# Asshat Commentator: Armstrong Not An Athlete **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 26, 2002, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974 "2002-07-26T18:06:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/21 "2002-07-27T22:48:59Z")
From the [Lance Armstrong](http://www.lancearmstrong.com/bio.html) site: > [@](#): > > Born September 18, 1971, Lance’s **natural athleticism** was nurtured by his mother Linda, a single parent, while his temperament was molded by his participation in a variety of sports in their hometown of Plano, Texas. With the energy of youth, an inherent ability and a decidedly competitive nature on his side, **Lance won the Iron Kids Triathlon at 13 and became a professional triathlete when he was just 16 years old.** The swimming and running components of triathlon competition eventually gave way to cycling, however, and by the time Lance was a senior in high school he had a rolodex of potential cycling sponsors and a burgeoning career that was quickly replacing nearly everything else in his life. Long rides on Saturdays frequently took him to the Oklahoma border, where he had bicycled so far away from home he would have to call his mother to come and pick him up. Lance maintains that he was “born to race bikes.” The evidence was mounting to support that theory even before he was out of high school. I don’t know that much about cycling, but I’ve seen bits of the Tour de France over the years and seen a couple of races here and in Europe. From what I’ve seen of Armstrong he seems he would be very good in most sports. He’s tall, strong and extremely fit. Oh, and these stats from the same site: > [@](#): > > **Resting heart rate: 32-34** > VO2ml/kg: 83.8 > Max power at VO2: 600 watts > Max heart rate: 201 > Lactate Threshold HR: 178 > Time Trial HR: 188-192 > Pedal rpm’s during TT: 95-100 > Climbing rpm’s: 80-85, sometimes faster when attacking > Average HR during endurance rides (4-6 hrs): 124-128 > Average watts during endurance rides: 245-280 watts > Training miles/hours, endurance rides: 5- 6 hrs / 100-130miles Sounds kind of like an athelete to me. Maybe the most athletic guy in the world. Let’s face it, the guy who wrote this is a petty schmoe who most likely did it for shock value. We’d do well to just ignore him, and perhaps ignore the companies which sponsor him. ---
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/22 "2002-07-28T01:56:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Riders start at 30 second intervals, individually. Not to nitpick, **Coldie** but isn’t it more like 2-3 minute intervals? If it was 30 seconds, Lance would have passed Beloki long before the finish. ---
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/23 "2002-07-28T02:07:57Z")
Here’s what [Velonews](http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/2809.0.html) has to say about it. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/24 "2002-07-28T05:59:12Z")
Whoa, we need to hook Lance’s bike up to the power grid in southern Manhattan. Just kidding. ---
**Author:** ![fisico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cab0a1/32.png) [@fisico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisico)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/25 "2002-07-28T21:44:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BF \* > \*\* Not to nitpick, **Coldie** but isn’t it more like 2-3 minute intervals? If it was 30 seconds, Lance would have passed Beloki long before the finish. \*\* The best 20 start at 3 minute intervals and the rest at 2 minute intervals. It was a nice Time Trail to see, with Boogerd overtacking Virenque as the highlight of the day. Lance is a great athlete and the best rider. The rest are just great followers as Mart Smeets put it. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/26 "2002-07-28T22:59:06Z")
See, this is what happens when Boston Globe columnists try to think for themselves, instead of just plagarizing it from other sources like they’re supposed to. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/27 "2002-07-29T00:23:02Z")
Seems to me this guy thinks that it’s only athletic if you have someone playing against you…wait a minute, he does…a buttload of excellent cyclists racing against him. Hmmm…oh wait, they have to be _actively trying to impede you to your goal_ to be athletic. Hmmm… that doesn’t fit with some other things. Ok, this guy’s just a crackpot. ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/28 "2002-07-29T01:32:10Z")
Hey, you want to say he isn’t the best, he uses primarily his legs and lungs instead of his full body, ok, but then don’t claim a sprinter is an athlete if he isn’t. Or a soccer player. You can play soccer with no arms. Hey wait, baseball had a guy who had one arm. Toss them out. Seen a lot of baseball players run? Bet he can outrun Mo Vaughn. Or NFL linemen? Throw out the golfers, too. Wipe them all out. Gee, we’re getting down to cornerbacks, rubgy players, gymnasts, pole vaulters, and decathletes pretty fast, aren’t we? He’s probably picking out his favorite curler. Hey, my little niece knows how to write. Maybe for my money you should do something an 8 year old can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/29 "2002-07-29T02:26:14Z")
MSNBC got the viewers they wanted by posting Ron Borges column. They also posted Filip Bondy’s opinion: [America’s greatest athlete, bar none](http://www.msnbc.com/news/785614.asp) and there’s reader feedback for both [right here](http://www.msnbc.com/news/785627.asp) Who cares what MSNBC posts about bicycle racing? [Le Monde](http://www.lemonde.fr/) [Le Monde with ~fair~ babelfish translation](http://babelfish.altavista.com/urltrurl?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lemonde.fr%2F&lp=fr_en&tt=url) ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/30 "2002-07-29T06:29:42Z")
Guys, I used to race as a ‘roadie’ in Europe during the 80’s. I represented Australia in one Olympics ('84), two Commonwealth Games, and 3 World Championships. I was only an amateur and I never raced as a Pro but it was tough enough I can assure you. Anyway, my point is this - the most knowledgeable, worldy Americans I ever met were Americans outside of the U.S. - invariably they were gracious and wonderful ambassadors for their country. Interestingly however, just as an aside, in 1992 the FIA chose to NOT hold a further Formula One Grand Prix in Pheonix that year onwards. Ron Dennis from the McLaren Team at the time was quoted thus “We need a Grand Prix in the U.S. - the sport needs it to enforce it’s claim as a true World Championship. Unfortunately, the US is an incredibly insular country when it comes to sport. Unless the public has been weened on a sport on their TV’s and unless they continue to see that sport on their TV’s, there is a perception amongst typical American’s that it simply doesn’t exist or have any worth…” By any yardstick, those words by Ron Dennis are remarkably insightful. The real issue for me (as an outsider to the US looking in) is this, this Borgess clown we’re taking shots at is guilty of the worst sort of sporting chauvinism - his views are designed specifically to enforce the existing insularity which exists within the US Television Sport establishment, and it’s an epicly sad thing to be sure. So many countries around the world WISH you played more sports like the rest of us - just so that you could play with us more often. It’s so good for the soul. Idiots like Borgess would have the U.S. pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist because it’s such a threat to his pleasant, convenient status quo. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/31 "2002-07-29T09:55:17Z")
America doesn’t have TIME to play the sports the rest of the world likes. We’re too busy inventing new fake sports like Aggressive In-line Half-pipe Motocross Skiing so we can sneak them into the Winter Olympics and win a few freakin’ MEDALS for once, man! ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/32 "2002-07-29T11:31:30Z")
I don’t care for cycling at all. But even I can see that it obviously takes a lot of strength, skill and endurance. And those who compete are definitely athletes. Best athlete, bar none? I don’t think anyone could ever agree on that. Now there are fellas I wouldn’t consider athletes. Sail boat racers, car and motorcycle racers, jockeys, golfers… ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/33 "2002-07-29T12:43:19Z")
Armstrong not an athlete? Huh. I’d like to see this guy fly to the moon and come back in one piece. I’m sure that this commentator could not even make it through NASA’s training regimen to fly on the Shuttle much less a Saturn V. Seriously though, that article may be the most misinformed piece of crap I’ve ever read. Has this guy gone after Race Car Drivers, I wonder? The same arguments _might_ have merit on that subject, but not on bicycling. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/34 "2002-07-29T13:09:46Z")
**Boo Boo Foo** , excellent post. F1 is back in America now, with the Indianapolis GP. Great track, by the way. So far, it seems that it’s working. The stadium’s always full, and I think it’s fair to say that F1 has more American followers than (world) football does. Well, until the last world cup, anyway. 😉 Maybe things are changing, maybe it’ll become less “insular”, as Dennis put it. I’d love a competitive US football team (seems that wish has been granted), and I’d love to see some great American F1 racers, instead of sorry excuses like Michael Andretti in 1993. No offense to his father, who is one of the all time greats in F1, and many other racing disciplines. **spooje** , it depends on what they race. Whether you consider them atheletes or not, fact remains that any F1 driver or motorcycle races has to be _incredibly_ fit to do so. I think Michael Schumacher’s physical condition is no less than, say, a top 10 marathon runner. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/35 "2002-07-29T13:59:23Z")
We have had discussions here about defining things like Figure Skating and Gymnastics as Sports, which has some arguable points. This article has no arguable points. Troll. It’s publication more than likely accomplished the unstated goal. Website Hits. My guess is that drives advertising revenue. This guy makes money for the publisher. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974/36 "2002-07-30T01:24:51Z")
> [@](#): > > This guy makes money for the publisher. And ain’t that a dam’ shame? Saying something false and stupid to provoke people is profitable. What a world we live in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asshat-commentator-armstrong-not-an-athlete/120974.md?page=1)