Non-cycling friends: 'pro soccer is harder than pro cycling'

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mattr
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by mattr

nathanong87 wrote:im sure professional soccer players dope but it's probably not as frequent as there isn't a magical thing you can take to suddenly grant you foot/eye coordination and technique.
No, but if you have those skills as a given (And having those skills is a requirement if you are competing at a level where the teams/player can afford PEDs), there are then PEDs to make you stronger, improve oxygen uptake, speed recovery, both from intense efforts, and just generally. All these mean you can play and train longer and harder and recover quicker

But of course, if there is virtually no testing, and an unwillingness to change that, no one will fail a test, therefore football doesn't have a problem with PEDs. It's just cyclists that dope.

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euan
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by euan

I'm sure if football was played over 6 hours it would be just as hard

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nathanong87
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by nathanong87

mattr wrote:No, but if you have those skills as a given (And having those skills is a requirement if you are competing at a level where the teams/player can afford PEDs), there are then PEDs to make you stronger, improve oxygen uptake, speed recovery, both from intense efforts, and just generally. All these mean you can play and train longer and harder and recover quicker

But of course, if there is virtually no testing, and an unwillingness to change that, no one will fail a test, therefore football doesn't have a problem with PEDs. It's just cyclists that dope.


again not saying it doesn't happen in soccer, but if someone wins 3 grand tours in a row, immediately we all say, 'doper'. If messi wins mutliple fifa player of the year awards, i dunno if my first inclination is that he's taking drugs to be that good.

euan wrote:I'm sure if football was played over 6 hours it would be just as hard


comparing anything we peasants do to what professionals do will be hard..... swimming one lap in the pool compared to michael phelps 50 is really hard for me.

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euan
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by euan

I tell you what is really hard. Standing in the Merkland Stand of Pitordrie while an Arctic wind blasts sleet into your face for two and a half hours. Much harder than watching MSR in my living room

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tymon_tm
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by tymon_tm

Biff wrote:
tymon_tm wrote:the ultimate sport is no doubt the Himalayan climbing.

not only you need to be fit as hell, have superb technical skills, last weeks-long expeditions, but also be prepared to sacrifice your life (as it was the case with the latest winter conquering of Broad Peak). iron man, cycling, etc. - they're nowhere near as demanding as climbing in probably the most unhospitable and hostile environment on earth. i've nothing but the utmost respect for all of them. oh, and they don't dope..


Most of them take oxygen...That´s a kind of doping.It is a broad selection of people who go there.There are the "Everest tourists" who are on a egotrip and pay to almost get carried to the summit...And then there are the "Real" climbers.But they are´nt all Reinhold Messner´s that´s for sure.Everest has turned into a dump littered with corpses,oxygen bottles,tents and other discarded stuff...Sad really.


not all of them use oxygen. those who mean businness don't. i've met personally many climbers, just to name Kinga Baranowska (6 or 7 summits above 8000m, all without oxygen) or Adam Bielecki (climbed K2 during winter - without oxygen too). these are some of the greatest people i 'know', with an attitude like no other 'regular' athletes, and with some spectacular, nearly one-off achievements. nevertheless, my personal take on oxygen is that at ~8000m it's more like having a rain jacket on a chilly autumn day or riding on somebody's wheel in heavy winds. most pro climbers stay away from it (or try to), but sometimes it's a question of survival or finaling an expedition with completing an ascent - if you sit in a camp at few thousand meters for a month and have a one- or max two- day window to attack the summit, i believe it's justified to use such aid. bear in mind there are lifes at stake here.

it's a different story with the Everest though, as it became a sort of McDonald of Himalaya like you say. frankly speaking, it's a lost cause for pro climbers, as it's too overcrowded which makes it impossible to climb without oxygen - you'd simply die at your way back, having to wait even few hours to pass some critical points. i'd argue with the term 'carried to the top' though - you still need to be really something to climb all the way up and down alive. most of the victims die due to exhaustion after reaching the summit. climbing in Himalaya, no matter the weather or skills, is pretty much about coming down safely, as the recent expedition to Broad Peak showed.
kkibbler wrote: WW remembers.

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Rick
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by Rick

I think both football (soccer) and cycling are right up there with synchronized swimming and snooker.

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stella-azzurra
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by stella-azzurra

Rick, you keep telling me you use weed for medicinal purposes only. :lol:
I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree

Biff
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by Biff

tymon>>Yeah..It was just just that you mentioned "Himalayan climbing".That could cover "Tourists" and the real hardmen like you describe.
Sure a certain level of fitness is necessary to climb in those conditions and altitudes.People who are´nt climbers can summit if they pay $´s to have sherpas looking after them on the way up and down...And the traffic jams at Hillary step are´nt to crazy;-)

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Rick
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by Rick

stella-azzurra wrote:Rick, you keep telling me you use weed for medicinal purposes only. :lol:

Man, those synchronized swimmers have to raise their arms at EXACTLY the same time! Do you know how hard that is ? How much practice it takes ?!?!?


....and their feet aren't touching the bottom, you know ?!?

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stella-azzurra
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by stella-azzurra

Yes you and I would sink like a stone :oops:
I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree

mattias
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by mattias

soccer, how hard can it be most games are fixed by the chineese anyway. :roll:

nathanong87
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by nathanong87

mattias wrote:soccer, how hard can it be most games are fixed by the chineese anyway. :roll:


cuz bike racing couldn't possible be fixed either

















































ZINNNGGGGG
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ultimobici
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by ultimobici

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I rest my case!

Kasparz
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by Kasparz

mattiTWOROADS wrote:It's stupid to compare the two. One is pretty much a contact sport and the other isn't. Requires a whole different set of skills and muscle / mental strengths.

Cycling isn't a contact sport? From when? Sprint and several track races involves a lot of contact.

nathanong87
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by nathanong87

Lets ask Oscar Pereiro

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