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| *Vultures Knob>>>Cycling |
Is there such a thing as a pro XC mountain biker? |
I really love this sport and I'm wondering if their are people who do this for a living. How do you start to become one? There are lots of Pro XC mountain bikers. Cool thing is that many of them are very accessible at mountain bike races. Here is a smattering of riders, teams and their websites. Mark Hendershot and Mark Weir both ride for Santa Cruz Bicycles. You can find them and others at: http://www.santacruzbicycles.com/riders... Tinker Juarez rides for Cannondale. You can find him at: http://www.tinkerjuarez.com/ Chris Eatough and Jeremiah Bishop ride for Trek/VW. You can find them at: http://www2.trekbikes.com/us/en/mountain... As I said, these are just a few riders. Most bicycle companies sponsor riders. Furthermore, most companies making accessories sponsor riders, as well. If you go scouting around their websites, you'll find lots of information on their teams. Among other things, the key to winning sponsorship is winning races. I have never seen averages on pro mountain biker incomes. Many, however, seem to have day jobs. Further, mountain bikers, on the whole, make much less than road bikers. Thus, many mountain bikers, like Floyd Landis, transition over to road racing where the rewards are much bigger. Good luck in your quest. Yes. Train hard, eat right, and start entering races. Try this link: www.usacycling.org You betcha. Don't have links at the moment, but guys like Brian Lopez (i think that is the name) come to mind. Any sport that you can get people to watch, you can get product manufacturers and bike shops to sponsor. To become one, you'll have to win some races. Problem is that it isnt big enough to make super big bucks doing it. Sponsor may give you the bike or fly you somewhere, but it'd be hard to make a living doing it except for a few lucky guys. Yes, to get a start find some local events and enter them. If you enjoy it, go to "usacycling.org" and join and get your competition license. You don't need the license for local events as you can pay for a 1-day license at the event, however if you compete on a regular basis it is cheaper. Get good and enter some regional events as your skills get better. Hopefully you can work a deal with a bike shop for some form of sponsorship. It's up to you how far you go and a full time ride is hard to get, but not impossible. For your first race start in a lower class and see how you do, move up when the class is no longer a challenge. Good luck. Heck Yeah, it's an Olympic sport as well. I was lucky to see the first Olympic XC race in Atlanta in '96. yes and i think that the bike is made by specialized yes |
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