Evelyn Stevens was working on Wall Street four years ago and is now the best American women cyclist. How is that possible? Her parents must be enjoying dinner with pulses of 40 bpm and sky high VO2 maxes. Are they both professional marathon runners? Is that how they met? Maybe they have never attempted aerobic sports. If Evelyn has siblings and they are not professional athletes, I hope they are taking advantage of their superior aerobic thresholds, somehow, like hustling people at the city public lake. It’s easy money.
Hey youth, fifty bucks says I can swim across the lake faster than you, with this cigarette in my mouth.
No way tubby, you are on.
It’s a source of frustration for me as I bump my head against the low ceiling of my genetic limitations. “You can be whatever you want to be!” That is such nonsense. Every professional rider is a genetic freak, they certainly aren’t physiologically normal. It’s not all hard work and desire. It may be all hard work, desire and a better than average cardiovascular system. Training, weight loss, diet will bring one up to one’s own maximum fitness but we are all bracketed by how we chose our parents. Having the perfect amount of dumb may be my only professional qualification. I don’t want to be a pro, I just want to casually crush my friends and I can’t.
Greg LeMond did a fantastic job choosing his parents. As a junior he was beating the best seniors in the country. As a twenty-two year old he was winning the World Championship. LeMond took his natural talent and went out there, got his ass handed to him and kicked some ass too. I admire his jumping into the deep end when Sean Kelly and Bernard Hinault were already in the pool, waiting for him. I like Andy Schleck less because I sense he is relying more on his natural talent than hard work.
The guys I really admire are the ones who are dealt a less generous genetic hand and still make it into the professional ranks and get a little glory. Ludo Dierckxens is my kind of rider. He was working full time painting trucks at the DAF factory yet training after work and racing on the weekends. The selection to become a professional rider in Belgium must be the toughest in the world. At age thirty he signed his first contract for Saxon (?!) in 1994 and strung together professional contracts until he landed on Lampre in 1998. In 1999 he won the Belgian Road Championship and won the 11th stage in the Tour. Most professionals would be happy with those palmares.
Fabian Wegmann is another great rider to watch, he always looks to be on the edge of anaerobic destruction, dying just to stay on a wheel. I can relate to that.
But enough of the professionals, I’m a little sick of them right now. We are the ideal cyclists. We ride for the fun rather than the money. We get all the pleasure and as much pain as we care to endure and then as much as it takes to get back to the house. It is perfect.
Early on as a cyclist I understood I had chosen my parents badly. I wasn’t paying attention. I take that bit of information, fold it up and put it away in a drawer when I go out on the bike. I am still healthy enough to ride myself into the ground. Occasionally I can outsmart someone, or scrub off less speed in the corners or use my awesome mass to distance people on descents. I may get shelled when the road goes up but I’m going to look good when it happens. I take my quiet little victories when I can.
This video is a bit the of 2006 Giro Lombardia. Wegmann is the last man still with il Grillo as the race gets serious. Wegmann drops his flash light deep in the pain cave. Enjoy.
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And as to choice of parents:
@Gianni I don't think anyone has ever better managed to sum up the entirety of my riding technique that you did with "scrub off less speed in the corners or use my awesome mass to distance people on descents"... Classic!
The Pros
70% genes
30% hard work
+30% EPO
Us
70% hard work
30% genes
-30% BEER
@mxlmax
then there's this
@Gianni
He was. He's not Cipo any longer. Now he's a parody of Cipo. Sadly.
Although, thinking about it, perhaps he was always a parody of himself.
@Monty Exactly. Therefore, Cipo is still Cipo. And I can sleep peacefully. Now stop all that talk.
Nature vs Nurture is an interesting question when analyzing cycling performance. One would look at Taylor Phinney and one is apt to quickly conclude the scales are dramatically tilted towards Mother Nature.
From personal experience, for the first few years of my road racing career I was a mid packer in the European amateur peloton. But a much more serious approach of 6-7 rides a week, a healthier diet, and copious amounts of time at the V and Dime translated into greatly improved results over many years. That being said, the price for being a successful racing amateur Velominatus can come at costs to family, work, safety and health, along with many other known and unknown opportunity costs. For me Nurture (Rule V) overpowers Nature at amateur levels but at the Pro levels (which for me right now are irrelevant) Nature is also hugely important (and at times Dr. Ferrari's potions)
Great article, love the sentiment. Making the most of yourself is at times the hardest thing to remember as your buddies grimp the climbs away from you, part of me dies inside every time I see the soft pedal allowing me to rejoin. And yet I have come so far since beginning the journey. This, and the personal improvement, is what this site has directed the focus towards now.
Genetics can be fickle, gifted with a genetically slow resting HR on the one hand, and athsma on the other. The Guns write cheques that the vascular system can't cash, even if the pump can handle it, the pipes aren't big enough.
But that doesn't stop us trying, faster, further, more vert. The dawn, the dusk, the sun, the rain, the wind, the still, the country, the city, the climbs, the downs, the sweat, the grit. Today, we ride..
Just noticed Phinney's sunnies, what kind of pattern is that, just dots of color?