Beginner

Wow! Semi-pro football at 15?!? Why not stick to football, there's more money in it?

frenchyge said:

Wow! Semi-pro football at 15?!? Why not stick to football, there's more money in it?

Ah should have explained, I play soccer to be more precise, in the UK, and while yes its still quite a high level to be playing I basically screwed up my chance of turning pro a while back so it's not really going anywhere. I just play for the enjoyment of it but have had an interest in cycling for a few years now, and when a friend recommended I join a local club I thought I might give it a go!🙂

srober said:

Ah should have explained, I play soccer to be more precise, in the UK, and while yes its still quite a high level to be playing I basically screwed up my chance of turning pro a while back so it's not really going anywhere. I just play for the enjoyment of it but have had an interest in cycling for a few years now, and when a friend recommended I join a local club I thought I might give it a go!🙂

Ok, now this makes sense.

I can't see a 15 yr old football player(american) wanting to switch to cycling.

honestly, my best advice would be to read "The Cyclist's Training Bible" by Friel. amazon.com002 4157433 2622463Open ↗Also, depending on how much knowledge you have with sports nutrition, i recommend Christ Carmichael's "Food for Fitness". It gives you as much depth as you could want to go into types of food, how much, what time, what time of the year to eat what...i think its great. amazon.com002 4157433 2622463Open ↗

those would be the best place to start. cycling is basically made up of two components - your training and your nutrition. what better way to go about doing it the *right* way than learning first. 🙂 good luck...

Equus123 said:

honestly, my best advice would be to read "The Cyclist's Training Bible" by Friel. amazon.com002 4157433 2622463Open ↗Also, depending on how much knowledge you have with sports nutrition, i recommend Christ Carmichael's "Food for Fitness". It gives you as much depth as you could want to go into types of food, how much, what time, what time of the year to eat what...i think its great. amazon.com002 4157433 2622463Open ↗

those would be the best place to start. cycling is basically made up of two components - your training and your nutrition. what better way to go about doing it the *right* way than learning first. 🙂 good luck...

I agree 100%. I wish I had the forums and these two books at your age, srober 🙂
Although Friel's advise for the first year beginner is just to ride as much as you can, you can understand and LEARN the right things before you start next season. BTW what's your opinion Equus123 about Friel's 'Paleo Diet' advocacy? For me is just the anti-cyclist diet... Uh, I think I should
start a thread about this 🙄

Health and Hapiness,

Oscar

Another thing to think about in the side (maybe its too soon to think about it) is whether or not you consider yourself an enduring person. Endurance sports are quite different from sports requiring activities with patterns.

Even within cycling there is road racing, off road, cross country and track. All of these are quite different and the books suggested by other people mainly focus on road cycling.

srober said:

Hiya, I'm sure you get hundreds of these posts but I am looking to take up road racing and am wondering if anyone has any useful tips about how to get into the sport and how to train properly? I'm generally quite fit, as I've been playing semi pro football for the last 2 years, since I was 15, but really want to get into cycling. I really want to be competitive at a high level as soon as possible so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Well first of all, ride your bike. That's the most important thing. And take the time to sift through the posts on this forum, I think you'd be much better served by that than bying "The Training Bible."

srober said:

Ah should have explained, I play soccer to be more precise, in the UK, and while yes its still quite a high level to be playing I basically screwed up my chance of turning pro a while back so it's not really going anywhere. I just play for the enjoyment of it but have had an interest in cycling for a few years now, and when a friend recommended I join a local club I thought I might give it a go!🙂

Heh, that makes sense. I was just thinking "Why would a football player even think about switching to cycling? Cycling would be much better suited for an endurance athlete like, say..... a soccer player." Silly Americans. :o

I'd definitely suggest joining a cycling club or a race team. That's the best place to learn the ins-and-outs of the sport, and have some fun doing it. When those guys get done trashing you, you'll be back here looking for some training 'secrets' that you can use when they least expect it. That's what competition's all about.

Hey thanks guys, lots of good advice already! I'll definitely look into everything you've mentioned and make sure I start doing some reading up on training and stuff if that's what's gonna help me!😄