Still have time?

16 is a good age to start racing. You've got heaps of time to build up strength and technique. They say 28-38 is the peak agegroup.
First step up the ladder would be to join a club with a good junior racing program.
Once you start being competative you'll train alot harder with more focus and you'll be able to make your own assesments on the amount and type of training needed. Everyones different.
Just make sure you like the sport, that's the most important thing.

Cheers

Awesome, thanks. Another question though. I usually only ride down at the velodrome near me, but sometimes i might go on a ride with my dad on the bike path, which can be a bit bumpy. Would a road bike or mountain bike be more suitable?

A road bike or mountain bike. Only you can choose which is for you. Wheater you like riding road or trails.

btw, I'm 16 too 😉

YoungBker said:

Im almost 16, living in Melbourne Australia. I've only ridden bikes recreationally but have recently become interested in becoming a pro. Is it still possible for me to become a professional cyclist? How often will i have to ride to become good enough?

It is possible but chances are small. First you must find a good club (not recreational) and then completely focus on cycling. Of course you must be talented as well.

My friend started racing road when he was 16 and now he is 24 and is riding for FDJ. You have some 3-4 years to build up good base which you need before you can start more intensive training. My friend told that as he sees it you need to have around 150 000km in your legs before you can start training like a pro. If you are really talented you don't necessarily need that much of training, but that is an ok guideline. If you want to become pro rider on road you need to train a lot and now that you are young you need to concentrate on "base training". When you are 19 you should try to get a place in European (French, Belgian) amateur team or if you are good enough maybe in continental team and move to Europe to ride good races. Before you move up to elite 2 don't push yourself too hard even if you have to train a lot.

Join some club which has good program for juniors and ride with them. If the club has good trainer and you are talented and willing to work you might have a chance to become good enough that you can go to europe and try to get a contract.

p.s. Just be ready to live on your own in [censored] apartments in France or belgium and still be motivated enough to train like crazy.

Last year`s U23 TT world champion Brajkovic started as a junior. He`s in Discovery Channel from August 1 and was 13th in yesterday`s Eneco Tour prologue.
First year, when he was a junior, he hardly follow the group and after 2 years, he was on top of the World.

Virenque said:

Last year`s U23 TT world champion Brajkovic started as a junior. He`s in Discovery Channel from August 1 and was 13th in yesterday`s Eneco Tour prologue.
First year, when he was a junior, he hardly follow the group and after 2 years, he was on top of the World.

I suppose he is very talented? My friend on the other hand wasn't super good when he was younger, he only started to ride well in 2001-2002 and 2004 in VC Roubaix was his breakthrough year.

Yes he must be very talented, no doubt about that.

Can you maybe tell us who is your friend?🙂

Virenque said:

Yes he must be very talented, no doubt about that.

Can you maybe tell us who is your friend?🙂

Jussi Veikkanen who is riding ENECO Tour of Benelux at the moment.

Great. How old was he when he got a pro contract and what were his results? I think as a Finn he had to show a lot that French team hired him.

If I remember right Jussi won five races last year before signing. He was riding in France for VC Roubaix last year. If it's possible to get a contract for Finnish rider then it should be possible for Australian too.

Australian have better chances of course. Australia is one of the top cycling nations. It`s sad that here you must be a lot better than neighbour italians who become pro, because they`re top cycling country.

"150,000 kilometers in your legs before you can start trainiung like a pro"

WOW!

thats 94,000 miles which at 20mph is 4700 hours of training or about 4.5 years at 20 hours a week!

Yeah it looked like T. dekker was unbeateble....too bad brajkovic had the ride of his life!

Talking about talent brajkovic, t. dekker, de kort, eltink, nuyens etc......

Virenque said:

Last year`s U23 TT world champion Brajkovic started as a junior. He`s in Discovery Channel from August 1 and was 13th in yesterday`s Eneco Tour prologue.
First year, when he was a junior, he hardly follow the group and after 2 years, he was on top of the World.

Here is Jussi!😄