gsteinb

I do as well, which I've said. As I've also said it's a matter of context. Sure go to Belgium and race for a year or two. Get some life points. To quit school, with no mention of a job, to race as a domestic cat 2 is unnecessary at best. Since we can both name guys with jobs in their 40s with families who made it to cat 1 it's quite possible to do both, chase the cycling dream and not be completely irresponsible. Which, in asking random strangers a major life question on the interweb, might just mean he's avoiding talking to his parents about it.

Whether he's passionate for cycling is mostly irrelevant. He's not passionate for school and, maybe, should do something else (it's also equally as likely that he might need to grow up some and learn to follow through and finish something -- as he said he should probably talk to his parents). But to chase the next level of this dream doesn't necessitate full time racing as a 2. He's an unnamed kid, and an unnamed development team (there are several in NYC alone -- it, in many cases, is just a name). I'm not prepared to go into a conversation accepting someone no one knows is such an outlier that he should just skip all the steps.

One also shouldn't discount that a huge part of success is managing the whole of life and how it imparts stress. So let's say kid wants to drop out of school and race full time. He goes to parents. Parents say 'I wish I did something like that when I was young, have at it.' And he has the support mechanism in place not not have his decision be a huge stressor. Alternate: on the verge of flunking out he tells his parents his plan and they're shocked and appalled. Plus miffed they've tossed a bunch of Ks around already for college. Arguments ensue. They eventually, begrudgingly, tolerate the decision, but it's tough for kid to feel good about it without those he cares about in his corner. There's obviously myriad possibilities of how it all unfolds, but for the vast majority of people that sort of stuff will impact how well one will do. Sure, some guy living in a refrigerator box and dumpster diving invented to whojamacallit, took the company public and now owns the south pacific. But odds are most folks living in refrigerator boxes aren't on that track.

topflightpro

There are plenty of examples of people for whom dedicating their lift to training worked fine.

And there are probably even more examples for when it did not work at all.

Maybe the OP is a real talent who can climb to the pro ranks. Maybe not.

He said College is all he has going right now. So, maybe he should stick with his current track - go to school while racing and training, and see how he does in the 1/2 races. If things go well, he can always drop out next semester.

oespinoza83

Searched USACycling for all Cat 3s and 2s named Brett with his reported age. Couldn't find any. Maybe I am just overlooking it.

Not 100% sure on it, but I don't believe Lawson Craddock went to college and went Pro with NB as well. Didn't seem to hurt him since he substituted college for racing in Europe and learning real European racing. So it can be done either way.

But for my opinion, the OP shouldn't drop out of college to try and go Pro, assuming he isn't full of ish already.

rkwaki

Craddock and Nate Brown are two exceptions. Look at their meteoric rise through the ranks.

YMCA

Why are you guys trying to find his results?
He's a cat3.
Chasing the dream has nothing to do with results in lower cats.

oespinoza83

Because trolls.

shermo

Since we're all posting anecdotes.

There's a guy from round here who has just retired from being a continental pro. Talking to people who raced against him when he was a teenager, he never won anything. However, he came from a poor background, didn't really have any other options other than riding his bike, so he kept at it and managed to eek out a living. He's now got a very nice job in the bike industry. Maybe the guys who go on to wind world tour races are a different breed, but he's a good example of where you can get to on hard work alone.

Bb1123

Look, as a 19 year old whose only been riding his bike for ONLY LIKE 1.5 YEARS, and is becoming a cat2 once he sends in his upgrade request, which I should have done in august....
so for only racing for like 4 total months and to make it to CAT2... yea

I want to go to U23 Nationals, I don't care how I do my first year... maybe in the next year or so ill starting making it a goal to do well, but i want the experience.

Also, all I care about is riding my bike, and I don't care about school. I don't put effort into it, and i feel bad for wasting my parents money, so why not drop out and try to go pro within the next few years. if i can't do it, then ill go back to school.

Im not a typical college student anyway, partying and drinking heavily is not my thing AT ALL.
and college has mainly become only that these days.

YMCA

^^^
you asked for advice, but already know what you want, so might as well lock this thing...

Gjc985

What's your usa cycling license**********

shovelhd

I just gave my opinion. I am not telling the OP what to do. OP, do whatever you want to. It's your life.

TMonk

My vote is staying in school, working part time, training ~10-15hrs a week AND partying + drinking heavily. That's what I did.

But I'm only a cat3 so hey

carpediemracing 

I'll offer a dissenting point of view.

If school doesn't interest the OP then it doesn't interest the OP. If the OP wants to race full time then he can do that - work at a bike shop, get stuff at cost, get on a team, and race all the time. The real world experiences working at a shop will translate into other jobs and give him a base to work from. I lived like this for, what, like 7 years. I lived for racing and that was it.

He can then race a lot, pending the shop schedule. He can train a lot. He won't get disrupted by finals or by some support call at 1 AM (if he worked as, say, a support tech).

If it means not wasting his parents' money then that's what I'd do. At least the OP is honest enough about the lack of interest in school. The parents can invest the money in their son in a different way, whatever they wish.

If I were in the same position, not sure about money, not sure about life skills, etc, I'd seriously consider joining the military. If doing the right thing is something that appeals to the OP (if partying is not an interest that might mean this) then a career in law enforcement or similar (fire, EMT) might be good too.

Disclaimer: I found myself in a similar situation with school and parents offering to pay for (more) schooling. I turned them down because I knew that I couldn't do it - no desire to do so, no driving need, no obvious reward. I was okay with college since it was so cheap at the time - I think it cost $25k for 4 years of tuition and room/board. I also considered joining the military, even going to a few recruiting offices to speak with someone. I also seriously considered pursuing a career in law enforcement but got eliminated in the final round for the first town where I applied. This made me revisit the commitment, the 3rd shift thing for 5-7 years, etc, and I decided to withdraw all my other applications. I have a teammate who served, I know of a few racers who are law enforcement officers (who offered advice etc), and I know of a racer who just retired as a captain in his fire department.

Brian Ratliff

You get out of college what you put into it. If you use your time to party hard and drink heavily, it's not worth much of anything. If you listen carefully to the lectures, take notes and huddle up in your room or in the library over your stacks of books and papers and study, it'll change your life. Literally.

Going to college is a privilege only a select group of people get to partake. You pay for direct, personal access to some of the smartest people in their fields. What you do with that access is entirely up to you. It's not fashionable to say this these days, but a "college education" is not a product. The university is not a vending machine where you stick money in the slot and out pops an educated kid a few years later. College is where you find extremely smart people and you pay them to guide you as you study in the field of your choosing.

But hey. If all college is to you is partying and drinking, then you are better off not burning through your parents' wallets and directing that teenage angst into your pedals. Good luck and ride hard. Maybe we'll see you in velonews in a couple years.

Ygduf

^^ now there's a dude who hasn't been to college in a while

I note this both for the dream-world ideas about what college is, and also the complete lack of reading comprehension engaged in before lecturing OP about drinking and partying.

don't worry OP, some of us can read and support your decision to do whichever you have an actual passion for currently.

newjunior

Air Force Academy has an excellent cycling team

TMonk

Also there's this thing called balance (re: drinking+partying/academics)

School is only part of your life.

There's your work life,
your school life,
your partying life
your sports/fitness life,
your sex life,
your social life,
your artistic life,
your romantic life
your fantasy life (now there's a fun concept)

blah blah blah you get my point:

College (to me) was as much about learning how to be a responsible adult/citizen as it was about academics. Of course I didn't realize that at the time, and some semesters demanded more out of me than others.

TMonk

That's not to say that I wouldn't be responsible had I not gone to college (of course I would), rather that it streamlined things and introduced new responsibilities in a safe and sensible manner

also for the record I graduated in Dec 2010 w BS - chemistry.

hammy56

...

Brian Ratliff

I'm pretty sure I am closer to my college years than you are.

Unless the OP is also partaking in the partying and drinking, how in the world are other students' partying and drinking affecting the OP? Unless things have really, really changed, the library is still a quiet place to study. And last I heard you still get out of college what you put in. If you goof off rather than study, then you get very little (except for the social aspect, perhaps). If you study, you get more; how much more depends a lot on your parents. It's a lot like bike racing in that way.

But hey, I'm just a guy on the interwebs. People are free to read or not read what I say. The OP was trolling a bike racing forum looking for opinions. I offer an opinion. I took my time in the university seriously and my ratio of fun to study was heavily biased towards the studying. The OP really needs to be having this conversation with his parents (his umbilical cord has obviously not been cut yet), not a bunch of random internet strangers who happen to ride bikes.

gsteinb

It sounds less like you're asking for opinions/advice and more like you're asking us to talk to your parents for you.

thechemist

I am just confused, I dont care what you do but I am curious why it will take another race season to get to cat2 when you have the points now?

gsteinb

It isn't. He just needs to send in the upgrade request with his license renewal.

thechemist

I think i need coffee, thanks

wens

+1