Originally Posted by
merlinextraligh
Dude, forget about turning Pro. First, as you point out, you're putting too much pressure on yourself. Just race, have fun, learn.
Second, in all candor, there's virtually no chance you'll ever race as a pro. The vast majority of racers never will. And the people that do have a legitimate chance of being sucessful pro's identify themselves very early by showing an ability to ride away from other lower category amateurs. If after a season of hard training, and half a season of racing you are consistently getting dropped, even by first time racers, the odds are extremely high that riding as a pro is an unrealistic expectation.
It's possible I'm wrong, and you'll be a late bloomer. If you start getting results, and moving up, you can worry about that then. For now, forget about turning pro, focus on doing the best you can now, and have fun.
Yes I know what you're saying here, and I especially know that I'm not going to turn pro. I'm just saying its just the thought that I always have in my mind of how great that would be. And its hard just to give it up. For example, it's like telling a little kid, "forget about growing up and becoming rich", or "you're not going to win the Stanley cup, keep dreaming" (which is 99.9% of every little kids dream here in Canada). I know that I'll never turn pro, but even just to be able to make it to the E1/2 category here in Canada or go to nationals sometime in the near future would be amazing, and its hard to just give it all up and quit trying. I'm trying though to just race because its fun, I really do love it and wish there were more than 7 or 8 races here, half of which are like 5 hours away, because racing all the time would be great. Like I said though, it's like the fire in my belly, working towards something great. It's the only way to get out there and train when you don't feel like it.