This is an interesting discussion. Brings up the concept of athleticism and the many factors that determine athleticism.

Quote Originally Posted by Melalvai View Post
Do you think of yourself as an athlete? What does an athlete have that you don't?
No, I never thought of myself as an athlete - although, oddly enough, I lived (and live) most of my life as one, just without the sponsorships...

I grew up in a culture where if you are a professional athlete (i.e. sports are your career) then you call yourself an athlete; if sports are not your profession, then you are an amateur. So no, I never thought of myself as a real athlete - mostly an amateur/hobbyist, despite the fact that I even coached for many years.
Neither I think of myself as a real 'cyclist', so to speak - same old-school cultural tradition: the 'cyclists' were those competing in the Giro; all of us other youngsters racing bikes but also going to school/work/etc - we just rode our bikes
Funny, I guess - but that is sort of how we saw the world of sports growing up. Nadia Comaneci was an athlete, us winning the regional championship - well, we were just some kids good at gymnastics...

Quote Originally Posted by Crankin
Emily, yes, I think you are right. There's too many of us here that were "last picked" as kids for it to be chance.
This is also interesting - how appearence was in some places the first element determining whether a kid was judged as athletic or not, while in others the coaches really did not care about anything other than attitude and results.

Strange enough - I was one of the first picked kids in school sports. At first sight, I did not look 'athletic' at all. I was short (at 40 years old I'm still only 5'4''), wore glasses, had allergies... and yet - I was often the first one called, before the tall and muscular and fit kids. And it happened for every sport, gymnastics, volleyball, cycling... Go figure it out.
On top of the appearence, my cardiovascular fitness/health has always been pathetic to say the least. I was often hypoglycemic and hypotensive despite eating 5000+ Cal per day, had a resting hr 20-30 bpm higher than everyone else my age (still do), and of course I was always the one sent for additional ekg's.
The pre-Season sports physical was always a drama. Every time there would be extra tests, discussions, even arguments to get clearance for competition. So many times the school coaches would come with us to the exam appointments and argue with the sports med specialists to get me cleared.

With all this, you'd think they would let go and pick some 6 feet tall kid with no health issues instead. Never happened.
They saw then what I learned many years later when I started coaching: athleticism is made of many factors, health and fitness being only one. They knew that to be successful as coaches they did not need to select the kids that looked good on paper - they needed to pick the ones that were going to win, it's that simple.

And then if we look at the professional world, really there is so much to being 'athletic'.
While the average person would probably picture the professional athlete as someone perfectly healthy and fit - many pro athletes have underlying medical conditions. With training and medical support, they learned how to compensate for their problems and still perform at a high level.
Cycling is no exception, think of Armstrong recovering from cancer, Contador who survived a ruptured aneurysm, and many more in the peloton with asthma and diabetes.
The truth is that we are given one body and in most cases it's not a perfect machine - and despite any problems we may have, we are to make the best of it anyway.

Thanks Melalvai for a very interesting thread, and to everyone for sharing their experiences. Happy riding