Whilst writing and thinking about the sportive cyclist I've been using the word "amateur" to describe the non-professional cyclist. I've been worried about using that word - amateur.
You just don't hear it in the cycling world, do you? Yes, "professional cyclists" is a phrase you hear all the time, and "pro-peloton" or "pro-this" and "pro-that". One of my oldest and least capable bikes has "professional" written in big letters on the downtube.
But you don't see "amateur" anywhere. There are no amateur bikes, no amateur clothing, no amateur wheels - despite all these bikes, clothes and wheels being bought by amateurs.
And, lets face it we are amateurs. We aren't being paid to ride. No, we pay to ride. We are amateurs but that word isn't welcome.
Instead we seem to be expected to be just lesser professionals, we are all apparently aspiring towards professional status and therefore needing all the same equipment as a real pro. Ofcourse, that's the real reason -the manufacturers aren't going to badge anything "amateur" and you or I aren't going to buy anything so labeled. .
But it can have a wider and more unfortunate influence. Behaving like a "pro", riding like a "pro" and probably worst of all "training like a pro" may not be so easy to fudge. I've written elsewhere about how just cutting down the numbers on a pro training plan might not work for the regular amateur, and how employing the same sophisticated tools and thinking might also be confusing (especially if you don't have a coach to explain it all).
Trying to be even a quarter of a professional rider might be more difficult than being a 100% amateur.
Italian events and European climbs