.
Btw I turn 14 next June.

Start racing and if you can learn to race on a track... That is the best way

Dave1441

I did go to a taster session at Manchester and I enjoyed it... Thanks for the replies

tiredofwhiners

Investigate the events in your local area which will come out of the Olympic legacy programmes. That would give you some good ideas about how to become good as part of a very structred development programme.

16mm

Read some pro biographies, see how they did it. Then get noticed by British Cycling.
David Mcleans blog is good indication of what it take to get on conti teams in europe, rather than the BC route.
http://www.davidmcleancyclist.com/home.php

Dave1441

Near me one race I definitely know of is otley crit, how would I find out if it is on an Olympic legacy programme

Lion-O

Just enjoy your cycling! and if you want some info look at the Dave Rayner Fund. They sponsor young riders to join a team in Belgium/France etc so you can concentrate on the racing/training. I would also suggest looking at the Olympic Development Program that BC have and get tested if you have the test figures you have all the support in the world. Plus id also look at the david mccleans blog as already mentioned.

Dave1441

Lion-O wrote:

Just enjoy your cycling! and if you want some info look at the Dave Rayner Fund. They sponsor young riders to join a team in Belgium/France etc so you can concentrate on the racing/training. I would also suggest looking at the Olympic Development Program that BC have and get tested if you have the test figures you have all the support in the world. Plus id also look at the david mccleans blog as already mentioned.

In your post you mention the Olympic development program but when I look at it on the BC website it says it is for 16-18 year olds?

BeaconRuth

Here's a link to the British Cycling development programmes for those who aspire to ride for GB: http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/gbcycl ... The-Team-0

At your age the first step would be to get on the Talent Team. Entries for that for this year are already closed but you probably wouldn't be old enough until next year anyway and you need to gain a lot of experience before you can apply for that. IIRC the application details said you needed to get a top 10 placing in a National Championship (for your age) or something like that, before you could apply.

Bear in mind that these days there are lots of good clubs for children and they start learning great racing skills very young. There are riders around of your age who have been competing for 5 years or more and they are already very skilled, tactically-aware riders. It would be really good if you can find a good Go-Ride club and get stuck into weekly coaching sessions where you'll learn how to be a good racer. (A club which says you can't join until you're 14 doesn't sound as though it will be focused on teaching you skills with plenty of others of your own age - is there a Go-Ride club near you?)

As others have said, though, the main thing is to get started racing as soon as you can and do as much of it as you can.

Ruth