Your sports history & cycling success

[DancenMacabre]

Many times this comes up when I talk to peeps from a new team or other bike riders. So I am a little curious.

What's everybody's sports background/history other than cycling??
What sports did you play?
What was your best sport?
What level did you play at?

For fun also:
what's your FTP (w/kg)?
what level do you bike race at (or used to race at if in the past?)

I know some lack TonyZ have been pro's in there sport & others like me, not even close! Nothing scientific here, just curious what kind of athlete some of y'all are.

 

[daveryanwyoming]

....What's everybody's sports background/history other than cycling?? ..

Sure, I'll play.

What sports did you play?

- Tennis in high school but not on a team
- Rock climbing and mountaineering since high school including big walls in Yosemite, multi week expeditions, fast alpine routes, sport climbs, ice, etc.
- Lift served and backcountry telemark skiing and ski mountaineering
- Nordic skiing and ski racing including half a dozen 30-50 km ski marathons over the years, never very competitive but a lot of fun

What was your best sport?

Rock climbing

What level did you play at?

On sight to mid 5.11 when climbing well, redpoint to 5.12 a few times, a couple of dozen first ascents, guided professionally for nearly a decade

what's your FTP (w/kg)?

Peak over last 4 seasons ~ 4.4 w/kg, currently ~4 w/kg(power down and weight up this time of year).

what level do you bike race at

Cat 3 Master in road, track and cyclocross. Working towards upgrade to 2s on road and cross with several podium spots this past season.

-Dave

 

[Fightin Boba]

What's everybody's sports background/history other than cycling??
What sports did you play?
What was your best sport?
What level did you play at?

I ran XC and Track from Jr High through a short post-collegiate sponsored career. Stopped running in my last year of med school through residency and early career in academics after finishing residency. Went from racing weight of 142 to >220 pounds during my non-running life. Resumed running in my later 30s and finally traded running for cycling not too long after 45. Cycling now since 2002.

Young running career: marathon PB of 2:16 in 1979 Boston Marathon (while 22yo)and 1980 Olympic Trials Qualifier. Winner SF Mararthon in 1978. 10 mile PB of 49:15.

Old Running career: 1st in 45+ age group 2001 Chicago Marathon (2:42), 5th 45+ age group 2002 National XC Championships

For fun also:
what's your FTP (w/kg)?

Isn't that another thread? And mine is too shameful at the moment to post.

what level do you bike race at (or used to race at if in the past?)

Decent enough to try to compete at Masters' Nationals, and Masters' Worlds, but not good enough to prevent 10-20 guys finishing in front of me in the ITT....yet

 

[fergie]

Many times this comes up when I talk to peeps from a new team or other bike riders. So I am a little curious.

What sports did you play?
-Football
-Cricket
-Yachting
-Badminton
-Table Tennis
-Gymnastics
-Judo
-Karate

What was your best sport?
-Football

What level did you play at?
-Nearly Regional rep level

what's your FTP (w/kg)?
3.1 (W/kg)

what level do you bike race at (or used to race at if in the past?)
I was a regional rep in U17s, U19s and Elites. Now just a plodder as the W/kg indicates. Don't have the time or the desire that suffer like a wounded dog as I once did.

 

[RChung]

I was skipped a couple of grades when I was young so I was shorter, lighter, weaker, and less coordinated than just about every male in school and two-thirds of the females, so I never played any sport. I also had terrible eyesight but didn't know it. I did join my collegiate crew team -- being so much lighter made me well-suited to being a coxswain. However, in perhaps my key race my glasses got knocked off and I couldn't steer straight. I started cycling to get to school since I was too young to drive and, since it wasn't a particularly popular activity back then, I could be a middle-sized fish in a small pond. Nowadays I'm middle of the pack and that looks awfully good to me.

 

[Alex Simmons]

In my young and younger adult phases I was a cricketer and a football (soccer) player. Never rose to any great heights, 2nd Grade cricketer (although in a very strong club which was winning premierships). Middle order hard hitting batsman and leg spin bowler (I was a Shane Warne before he became famous and made "leggies" fashionable again ).

Always very active, club treasurer and also a grade team captain. It was my main sporting passion for 20 years. I still have the old kit, not that I need the pads anymore

In football I was both a goalkeeper and a striker, best result was a Sydney 1st Division premiership.

Like most Aussie kids, I tried just about everything (e.g. all codes of local football, athletics, swimming). Played a lot of squash as a teenager. Threw discus. All sorts of stuff. Was never much of a runner though. Golf took me over in my late 20s but just a clubbie, handicap in the teens.

I cycled as a schoolkid but not racing, and apart from some occasional riding, only took it up substantially in my early 30's, this time racing and loved it, instantly. I raced all the classic one day races in my state, the odd tour event, and took up track racing and loved that even more. Track and crit racing is where I've had most success, with multiple championship podium results in both individual and team events. Team pursuit is my favourite, our team won gold in a State record time in 2006.

Again I found myself highly involved, becoming club president (of my former club, Sydney CC) and am also now a full time professional cycling coach, a commissaire, am on the State Masters Commission, and active racer, mostly at masters level and now at para cycling.

Current FTP ~ 300W, 3.8W/kg. although this past week or so has been disrupted through minor injury so I might have had a bit of a tailing off of form.

 

[StatusKuota]

What sports did you play-
I ran Track and played Football in High school and Played Div.1 AA Football for 2 years (Wide Reciever/Kick Return), and then continued running Track all 4 years(110hurdles, 400hurdles, 4x400, Triple Jump, and Javelin).

What was my best sport-
Would of been football if I would of stuck with it but I would say Track because of my success in 400 hurdles.

My weight-
I'm 6'1" and was 205lbs during football season and about 190 during Track season.

Not racing yet but as competitive as I am, I can't wait to get into it. Just started riding and absolutely love it.

 

[BikingBrian]

Like RChung, I was also small when I was in grade school (I skipped 1 year), so I didn't have any confidence in sports, especially ball sports that are popular in the USA. Although, I seemed to be faster than the other kids when we played tag
Tried wrestling in Junior High, but didn't really like it, then did track & field all through high school...I was mediocre (but tops in my county), with a 16:09 best 5000 meters in cross-country. I loved running though, and stuck with it through college and after graduation, but injuries forced me to consider other endurance sports....when I saw Greg Lemond on tv in the Tour, I was blown away by cycling and immediately fell in love with it. Been riding ever since.

FTP: 4.5 w/kg
Class: Elite/Cat 1

 

[swampy1970]

Previous sports....

When I was 7 I almost drowned so my old man decided that I needed to learn how to swim. Two years later I was upto 2 miles and apparently doing it pretty quick and was offered a try out for the Wigan Wasps, which didn't happen due to 5am swim training and folks not having a car amongst other stuff.

10 to 16 was mostly running (cross country and track), football (soccer to you heathens that can't figure out that football is a game that needs foot-to-ball contact ) and rugby.

At 15 I started cycling having seen Robert Millar on TV during the Tour de France...

FTP right now... I don't know, I've been involved in the 'other' sport I took up on the late teens - beer drinking the past 6 months. I think I'm gonna have to reinforce that Specialized saddle to take the extra weight and stick to riding the trainer.

 

[limerickman]

4 to 16 : played rugby union (benefit of a private school education ), cricket (I kid you not) and football (soccer).

At 16 took up the bike and realised I loved it.

Was a water carrier for a Dublin based cycling team during the 1980's : fetched water for the Roche brothers.
Rode at national tour level ( as said water carrier) and did me bit.

Finished comptitive cycling in 1993.

Since then I have done touring/charity rides.
Still think I can race - but the body tells me otherwise

 

[doctorSpoc]

In elementary and high school I was a x-country and middle distance runner (800m & 1500m). I also did long jump until about grade 9-10 when my smaller size started to matter more and more. Also did and loved badminton but never got to compete since it interfered with my training for track.

I never managed to get to OFSAA (provincial champs only) only made it one step before.. to ofsaa regionals in the 800m (1:55 PB).

Always rode a bike for as long as I can remember, but only got into competitive cycling at about the age of 16. Did x-country skiing in the off season.. but I sucked at it and many of my team mates were on the provincial ski team so it made my sucking (mostly technique) suck even more. I ended up skiing with my coach a lot. Rode as a Sr 1/Cat 1 for many years, participated in what was the Canada Cup Series, did the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce once.. most painful week i've ever done in my life. Top 20 twice at the national championships.

Had a couple bad seasons in a row (well not really bad seasons but had planned my whole season around nationals and one year over trained and got sick and the other year got food poisoning), and packed it in @ about the age of 24.. tired of not having a life. I went back to school and rode sporadically, but no racing for about 5 years... with very limited training could still do a training races and kick butt. Then got my racing bike stolen and never replaced it. No riding of any kind for a further 5 years. Then got a job, started driving everywhere and ballooned up to 150 lbs from a racing weight of 121 lbs (30 lbs is a lot on a frame my size 5'7"). So bought a bike to burn off that beer belly.. but too competitive so had to start racing again.

Did a season as a Sr 2 but, just wasn't up to it.. with a full time job, it was too hard to find time to train and those five year with no training at all was just brutal to my fitness. I now ride as a Master 1 (ontario has performance based masters categories rather than age based ones, ride in master) and am fairly competitive. 2007 was a good year for me with lots of top 5-10 finished.. two kids in the last two years has put a damper on things, but we'll see how this year goes as the baby making shop is closed and things seem to be settling down.

FTP this year is about 4.4 W/kg.. was as high as about 4.9W/kg in 2007.

my best sport has been cycling (participated at the highest level of any sport i've done)

Fightin Boba.. 2:16 marathon!! holy **** man.. that's a freak'n amazing time!

 

[swampy1970]

Just reading the posts from Alex, RChung, DrSpoc and Lim etc etc and I was wondering what someone thought wasn't helpful...
... maybe there's some sour puss that can't hack that there's lots of folk on here better than them?

 

[limerickman]

Just reading the posts from Alex, RChung, DrSpoc and Lim etc etc and I was wondering what someone thought wasn't helpful...
... maybe there's some sour puss that can't hack that there's lots of folk on here better than them?

You're mangling the english language here.

What point are you trying to make?

 

[swampy1970]

You're mangling the english language here.

What point are you trying to make?

Sorry Lim, I've been hanging around too many Bay Area folk many of whom don't have English as a first language.

I just wondering why someone just goes around giving a "thumbs down" to posts about past experiences in a thread about, well, past sporting experience.

 

[limerickman]

Sorry Lim, I've been hanging around too many Bay Area folk many of whom don't have English as a first language.

I just wondering why someone just goes around giving a "thumbs down" to posts about past experiences in a thread about, well, past sporting experience.

Eh?
Most of the posts on this thread have a thumbs up sign though, swampy.

 

[swampy1970]

That's only because there's no options for the thumbs down anymore.

At least not for me anyway.

 

[RChung]

Eh?
Most of the posts on this thread have a thumbs up sign though, swampy.

Yeah, but someone flagged my post as inappropriate. I suspect that mine wasn't the only one, and that's what Swampy1970 was alluding to.

[Edit:](BTW, I'm just explaining, I'm not complaining. I'd flag half my posts as inappropriate, too).

 

[frenchyge]

That's only because there's no options for the thumbs down anymore.

Yeah, glad to see the negative thumbs have been removed, although the rep points apparently didn't come back.

 

[wiredued]

I played football from Pop Warner through High school except one year where the coach ticked me off We did go undefeated my senior year woohoo! Some where in the middle of that I did get the cycling bug breifly around the time when I saw Breaking Away at the movies. But after doing a quick time trial down my street to test myself or train (I'm not sure what I was thinking) that almost made me barf I decided to stick with football. I didn't know any real cyclists at the time that could tell me that wasn't the way to train.... I think this forum might help some kids give it a decent shot. I don't race alot only tried a few crits so far not alot of cycling success to speak of still like chasing the numbers and experimenting though. FTP 273w 3.1w/kg currently

 

[steve]

Yeah, but someone flagged my post as inappropriate. I suspect that mine wasn't the only one, and that's what Swampy1970 was alluding to.

[Edit:](BTW, I'm just explaining, I'm not complaining. I'd flag half my posts as inappropriate, too).

This will be fixed later today.