Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pest2]

Hi, ok, right away, if you haven't ever been into cycle road racing, maybe you are bored.

Anyway, where I live there is also the Korean breeding teams for olympic cycle racing.

The teams consist of middle school, high school, and university Koreans who dont actually go to school to study at all. They dont learn math, dont learn English... just learn to ride thier bikes. It means that after they're done with thier cycling career (which ends at age 25 in Korea whereas you are actually capable of being competitive into your earliy 40s in the real world), they are GS mart employees or auto mechanics... totally the oppposite from the west where people who get into sports like this are rich/wealthy who have extra assets to do something extra fun like ultra-competitive racing.

I go out after school ends and ride on the road they use to train. Now, I am SOO bored riding alone, sometimes. Hard to explain if you dont race, but ANYONE to ride with... like, just to have some object in front of you to keep you from falling asleep ... is better than nothing. So, I sometimes try to time it so I end up riding with them in thier group.

Mostly, they're pretty nice.. But at first, they were ambivalent about letting me ride with them. "WE PROFESSIONAL!" they would say... as some kind of cue for me to get lost. They dont wanna be seen with some guy wearing an old jersey, slightly torn tights, dirty bike, and who is not Korean... HOWEVER, one day, they were doing a race simulation, and I stuck it to them pretty good.

Now, I should mention, I myself used to be a real professional rider, so I was able to stick it to them. But thats not the point...

In the west, when some pros would come upon the nerdiest, dorkiest-looking rider and that rider would try to ride with them and talk to them, it was all cool. Even cooler if the guy could keep up for a while. Why should the pros care if the guy is not a pro and he's riding with them? THEY'RE PROS! They dont have anything to prove... (plus its entertaining to watch some wanker try to keep up for a while on a 7 hour ride or whatever)

Here in Korea, its all about what you look like when you ride down the road...

Then, today, something else happened. I encountered them just after they had done some kind of hill climb sprint. I rode in front of them not as fast as possible but fast enough to try to get them to chase me... they started chasing so I started going faster. I looked back and I could see them single file, going flat out to catch back up to me. As soon as they got closer to me and it was obvious they would catch me, they tried to look like they werent tired at all and rode double-file again... They passed me and I got behind them and they immediately SLOWED DOWN AGAIN! Trying to make it look like they weren't chasing in the first place.. hahaha... so funny.. I always said people ride/race bikes in a way that reflects thier true character...

I would be amazed if anyone is still reading this....

[jinju]

I once knew a guy from Uruguay who built his own gliders. And he flew them but wouldnt let me come along. They were one seaters.

[pest2]

[jinju]

[pest2]

[jinju]

[pest2]

I can fly with you on that!