BIKE: Gretzky, Rodman, Rodriquez the equal of Lance?

[David Dobbs]

Worse than "sad" is that columnist Mike Imrem of Chicago Daily Herald 
is factually wrong.

If an athlete does not undergo proper rigorous multi-year training 
(MYT) as a young athlete (roughly ages 12-17) for the specific sport 
in question, the maximum potential modification of growth and 
development in the muscles necessary for that sport will not take 
place.

In other words VO2 max, the maximum oxygen uptake or maximal amount 
of oxygen that the body is capable of processing is determined before 
one reaches full biological maturity, is muscle specific, and 
developed through a specific training regimen for the particular 
sport in question.

Ergo, Wayne Gretzky, Dennis Rodman, Alex Rodriguez  or any other 
great athlete not specifically trained in cycling during the critical 
teenage development period could not be as good or better than Lance 
Armstrong in long distance cycling ala Le Tour de France.

"Within genetic limits of individual development MYT definitely can 
modify the output of the growth. Without purposeful MYT it would not 
be possible to achieve  full individual potential of the motor 
abilities and develop a highly specific structure of abilities and 
specific performing skills."

See http://www.volleyweb.com/lylemcd/vo2max.html

and

(http://www.coachesinfo.com/category/swimming/312/)

While columnist Imrem is correct in pointing out the "apples to 
oranges" differences in athletes and the sports they participate in, 
i.e., the difficulty of making valid comparisons vis-a-vis "Who is 
the greatest athlete?" when every field is highly specialized, the 
statement that any another great athlete (with the proper build?) 
could equal Lance's feat displays astonishing ignorant for a sports 
writer.

Worse still, his article's internal consistency it totally undermined 
by saying each sport is different while at the same time claiming in 
effect that "any great athlete can do this."

Lane is right "he's a wanker.  Best response: no response."  BUT if 
you want to respond, anyone on this list is welcome to my 
observations.

email is

sports

Dave Dobbs
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Texas Association for Public Transportation
9702 Swansons Ranch Road
Austin, Texas 78748
Ph 512.282.1149

Visit our website at  http://www.lightrailnow.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

At 12:35 -0500 7/31/04, Thorne wrote:
>Sad:
>
>"Wayne Gretzky was skinny enough in his prime to win
>the Tour de France. Dennis Rodman could have [won the
>Tour] if it wouldn't have bored him to death. Alex
>Rodriguez would have if there were more money in it.
>. . . Anybody who ever carried the football once in the NFL
>is a better athlete than even cycling's best ever."
>--Mike Imrem, writing in Chicago's Daily Herald
>
>If your stomach can take it, read the whole thing at
>www.dailyherald.com/sports/col_imrem.asp?intid=38194111
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 3190 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.bicycleaustin.info/private.cgi/forum-bicycleaustin.info/attachments/20040731/9c09a52f/attachment.bin