and now riding road full time with discovery. Read the interveiw at http://www.canadiancyclist.com/default2.html interresting and very true.
Ryder Hesjedal finished with mountain biking..
- Thread starter JMAC
- Start date
ya i know....that really sucks big time, he was my favorite rider in cross-country (next to kabush)...but i guess thats were the money is for biking these days
Yeah he was also my fave, partly cause he's one of the only riders my height lol. It's true though since Roland Green is gone there is no real talent in mountain biking, well nothing even compairible to road. I think Ryder knows he will do better on the road and even if he never wins anything it's still way cooler to live and race in europe. I personally think xc racing is a dying sport, or at least the pro racing of it.
I personally am finished with it, it's just stupid and no fun imho. After the first 20 minutes you know who will win than the positions stay the same for the next 2 hours almost, very boring. I;m glad to see Ryder is finished with it.
I personally am finished with it, it's just stupid and no fun imho. After the first 20 minutes you know who will win than the positions stay the same for the next 2 hours almost, very boring. I;m glad to see Ryder is finished with it.
You hate xc already? Didn't you just start racing seriously this year? Succes takes lots of experience and the cumulative fitness gained from multiple seasons of racing and training. MTB xc racing is probally the hardest endurance sport in the world next to xc ski racing. I don't race XC as much or as seriously as I used to, but not because i think it's "stupid and no fun" but because I'm racing on the road, and cross, and dh, and BMX now as well so there isn't that same incentive. But seriously you don't need to go pro or win to have fun racing XC...JMAC said:
Actaully yeah i shouldn;t of said stupid and no fun. I still love xc racing I just don;t like the format of the races. I most of gotten myself burnt out cause I've lost all interest in it. I had great motivation for like 2 years staright but a little less than a year ago it's been on and off so I can never really get ahead. I just wasn;t enjoying mountain bike racing at all, didn;t like travelling to races. Mainly I don;t like driving alone for 4 hours, one way.SuspectDevice said:
Anyways I keep training, not as much as I used to but I have no idea what I want to do so far. I know I want to do a marathon (running) or two this summer and in the futur and Ironman. Other than that I have no idea what I'm doing. There's no more mountain biking around here either, all the trails have houses been built on them so I have no good riding except for an 1.5 hour drive away from here. Also all my friends have giving up mountain biking to.
You're gettin me all misty.....
Dont let the door hit you in the arse on the way out...
bye bye JMAC
biggins said:
What? Ryder doesn't, and never has sucked.
Who? 
What's wrong with someone actually wanting to make a living?
Maybe he got bored of winning just about everything and decided a new challange was in order.
http://team.discovery.com
Cheers!
-Ian
Maybe he got bored of winning just about everything and decided a new challange was in order.
http://team.discovery.com
Cheers!
-Ian
I always thought he was a giant geek carrying a roadie 'tude to the xc sport......have fun on the road geek.......
yeah Ryder just did the tour of Quatar.........finished near the bottom. When he fizzles on the road with the sicko druggies he'll come crawling back. Right now he got a condascending attitude on mt. bikes. Mountain bike made him what he is.....gave him clout....JMAC said:What do you know anyway? OH OH thats right, NOTHING, now get lost. I don;t think anyone cares about your useless veiw of someone you don;t know.
you get lost.....go bore yourself to death on your road bike. I'll be out spinning too......spinnning in the pines.
He DOES have a condescending attitude towards mtn bike racing, especially if it's a race he isn't making a bunch of money at. I had a lot of respect for him until I met him, the dude's a prick- he should fit in nicely in the Euro roadie lifestyle.
Ryder is talking about the riding all the classics. I'll believe that when i seejon cross said:
it....
Domenstiques don't make alot of cash. I bet his mt. bike salary was comparable and 1/10 the stress. After he crushed for a year on the road he'll move from being a C rider on Discovery to a full C level team. Then he'll see what his value on the open market is.....
He should have stayed in mountain biking and invested in some attitude adjustment and made a nice long term fun living for himself. I guess he thinks he is going to succeed Hincappie as the wind blocker in the lead group. Good luck with that Ryder......
LMAO - Can't Climb, you talk about Ryder having an attitude? Pot calling the kettle black. You are so much better than a stupid roadie.
PFFFFt, heavy on the sarcasm.
PFFFFt, heavy on the sarcasm.
Maybe cutting his teeth the hard way and working for someone else will teach him a bit about humility, though I have my doubts. The classics are brutal, if he has what it takes there will be no hiding it, of course the opposite is also true. Let's just say good luck to Ryder, hope you learn a thing or two this year (much more polite than, hope you get schooled, but hey- I'll give him a shot, we are all arrogabt SOBS at some point in our lives right?)
If they even put him in the line-up for the Classics i would be shocked......a rookie racing with the A team..........no way. He's a rookie with no experience and no resume at that level to boot. Discovery is giving him a shot......its a long shot at best.....jon cross said:
He should have stayed in MTB where he has been honing his skills for the last 8-9 years.....
Well, he was working with Rabobank's developmental squad a while back, and US Postal ni 2003 (or was it just last year?). He's not 100% rookie, and he's strong enough to at least make a small contribution to the team effort. The problem I see is that, from what little I have personally seen of the guy, he's not really into the whole "team" concept. He is more about the "how can this benefit me" idea. Maybe this is different now, or maybe he was just at a bad point in the season when I met him, but if not, I really will enjoy reading about him being fed to the wolves.
European road racing is not exactly easy to make a big splash. If any North American goes there, has a few placings in the minor races, and competes in 1 major tour, that is an amazing first season.
A guy like Damiano Cunengo is a super talent, who made a big splash in his first few years as a pro. But there is a lot of politics in bike racing. It is unfortunate, but with so many personalities and sponsors, it is hard.
I think Bruyneel is an excellent manager, so he keeps it to a mininum. But don't expect Ryder to be hammering along Lance in the TdF this year.
A guy like Damiano Cunengo is a super talent, who made a big splash in his first few years as a pro. But there is a lot of politics in bike racing. It is unfortunate, but with so many personalities and sponsors, it is hard.
I think Bruyneel is an excellent manager, so he keeps it to a mininum. But don't expect Ryder to be hammering along Lance in the TdF this year.
Well, considering ryder has been road racing in europe for more than four years, I don't think he has to adjust very much. Last year he raced with postal. the previous two years he raced with rabobank in belgium. And at other times he did euro and asian races as part of the canadian national road team. Ryder is no starnger to road racing.sanjuro said:
Ryder explicitly states in interviews that the top mountain bikers in the world make no more than 250k$ per year. And, well, he of couse mentions that decent roadies start at about 250k per year and go up in to the multi millions...
Ryder has made the right choice. All the top cycling athletes are on the road. XC is for those people who can't make it in road cycling.
Yeah I heard that to, I was missing him. I think he must have just gotten messed up when he had been world champ for what 2 year in a row? than got loads of sicknesses. It's super hard to keep form like he had for years, I don;t blmae him for disappearing for awhile.CoMo said:
well, he didn't just disapear or lose form. In 2003 while racing with team US Postal at the Tour Of Georgia Roland crashed real hard and landed on his face. He got a major consussion. This injury pretty much screwed 2003. In 2004 Roland had illnesses and he was still recovering from the TDG crash. And at one of the first World Cups of 2004 roland had his head down and was hammiring at 30 mph when he crashed into a drunk spectator. Todd wells said that this crash was the gnarliest crash he'd ever seen. Roland has had much bad luck in the last 2 years which derailed his olympic hopes... oh well. hope he comes back.JMAC said: