Why did you stop racing?

[BroDeal]

I guess there are a lot of people like me who raced when they were younger but quit. Why did you quit?

 

[franciep10]

crashed on a ITT race and wrecked my knees couldn't race at that level anymore, and now i'm strictly a coach

 

[Animal]

I used to do a lot of time trials, but in the current economic climate, I'm working 70 hour weeks, and have no time for racing.

 

[steelciocc]

$$$...

Too expensive to replace equipment these days. I remember when it cost $20 to replace a brake lever but crashes these days cost hundreds of dollars.

That, and my skin doesn't seem to heal quite as quickly as it did 20 years ago...

 

[patswana]

Had a couple of kids. They're like parasites. But with massive rewards too.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I never started. Too scared to ride in a peloton or to ride hard in downhills.

 

[Pietro]

I guess there are a lot of people like me who raced when they were younger but quit. Why did you quit?

All the local races were 3-4 turn crit bloodbaths in industrial parks. No circuit or road races. No fun.

 

[Angliru]

All my training buddies stopped racing/riding about 20 years ago. I started back briefly about 6 years ago but crashed in my second race back (a road race). Raced twice after that but the 20 year gap and the 20 plus pounds that I've accumulated in that time has made the prospect of getting back into race shape and sacrifices it entails (I love to eat!), less than appealing.
I still like the occasional spirited ride but the "every ride a hammerfest" mentality has seeped out of me over the years.

Remarkably it hasn't lessened my love for the sport. It is greater now than it was when I was racing regularly.

 

[Escarabajo]

I never raced. Parents never gave me the support to do that. I guess in My Country it is hard to be a bicycle rider and support your family at the same time unless you are Lance Armstrong. I have always ridden bicycles anyway. Now in the States I practice more than ever before.
Thanks.

 

[Power13]

Why did you quit?

I haven't....and don't think I ever will. I enjoy the thrill of racing too much, and Masters racing is MUCH safer than then normal categories.

 

[Jarvis]

Because I needed to do something else other than train and race. Came out of retirement last year but the quality of riding seems to have gone downhill badly in the last 5 years and saw too many bad crashes in too few races and don't have the time or motivation to train myself out of the lower categories. Think I'll stick to mountain bike racing. Won't ever stop being a fan of road racing though

 

[pmessal]

I'm only on temporary hiatus until the baby can either stay home by herself or able to occupy herself at the races with me. The wife is a CPA, so during "tax-season" (which is when the racing season is in full swing) it's a lot of daddy/daughter time which cuts deeply into training/racing time.

I come around in the summer and fall, but mostly centuries and the like. Some of my teammates are riding better than they have in their entire lives and they are much older than I am, so I'm hopeful that I've still got some great racing years ahead of me!

 

[slowoldman]

I haven't....and don't think I ever will. I enjoy the thrill of racing too much, and Masters racing is MUCH safer than then normal categories.

Ditto. I still race, it keeps me sane. I have teenagers (and a 22 year old) . Masters racing is usually much safer and quite honestly faster than categorized racing until you get to the Pro 1/2 category.

 

[BikeCentric]

I did quit for 2 seasons because I got really sick of all the blood and smashed bikes in criteriums; not to mention I simply got tired of banging elbows to sprint for a high placing in the end - I realized American style crit racing was just a lot different from the kind of European road racing that inspired me to start racing.

Anyway, after a 2 year break I came back and now I mainly do hard road races with the occassional very technical crit course. And cyclocross!

 

[crispy]

I'm only on temporary hiatus until the baby can either stay home by herself or able to occupy herself at the races with me.

Ditto, except I have a one year old son. My wife stays home with him but he's enough work that mommy needs a break as soon as I get home from work and on weekends so training rides are out. I had fun doing masters races before baby so maybe once he starts school I'll get back into it.

 

[Zoncolan]

Only getting started

Actually, I was a waterpolo player for like 14 years, I just rode my bike for fun.
One day, as I was riding for fun, an idiot ran a red light, hit me, destroyed my right shoulder (that was the end of my waterpolo career).
So, after I recovered (it took 14 months of PT for me to heal), I took up racing in 2004.
I dropped 6 kilos, getting better all the time, but still no wins.
I do both road and MTB.
Anyhoo, been a fan for over 20 years, now I'm part of it (on a very modest level in a country that cares very little for cycling)

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

I raced for about 10 years from my early 20' to my early 30's, and decided that after shelling out a couple grand in entrance fees and travel expenses every year wasn't fun anymore regardless of the results. In my mid 30's now, still ride just as much as I used to, and attend a handful of unsanctioned gentleman's races throughout the season. The pack don't take themselves so seriously, and the parcours are head and shoulders above the proverbial box crit, crits disguised as road races, or anything sanctioned by a governing body for that matter. My newest cycling addiction is randoneering back to back Century rides.

 

[Alfred E. Neuman]

Raced for a while in my early to mid 20's, but slowly came to realise that the old saying is 100% true:

A race is a good ride ruined.

 

[ridley]

Raced in the recreational leagues in South Africa. But it got kind of dangerous to go out riding (due to high crime rates) and the lack of training buddies. You know it is bad when you have to pack a handgun to go on a training ride.

 

[md2020]

Interesting thread. I never sat down and really thought about it.

I started racing at 13 and was a decent junior and as I got older, an OK cat 2 racer. Ultimately, it was a combination of losing the passion for all the training combined with the realization that I wasn't good enough to compete at the higher levels that made me stop competing.

I haven't been on a road bike in 15 years but I still love the sport.

 

[jaylew]

I quit from time to time but usually come back. I'll get tired of crashes and races ending in mass sprints, quit, and focus on triathlons. Then, I'll get frustrated with the time and money involved to race triathlons(or the fact that I can't swim worth a damn) and quit that and bike race again.

 

[TrapperJohn]

Never got above cat 4, so I was strictly an occasional amateur.

I did see the effort it would take to rise higher, and it wasn't in me. Too much time, too many other things I also wanted to do.

 

[rhubroma]

I began racing in 1988. Actually the first year was 83. But I didn't like the fatigue at 13 years old! And so decided to unfortunately play highschool football instead for 4 years! Later I found out I was a much better climber than a nosegaurd! Therefore went to Italy to race in 1995 and "stopped" in 2003. This past November I got back in the saddle and road deleriously in the rain til Cristmass, to loose a few pounds I had put on mostly from drinking too much wine and eating pasta. Went back with my roman girlfriend to Philly to visit the fam for 2 weeks durning the holidays, then, after I got back, continued to ride in the rain...because this winter in Italy all it did was rain. At the end of January a former teammate I was training with introduced me to his team and they asked me to join. Naturally I had in the meantime slimmed down (which is all I wanted to do!). I did my first race after 6 years in early February. Pack finish a bit fatigued but satisfied. I have raced every weekend since and recently have started to slowly emerge with some top 10 placings. I'd say the quality of the field is cat 2 with some even better (read below). My team has won the last 3 races. Amateur stuff, of course, but with often some ex-pros in the field like Massimiliano Leli (who won CoreStates US Pro Champs in 1997 I think, and Colagi, who placed 2nd to Abdu on the Champs in Paris one year and who won Tirreno-Adriatico once also). In Italy many proes continue to race after they "retire" and, I can assure you, they race. I'm almost 39 years old. Today is European Labor Day and I worked my arss off to help a teammate win this morning, who is a fine sprinter, by chasing down breaks. When he won today, I felt like a little of that win was in my legs so it was pretty cool. Our team worked without ego and with class as they say. (By the way this teammate road on the same team with Marco Pantani at the BabyGiro in the early 90's). This afternoon I slept for three hours and my legs are soar as I write this... I'm not bad uphill, but am slow (in the sprint), otherwise I'd have won a lot more over the years! My form is coming round finally. I've always gone well in the extreme heat, less so in the spring and with climbs longer than 3k. I'm therefore looking forward to June-July-August. I can't see racing beyond this year though. Too many other things to do in life to experience, to get back to. This is the year I went agianst the onset of middle age I guess. Nothing more...

PS. If I have always spoken with conviction about how wide spread doping is in cycling, it's only because what I have personally experienced over the years. Nothing more...nothing less.

 

[benpounder]

Other than some citizen races I never raced on the road. Younger day focus was on ski and kayak racing and cycling was a perfect offseason activity.

After two decades of ski racing however I've came to the realization that training is much more fun than the actual racing. In masters, you drive 4-6 hours each way for what is in effect 4 runs per weekend. And like cycling, the equipment necessary to be competitive is gastly expensive - good ski wax is costs twice as much as cocaine... or so I'm told.

 

[mr. tibbs]

Cuz Leipheimer beat me at the Gila.