What you Need to do to Become A Pro Cyclist

Posted by tan xiao yan on

It really depends on your current cycling level and on your background in sports of course if judge your qualification now. If you aspire to become a pro cyclist and still try to figure out what the pros had that you lack, here are a few things that you can do and should do to become a pro cyclist. Hope this useful information can help you.

Talent

I don’t think it’s possible for just anybody to become a professional athlete of any kind. When you see a professional cycling game, you are seeing the best of the best of the best. Not only did these athletes work physically hard to get to where they are, they also have a set of intangibles—a unique set of abilities that allow them to take their physical skills to a level that the rest of us can only imagine. When you truly understand just how good the pros are, the less you will think the pinnacle they reached can be obtained by just anyone.

So importantly,get the great DNA, with an extraordinary propensity towards cardiovascular efficiency, muscular power, light weight, pain resistance, intelligence, and determination.

But for every amateur cyclist who makes it as a pro, there are literally thousands who train as much as physically possible and race every weekend and just don't have the talent to be as fast as the pros.



You can turn to consult with a coach. A coach will assess your current fitness level and training. He will help you understand whether you're in the right direction to becoming a pro or not at all. Or test yourself - Pro riders should be able to ride at least at about 5.5 W/kg for long durations (let's say 20 minutes). Try reaching that wattage at first. (You can also use VAM to get a less accurate estimate of your abilities).

Nurture

Don’t be upset if you discover that no talent for cycling. Cycling is far more inclusive of different body types than other sports like football because the traits are extremely trainable compared to reflexes and explosiveness. The gradual nurture can make you catch up steps of the talented. You should notice the following points.

1)Get brought up determined by years and years of extraordinarily hard work and constant improvement.

2) Healthy. Relatively free of injury and build the strength.

3) To be a professional you need to have a certain set of skills which you need to harness. Learn skills like descending, tactics and placement in the pack.

4)Train consistently with a plan - Even the most talented pros had to train in order to get to where they are. Train consistently, train smart and you will see how you improve. Ride close to 500 miles a week because that's what elites do, and more. Training for pro cycling usually takes 4-6 hours a day. If the weather is too cold to cycle outside, train on a stationary bike in a gym or at home to ensure the exercise load.

5)Read biographies of relevant riders - Phil Gaimon wrote a great book about how he became a pro. Michael Hutchinson's books are also great. Take a look at them. It will inspire you. Because the spiritual food is as important as the eating food, it will also benefit a lot. You can learn from pro’s book about how they train and eat, and what their techniques and racing strategies are. You'll notice patterns in terms of how they approach a race and work with other cyclists in their teams. Adopt the techniques that work for you.



Diet

Similar to models, professional athletes rely on their body as a vessel for success. Keep a serious check on your diet and motivation Eat right so we can ride well. Your food should be meticulously prepared. Racers are burning a mix of glycogen (from carbohydrate) and fat for fuel. Since our bodily stores of glycogen are limited, we should consume mostly carbohydrate during a ride. Calories consumed per hour are more important than picking foods with a high GI. You should consume up to 300 calories per hour. You have to ensure the supply of all nutrients for the need of your body, both in the course of cycling and the after.

Go race

The next suggestion would be to sign up for competitive races with prize money and try to win a few. The competition in these races will bring out the best in you and if by God's grace you succeed then sponsorship will be the following step. It's a gradual process, and not necessarily will get you an earning initial. So you should know that in order to become a pro you need to race. Better do it in Europe where racing is harder (and you're gonna be close). Racing will teach you how to do just that – race is a crucial tool for becoming a pro. It will also motivate you and show you what fitness and technical aspects you need to work on, and as a result, you tactically aware the way to win.



In the US, a cyclist wanting to climb the ranks and become a professional rider should start by joining the USA Cycyling as a Category 5 or open category amateur. Points are determined based on the size of the field and type of race. Once a rider has achieved a CAT 1 status they are eligible to be signed by a professional team. Enter in bigger contests as you are getting faster and stronger. At the USA Cycling website, you can research events per state and find ones you are qualified to enter.

Equipment

You are expected to be able to afford professional equipment and accessories. You can find what bikes, components, wheels and tires the best pro cyclists use and take it as a reference.

Generally, each pro rider has 3-6 bikes, 1-2 for training, 1-2 for time-trials, and 1-2 for road racing. Namely, they ride different bikes for racing than for training.

Also, you can equip your bike with a power meter. The amount of data you collect riding will far outweigh the quality of any lab testing. And the analysis tool available are so amazing at what they do, they are practically free. The data you gather and even just the free analysis available will easily calculate your trajectory.



Recovery

You must have heard that recovery is as important as training. If you start your next ride when you’re not completely recovered, your body is at a disadvantage and you’ll be more tired and gain less from each workout, of course, lack of good state for the race. Do some exercise to help recovery, like the warm-up before and cool-down after cycling, some stretch in the course of cycling, have rest days and have a good sleep, pay attention to the nutrition supply and the practice intense. The importance of recovery should never be underestimated

Time

But that trainability also means it takes a very long time develop high-level capabilities, to plus the determination, resilience, courage, and sheer dogged mental strength of a winner

And the pro cycling career path is heavily skewed to promote young riders, with age based quotas at the lower levels. The vast majority of professional riders discovered a serious love for endurance sports in their early to mid-teens and molded their bodies through puberty to become custom built endurance machines. It doesn't have to be cycling necessarily. It can be running, soccer, XC skiing etc. but the correlation between early involvement in endurance sports and success in cycling is astoundingly strong.



Income

If you cannot become a professional cyclist you can only discover whether you are already one. If you scrape up all the professional cyclists in a world of 7.4 billion, you get roughly 1250. Half of which depend on income from another job. You must already have the genetics, and a lot more time than a year, to discover if you have the goods. Some stresses from being a pro cyclist should be boring. It is better to keep your day job. Basically, you're never going to make enough money for pro-cycling to support you. Pro teams usually pay for excellent equipment and travel but the salary is essentially few. You also need a flexible job which can leave time for your training and race.

You can join a cycling club and find a sponsor for financial support so that can bear less stress. In this way, sponsors can cover the cycling costs and help to improve the quality of equipment, coaching, and medical care. It is difficult to find one, but it is worthy to try.

Though several things should be considered, to be a professional cyclist you generally need two main things: your skills and talent and you should showcase them. But, if you insist on being a pro cyclist when you lack one main point, just don't give up all the time.