Quit college for cycling?

She's training for 24h TT's now, apparently.

:D

I'm 30, I jacked in uni at 22. I've earned plenty of money and I've been homeless and shit has largely happened because I'm not qualified = no job security (and I have learnt I have no business head.) I would be doing your course right now if I was not studying psychotherapy. Believe it or not, both have something in common; neither job can successfully be exported to a developing economy. They pay about the same too! It'll take me at least another 2 years to qualify whereas you could have your 17th Edition by July and a serious pay cheque come September.

I'm going to guess you live at home right now. That gets pretty old (if it hasn't already) pretty quickly and sharing is fun when you are young but by 27 you'll be screaming for your own place. Most of my friends still share and hate it - even if they are best friends with their housemates. You'll need a minimum of £500/week for your own place - and that will be a crummy "studio" flat.

Put simply, if you think £160 is enough to live on then you are not ready to leave full time education.

Don't be a fool, stay in school.

You'll need a minimum of £500/week for your own place - and that will be a crummy "studio" flat.

This is wildly untrue. Maybe you meant £500/month?

For reference here is a very smart 3 bedroom flat with lovely garden in NW1 for £500 a week:

http://www.primelocation.com/uk-property-to-rent/details/id/HDCT6278401

(Oh yeah, and OP, stay in college, it'll be worth it for sure in the end.)

Id like to make it more clear that i not expecting to make money from cycling, im just saying that is a bonus.

1. Are you in a club?
   Yes.
   
2. Do you have a training plan or schedule?
   Yes, but its revolving around college/work.
   
3. Do you have access to coaching?
   I do not currently get coaching, but i can access it.
   
4. Have you entered or do you plan to enter races?
   Lots of small local ones last year, this year i am looking to travel more and join bigger races.
   
   

Have you won any?

Don't you know that you're toxic..

Not any more. You still have to handle it with gloves for the next few days, but the cream is working wonders, it really is.

stay in school.

I tend to launch ALL CV's with degrees because they're generally from people who feel they're owed a job because they have some letters after their names. I employ solely on previous experience.

good grief.

Have you won any?

nope, im usually in front for the sprint though, i need to work on my technique.
but does it matter? The goal in life is to achieve happiness/content in my opinion, not to earn tonnes of money, fair enough i need a better job to afford the cost of living, but other than that, ill just be happy wherever i get to in cycling.

£160 a week is not enough to live on comfortably. In london £600 a week including rent is comfortable.

This will continue to rise as your circumstances change. Get a gf, add £50 a week, a baby add another £100 etc....

Being skint as a kid is rubbish, as a adult its heartbreaking.

Get qualified as something that pays a decent day rate enabling you to work when you need to.

You need more than £160 but saying you need £600 a week to live comfortably in London is BS

You need more than £160 but saying you need £600 a week to live comfortably in London is BS

depends on where in london and what yur definition of comfortable, a room in a house share in londons east london nad it would be ridiculously comfortable by most standards. but a one bedroom flat to yourself pretty much anywhere and you'd struggle once the taxmen have taken their slices....

I'm talking one bed flat, zone 3, broadband, decent food, meat twice a week, the odd few beers after work, sarnies at lunch, maybe a travelcard, little bit of culture, cheap eats out, odd trip to the cinema, council tax, tv lic, house insurance, phone bills, gym membership...

All things not considered extravagent on their own but it all adds up and thats without giving yourself a little buffer in case your TV explodes, bathroom floods, roof leaks....

Stay at provincial college, get some qualifications, get your mother to do your washing until you are ready to join the real world with some tools to enable you to actually enjoy life rather than just living through it.

until you are ready to join the real world with some tools.

Are you referring to the forum?

I'm talking...
You're talking shit. There is no way you need £600/week minimum.

Even if your figure was meant to be before tax, I've never earned anywhere near that value. Never lived outside of Zone 2 (whilst I've been in London). Never thought my life would be any better if I earned more.

I should point out that I've always been relatively well paid when compared to my friends too.

If anything I believe that I currently earn more than I need. Enough so that I could convince my partner to quit her shit job and look for something else without having any concerns over living costs.

How bad is your coke/hooker/glue problem?

depends on where in london and what your definition of comfortable is.

Fuck...

Ok I should have pointed out that this figure is what I personally would feel I needed to earn.

**Its a subjective number. **

Life can be made much more affordable by sleeping under the NT, eating day old Pret and smoking butts your have picked up from the gutter.

Depends what you feel comfortable doing.

butts you have picked up from the gutter.

Its a lifestyle choice

Life can be made much more affordable by sleeping around, eating with old friends and cycling rather than smoking.

Depends what you feel comfortable doing.

ftfy

[QUOTE

How bad is your coke/hooker/glue problem?[/QUOTE]

awful until I discovered http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pritt-Stick-Medium-20g-Pack/dp/B000I6QX3O

now I live in a 14 bedroom mansion in Surrey

Leave Mushrooms in the fields, stay with college (as it seems to be what you've decided to do) and finish the course.

There's a lot of people here saying the same, the skilled qualification is transfferrable wherever you go. Elecricians are needed the world over and you'll always be able to scratch work together if you travel and need a healthier wallet.
Also as several have said, CV's that display 'started but did not complete' are binned because the perception is 'cannot finish'.

A degree is'nt the be all and end all, and from my experience and career path, Diploma style education filled me with practical skills that helped me to learn once I gained my first job. From then on I listened to those with more experience while trying to work out which way I wanted my career to go, compared to the way it was likely to go. Starting was hard, and to a certain level you have to re-learn a few things that don't quite work in the classroom, but you're learning, gaining experience and giving yourself time to grow as a person too.

You're 17, you've a tonne of choices to make now and in the next few years that will shape your direction in life, to a certain point anyway. You can pick up and travel once you've qualified, work your cycling around work - If you're determined to do it you'll find a way. And as you work more you'll earn more and your riding budget will increase as a result.

I've been made redundant twice, the second time I took a year out and climbed and biked round europe and Asia, I spanked my savings but had an amazing time. It was'nt maybe the wisest choice, but I knew I'd built enough experience in my career to be able to step off the grid a little and blast the world my way for a while. It worked for me in that particular time and place. I'm happy at work now, with a mind full of memories that i worked to create for myself. Luck over judgement to be fair, but if you make it work for you the choices you make now can really help how you train, work and manage your time and budget.

Good luck, there's plenty of things on here to keep your brain ticking over. Keep us posted as to what you do.

The goal in life is to achieve happiness/content in my opinion, not to earn tonnes of money, fair enough i need a better job to afford the cost of living, but other than that, ill just be happy wherever i get to in cycling.

That's very romantic and it'd be nice if life would just work that way but for a lot of people it really doesn't go to plan.

That outlook will get less romantic by the minute once you're in your 30's and probably by the second once you're in your 40's.

The cost of living soon adds up as has been mentioned before and whilst you might not need a lot of money by some standards, it definitely helps to have some.

I should point out that I've always been relatively well paid when compared to my friends too.

If anything I believe that I currently earn more than I need. Enough so that I could convince my partner to quit her shit job and look for something else without having any concerns over living costs.

I'm much the same. I'm lucky enough (and I work hard enough) to earn good money and it's great being able to help my partner out as she's just been made redundant again (second time in two years.)

I could (and do) live on a LOT less than I earn but the security of having the money there is great.

@the OP: If you have no plans to make money cycling and you're happy being poor, then why follow the path of a professional cyclist? I would suggest that at 17 with no wins, no coach and no real experience of bike racing that you're just playing at it and dreaming. You might be a late starter (plenty of people come to sports late and still excell) but it's also possible to do this whilst maintaining college and/ or full time work and that's what many people have to do.

Don't forget hippy's mantra, if you look good in a frock there's always King's Cross.

good grief.

What's the issue with that? In the past I've employed people who're qualified up to the nines but have as much common sense as a retarded gibbon. Qualifications are all well and good (even qualifications in the field that they people want to work in) but real-life experience is equally as important.

It depends what you are employing for and at what level.

Naturally.

What's the issue with that? In the past I've employed people who're qualified up to the nines but have as much common sense as a retarded gibbon. Qualifications are all well and good (even qualifications in the field that they people want to work in) but real-life experience is equally as important.

Naturally.

To be honest, I though the same.

If qualifications and real life experience are 'equally important,' why discount the former immediately?

I do know what you mean though - I have no degree (I'm qualified up to my eyeballs otherwise) and work with someone who has a degree in Astro-physics who's lucky if he can tie his shoes....