Gerryattrick

Just reading some of the replies in another thread got me thinking about what is an "athlete".

I've taken part in sport nearly all my life since a teenager, playing several times a week until my late 50s for competitive teams in squash, tennis, badminton, football, rugby and basketball, and as a teenager rode in a cycling club. I was good enough to hold down a place in the teams but was never the star of any of the teams and I've never considered myself as an athlete, just as someone who works for a living but also loves sport and competing and whose life has been greatly enriched by it.

What is the dividing line between an athlete and someone who just loves taking part in sport? Is there one?

gif4445

I think it's all relative. When I describe someone as athletic, they normally possess good hand-eye coordination and some combination of speed and quickness. But it can depend upon what and whom they are compared to. I coach some pretty athletic high school basketball players. Now if they decide to go to compete at the college level, some may not look so athletic. And age has a way of moving the target. I once considered myself at least slightly athletic, but father time has humbled me as of late. As long as I can move, cycle the next mile and be in decent health, I don't worry about being athletic.

bruce19

I'm not sure I can answer the question. In my youth there wasn't a sport I couldn't play well. Went to college on a football scholarship and played baseball there. Was a QB and a SS so had the hand-eye thing down. When I started cycling (after a layoff of 8 yrs. ) ten years ago at age 58 I was 20 lbs overweight, out of shape and older than most others in the cycling club I joined. After a couple years I was still overweight but in better shape and some fellow riders expressed surprise that I rode as well as I did. I always responded by saying "I used to be an athlete." Then one day I was emailing a childhood friend who had been a cyclist on the '64 US Olympic Team and I told him that cycling had made me feel like an athlete again. He said he thought that was one of the benefits of cycling. So, I don't know exactly what an athlete is but I'm leaning towards the idea that if you are engaged in athletic/competitive endeavors and consider yourself an athlete...why not?

obed7

this is another one of those questions that the answer depends on the person answering it, if they say yes or if they say no, they are correct.

khutch

To me an athlete is a person who engages in some physical activity either to compete or to maintain/improve their health or simply for the love of it. It is possible to do all three at once, of course! Skill and ability have nothing to do with whether or not one is an athlete although they do determine how successful you will be should you choose to compete. When I was young I was competitive though not highly successful. As I aged I kept up my physical activity by running for its health benefits. And then one day I became wise through rediscovering bicycling and now I ride both for health and for love of the thing. To some extent I compete against myself and once in a while against that person on the trail ahead of me, but mostly I have laid aside competition. I'd rather stop and help someone fix a flat or slow down and let a struggling rider draft me than compete.

FrenchFit 

My two cents is it depends on the goals, whether fitness is a by-product of having fun or if the sustained effort has competitive goals. Having a daughter that was an athlete I witnessed someone with intense focus, willing to get up at 5:30am to cross-train, commute an hour after school to work-out with coach and team, totally prepared for every competition. My weekend warrior stuff was in a different category entirely. I believe the word athlete was derived from contest, it's about continuous improvement and testing the results in competitiion.

wphamilton

Depending on the context it can be either a person who engages in athletic events, or a person with natural aptitude for physical activities. Although for the latter I usually think of "natural athlete".

Not participating in cycling events, and having no extraordinary cycling achievements, I don't consider myself to be an athlete.

GlennR

Athlete is a name someone call you, not what your call yourself.

I'm a cyclist. If someone wants to call me a athlete, that's their choice, not mine.

North Coast Joe

A question for individual opinion, for sure.

I'll go with anyone who swings a leg over a bike (in our context here) is an athlete. They participate in athletics. Being an athlete doesn't mean you're a competitive athlete (either in competitive events or possess the prowess to outperform others). There are so many types of athletes: professional, amateur, collegiate, high school, juvenile, etc. They're even further subdivided into their sports.

Someone who enjoys taking part in sports, and does so, is an athlete. That doesn't mean they're necessarily "athletic".

So, let's raise a brew to celebrate being an athlete!

okane

I think Babe Ruth and I would totally agree with you! Now Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong, not so much!

tsl

Why yes, I do work in a library. Why do you ask?

I grew up as the proverbial 98-pound weakling. I remain so—well let's make that 170-pound weakling. I still have little stick man arms and the grip strength of an eight-year-old girl. As uncoordinated and gawky as I was weak, I was always the last one picked for teams, and the first one out in things like dodgeball. My aversion to sports grew as I got older. I skipped gym through most of high-school and had to attend summer school to make up gym in order to graduate.

Off the bike, I remain gawky and uncoordinated, frequently crashing myself into doorways and furniture. I have pliers in the kitchen to open the ketchup bottle.

I brought that background to cycling, along with the damage from 35 years of smoking, 29 years of drug and alcohol abuse, one bum knee, and an arrythmia.

Some of you may recall the story of my first bike ride. I rode my shiny new hybrid home from the LBS. I had to stop and rest for five minutes halfway home. I required a two-hour nap once I got there. The distance? 0.67 miles at -1% grade. Yes, two-thirds of a mile (a smidge over a kilometer) ever so slightly downhill. I was exhausted.

For a long time I couldn't apply the term “athlete” to myself because of both that and the contestant aspect of the term. Although I used the terms “work-out” and “training” to describe “cycling strictly for the purpose of improving my physical strength and stamina”.

I worked hard to become a better cyclist. Harder than I'd ever worked towards anything in my life. (Mainly because of the joy cycling gave—gives—to me.)

I worked on strength for climbing hills, stamina so I didn't have to stop and rest every mile, then two, then five, or ten. And I worked on staying on the damned thing, upright, not wobbling and weaving.

Most of you know the next part of the story. Twenty-eight months after buying that first bike, I took a 2½ day train ride to Denver, to ride the Front Range with a bunch of people I'd met online. My first mountain was Mt. Evans.





The entire continent is downhill from there.

And yet, I couldn't apply “athlete” to myself. It didn't feel right. I'm not a jock. I don't do teams. I still haven't seen the inside of a gym in decades. I throw like a girl.

It wasn't until three years later—three years ago now—that I tried out and found it comfortable. I'd long avoided the Highlander Cycle Tour, billed as the Toughest Century in the East for its 11,000 feet of climbing on punchy, Finger Lakes hills. (27% anyone?)

On my first entry—where I'd given myself permission to take one of the many cuts—I aced it. Here I am still looking fresh at the 75-mile rest stop. (And yes, that is a middle-aged paunch and man boobs inside the jersey.)



That's when I decided that, yes, maybe I am an athlete. A very rare kind as well. An endurance athlete.

Except for a brief spell on Medicaid during rehab 15 years ago, I haven't had any sort of medical insurance since 1991 or 2. Then Obamacare came along. It really strains my budget—I'm going to have to move to a cheaper apartment to continue paying for it—but I'm signed up. As long I have to pay for the thing, I use it.

I quickly learned from the horrified expressions of nurses, that a 43 BPM heart rate sitting in the doctor's office is a tad unusual. Since every visit begins with a stethoscope and BP cuff, I begin every visit by reminding them, “Endurance athlete”. Even so, they usually say something like "Jeepers" afterwards.

This time of year when my miles are below 40 a week and my average speeds are in the single digits, it's hard to remember that I'm an athlete. Especially when everyone just thinks I'm a crazy person for riding a bike in single digit temps with all the snow.

But I'm now a racer. Even if it's 4½ miles to work in the snow at 9 MPH average, I'm racing against the Grim Reaper—a contest I know I'll ultimately lose. But compared to those poor bastards trapped in their cars and heated leather seats, I know that I'm likely to make it quite a bit longer than them. Certainly much longer than I would have, had I stayed the course and skipped cycling.

So there you have the final piece. Competition. Since I "train in an exercise or contest involving physical agility, stamina, or strength" I meet all the criteria of the dictionary definition.

Aren't you glad you asked?

fietsbob

Team sports is about ranking better/worse. win/lose I use my bike as transportation and ride solo touring to see places , not brag about statistics.

VNA

Impressive to say the least, and that gorgeous picture tells it all--congratulations.

tarwheel 

I consider myself an athlete, which is ironic because I was not very athletic as a child. I was not very coordinated, fast or strong. However, I found in later life that I have great endurance and excelled in sports such as running, hiking and cycling that require staying power. I now exercise nearly every day, primarily cycling but also a lot of walking, weight lifting and kayaking during the warmer months.

It's all in your frame of mind. You don't have to compete to be an athlete, and you don't have to be among the top performers. However, in my book, you have to exercise or participate in athletic activities on a regular basis, and I fully qualify on that basis.

OldsCOOL

Steroids. You may even become a professional athlete.

GlennR

Athlete's come in all sizes.

dbg

I've always differentiated between "natural" ability and "working" athlete. In my youth people considered me a natural athlete --but they didn't know how hard I worked. I was not a natural -at least compared to the peers I knew as most definitely "natural" athletes. And my younger brother was one of those. I worked hard to keep up with him --so I looked better than I really was. I've always felt you could work your way to a fairly high level, but a "natural" that also works hard --would exceed to a MUCH higher level. So, to me, a real athlete combines natural ability (speed, coordination, hand-eye, eyesight, quickness, physique, poise, focus, creativity, concentration, etc) with hard work. I'm missing plenty of those.

qcpmsame 

I am not an athlete, by any measure. I participated in baseball for many years, catcher with the knees and hands to prove it. Loved running until my spine was injured, never fast by any measure, used a calendar to time myself. Absolutely loved XC running in high school, but a 200lbs ex-lineman/shot putter will never place, much less be a positive in the scoring of our team (very understanding, supportive coach.) Rode motocross and hare scrambles until 2009 when the surgeries just killed things, but had a ball for 40+ years doing it, 10 with my son. Never got the first trophy, best I ever placed was 7th in a 22 man field, in Houston, Tx.

Participant, yes, athlete, no, and my father told me regularly, he was an excellent athlete, played every thing well, and was a good college basketball player. I didn't quite measure up there to him, but he smoked 2 packs a day, and died at 49. I have loved every minute I ride any bicycle and getting back out after surgery #16 is the best thing I ever did, and probably it saved my life. I could care less if someone ever thinks of me as an athlete, probably will never happen. The 25 or so miles daily is my way of dealing with the hand I got dealt health wise, and it works, too. Not an athlete, just a happy person, thankfully.

Bill

BluesDawg

If your definition of athlete is someone who competes in physical activities, then no, I'm not an athlete. If your definition is someone who participates in physical activities and develops skills associated with those activities, then yes, I am a athlete. I tend toward the second definition.

trainsktg

Where's the 'like' button on this website? What a great story.

Keith

Biker395 

IMHO, Athlete = someone who regularly participates in athletic activities. Since I consider cycling an athletic activity, that includes just about all of us.

Biker395 

tsl: Your story is kinda like mine. As a kid, the last thing I would have told you was that I was any kind of an athlete. I was a bookworm. A nerd. Clumsy. Physically talented at nothing. Chosen last in any team sport. No way I was an athlete. Thinking otherwise was laughable.

But I discovered I liked athletics. I think it was basketball first. Then surfing. Then skiing. And now it's cycling. Nowadays, a 100 mile, 10,000 foot bike ride is a pleasure ride for me, and I participate (reasonably well) in 500 mile endurance races. That puts me eons away from most people my age, and especially the overweight and out of shape people that I considered athletes in high school. Frankly, the gap between those people is wider now than it was in high school ... but our positions have changed.

Facts are facts. If those other people were athletes then, I'm certainly one now.

downtube42

The first time I got an EKG, the nurse ran from the room and retrieved a doctor. After examining the EKG, he ensured I was not in cardiac arrest, then asked if I was an athlete. "I suppose so", I answered. He told the nurse I was fine, and left.

Now, when I get my annual physical, I warn the nurse in advance that my EKG will be unusual because I'm an athlete.

So, evidently I'm an athlete.

raceboy

Chubby kid...never fast. Buy I enjoyed playing some football and socccer in junior high and high school.

Raced cars off and on from 19 until well into my 40s. I know some don't consider that a sport but if you haven't done it, you'd be surprised.

In my early 40s, I started running a lot and realized something. I was still slower than hell but damn--could I keep plugging along. I always cycled as a casual activity.

At 57, I went on a bike tour in Europe that covered some pretty drastic hills. Amazingly, I was able to climb them. Even the ones the locals warned me to use the SAG van to ride up. See above statement about my being able to plug along. That lit a fire in me for cycling and I now ride 110-150 miles a week. I've been called an endurance athlete and, like others have said, have a low HR and BP for my age and am now leaner than I've ever been. I'm just bummed that it took me so long to discover that cycling was my "thing." Maybe I should have tried racing bikes instead of cars. It would have saved me a lot of dough, that's for sure.

B. Carfree

While all the replies to this thread have been very good and uplifting, that was one of the best posts I've seen in quite a while. I just left in my favorite parts, although the rest was great as well. Thanks for a much-needed chuckle.