Ask a Pro: College or bike racing?

Dear Phil, recently a huge dilemma has been thrust upon me and it came on two wheels. A few months ago, I picked up a road bicycle in order to use it as an alternative method of training. I'm currently a cross country runner and have been so for over 15 years. Needless to say, I've put more miles on my legs than most people put on their cars. Nevertheless, I quickly grew to love the bike. So much so that I was skipping training for xc to ride my bike.

Fast forward a month, and it's summer! I began to ride with some local groups and my love for cycling grew. Incidentally, I found out that my pace was a little too fast for the D/C/ and B groups. I ended up riding with the A group and been riding with them since. After much coaxing from the other riders, I finally ended up entering a Cat 5 road race. What happened next really blew my mind. I ended up off the front after the first 5 miles, and solo'd my way to the finish 5 minutes before the chasing group finished. Since then, I've been doing a weekly practice crit that is held near me and have been winning almost all of them. I even won a local time trial in the cat 3/4 classification. Now, after just a few weeks of racing, I've already upgraded to the cat 3's and ended up getting second in my first crit.

So here's my dilemma: I was almost sure that I would receive some sort of scholarship for school next year because of XC. My parent's aren't wealthy, and that's my only ticket into a good school. However, if i choose that route, I will have to abandon my love for cycling. I've been told by a lot of the local guys that I should focus on cycling full time and see where it takes me, but I do not want to do that at the cost of a college education.

What should I do?!

Thank you.
-Brian

Brian,
I'll give you some of the same advice I gave in a previous question. No matter how great of a cyclist or a runner you are, that won't be how you make your money in life. It's much easier to train and race through college than to be a pro athlete for ten years and then try to go back. Giving up a free college education would likely be a mistake that really messes up your life. Very few people get such a great opportunity. Besides, half the pro peloton in the US got their contracts and degrees at the same time.
The running versus cycling debate is a tough one, but I don't see why you'd have to give up your love for cycling if you're a XC runner. You run and ride now, too, right? You can always hit the bike on your offseason and do the races you can.
The only catch there is that it sounds like you're not incredibly excited about running anymore. If that's true, you have to weigh the benefits of missing college (or having to pay for it) with sticking to a sport you're not so into. Frankly, if running can pay your way through college (where a lot of people have to support themselves with real jobs), that would be a pretty sweet deal. Just think of it as a job that earns you a degree, but keep your focus on school.
So you're really facing a few scenarios here. I'll rank them for you by priority in my opinion.
1. If there's any way you can go to a state school on an academic scholarship, help from your parents, and get through college and race bikes as your second priority, that would be ideal.
2. If your ONLY ticket to college is running, take it, get your degree so you can get a real job someday, and ride your bike when you can in the meantime. Most schools with big running programs would also have a club cycling team that would love to have you in your offseason.
3. The last option, which I would strongly discourage: don't go to school, race your bike for a couple years to see where you can go with it, but have a backup plan and stick to it. Your rapid improvement on the bike isn't that surprising given your fitness from running, and you might find that you plateau soon, and wished you hadn't given up your scholarship. I don't think it's responsible for anyone below a serious cat 1 should to consider cycling full-time. I've been a pro for two years, and still work my butt off at coaching, and of course sharethedamnroad.com jerseys.
Also, if you do go to school, don't major in English.
Good luck.
-Phil