CycleryNorth81

Cycling, running, and obstacle course racing are dominated by white-collar workers.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/w...=pocket-newtab

Gresp15C

The "research" cited in the article is probably bunk, and the hypotheses seem interesting but could be anybody's guess. In my observation, endurance athletes make a very small percentage of any workers, white collar or otherwise. Time and money would seem like obvious factors. White collar workers are also healthier and have better access to health care if they get injured. Manual and repetitive labor takes a toll on people's bodies.

Doctor Morbius

Same reason blue collar workers like monster trucks, Nascar and professional wrasslin'.

GlennR

Because they have the time to train.

wolfchild

Sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day everyday would take a much greater toll on me both physically and mentally. I feel at my best when I am moving around and doing physical labour all day. I don't envy desk jockeys.

Bandera

Actual rich people love owning NFL teams , Formula 1 racing teams and America's Cup yachts.
No actual personal participation in any "sport" required, just the really big $,$$$,$$$$.

-Bandera

wolfchild

Very rich and wealthy people don't ride bicycles and they don't like anything that involves physical effort.

GlennR

Golf?

Bandera

Only Cheating at Golf.

-Bandera

TiHabanero

Lot of hate going on here. Jealousy or ignorance?

Nessism

$1000 wheel sets are not being purchased by poor people. There is a significant portion of the bicycling demographic that has entertainment money to burn, and most of those guys are white collar types.

Bandera

Ever play Corporate Golf tournaments w/ Fortune 500 executives?
See Post #9 .

-Bandera

Skipjacks

Can't it be both?

TimothyH

I have news for the author of that article...

$75,000/year household income isn't rich.

Neither is $126,000/year.


-Tim-

ColonelSanders

Endurance events are a metaphor for success in life.

A hard slog over a long time.

brianmcg123

At the plant I work, at break time the cars are filled with all the blue collar workers smoking.

FiftySix

It's difficult to have the energy to do intense sports after a hard physical day at work, and it's difficult to have the energy to do a hard physical day at work after intense sports the day before.

One of the reasons I gave up soccer years ago was I would go to work the next day worn out or injured. Since my job required NOT sitting in an office, being worn out or injured really interfered with my work.

Sure was fun until it wasn't fun anymore. I guess that's why I like riding my bikes at my own pace whenever I want. The best thing that happened to me and riding is when my cheapo cycle computer died.

Hiro11

Middle aged / peak earning years folks avoiding higher impact sports + sedentary jobs + lots of stuff to spend money on + everyone in your peer group is doing it = "rich" people "love" endurance sports.

livedarklions

Depending on the activity, endurance is the factor that fades slowest with age. So amateur athletics tend towards endurance events for people with disposable income and extensive leisure time.
It's interesting that the article lumps in endurance bicycling with the "people enjoy pain" types of endurance events because I think one of its appeals is that there's much less routine pain and damage than one would expect with distance running for example.

Don't find much else in the article surprising. This all seems rather obvious dog-bites-man type stuff.

pickettt

How the hell would I know what rich people do?

MEversbergII

That's my take. It represents discipline and willpower.

M.

MarcusT

Aside from the snide comments and such, it's not rich people, it's successful people who look for the high. People who are driven to succeed, not only in their work life, but in their leisure life.

And.. no, that's not me

jade408

Depends on where you live.

In my completely unscientific study of people I know (via work and the like, generally under 45).

1. Separately there is/was a trend for senior Silicon Valley people to bike in lieu of golf as that thing to do. That is the Roadie demographic

2. Lots of triathlete types in my work environment. If they bike they have fancy ones or fixies/single speeds.

3. Many of the athlete types also ski often or do $30 workout classes regularly. That is common for most people who mention exercising.

4. People who previously had lower paying jobs but moved into higher paying ones later or have lower paid spouses have cheaper bikes

5. People who bike for environmental reasons and have no car have more expensive bikes

6. People who come from family wealth have all sorts of expensive athletic hobbies

_ForceD_

This is a ridiculous argument, and the author of the article linked in the OP is simply sensationalizing his point. "Endurance sports" is/are simply "an activity." To begin with, his initial scenario about the time dedicated to running over the course of a year...well so??? Call it an activity/hobby. The couch potatoes who are putting in hours playing...whatever video game...are dedicating just as much, or more, time to that. And tell me...because I don't "game"...what costs are associated with that? And what class of workers dominates that activity? Secondly, to be an endurance athlete one does not have to run marathons. There are lots of people racing the shorter races, at their smaller, local venues, that cost a fraction of the $1200 he/NY Times says it costs to run a marathon. An "endurance athlete" can train for, and run a 10k race per month and only have to drive a few miles from their home. They're still an endurance athlete, likely putting in a lot fewer hours training than a marathon runner. And running a local race per month will cost in the neighborhood of only a few hundred dollars.
Here's a link to an interesting graph that I found that is germane
https://genfkd.wpengine.netdna-cdn.co...s-income-1.png

Dan

phile

Cause they're loud and sell beer? I don't think endurance sports have that