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Show me one person on earth that isn't in GREAT shape, that could ride a 35 minute moto HARD on this type of track:
I suggest you don't even bother.
Allot of sports have guidance to combine it with school, so in case their sports career does not lift off they have something as backup. All top MX riders know is MX.
MX riders are schooled into racing, no wonder they don't carry a masters degree in literature.
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Not getting tired is one thing, staying focussed to get trough all the bumps and holes without crashing is another.
1 mistake leads to more fatigue and more fatigue leads to lack of concentration so more mistakes are made....see where this is going?
In many other tough sports you don't wear so much protective gear, and you have less impacts from jumps and bumps which makes it easier to find a good rhytm with breathing.
MX is special for sure, but I don't think mx-riders are fitter than other athletes on pro-level.
There are some cyclist that finish mid pack and never break a sweat. There are tennis players that play tournaments and never break a sweat.
Just as there are MX guys that lap me and never break a sweat.
The more true statement is that there are people in terrible shape who ride FAST for 30+ all the time (doubtful) but I can assure you there in no one who rides HARD for 30+ all the time while being in terrible shape. It is a physical impossibility. Of course that does depend on your definition of riding hard...
But we have to compare apples to apples. Maybe each racer or players PE (percieved exertion) could be taken into account?
The only other way I can think would be to only study racers and players at the very top of each sport.
Personal data points don't mean shit when comparing ultimate performance between sports, unless you're in the top 3 consistently at those sports. Either of you two in that situation?
Exactly.
I do all of the sports in question here: cycling, soccer, moto. I know that I can pretty much get off the couch and go play a full 90 minute soccer game or ride 20 miles of trails at a competitive level. But if I want to go race and I haven't been training hard, I don't last more than 5 laps.
Moto isn't just more physically demanding, it's also more mentally demanding than most sports. In soccer and especially in road cycling, you can take mental breaks. Heck in road cycling, you want to try to think about something else, which allows you to relax all muscles not being utilized and conserve energy.
In moto, you have to be focused enough to alternatingly relax muscles not being utilized while focusing on the track, competitors, and yourself. We all know what happens when you loose concentration in moto. That makes your muscles work much harder, and it's why very fit people get so tired the first couple times they ride.
Pit Row
Imagine running as fast as you can for 20-35 min with a extra 25 lbs on your body, then put a 40 210 lb machines bouncing around you and into you, rocks and dirt flying into your face @ 15-45 mph, riding over jumps that throw you 10 plus feet off the ground and sometimes as far as 100', the entire time you can get severally hurt or killed with one mistake! That's a Motocross race!
I think with the physical demands from cardiovascular endurance fitness tests, body impact study's and reflex to brain processing, MOTOCROSS is the #1 most demanding sport in the world with all combined!
It takes about 10,000x as much fitness to ride at top 3 pro speed in MX for 40 minutes as it does for some yahoo running 30 second slower lap times.
Basket ball? Seriously? Try again...skills, yes, but not real aerobic conditioning. Ask Shaq.
Rugby, sure, it's TOUGH, men trying to smash each other to the ground, but it does not require 30+ minutes of NON-STOP high heart rate conditioning, etc., there are big pauses between plays.
IRONMAN triathlons, very hard, very mental, and very physical. My brother is a multi-ironman, and I guarantee, to do well, takes a shitload of training and heart. I myself have ran several marathons and half-marathons, and I can tell you, that 30 minutes full tilt on an MX bike is harder than 30 minutes of fast running. I used to run for an hour 4x a week, just to equate into a 25-30 minute practice moto, to prepare me for raceday of 4 motos @20 minutes each.
And if you think you are in that great of shape, that 60 miles on the road bike has you gagging...you need to slow down a bit and get into better shape. Your context shows you really have no idea.
edit: yeah that's me on the right in my avatar pic. I am a nobody, but I bet I can out run, out work, and outpace 90% of all the racers at the local tracks in overall fitness (not in MX, I quit years ago).
While we at it I will include the athletes competing in the crossfit games. Usually, the shirt off gives you a good idea of someone's overall fitness... ripped=elite fitness. runners and the like may have the heart and lungs but they look weak and fragile. of course this is all in my uneducated opinion.(unless you count 25 years of being avid in to fitness)
I will say this, I have a buddy that is a marathon runner, triathlon, ironman, and expert level cross country and downhill mountain bike racer....he was always giving me crap about how easy riding is, the bike does all the work...because I'd complain that I was beat after a 90 mile H&H and he would ride 100 miles on his road bike every weekend. blah blah blah...
So I took him TRAIL riding (not racing, just trail riding) on some single track one Saturday (we did maybe 35 miles)....and he struggled, big time! The next day he called and told me it was the hardest thing he's ever done! And had sore muscles that he didn't even know he had!
Now, I won't be so arrogant as to think that because he does triathlons, and struggled on a 35 mile trail ride (which was easy for me) that I could sign up for a triathlon and even finish it. Ultimately his lack of technique made that trail ride much more difficult on him than it really was. And therein lies the problem with athletes from other sports trying motocross...its not that its so much harder than the sports they excel at, its that their lack of technique makes it APPEAR that much harder than other sports.
But, at east my buddy stopped giving me crap!
I realize in mx though you go do 2 motos per class for 5 laps a peice in 90 degree heat sometimes at the local level or a hour 45 minute harescramble. But wrestling the heat was cranked and humid as hell with everyone sweating. Pure hell. Dont get me wrong though mx is my love and its much funner than other sports but its not the hardest most physically demanding thing ive done.
I agree with the sentiment that these comparisons are mostly pointless. It seems that folks want to identify and group themselves in with the elite athletes of their favorite sport. That's just silly.
Lately I've been around a fair number of young hockey players, at the NAHL level. This is just above the "pay to play" level I think, and the kids are playing to try to get college scholarships. I'm amazed at the level of conditioning these kids have. I had always been told that hockey was grueling by my friends who skated, but those 2-3 minute shift changes always made me think they might be exaggerating. I'm a believer now. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the average kid on our local team would beat the average top-10 A & B rider at Loretta's in most any standard test of fitness, and these kids are still full-time high school students.
Personally I think just about any of the sports talked about will get a person plenty fit if participated in with enough commitment.
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