Born Cyclists

johnnybrewer said:

Do any of you readers on this forum feel like you were physically born for cycling? I know it may sound egotistical to answer "yes." What do you guys think?

Nope. I'm too tall, too thin and overtrain easily......been riding now for 15 years and can't wait to go out tomorrow. 😎

LMAO
Nope not at all - 5' tall 105 lbs, very small lung capacity
cycling will always be a great hobby and a great way to stay in good shape, but I doubt I'll ever be more than fair to middling otherwise - working on my hill climbing

That's how I feel. I know I'll never race, but I can't wait to get back on the bike every day.

There are, I believe, 2 factors that typify the genetically gifted rider. The first is your obvious attributes such as height, weight, bone structure e.t.c. Other factors lay dormant till you actually start riding.
Therefore, you don't really know where your genetics lie till you've been riding for some time. Resting pulse, heart size and lung capacity will all develop to a certain extent.
Interestingly enough, Eddy Merkcx was considered to have too small a heart to be a top rider and Miguel Indurain fooled everbody. Nobody imagined that a lanky rider who was well over 6 feet tall could have gone on to win the TDF.
I don't know how my own genetics lie. Generally speaking I was a poor athlete at school and always last in cross country runs.
In order to develop your full potential you need to train very hard, efficiently and intelligently.

johnnybrewer said:

Do any of you readers on this forum feel like you were physically born for cycling? I know it may sound egotistical to answer "yes." What do you guys think?

i think phsycology goes a long way as somethign else you can be born with or into.

in "tour de force" the author focusses on the grim backgrounds of the top guys...ullrich from a housing project in east germany, mayo, indurain, hinault etc as farmers sons.

in a way you've got to feel positive about hurting yourself and having axe's to grind or things to prove helps i think.

i am not phyically gifted but i like to think i'm predisposed to hurting myself in a race situation. i lknow people who kick my ass on a ride i dont care about, but in a race situatuion the tables are turned.

in a way you've got to feel positive about hurting yourself and having axe's to grind or things to prove helps i think.

Heh, I guess that's what they mean by "riding a bike in anger". Actually, I can say I have. Though not today.

Today I rode in suffering. I got a stabbing pain in my chest 24 km into my 35 km TT course I use to judge where I am. It happened up a steep hill, 300 m and about 9%, I dropped to 17 km/hr (completely anaerobic) and my average speed fell from 36.7 km/hr to 36.3 km/hr in like 30 seconds. Boy, that [censored] me off, but I was so exhausted after cresting the hill that I wasn't feeling any anger. I was thinking "please god, let it stop!" but went on to finish my course in a PB.

As to the "born cyclist" thing, probably to some extent yeah. I'll find out next year how far it extends.

-Bikeguy

I know for a fact that I don't have the genetic makeup to be anything more than a recreational cyclist. If I had started young enough and trained diligently enough after a period of several years I may have been an OK CAT 5 racer but no more than that.

My eventual goal is to complete a solo 50 miler in 2.5 hours or 20 MPH. There are several members of this forum who can do that within a few weeks of getting on the bike for the first time. That is sooooo not me.

It would seem to me that born cyclists would need an extremely high VO2 Max among some other physical attributes as well (femur bone, efficient heart).

I think a lot of it has to do with the way you process lactic acid

I had the same "angry" experiences as Lance and Ullrich (broken home and poor district) and I agree it creates a lot of drive. Of course, Lance and Ullrich have the extra advantage of correct genetics and top coaches.
At any rate, I can relate to the pain syndrome you describe. You should stop and ease off if you feel pain in the chest but training pain in general is good for the character.
Today I died 100 times over and drove myself to my near limit. I had to talk myself through the pain and visualise the coming descent that would put me out of my misery. On such occasions, sweat pours into my eyes, I cuss and swear and grimace like a bulldog that swallowed a wasp.
If you can endure such purgatory, you can accomplish anything and the dopamine is certainly a great way to beat any depression.

bikeguy said:

in a way you've got to feel positive about hurting yourself and having axe's to grind or things to prove helps i think.

Heh, I guess that's what they mean by "riding a bike in anger". Actually, I can say I have. Though not today.

Today I rode in suffering. I got a stabbing pain in my chest 24 km into my 35 km TT course I use to judge where I am. It happened up a steep hill, 300 m and about 9%, I dropped to 17 km/hr (completely anaerobic) and my average speed fell from 36.7 km/hr to 36.3 km/hr in like 30 seconds. Boy, that [censored] me off, but I was so exhausted after cresting the hill that I wasn't feeling any anger. I was thinking "please god, let it stop!" but went on to finish my course in a PB.

As to the "born cyclist" thing, probably to some extent yeah. I'll find out next year how far it extends.

-Bikeguy

johnnybrewer said:

Do any of you readers on this forum feel like you were physically born for cycling? I know it may sound egotistical to answer "yes." What do you guys think?

Sometimes I can feel like I have the genetics to be a decent cyclist. I've always been inclined towards endurance activities. I've also got a rhr of 36. And even at 10 years old and untrained it was 44. Not sure how much that means though. And whenever I feel too good about numbers I get smacked down in a race. There is always someone with better genes, better training, or more luck.

As a side not: I've heard that the first few years are not a good indicator of potential, as in great results in the first year of racing may not mean someone has more potential than someone who has average results. Why would this be true? (if it is)

i think if you start young are very commited enter races early on and ride with a better more experienced rider you can train youre body to be born to cycle.

im 14 now and about 2 years ago i realised after watching the tour de france that this was a sport i was made for. sure my dad is 6-3 but i have naturally massive legs and a weak upper body and very slow twich body make up most of all like you guys have commented you have to want to hurt, i think thats all it comes down to ive been tought young that whatever you can dream you can do as long as you start early and put in the work.

hopefully i stick at the sport because the reward you get after going for a ride are great.

whoawhoa said:

...As a side not: I've heard that the first few years are not a good indicator of potential, as in great results in the first year of racing may not mean someone has more potential than someone who has average results. Why would this be true? (if it is)

Because Lactate Threshold can be trained significantly. A born cyclist with an extremely high VO2 can be beaten by a person with a much lower VO2 who has trained for years and has increased their Lactate Threshold.

johnnybrewer said:

Do any of you readers on this forum feel like you were physically born for cycling? I know it may sound egotistical to answer "yes." What do you guys think?

I know I had the talent, but squandered it away. Made it to cat 1 by training enough to race okay, but never had the discipline to go further. I'm now 40 and have big regrets, but luckily for me, I have a great wife, kids, house and so on, to keep me from looking back too often. Mediocrity is fine if you don't expect anything. Aaaarrgghh...

Sometimes I'm riding so fast and free that I could have sworn the reason I was born was for cycling. And then, I try and stop and I fall infront of a buttload of people in their automobiles and I feel stupid... and then the dream begins all over again.

I love biking. But I don't know if I like to commute to work every day due to the WONDERFUL roads that we have here in Michigan.

"I got a stabbing pain in my chest 24 km into my 35 km TT course."

My own personal view is that pain is good for character and endurance but there is a wrong kind of pain that acts as a warning. Your body may have been telling you to ease off on this occasion.
Myself I make a point of lowering my pace if I ever feel extreme stress during a climb as it can sometimes be dangerous to press on regardless. Heart attacks or collapse suffered in events such as the TDF are more common than people realise.
One thing is feeling your heart beat fast, your legs burn and sweat pour down your face but any kind of intense muscular pain or stabbing pain isn't a healthy thing to puish through. These can be a warning of major muscle tear, intercostal pull or serious injury.

bikeguy said:

in a way you've got to feel positive about hurting yourself and having axe's to grind or things to prove helps i think.

Heh, I guess that's what they mean by "riding a bike in anger". Actually, I can say I have. Though not today.

Today I rode in suffering. I got a stabbing pain in my chest 24 km into my 35 km TT course I use to judge where I am. It happened up a steep hill, 300 m and about 9%, I dropped to 17 km/hr (completely anaerobic) and my average speed fell from 36.7 km/hr to 36.3 km/hr in like 30 seconds. Boy, that [censored] me off, but I was so exhausted after cresting the hill that I wasn't feeling any anger. I was thinking "please god, let it stop!" but went on to finish my course in a PB.

As to the "born cyclist" thing, probably to some extent yeah. I'll find out next year how far it extends.

-Bikeguy

johnnybrewer said:

Do any of you readers on this forum feel like you were physically born for cycling? I know it may sound egotistical to answer "yes." What do you guys think?

I may have been, but grew up running instead. I didn't really get into cycling until I was in my 30's and just started racing this year at 35. I'm still improving every year and match up very well against my peers, but I'll probably never fully realize my potential because I started late.

Who knows how many 'born cyclists' will never even ride a bike in their adult lives?

Carrera wrote:

One thing is feeling your heart beat fast, your legs burn and sweat pour down your face but any kind of intense muscular pain or stabbing pain isn't a healthy thing to puish through. These can be a warning of major muscle tear, intercostal pull or serious injury.

Thanks for looking out, but in this case the pain was just some spasm in a muscle in my right rib area, my heart felt fine. I get this problem because my lungs are a bit cramped in the drop position, I'm getting a longer stem to alleviate this which will allow me to develop more power + get more aero. The effort I did was basically a 95% all out effort over 35 km.

-Bikeguy

So, long as you're O.K. there's no worries.
I always notice that when Lance suffers in the mountains, his body isn't under an unhealthy kind of stress. Both Lance and Basso had the fitness to sustain high speed racing but an untrained guy who tried to go at that level could face serious health risks.
I used to get chest pain in the past due to intercostal muscle strain. But I never push myself beyond reason any more. I still train very hard but I'm careful not to push myself over my own particular boundaries.

bikeguy said:

Carrera wrote:

One thing is feeling your heart beat fast, your legs burn and sweat pour down your face but any kind of intense muscular pain or stabbing pain isn't a healthy thing to puish through. These can be a warning of major muscle tear, intercostal pull or serious injury.

Thanks for looking out, but in this case the pain was just some spasm in a muscle in my right rib area, my heart felt fine. I get this problem because my lungs are a bit cramped in the drop position, I'm getting a longer stem to alleviate this which will allow me to develop more power + get more aero. The effort I did was basically a 95% all out effort over 35 km.

-Bikeguy

johnnybrewer said:

Do any of you readers on this forum feel like you were physically born for cycling? I know it may sound egotistical to answer "yes." What do you guys think?

nope, not at all. built to big and shoulders are way to wide.