cycling, a rich mans sport?

kumate_champ07

*wining* in cycling, a rich man/womans sport?


At the track nationals alot of the riders have very expensive equipment, I know its not the bike and all that but when you have athletes of equal ability and one rider happens to have a 4000euro aero wheelset is it a fair advantage? In olympic track cycling they all generally use the same equipment, well the mavic i/o wheelset anyway, for someone whos self funded and not wealthy how can you compete nationally when 1/10 seconds can mean 1st or maybe 4th?

Im not speaking personally as Im far from competing at a high national level but its a concern for the future. All my money goes towards my equipment and Im unemployed so its tough.

I see it more at the elite category as there are a few riders of equal ability, tactics play a part but when both put out the same watts against the same wind side by side the rider with the most aero(expensive) equipment wins?

stas

My guess, serious cyclists don't actually invest a lot of their own money, they use sponsors.

gman2k

That's all well and good, but you will still need the legs, and only genetics and training will give you that!

Beasty

The good thing about riding the track is it's probably the cheapest form of competitive cycling and you can go a long way with quite basic equipment.

Of course to compete at the highest level you will need expensive wheels in particular, but these make most difference in TTs/pursuits when it's probably less risky using borrowed equipment.

The great thing about the track programme is it's allowing kids to come through with little if any personal investment required. The riders with most potential will get support, and if they show the ability to compete at international level there will be both personal grants and help with equipment. Having said that, clearly there are limits to the amounts available, particularly in the current economic climate

Ultimately, if you have the resouce (either your own or provided externally) yes it's going to be a lot easier to compete, but you also need to have the ability, and if you have the ability hopefully the resource will ultimately find you.

kumate_champ07

ye I was thinking its mainly TT's where the advantage is gained, with scratch/point racing you can draft and its mostly good tactics and good legs. I realise if you reach an elite level you may get sponsorship but if you are just under that level then its very expensive

c montgomery

Sean Kelly is from a farly modest background and he ended up being one of the greatest cyclists ever. Same goes for Laurant Fignon and many others.

lennymc

i used to race motorbikes on a very tight budget, and it was very demoralising to pass people in corners, only for them to come by you on the straight cos they have tuned the hell out of their bikes and are running 20HP more than you, so I feel your pain kumate. But at the end of the day, i guess people competing on a budget just have to suck it up and ride harder

kumate_champ07

lennymc wrote: »

i used to race motorbikes on a very tight budget, and it was very demoralising to pass people in corners, only for them to come by you on the straight cos they have tuned the hell out of their bikes and are running 20HP more than you, so I feel your pain kumate. But at the end of the day, i guess you just have to suck it up and ride harder

Ill be tuning the hell out of my engine this winter! picking up rollers tonite and got my eye set on a kurt kintetic road machine for sprint intervals, and hopefully rejoining the gym tomorrow for squat training. but it would indeed be demorailsing if you worked hard for 12-24months and competed in 1k tt and lost by 1/10 second because of your wheels!

lennymc

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

Ill be tuning the hell out of my engine this winter! picking up rollers tonite and got my eye set on a kurt kintetic road machine for sprint intervals, and hopefully rejoining the gym tomorrow for squat training. but it would indeed be demorailsing if you worked hard for 12-24months and competed in 1k tt and lost by 1/10 second because of your wheels!

it would indeed!! Ive used the sufferfest videos on the rollers - i find them good. not sure if they would be any good for you or not.

Look on the bright side, mr nice wheels sure is getting you all fired up and determined to kick his ass!!!

chakattack

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

Ill be tuning the hell out of my engine this winter! picking up rollers tonite and got my eye set on a kurt kintetic road machine for sprint intervals, and hopefully rejoining the gym tomorrow for squat training. but it would indeed be demorailsing if you worked hard for 12-24months and competed in 1k tt and lost by 1/10 second because of your wheels!

And you get the "moral" victory

Beasty

lennymc wrote: »

Look on the bright side, mr nice wheels sure is getting you all fired up and determined to kick his ass!!!

Ahem..... I will be racing in the same group as kumate_champ07 next year and my nice wheels help me keep on his less nice (but still good) back wheel. On the basis that my ass will probably be well behind his, hopefully kicking it will not be an option;)

victorcarrera

Many of the unemployed riders I've seen this year have made improvements far greater than any set of wheels could do for them. Use the spare time you have now to train and buy the wheels when you get back to work.

kumate_champ07

victorcarrera wrote: »

Many of the unemployed riders I've seen this year have made improvements far greater than any set of wheels could do for them. Use the spare time you have now to train and buy the wheels when you get back to work.

great point.


heres some inspiration I just found, think it's Chris Hoy training for his kilo.



Ill set up a turbo beside my bed!

Jawgap

Why not do a Graeme Obree and make the bike yourself???

From Wikipedia, so it must be true.....

"An individual time triallist, his first race was a 10-mile time trial to which he turned up wearing shorts, anorak and Doc Marten boots. He thought the start and finish were at the same place and stopped where he had started, 100 metres short of the end. He had started to change his clothes when officials told him to continue. He still finished in "about 30 minutes."

Kaisr Sose

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

got my eye set on a kurt kintetic road machine

Any idea who sells this trainer. Getting nothing on Google-bar Amazon USA.

Beasty

Jawgap wrote: »

Why not do a Graeme Obree and make the bike yourself???

Good point - I may have an old washing machine lying around that should help

Obree competed on his self-built "Old Faithful"


against the likes of Boardman on his Lotus Superbike

happytramp

Beasty wrote: »

Obree competed on his self-built "Old Faithful"

against the likes of Boardman on his Lotus Superbike

How did he fare?

Kaisr Sose

happytramp wrote: »

How did he fare?

I think he broke the hour record set by Chris on his Lotus, got a pro contract of some sort and was instrumental in the UCI introducing strict guidelines/criteria on bike design. Not bad for a home made design. Obviously, he also had some talent!!
It would make a good film.

wanderer 22

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

As far as I can recall he broke the hour record set by Chris and was instrumental in the UCI introducing strict criteria on bike design. Pretty good for a home made bike!
Often thought it would make a good film!

"The Flying Scotsman" would be a good title

happytramp

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

As far as I can recall he broke the hour record set by Chris

Good for you anorak kitchen bike man!

Beasty

Well Obree actually took Moser's record first in 1993, Boardman took it from him a week later, Obree took it back the following year and a couple of years later Boardman took it again ....

They then outlawed all the "modern" technology and made riders attempt the record on "traditional" bikes - the previous one being set by Moser in the 1970s which was beaten by Boardman in 2000

So if anyone wants to have a go at the "official" hour record, they can't use any of the "technology" now anyway

Jawgap

wonder what bikes would like now if Obree's designs hadn't been squished by the UCI?

Junior

Beasty wrote: »

Well Obree actually took Moser's record first in 1993, Boardman took it from him a week later, Obree took it back the following year and a couple of years later Boardman took it again ....

They then outlawed all the "modern" technology and made riders attempt the record on "traditional" bikes - the previous one being set by Moser in the 1970s which was beaten by Boardman in 2000

So if anyone wants to have a go at the "official" hour record, they can't use any of the "technology" now anyway

There's two hour records now, one the athletes hour is the one that specifies the frame as being the same as the 70's and then there's an Absloute Hour record.