Professional CyclistsÂ’ Education

[Not Riding Enough]

Professional Cyclists’ Education

I'm having an argument with my wife who said that all professional cyclists are uneducated. I would love to know of the cyclists who have a Tertiary degree.

Obviously to be a pro you generally have to start early and dedicate so much time, so a university/college degree may not be an easy option or a priority.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

MOre of them have college degrees than you might expect. Off the top of my head, Marco Pinotti has an engineering degree. Emma Pooley is doing doctorate work in some (to be) very obscure technical field.

Susan

Edit: according to wiki, pooley is working on her "PhD in geotechnical engineering at ETH Zurich."

 

[Not Riding Enough]

MOre of them have college degrees than you might expect. Off the top of my head, Marco Pinotti has an engineering degree. Emma Pooley is doing doctorate work in some (to be) very obscure technical field.

Susan

Edit: according to wiki, pooley is working on her "PhD in geotechnical engineering at ETH Zurich."

Thanks.

Anyone got anymore? My Phd wife will say that's not many, as I could only come up with a couple too.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

There are probably quite a few, but I don't know of any central listing of such things. You might go through a few team websites, or the individual riders' sites.

Tell your wife she shouldn't be drawing a conclusion based on insufficient evidence.

Susan

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

You must also take into consideration the differing school systems. A much smaller proportion of the population in Europe attends university than in the US. It doesn't mean they are stupid....

Susan

 

[unsheath]

Some teams are now making a concerted effort to develop riders outside of just cycling. Porsche Drapac is one team that makes their riders undertake either tertiary education or other career development initiatives.

 

[VanceNichols]

Many may not possess secondary education but i would bet a majority of cyclist know more about physiology and business dealings that a majority of college students. Many of these cyclist have been planning their career paths since they were young.

 

[nvpacchi]

Check out this thread

There was a nice discussion a few months back about this.