I realize I'm a newbie at the sport and my age (65), weight (200) and my department store Schwinn is not the formula for winning the Tour, I do ride as fast as my legs will take me because I've always been competitive. But today I became depressed by being passed by a helmutless local (I work in Puerto Rico) on a mountainbike while on my daily ten mile ride. I've come to realize that trying to compete with those who have used bicycles as their primary means of transportation for all their lives is fruitless.
It seems to me that competitive bicycling is a sport of those with means and through the proper training one can achieve great heights. But i wonder about the abilities of those who have been riding bikes all their lives and can't scrape enough monies to compete in the sport.
Marathons have been won by athletes from Africa who literally don't have a pot to pee in. If given the proper equipment how would these locals fare in competition? I bet that there are thousands of Lance Armstrongs among the multitudes.