Originally Posted by
rsbob
Welcome to bike forum. Please ignore some people whom get their enjoyment by giving others a hard time. There is an ignore function which will hide their posts.
And you are quite correct that it is a rare breed that can endure countless hours of suffering in order to succeed. That is a mental skill that few sports need other than endurance running - double marathons, 60 to 100 mile adventure runs, etc. As a former competitive tennis player and downhill ski racer, these are sports, one just cannot step out on and expect to succeed without a lot of physical and mental skill building. Bike racing, from what I have seen, since I have never raced, takes physical prowess (genetic gifts), tactical skills, and a good knowledge of physics. But for Joe average getting his bike out once a month to poodle along on a MUP, it only takes balance and the ability to endure a sore bum.
Yeah if you define “skill” in a broad sense, including mental state and physical attributes then all top level sport requires insane “skill”. But I think it’s more interesting to look at how those various attributes differ in their relative importance across different sports. Darts for example doesn’t require any degree of physical fitness, but it requires immense levels of concentration and amazing hand/eye coordination.
Downhill skiing is interesting and requires both strength and amazing technique, along with mental toughness and balls of steel. I think it has more in common with DH mountain biking than road endurance racing, even though the technical skills themselves are different. Endurance road racing requires only a relatively modest bike handling skill set, but the ability to suffer has to be off the charts.