One of the threads that has run through my life is what I think of as a psychic attitude. I seem to be pre-disposed to activities that are short and explosive rather than prolonged. Examples: growing up as an athlete I was the fast guy who stole bases, beat out bunts and was quick enough to cover the shortstop position. I was not the guy who hit home runs. In football similar skills prevailed. Owning cars? Corvette, Lotus, BMW.... Motorcycles? Sport bikes with Ducati's being the bike of the past couple decades. Bicycles? Roadie of course. The quicker the better with my latest being a Masi. (Too bad the motor is so "compromised.") It's not that I"m not capable of appreciating other things it's just that my first impulse is the quick, agile and light. Just wondering if others have similar threads of "attitude" in their lives.

"You talkin' to me? You talking to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the ---- do you think you're talking to?" - Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver

Attitude? No way. I've always been easy going, relaxed, reasoned, and calm. That's why I ride bikes, love roller coasters and anything else that goes fast.

"You're talking to me all wrong... It's the wrong tone. You do it again and I'll stab you in the face with a soldering iron. Hey, tell me, does your mother sew? BOOM. Get her to sew that!" - Christopher Walken in Joe Dirt

Yes, but do you have an attitude?

OMG! What have I started?

^^^ Cry Havoc and Let Loose the Dogs of War!

Send lawyers, guns and money. The **** has hit the fan. (Warren Zevon)

Be careful. Don't brag on yourself in here....lol. People get very defensive. I am a very, very easy-going person. But, when I get into competitive activities.....watch out! One way or the other I will beat you or die trying
On the mound pitching I was the guy that would throw at you if you looked at me wrong. The plate was MINE. Don't think of digging those spikes in . One time I had a guy that crowded the plate. Actually his left elbow was over the plate. First pitch, a side arm curve that went away from him. Got the ball back from the catcher and told the batter he didn't want to stand there. He dug in harder. Second pitch a side arm screw ball that goes toward the batter. Ball hit him right in the elbow. Last time he dug the spikes in.

Played golf in high school. Rowed in college (that's a sport that will make you puke). Bought a tail dragger and did some aerobatics. Took up running and gravitated to marathons. Did some equestrian stuff. Now a Fredly roadie. Not particularly "explosive", but great endurance and HR recovery. My wife/stoker was the explosive athlete with 20 years of playing field hockey at a very high level.

School and I was 100Yards--Yes I am that old--220 yards Long jump and Triple Jump That was in the summer. Winter was Rugby and I could still do 100 yards in 10 seconds with the ball in my hand so I was on the wing and just try and catch me. Marines and They found out in the first week I was in that I was in Tonbridge Colts that had beaten them 75 - 6 the previous year and I was the winger that they could not catch.

That was my downfall. I weighed in at 130lbs and could still run- but have you seen senior Rugby Players********** Imagine your BIG football players- not the fat ones- the 6'6" tall and 4' broad ones. I made certain for most of the game that I did not get caught but the odds were against me. After scoring most of the tries for the Marines- I woke up in the Sick Bay. Following week they put me in the team again- although I was still recovering- and I declined the offer to get damaged again. Luckily that was the end of the Rugby season and back to athletics. Before Rugby came up again-I was boxing so no other Dangerous activities if you are in the boxing team.

Most of my sports have been the explosive kind but 6 years later and I was XC running at a distance of 15miles. Once my stamina had built up I was finished for speed and when I took up cycling it wasn't long before I got onto Offroad Enduros. 45 to 100 mile rides. I may never have been at the front of those events but I only pulled out a couple of times.

Don't know whether it is age that has matured me- or the slower pace of the riding I do but I have mellowed. You would have wanted to know me when I was younger. I had the mouth to insult you and the legs to get away before you got nasty and if you did catch me- Marine boxing champion with enough Marine training to make certain you would not get a second chance.

I never considered myself to be an athlete until I started to win bike races. Never played any sports in high school. Did some intramural volleyball at University but quit that because I JUST HATED LOSING. I would get REALLY pissed if our team lost. I'm just not made for team sports, where too much depends on the other guys holding up their end. Cycling and running were much more suited to my temperament, because I knew I was doing the best I could, and it was OK to not finish first; there was nothing I could do about it. I raced a lot of track, mostly endurance events. Won silver medals at World Masters Games and a bronze at the UCI Masters World Championships in Manchester, all in the points race. I was a lousy pursuiter, but on the road I could win the sprints. I think the best road sprinters are the track pursuiters. Track sprinters will get dropped early, and road sprints are totally different. The point on the track where road and track converge is the keirin, which is basically a long, fast windup road sprint. On a flat road spirnt, you use the biggest gear you've got, winding it up from about 400 to 600 meters out, and coming off the wheel at about 200 meters. In a keirin, you use the biggest gear you can do a standing start in, and when you come off the motor at 50+ kmh, it's basically a 600 meter sprint to the line. So it's "speed endurance," great for somebody without the best speed or the best endurance, just a bit of both.

Luis

As a young adult, I was a thrill seeking athlete who was the Captain of the Alpine Ski team at my New England Prep School. During my twenties, I raced vintage cars at club events.

How things have changed. I still enjoy skiing and like difficult & off-piste terrain. But I seek out great scenery now and avoid any sure-to-die exposure.

My cycling is relaxed and bit anti-competitive also. I like Century rides and often don't enjoy group rides if it becomes a race.

I played football, basketball, and baseball. When I graduated high-school I had chances to go play college ball in any of the three sports, but I opted to stay home because my Dad was really ill and ended up passing away a few months after I graduated. I did manage to get my degree even though it was quite a hardship without him.I think I became a cyclist when I bought my road bike about a year ago. Since then I have dawned the spandex, squeezed into jerseys, figured out clipless pedals, joined a cycling club, cycled in several charity events, aquired a taste for clifff bars, watch what I eat, always wear my helmet when I ride, and am on the verge of going for my first century. Yeah, I guess you could call me a cyclist.

My father was a drill instructor in the armed forces. What do you think?

I'm trying not to think about it...

I was an athlete from early childhood. I like to play a lot of sports and preferred team sports. Being on a championship team is a great feeling that endures the test of time. It is also the most difficult to execute due to exactly the title of this thread. Working together is hard and requires individual excellence as well as working for the common good of the team which may be in conflict with personal goals. I have always been able to put the team first and I can accept defeat due to human failure either my own or others. The reward when things come together offset the compromises.

My favorite sport of late is cycling and I especially like team events such as team time trial, team pursuit and team sprint. I also like to live in the present and look forward to the future. Last year at the Masters State Track championships, I wanted to ride team pursuit. The teammates I had from the previous year were committed to other events or teams. Most notably, my friend and current masters pursuit national champion had switched cycling teams and hand selected a 4 man team to win team pursuit.

The day of the event, I found two other racers from my club and we had 3 on our team. We beat the hand picked four man team with 3 racers and won gold. I denied my buddy the top position on the podium. Winning as a team was a great feeling.

However for those that are trying to relive their glory years here is a video for you.

ran a half marathon sunday.pretty slow but ran the whole thing.

I guess I did not express myself as clearly as I had hoped. I wasn't so much trying to relate my athletic experiences as I was trying to say that there is a theme to what I did and what appealed to me. To me, being engaged in the short explosive type sports goes along with the quick/good handling cars and the agile motorcycle and the roadie vs (for instance) more relaxed hybrid type cycling. It seems like a consistent thread in my life and I was wondering if anyone else had that type of thread running through their life. It's not about any accomplishments it's about themes.

I was never good at anything and thats never changed.

Attitude? Maybe. Competitive? Sometimes.
I used to dig in and I got hit a LOT. Scored on the walks, too. Some of us ain't skeered of pitchers or quarterbacks!! Can you tell I was a lineman.
Cycling - no attitude at all anymore -- except when discussing "right hooks" and other driver faux pax.

Ditto. Speed. Speed. Speed. It's generally the most valuable talent in every young man's sport. BUT, I'll tell you what's even better... when you get a team that's all-of-one-mind. When everybody knows exactly what everyone else CAN and IS ABOUT TO do, it's a beautiful and unstoppable thing. It's a rare thing that I've only seen glimpses of. But it was so cool.

This.

I'm a slow twitch kind of guy. If I had the choice between water skiing and canoeing, I'd go canoeing unless I was in the mood for really hot action. Then I'd go sailing.

Its a problem with cycling. I've never been able to convince myself that rides less than an hour are worth doing, so I do neither recovery rides nor interval training.

Being a retired mathlete, I've turned the dogged determination to algorithmize into the pursuit of being a mediocre cyclist.

[QUOTE=jethro56;14145778]Being a retired mathlete, I've turned the dogged determination to algorithmize into the pursuit of being a mediocre cyclist.

Because I am a Math teacher, I really appreciate the algebraic humor in your post here jethro!

[QUOTE=teachme;14146259]I think you guys are on mathemphetamines.

You think sailing can't be aggressive (a question not directed at you, but the non-yachties)?

I was foredeck crew on one yacht, and when it came to aggressive starts and manoeuvring for buoy space, and starboard calls, I was there, shouting to the skipper to keep it up. We had more than a few passes within inches of other yachts, and if you've been in close quarters with three, four or seven ton boats, you'll know that the skippers have to have great confidence in what they are hearing... and in your judgment that their boat is going to miss the other one.

We won a few pennants with a yacht that was an oldie but a goodie (of course, handicaps helped, but we sailed to hers, and did very well).

On another yacht, a "sailing master" was brought on board, and our successes to that point evaporated. I was royally pissed when we lost a pennant through the guy's inability to get the tactics right.

Sailing is about the only sport in which I've let the aggressive genie out of the bottle. I did play field hockey for quite a few years, as a goalkeeper, but never really achieved that much.

Randonneuring and 24-hour cycling races appeal to me because I am competing against to myself, and, in my mid-50s, they're something I can succeed at without putting huge amounts of emotional energy into them... and thoroughly enjoy.