Originally Posted by
Frankfast
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.
While that may be true, I would only admit it from the perspective of genetics. Most people will never bench press 450 lbs, run a 4.3 40, beat Viswanathan Anand at chess, or dunk a basketball no matter how much they train/eat, how advanced their equipment is, or how much courage/determination they have. Period. When you look at the elite levels of athletics I am of the opinion that even if it doesn't sound all warm and fuzzy you need to be a realist. Someone like me could have trained from day one, done
everything perfectly, without fail, and would still never compete at the elite level of cycling. My heart, lungs, leg muscles, and a host of other things given to me by my parents just don't equal (I am not in anyway implying that if I were built like a pro cyclist that I'd be good at it, BTW). I am 31 years old, and if I decided today I wanted to be an Olympic sprinter I would fail; it's as simple as that. Science has shown us that thinking your ability becomes limitless by never quitting, sweating a lot and, "busting your butt" is bunk.
Just my $.02. First post from a lurker.