Thats because you are americans and you suck at downhill. Your best downhiller "riffle" gets beat by our women at world cups. Go race in a country that is actually good and results like that don't happen, 20 secs winning margin in expert category, thats a joke!Definitely an amusing thread... I can think of a few bits of info...
In baseball, if you can hit a little white ball in such a way that 9 other people can't catch it before it hits the ground... and can do this consistently say maybe... 33% of the time... someone will pay you millions of dollars for your skills.
DH vs. MX... I just remember Mt Snow in 2000... My second year racing Expert (first year full time)... it was the second year of the current course configuration (Yard Sale)... Many of us were still trying to figure this course out (I never did...)... End of the race, the guy who won 30-34 class did so by a large margin (about 20 seconds IIRC)... It was his first DH race... EVER... on a borrowed bike (Avy Cortina)... Who was he? Doug Henry. The only conclusion I can come to is MX is MUCH harder than DH...
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.
is that what the shoe company is named for?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.
Right, cuz football is sooo hard. Wow. I can play basketball or Football with professional players and still stay in the game. That's a crock. What do they consider skateboarding? Riding it down the street? Then I would agree with them, unless you're in San Fransisco and going over 40 on a daily basis, then I would say they were wrong. Wackadoo. I guarantee you could take ANY skater and he would be able to shoot hoop within a year, and I mean well/competitively. It would be a rare find to get a professional football player or b-ball player to get anything done on a skateboard in a year. I am an aquaintance of Bobby "Action" Jackson, and he is one of the most fit, powerful players out there and he won't mess with a skateboard-at all. Why do you think that is?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.
Right, cuz football is sooo hard. Wow. I can play basketball or Football with professional players and still stay in the game. That's a crock. What do they consider skateboarding? Riding it down the street? Then I would agree with them, unless you're in San Fransisco and going over 40 on a daily basis, then I would say they were wrong. Wackadoo. I guarantee you could take ANY skater and he would be able to shoot hoop within a year, and I mean well/competitively. It would be a rare find to get a professional football player or b-ball player to get anything done on a skateboard in a year. I am an aquaintance of Bobby "Action" Jackson, and he is one of the most fit, powerful players out there and he won't mess with a skateboard-at all. Why do you think that is?
It was actually '01, and his margin was about 14 seconds.DH vs. MX... I just remember Mt Snow in 2000... My second year racing Expert (first year full time)... it was the second year of the current course configuration (Yard Sale)... Many of us were still trying to figure this course out (I never did...)... End of the race, the guy who won 30-34 class did so by a large margin (about 20 seconds IIRC)... It was his first DH race... EVER... on a borrowed bike (Avy Cortina)... Who was he? Doug Henry. The only conclusion I can come to is MX is MUCH harder than DH...
aha, I remember that..it was awesome. He had the ****tiest pedals with toe clips! Having done both sports I am going to say mx is harder as well...Around the time I was riding novice/amateur motocross, I got into dh racing when I went away to college and easily started at expert level and then semi pro a few years into the sport. Getting to expert level mx is really tough IMO.It was actually '01, and his margin was about 14 seconds.
http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2001&id=18&info_id=176
The craziest thing I remember about him riding was that he was doing it in hiking boots and using pedals with clips and straps!
I dunno what kind of soccer you watch.....and i'm no soccer fan.....but dood, top soccer pros don't stand around.....ever. According to THIS random website, they avergae around 170 BPM.......FOR 90 MINUTES, not 30 or something.I don't know what they were using as a guideline for physically demanding, but I dont see how soccer is more physically demanding then moto. Soccer requires a great deal of sprinting, leg power and agility, but there is considerable downtime where you are either motionless or walking while the game is playing.
I didn't say stand around, as in stand around and do nothing. Watch a soccer game from a stadium perspective. From a purely physical standpoint, there is a real amount of downtime in which there isn't any exertion. That does not mean that they arent doing anything... waiting for a pass, being open, setting up for a play or whatever. Conversely, there are times of constant maximum effort. The talent pool in soccer is so huge that the top players really are brilliant, dont get me wrong.I dunno what kind of soccer you watch.....and i'm no soccer fan.....but dood, top soccer pros don't stand around.....ever.
I just threw up in my mouth.I didn't say stand around, as in stand around and do nothing. Watch a soccer game from a stadium perspective. From a purely physical standpoint, there is a real amount of downtime in which there isn't any exertion. That does not mean that they arent doing anything... waiting for a pass, being open, setting up for a play or whatever. Conversely, there are times of constant maximum effort. The talent pool in soccer is so huge that the top players really are brilliant, dont get me wrong.
I agree with the tour, if you are talking aerobic fitness. But its kind of comparing apples to oranges. While Ricky Carmicheal would get dropped on L'alpe Duez, just imagine Rasmussen at 40mph through braking bumps on a bike twice his weight:
You are comparing vastly different body types, fitness, etc. There is no one answer.
OMFG he looks like he just got out of a concentration camp.....
You are comparing vastly different body types, fitness, etc. There is no one answer.
There is much much much much more to car racing, then pushing some pedals and turning a wheel. And running a perfect lap is damn near impossible. You really have absolutely no room to say that racing is "easy" until you have climbed behind the wheel of one of those cars and taken a lap.I was thinking about this last night, downhilling's pretty hardcore I reckon. Let's start with another popular sport that involves racing: car racing on a track.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the guys who do that are unskilled, but it's got to be a lot "easier" to learn the skills required to do a perfect lap. All you really have to do is push some pedals, turn a wheel, and pick the right lines. It might be hard to perfect this, but there's not much else to it.
It was actually '01, and his margin was about 14 seconds.
http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2001&id=18&info_id=176
The craziest thing I remember about him riding was that he was doing it in hiking boots and using pedals with clips and straps!