Everything I hear/read about pros (men and women) is that they got on a bike and started winning right away. Are there any exceptions? People who trained hard for more than a month or two before they won state championships or got picked up by a team?

All the instant success I read about is really discouraging, after 5 races the best I've done is 4th place...that kind of start looks like I'm destined to be pack filler compared to even the local elites.

Insperational stories would be greatly appreciated!