TALENTED RIDERS

[AndreZA]

I would say willingness to sacrifice everything in order to succeed. Look at me, I'm extremely talented but I'm not willing to give up my nice warm bed to go train in the mornings or give up my moms cooking to go to Europe. I could have made it years ago, even before RH.

 

 

[Chrispy]

A talented rider is not always the one that necessarily wins the local races all the time. It is the one that has a self believe and self dedication to succeed. I have seen many youngsters dubbed "talented" but as soon as they can make up their own mind and not get pushed by the parents they disappear from the scene.

Willie Engelbrecht was one of the few talented riders that kept going to the bigger stages of life.

Just go and look at the results of SA Champs (Road,track or MTB) 5 years ago and have a look how many of those youngsters are still part of the cycling scene today.

Too many races, pressure from the parents etc took their toll.

Only the true talented ones survived.

My 2cents in the pot.

[Old Dog]

I think Meyer wants to know how he can measure someone he knows. Quite simple - throw them in the deep end (or an organised cycling event) and see how they emerge. I knew that a person close to me had talent when, at 16 years old he did an Argus in 2hrs42mins on a very ordinary bike! If he/she is good, and becomes visibly so, someone will notice.

[TitusTi]

I think talent is a very over rated thing, lots of people have talent, it's not a unique commodity. To be able to hack it over there you must have nothing to come back to here. If you do it makes it so much easier to just quit! Maybe his head is strong enough? Who knows, throw him in the deep end and let him suffer for a good long time, not given all the ridiculous privilages our juniors get, I mean really nowhere else in the world do juniors race on top end bikes with DuraAce! In the overseas clubs all the juniors get the same bike and the ones that are hungry enough progress to the next level. Simple really.

[Wonder Woman]

To be a pro you have to eat, sleep and live cycling and once that's all over you still want to go and ride. Then you know you love it enough to be at the top.

Leave it to the "talented" person to decide what they want...push them too hard and they will pull out. Seen it too many times.

 

My suggestion, it sounds like they are still young and have time so let them grow their own pace with all your support and encouragement and take it from there.

 

 

 

 

[techguy]

First off, go for it if they have the mental stability to vasbyt then they've got something going for them.

However don't waste your time trying to be a pro in SA, I know so many guys who were pros locally for a year or so but because of the lack of sponsorship and number of teams they had to give up cycling to earn a living. Also a pro life is not all that fantastic, unless you're a special case the teams locally and internationally pay peanuts for young riders.

 

Hence the need for mental toughness, to push through the first few years of getting your head kicked in...

[Buddah]

From what I heard, you can only speak after being there yourself....I dont think it easy anywhere, everyone is always trying to get the better of you sometime or another,Human Nature.

[pedal]

I can only speak from the 'parent side'.... talent is not the main igredient, but passion, support and the mind to suceed.

Many top talented cyclits never win a race, but they get the team to the line, thats talent...... never push to hard, but guidance  and support makes a young 'talented cyclist' into a 'Hardened cyclist'. Talent is always there if they are keen.

Good luck to this youngster.... just don't push to hard.... many a talent has got lost due to this, and this unfortunately comes from 'outside' family, not within.  Many times people look at results and think you are not good, but you have worked your butt off to get the team in the break, too the line ... whatever..... my 20c worth, and a proud Mom of a 'talented' cyclist, maybe not a winner, in my books.