[quote=truckdoug]as someone who played football and also raced bikes
the nfl analogy is terrible. please stop using it.[/quote]
yeah, this.
NFL, boxing, hockey, etc is a full contact sport. there are consequences involved with participating that one needs to accept before continuing. You do not need to lose compassion towards those who suffer bad injuries or trauma to realize that it is the name of the game. See the guy with the ball? Go crush him. There are some that are naturally better than others.
Cycling, on the other hand, succumbs to mental pressure to dope to perform. There are some that are naturally better than others. Ultimately, this responsibility lies on the individual rider.
Dude the undergrad philosophy lesson is pointless. Think past it and realize that ultimately you either do something about an issue or you keep it in mind but keep living your life. Yes we are not omnipotent and so incapable of thinking about everything at once. Just like that quote Stalin never actually said about killing 1 being a tragedy but killing a million being a statistic. Attacking people on internet forums is decidedly NOT “doing something about it.” As far as the actual issue, there’s one other thing to keep in mind: those pro cyclists are people too, and you have to recognize that they’re not all being exploited. They are making these decisions for themselves (I’m sure there are exceptions but I’d bet that there are not many). Don’t belittle them by saying that they’re just being used.
A) not many concussions in cycling
B) hey look the athlete ultimately is a sentient being in control of their destiny (in this case either too dumb to realize how dangerous what they are doing is or just YOLO about it because that is the life they chose–I lean toward the latter)
So even in the sports world cycling isn’t really that exploitative. Using actual medicine to help them survive terrible endurance events? Come on.
Sure it is. At the most basic level if your body is in better shape you will go faster. The bad shit like finish bottles with horse tranquilizer are not what I’m taking about. That’s a problem. But that was the merckx era stuff and these days were talking about recovery and making your blood more efficient. We don’t know how that will affect riders as they age but it is certainly better than a concussion every weekend.
