Why would anyone punish themselves like this? This kind of vascular damage can’t be healthy. What are the long term health effects of this sport?
I enjoy a leisurely 10 mile ride on a pretty fall afternoon. It’s fun and great exercise.
I wouldn’t even consider this kind of competitive biking. They can have the trophy, the prize money, and the pretty girls. 
That’s assuming they don’t run away in horror after seeing his legs.
Racing is not healthy.
A leisurely 10 mile ride might be fun but is not exercise.
The horror that is a pro cyclists body isn’t their legs. For many of them, it’s everything above the waist and below the neck.
Dude, does she even own a bicycle?
Can’t tell from that shot. 
Aren’t those bulging veins typical of bodybuilding?
Of course it is – it’s just not extreme, sweat-drenched exercise to exhaustion.
The modern American attitude that cycling is a dangerous activity engaged in only by young daredevils who push their bodies to extreme levels is a shame. The moderate exercise of a leisurely bike ride in normal clothing (like the rest of the world does it) is a very good and healthy thing.
Typical of extremely low body fat, I believe. Pro cyclists, at least those who are attempting to be competitive in climbing situations, get their body fat down to dangerously low levels to increase their power/weight.
Did I say there was anything wrong with a leisurely ride? No, I did not.
And I don’t know what version of America you have in mind. There are plenty of people who ride bikes without pulling on spandex and risking their lives.
The rest of the world seems very well represented in professional cycling, btw. If I’m not mistaken, ‘extreme sweat-drenched cycling to exhaustion’ is primarily a European tradition.
No, not at all, but you did dismiss it as “not exercise,” and Turble’s post simply explains that of course it is.
Which is pretty obvious when you think about it. Take two people of same age, same general height and weight, same general decent health. For a year, have them lead equally sedentary lives, eat the same foods, experience the same general level of stress. Send one of them out every day for a leisurely ten-mile bike rie, while the other stays home and watches MAS*H reruns. After a year, we evaluate the overall health of the two. Do you really think there would be no difference in their health?
Of course not! The medical acumen gained from listening to Hawkeye and BJ’s operating room banter would clearly lead to superior health.
Well, exactly!!
