7up

I don’t believe everything I read.Rich white collared worker is an oxymoron in my opinion.

KraneXL

To make up for their lethargy, during the other periods of their lives.

For all the reasons given. And the fact that you can't take time off to recuperate physically or mentally. Emotional stress can also sap the life out of you.

JenJ

White or blue, if you have time and energy for endurance training, you are lucky

KLOSHE

The observation is not that rich people love endurance sports, but rather endurance athletes sometimes get rich because they are willing to work hard for long hours.

Daniel4

Take two surveys:

Survey 1) research all the endurance sports and measure what % of particpanrs are rich, middle-class, or poor. For that matter, do a similar survey for non-endurance sports.

Survey 2) reasearch all the rich people (as well as middle-class and poor people) and categorize what type of sports each economic class prefers.

Compare the two surveys if there really is a co-relation.

TimothyH

First you have to define what it means to be rich.

The article mentions $76,000/year and $126,000/year houshold income.

Neither are rich.


-Tim-

Lemond1985

Eat the rich!

TimothyH

I saw Krokus several times, once with Twisted Sister IIRC.

FiftySix

Had the LP and saw them live . . . back in the day, I tell you!

KraneXL

In fact, not even wealthy. I would define that beginning at $300,000 at the conservative end, but generally $400,000-$900,000.

On the other hand, wealthy can also indicate a state-of-mind where you never have to worry about the basic needs of life such as clothing, food, shelter, transportation, etc. .

Nevertheless, these can be readily defined in many text relating to sociology-economic class. Rich is typically agreed upon to be someone who's income is at or above $1,000,000.

autonomy

Don't mix up people with incomes of $100-200K - the ones this article is about - with the 1% who make hundreds of millions.

Unfortunately, that is an anecdote and does not disprove the hypothesis. The law of averages doesn't apply to individuals, just like you can't claim that climate change isn't happening just because it's colder than average on that one particular day in the winter.

I thought wealthy was better than rich. Rich = makes lots of money and has a very comfortable existence. Wealthy = has lots of money and never has to worry about it even if not working.


My question is, are there really high numbers of non-rich people in non-endurance sports? Or that non-rich people just don't have the time and energy for any sports?

aclinjury

East Africans dominate the podiums of running events, especially big marathons. But as far as the breadth of the participants, it's definitely overwhelming white collars.

indyfabz

I want to plot my net worth against how much I ride.

Koyote

You are making the common error of confusing income and wealth. They are related, but not the same thing.

And, speaking as a professional economist, I can tell you that there is no standard cutoff/threshold/amount of anything that is considered "wealthy;" the very concept of 'wealthy' is subjective.

Koyote

There's so much wrong with this that I don't even know where to begin.

Rides4Beer

Of course it depends on where you live, considering the worldwide median income is around $10k/yr.

If a person has enough disposable income and time to participate in endurance events, then they're living pretty comfortably, regardless of how they classify themselves.

Alloyboy

Plus plus for Indyfabz. Quality time riding is the.most important.
We have all encountered individuals who will inform us that "time is money"
This tends to sadden those of us who know better.
As an octagenarian my thinking these days is.....
"Time is merely the interval between heartbeats."
Jim.

indyfabz

The end of this month will mark the 20th anniversary of the beginning of my two years off from the working world, which started at age 34. (No. I didn't get unemployment or other government benefits.) During my time off I took three long, unsupported bike tours, including one in the U.S. of nearly four months and one in Andalucía, Spain. Also pursued some hobbies and generally enjoyed life. Looking back, I wouldn't trade my experiences for the money and career advancement opportunities I passed up.

eepok

I haven't even opened the linked article yet (thought I promise I will) and having known a number of endurance athletes (running, cycling), I'll say that wealth is a correlated factor, but not causally linked to their recreational choices.

People who like to test and push themselves (inwardly competitive) as well as those who frequently compare themselves to others (outwardly competitive) will tend toward financial success because that competition forces iterative improvement. In fact, those iterations themselves improve performance (learning, training, etc.). This is probably why golf is a common game for upper-middle and higher-income earners. You can play against yourself and your own record (constantly trying to improve) or you can play against others in an attempt to gain temporary dominance.

Additionally, a good portion knowledge workers learn at some point in their lives that the sedentary workstyle and lifestyle tend to greatly reduce one's happiness, so they pick up an active hobby. Some will discover that these endurance hobbies help clear and focus the mind on the most immediate concerns (traffic, shifting while climbing a hill, cadence, stride, thirst, etc.). Some will discover that they get a "runner's high" which is a great fighter of stress and can boost energy and mental clarity for work.

Cyclist0108

It was sarcasm.

BlazingPedals

I'm just going to sit here on the shore and watch the ship get dashed against the rocks.

63rickert

"I knew that if I won the Tour de France I would never have to be hungry again." -- Ferdi Kubler

Used to be a working class sport. Rich people work at different levels of motivation, different pain tolerance. Just not the same watching those who have purchased every advantage indulging in their version of competition.

Phil_gretz

^this, actually. Endurance sports are simply too demanding for the world's true Elites. They couldn't be bothered.

As a related note, I'm glad to see that my preconceptions and stereotyping are backed up by real science! Yay!

Koyote

That’s what I get for not reading the entire thread. Thanks for the clarification.

Phil_gretz

And for the record, I would say that to be "rich", your assets must approach $1 billion or so. A few hundred $ million doesn't qualify...

The world's finest yachts cost in the few hundred $ million range.