Is it too late for me?

[Thill53]

I have been riding for a long time. I started riding when I was 8 and I always wanted to race in hopes that I will get that factory ride some day. The reason why i never raced is because this sport is expensive and couldn’t really afford it. I still want to make it in this sport I seen progression in my riding I just need to get out there. I am 14 and wondering if I could still make it . This year I’m finding a way no matter what. To me I see myself as a decent rider I ride often, stay in shape, and I do strict laps all the time. I got on a big bike at 10 so a lot of time to get things down. My natural ability is good I can whip scrub and take turns wide open on my 125. Right now I am sponsored by two companies for a start. I want to know from you guys is it to late for me to achieve my passion for racing and get the factory ride that I dream of? Can I have some advice on how or some of your stories.

[pat22043]

If you are serious, get a bike and go racing. Win some races and then come back for advise.

[KcDavis]

How would we know?  I have never seen you ride.  Never too late to try anything.  

[Thill53]

3 minutes ago, KcDavis said:

How would we know?  I have never seen you ride.  Never too late to try anything.  

That is true but I tried to put it in a perspective like someone who has some experience 

[Sierra_rider]

Give it a shot, you don't want to regret not trying when you're older. You're a little on the older side, but there have been some good riders that got late start.

However, be realistic with yourself. There are a lot of fast riders out there, the odds are that you won't ever be more than just another fast local guy. That doesn't mean to not even try. Actually quite the contrary, train how you need to, to achieve that goal. Just remember to judge your success on effort put forward and not just results.

Not dirtbikes, but I was very good at another sport when I was your age. I spent 1000's of hours practicing it, basically what I needed to do to be a professional at it. However, I just lacked a little bit of talent that the people at the top had. There's no regret years later, I gave it 100% and just wasn't quite good enough. However, I would've regretted not trying my fullest and wondering what I could've done.

[ossagp1]

At 14, (if I am reading you correctly) you are hardly considered old. What do your parents think about your ambitions?

[Turn,TheScrew]

Ride dirtbikes for fun. Get an education, go to college. Get a sweet job,  buy a house with property and build a track. 

Then you can ride until your an old man.

 

Or you can skip school to trrrry out pro racing. Spend your young years working your tail off for basically zero dollars.  You will be left broken,  poor, lacking person skills and have no way to generate income. 

 

I bet less than 5 supercross riders are making more than 1 million a year. The rest are scrounging.  A few hundred thousand for a couple years. Not enough to retire on. 

As a pro rider you will also need your own health insurance,  if you can get it. Otherwise,  a lot of them are cash out of pocket for hospital bills. 

You got 45k laying around for that femur surgery?

But I tend to look for flaws in a plan.

Stay in school and prosper. 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Turn,TheScrew

[Thill53]

4 hours ago, ossagp1 said:

At 14, (if I am reading you correctly) you are hardly considered old. What do your parents think about your ambitions?

They think it’s great that I want to do all of this and believe in me but give me the talk about this is expensive and other things come first 

[William1]

If you are riding enough, winning enough and make a good public appearance, you will be noticed and teams will show an interest. They do not 'bring you on' because you ask them. They watch the upper level amateur race results and if someone catches their eye, they will look into it. Realize that 100,000 guys just like you are vying for 10 slots.

As far as the expense, get a job and earn you own money. My parents could easily of afforded to support me racing. They would have nothing to do with it. Not even drive me to the track. Not buy a single gallon of fuel. Nothing. I did what ever it took to get my bike running right and to the track. Several 100 mile a day bicycle rides to stay in shape a week. Diet. Reading and studying bikes, track, techniques. 120% dedication.

At 18, I was hired by Yamaha factory. At 20, I realized it was not the life I wanted.

[kylektm]

Realistically it's too late, but technically anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

 

Unfortunately you have to overcome the insane amount of talent that all the other kids have. Kids that have been riding, training, racing since they were 5 in Hope's of making it pro. Kids that are already working closely with manufacturers and will turn pro in less than 3 years. They have all the work ethic the talent the resources they could ask for. So you're at a tad bit of a disadvantage to say the least.

 

Just start racing and see what happens. You might find youre a natural and you love it, you might find you're not as good as you think you are.

[Turn,TheScrew]

Do what you need to qualify for Loretta Lynn. If you podium a top class per cc engine size, you will walk away with sponsor help.

Probably going to cost about 5-10k to qualify for Loretta. Then another few thousand just for that week of racing.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Turn,TheScrew

[ossagp1]

3 hours ago, Thill53 said:

They think it’s great that I want to do all of this and believe in me but give me the talk about this is expensive and other things come first 

They sound like they have your best interests in mind. It is a sport that like all the professional sports is driven by what can be made off of the athletes. 

In most mainline sports you have the advantage of being able to train and be cared for medically on the public's money. There is a system set up already allowing you to advance or not. If you get hurt, your school district pays for that.

Without some deep pockets somewhere, to carry you until that factory ride comes along, I am going to side with those who are telling you to enjoy the riding you can do, and get a set of marketable skills.

For now, you are kind of stuck to living with what your parents feel is reasonable. 

[Sierra_rider]

3 hours ago, Turn,TheScrew said:

Ride dirtbikes for fun. Get an education, go to college. Get a sweet job,  buy a house with property and build a track. 

Then you can ride until your an old man.

 

Or you can skip school to trrrry out pro racing. Spend your young years working your tail off for basically zero dollars.  You will be left broken,  poor, lacking person skills and have no way to generate income. 

 

I bet less than 5 supercross riders are making more than 1 million a year. The rest are scrounging.  A few hundred thousand for a couple years. Not enough to retire on. 

As a pro rider you will also need your own health insurance,  if you can get it. Otherwise,  a lot of them are cash out of pocket for hospital bills. 

You got 45k laying around for that femur surgery?

But I tend to look for flaws in a plan.

Stay in school and prosper. 

The irresponsible side of me says "just do it." Realistically, I could've started my career off 5 years sooner than I did. However, I wouldn't trade those memories from my youth for (almost) any amount of money. 

I make good money now, own a house, have enough property for a decent trials course, and my house backs up to 10's of 1000's of acres of available riding land. However, what I don't have anymore, is the ability to just drop whatever I'm doing to go participate in an event.

My push nowadays is racing XC mtb's. It's hard to find the time it takes to be a good racer. I'm spending 10 hours a week training, while the best are probably spending much more than that. The finances would've been more difficult 10-15 years ago, but I would've had a lot more time to train. Also I wouldn't have that many years of extra wear and tear on my body.

I guess as a counter to my own argument, I made it a point to never take dirtbiking too seriously. Not to brag, but I'm a pretty skilled rider...but I never wanted to turn it into a job. If I did that, I knew it would probably kill my passion for it eventually. Probably the only thing that keeps mtb racing fun for me, is that I know I'm too old to go anywhere with it and that I already have an identity outside of racing. It helps me keep the mindset of trying hard, but not beating myself up over bad results.

[Kickstart97]

Here's my 2 cents, having goals and working hard to achieve them is great, a good work ethic will take you far in life. The reality of professional racing is that most people don't make the huge sponsorships that set them up for life and that's ok, you said you already have a couple sponsors and your old enough to get a part time job so you can cover your expenses. Do well in school and learn a trade so you can enjoy racing and riding when your older. Nothing wrong with being the fast local guy, if you're trying to make ends meet by racing at some point its going to take the fun out of it. You're young, enjoy riding and racing while you can. Life is what happens while your busy making plans, good luck!

Edited March 7, 2020 by Kickstart97

[76xtdrvr]

Not too late, but: Find out where the bigger out of town amateur races are and enter as many as you can (afford) at as many different tracks. If you can post top 3 results consistently in something like an AMA regional series, Loretta Lynn qualifiers, then at the Loretta Lynn Amateur Nationals, you'll draw attention to yourself. 

There are lots of good riders at their local tracks. But they ride under the same riding conditions, against the same local riders, and on the same terrain. There's next to no chance for them to ever draw any attention from a factory or big sponsor. 

[Drop-Bear]

9 hours ago, Turn,TheScrew said:

Ride dirtbikes for fun. Get an education, go to college. Get a sweet job,  buy a house with property and build a track. 

Then you can ride until your an old man.

 

Or you can skip school to trrrry out pro racing. Spend your young years working your tail off for basically zero dollars.  You will be left broken,  poor, lacking person skills and have no way to generate income. 

 

I bet less than 5 supercross riders are making more than 1 million a year. The rest are scrounging.  A few hundred thousand for a couple years. Not enough to retire on. 

As a pro rider you will also need your own health insurance,  if you can get it. Otherwise,  a lot of them are cash out of pocket for hospital bills. 

You got 45k laying around for that femur surgery?

But I tend to look for flaws in a plan.

Stay in school and prosper. 

Not a chance in hell I'd send my kids to school these days If I had to  do it all over again. They just pump out  useless retards these days.

Plus, school only teaches you to be a good and obedient tax payer.

Don't let money dictate your life kid.

[Turn,TheScrew]

1 hour ago, Drop-Bear said:

Not a chance in hell I'd send my kids to school FOR SOME USELESS DEGREE, these days If I had to  do it all over again. They just pump out  useless retards these days.

Plus, school only teaches you to be a good and obedient tax payer.

Don't let money dictate your life kid.

Fixed that for ya. 

[Drop-Bear]

11 minutes ago, Turn,TheScrew said:

Fixed that for ya. 

Mate. In primary school.  They're teaching kids to question their gender. Enough said!

?.  Child abuse.

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Drop-Bear

[DEMI]

Or you can live in a bubble, do all the societal right things and always wonder what if....  OR you can try and give it a go for what that may be worth in memories and stories later down the line when it may not work out, at least you tried. Have a concrete plan and if you aren't where you want to be by the time you are by age 21(or whatever), then start the next chapter. Whatever you chose, be the best you can be.

Edited March 7, 2020 by DEMI

[KcDavis]

Get into bmx, see how you do.  McGrath didn't get into MX until his teens, but was into the bmx scene prior.  It's never too late...  but, unless your some kind of phenom, it's pretty unlikely.  At your age, you have nothing to lose.