There seems to be a lot of support for young road racers in NZ, some of them get a lot of people helping them when they dont understand how hard it is to do it for yourself. I think doing it for yourself gives you a real appreciation when someone does offer you help. Problem is we end up with all our Champions in their mid 40s haha but thats not such a bad thing. The sport needs the heros like Stroud, Shirriffs, Charlotte, Clee, Rees etc when I say I race bikes no one has a clue who I am but if I say I race with guys like this then it gives some credit to what I do.
Its quite hard to get support in MX for a kid because there are so many doing it and the older guys dont feel they need to draw kids in to keep the sport alive. The draw card for the kids racing MX is seeing some of the older guys that get a bit of support and they develop their own drive and commitment to get where they need to be.
If your not getting the appreciation you expect from the guys at the bottom end of the spectrum maybe try a different tact and focus on guys up the charts a bit, guys that are busting there ass to do it already spending their hard earned money. These are the guys that will appreciate it and then the young guys will be able to see some career progression and give them more will to struggle to get there.
I had wanted to ride road bike for years because I would see Team Bernard and it looked amazing! I wanted to be on the team bad! I saw an ex team 600 for sale and I emailed Brian when I was looking at my first road bike, he didnt accept my offer I even asked him to do it cheaper for sponsorship hahaha he didnt accept it but I told him to remember my name lol
My Point is that there is a lot of focus to get the young guys into the sport, maybe the focus could shift to make the top of the sport more attractive so young guys want to get into the sport
How about we start up a lotto syndicate so we can win a shit load of money and do a bit of both...
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