pretty bald statement to say any sport is the hardest to be perfect in.
Dont think there is such a thing. ever
Dont think there is such a thing. ever
The hardest sport to be "perfect" at?
- Thread starter - seb
- Start date
Incredibly ignorant statement that DH is harder than F1. I'm sure Kimi Raikkonen makes over $1 million per week because there are a bunch of people that can be as fast as him. Obviously you're a little misguided on what you know about Motorsport, not quite pressing some pedals and picking a line.....It's sheer brilliance that isn't learned, you're either a natural or not.
1: I agree with the above, as anything is difficult to do truly well.
2: the original poster's rationale is a load of BS (counting muscle groups). My mouth and tongue have a ton of muscles, so does that make playing the trumpet the most difficult thing to do?
3: perhaps Sam Hill's dominance is a sign that dh is essentially a bunch of amateurs? Compare to the training regimens of Olympic rowers, etc.
4: heart rate isn't an infalliable measure, either. See the equally-high rates of F1 and MotoGP racers, or consider that biatheletes and target shooters shoot between their (slow) heart beats for accuracy...
So to presume others are making assumptions isn't assumptive? (its presumptive!! Hoooot!)
There's usually higher payouts in televised multi-national, massively sponsored sports; that might just be economics tied together with some fundamental logic.
Everything's different, with different demands -- look at Cam McCauls interviews where he regularly describes sucking at just about every sport he tried except MTB, where he kills it. Someone will always talk smack, the truth will always be relative.
Any buddy here good at stacking cups?
Meh, unless you're talking about racing skateboards I'd argue it's not even a sport. I hate "sports" that require judges. Unless a result can be quantified with a time, distance or other quantative measurement you're competing in a pony show.
i love reading posts from people who enjoy riding bikes so much that they try to defend it as the most badass thing out there. "OMG IT IS SOOOO MUCH HARDER THAN GOLF!!!11"
guess what, every single sport is difficult and achieving perfection is either extremely difficult or impossible in most cases.
what the hell is "perfect" anyways? seeing as how i don't think anyone has achieved perfection in cycling, how the hell will we ever know if we reach it?
guess what, every single sport is difficult and achieving perfection is either extremely difficult or impossible in most cases.
what the hell is "perfect" anyways? seeing as how i don't think anyone has achieved perfection in cycling, how the hell will we ever know if we reach it?
then all the kiddies would want to ride the iron horse pope-cycle with the holy dw-link.
Im drunk as all hell and who knows what more so Im having a moment of clarity here.
Saying DH is the hardest sport to be perfect in is like saying Street Spirit by Radio Head is the most perfect musical masterpiece that can ever be acchieved in Music while there are so many variables.
Its fukkin brilliant in its own league but there are more leagues to pik from...
Sorry bout the drunk n00b steeloo but it made sence when i wrote it down anyways.
Saying DH is the hardest sport to be perfect in is like saying Street Spirit by Radio Head is the most perfect musical masterpiece that can ever be acchieved in Music while there are so many variables.
Its fukkin brilliant in its own league but there are more leagues to pik from...
Sorry bout the drunk n00b steeloo but it made sence when i wrote it down anyways.
I am just glad you were drunk while typing this...
What's the hardest sport to be "perfect" at?
Simple: perfection
Simple: perfection
"Sheer Brialliance" only gets you half way. If you know anything about Kimi Raikkonen, in his first F1 race he only finished 7th. Most thought he would blow up his car since he barely got his F1 license.
I think he has improved since then.
Finishing ONLY 7th in a F1 race is a world record by itself.
there is no sport that stands out in the crowd.
Ok I don't know about you Seb, but I have raced my car on a track as well as Downhill MTB...and car racing is a lot harder to learn then MTB...plus the price of failure is a lot higher as well as the risk involved...JMO...D
Skateboarding...I mean come on. It's impossible to do what they do, yet, somehow, it's achieved. The cost, the fear factor, the absolute insane determination it takes to learn the most basic trick. There are no "naturals" in skateboarding. Nobody just picks up a board and can do it. Your punishing yourself all the time, even if you do land a trick. I did a physics thesis on grinding a round handrail down ten stairs with a mild angle to it and perfect conditions, ie. runway, landing, weather, setup etc. the chances were over a million to one, yet guys do it all day everyday in the most insane conditions with cracks before and after the rail, kinks in the rail and security sweating you all the time. Just to be able to do your "job" you have to be a criminal. Skate parks help you train but you will NEVER see a skaters video part(which is how they are judged by their peers and fans) filmed entirely in skateparks. The creativity, the endless possibilities of tricks and combinations plus different spots, styles and the ability to do tricks either way-left foot forward or right foot forward is so mind boggling it has it's own language and culture. Plus what Danny Way and Bob Burnquist have taken skating to with the mega ramps and jumping the great wall of china, jumping out of helicopters, you have no idea how insane that is. Driving a car compares to that? Golf? You are out of your mind. No way. Skateboarding hands down. I didn't even scratch the surface considering variables for difficulty and technical ability. Skateboarding rules all sports.
Skateboarding is the 37th toughest sport according to ESPN
But i agree out of the "extreme" sports, It has some of if not THE hardest technical skills to master, hell even learning them to get them down 1/50th of the time is still crazy hard. I respect the wood pushers.
But i agree out of the "extreme" sports, It has some of if not THE hardest technical skills to master, hell even learning them to get them down 1/50th of the time is still crazy hard. I respect the wood pushers.
one acronym, mma. talk about price of failure, technique required, learning curve, any of that.
One thing i havent seen mentioned is off road dirt biking or racing. I ride track and trail and i personly think trail is alot harder its not like track were every time you come back around its the same, on the trail you never know whats around the next turn. Ive been riding on a trail and come around a turn and 90% of the trails washed away, that doesnt happen on the track. Look at the baja racers that go 110mph for 100 miles straight ,in a motocross race they only go like 60 max for a short period of time.I think offroad racing should go on there too. sry for the rant
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkillsHeh......post that list
Rowing behind figure skating.
I gotta figure out what Brian Boytano would do.
I gotta figure out what Brian Boytano would do.
That's probably the hardest sport (not talking about fitness) I've done. The water pretty much decides where you go. I did it several times in my first year of highschool. It's hard to compare to downhill, because I've been downhiling for a while and know the basic skills, whereas kyaking, I did for the most part, but with much less experience. I wonder which is harder for someone who hasn't done either yet. Some people are probably naturally better at certain things (which complicates the whole question). It really sucks to be over and for some reason, unable to roll back up (because of the current, etc.) You have to quickly decide to pull the spray top and get out before you drown.
There are way too many variables to compare sports in that way. "What sport is the hardest for you" is simple and doesn't have all those variables.
That or rock climbing.It's by far the most intense sport I've ever been involved in.
Much higher physical output levels in a tiny little narrow boat that tips sideways if you fart.
The synchronous motion with 7 other guys is a bit of a challenge........plus straining your muscles to the point exploding eyeballs.
Never again
once you get above 5.10, climbing just starts to get ****ing rediculous. if you ask me, it's definitely a much more difficult(not to mention dangerous) sport than downhilling.
Climbing does get rediculous. My best is probably a 5.8. A climb I attemped in Joshua Tree had 2/3" deep holds that had been formed when big flat pieces had come off of the face . I was on my finger and toe tips, climbing with those. I couldn't finish it though because I couldn't reach the next section.
I think strength in depth is also something to consider, I'm not saying DH doesn't require skill, but as someone else said, Sam Hills ecimating of the field on a couple of occations could also point to DH being an amateur sport, or more precisely, is a young sport and therefore 'soft'(no competition). Have a look at the number of training hours it takes to be at even a moderate level at swimming, gymnastics, pole vaulting, kayaking etc. A friend of mine rowed kayak at an olympic level and he trained two to three times a day all through high school (and I'd say that kayaking is somewhat of a niche sport). let's say for arguments sake that the amount of training hours needed to be put in is in some way indicative of the strengh in depth of the sport in general, In this way I don't know that I'd say DH is the toughest in any way. But it's a cool and fun sport.
Soccer / Futbol:
...although the player in red DOES seem to have the completely unecessary but thoroughly brutal nut-shot perfected.
...although the player in red DOES seem to have the completely unecessary but thoroughly brutal nut-shot perfected.
pretty interesting chart...I did notice that auto racing scored the highest when it came to Nerves...although the panel seems kind of so-so...they should have spoke to more athletes...D
That list is s**t how is boxing at the top and not MMA? I mean it is the complete combat sport and includes boxing. Boxing is just hands..thats it,MMA you have to worry about everything from every angle. In boxing nobody shoots-in,pick you up over his head,then slam you on yours,and then you have to get back up(or defend on the ground)and fight on your feet again. No kicks,knee,elbows,submissions...just hands. And MMA you dont fight with pillows on your hands either.
I think your whole post misinterpretted what I was trying to say. And I'm not saying that F1 (or any other sport, INCLUDING things like curling etc) is "easy".
My point is that we (as downhillers) have so many different skills that need to be pulled together, so it's very hard to be "perfect", or even close!
An F1 driver is undoubtedly very talented, but at the end of the day it's a smaller (but infinitely more honed) skillset.
And yeah I appreciate that there's all sorts of things that aren't immediately obvious, like being sympathetic to the car to get it through a race/weekend etc, and yes I know that they have to be incredibly fit to cope with the g-forces etc etc.
Haha, now we're talking
BMX. Just showing your face in public wearing chick pants is tougher than anything I've ever done.
Something else to consider with DH and other similar sports that certainly wasnt considered in that ESPN survey thing is all the other factors in just being able to compete.
Actually knowing how to keep your own bike running and what equipment you need is pretty crucial, its almost its own entity in a way. That as well as just getting to an event for anyone from your average local kid to world cup racer is quite the process. For me personally, and I'm sure with plenty of others out there just being able to get to a place to actually practice riding downhill is not easy, unlike if I was into soccer or even skateboarding where being able to practice is never more than 5min away.
The other huge thing with most any type of riding is the will to go out and build your 'practice' area. Do you ever see soccer players making their own fields? The dedication it takes to build stuff to ride on is pretty essential if you want to progress in our sport.
Actually knowing how to keep your own bike running and what equipment you need is pretty crucial, its almost its own entity in a way. That as well as just getting to an event for anyone from your average local kid to world cup racer is quite the process. For me personally, and I'm sure with plenty of others out there just being able to get to a place to actually practice riding downhill is not easy, unlike if I was into soccer or even skateboarding where being able to practice is never more than 5min away.
The other huge thing with most any type of riding is the will to go out and build your 'practice' area. Do you ever see soccer players making their own fields? The dedication it takes to build stuff to ride on is pretty essential if you want to progress in our sport.
I think once you participate in multiple sports you realize that each has it's own set of special things that make it hard to perfect (as others have pointed out). I think anything is hard to be "perfect" in because that means not screwing up AT ALL!
Hockey to me has always seemed like it would be one of the harder sports. The coordination and skill they have amazes me, and then to do it with another huge guy running into you while trying to keep a stick in your hand and your eye on an itty bitty puck...crazy! But to them, it's second nature...just like to us biking can be.
And I've done both MX and XC racing on motorized vehicles (ATVs) and let me tell you, it is alot harder than it looks. I am was a hundred times more scared to try jumps on my ATV than on my dh bike. Sure it has a motor but the speeds and distances are that much bigger because of it and therefore make the consequences that much higher (and unlike a dirtbike or bike...ATVs have a tendency to want to chase after you as they don't just fall over when you fall off).
But a downhill run compared to a 2 hour ATV race...apples and oranges. Staying focused for 2-5 mins and having any slip mean almost an instant loss is crazy, but so is having to stay focused for 2+ hours and having to keep your head when terrain is constantly changing, your body is fatigued, and you have other racers to take into account. Not to mention that at the top of the sport, the time differences can be very small...1 to 2 seconds, or even 5 or 10 secs, but over 2+ hours that's not alot of room for error. That's one time didn't hit a corner perfect and maybe had to adjust, or one time you hit the root just a little bit off. Sure you have more time to try and adjust for the mistake but it's alot harder than one might think.
Heck...let's just throw ballet into the mix as well....I couldn't stand on my toes like they do with a gun held to my head
Hockey to me has always seemed like it would be one of the harder sports. The coordination and skill they have amazes me, and then to do it with another huge guy running into you while trying to keep a stick in your hand and your eye on an itty bitty puck...crazy! But to them, it's second nature...just like to us biking can be.
And I've done both MX and XC racing on motorized vehicles (ATVs) and let me tell you, it is alot harder than it looks. I am was a hundred times more scared to try jumps on my ATV than on my dh bike. Sure it has a motor but the speeds and distances are that much bigger because of it and therefore make the consequences that much higher (and unlike a dirtbike or bike...ATVs have a tendency to want to chase after you as they don't just fall over when you fall off).
But a downhill run compared to a 2 hour ATV race...apples and oranges. Staying focused for 2-5 mins and having any slip mean almost an instant loss is crazy, but so is having to stay focused for 2+ hours and having to keep your head when terrain is constantly changing, your body is fatigued, and you have other racers to take into account. Not to mention that at the top of the sport, the time differences can be very small...1 to 2 seconds, or even 5 or 10 secs, but over 2+ hours that's not alot of room for error. That's one time didn't hit a corner perfect and maybe had to adjust, or one time you hit the root just a little bit off. Sure you have more time to try and adjust for the mistake but it's alot harder than one might think.
Heck...let's just throw ballet into the mix as well....I couldn't stand on my toes like they do with a gun held to my head
I agree 100%...that's why I think there should have been more athletes on their panel so they can get a real view and not just a view from people who write about it but have never done it on a professional level. They do have a poll you can vote for..the online results are quite a bit different...D