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In light of recent threads it's time to put this to bed
1) Downhill
2) Jump
3) BMX
4) Enduro
5) XC
6) Gravel (should be tied with road but I suppose it's a little bit "gravelly")
7) Road (let's be honest it's all fitness and no skill)
Edit
@tomhoward has mentioned trials, feel free to amend my list though the top 3 is solid
Cycling gymnastics for the skills win
Cyclocross somewhere near XC?
You've really lit the touch paper starting this thread!
I'm going to say all require a certain skill level but I'd look at it from the view point of which one are you most likely to fall off?
Trials?
I'd have road at the top, but I suppose it depends what you mean by skill
Skill isn't the ability to ride a bike fast on the flat
It's like saying the guy at the gym who holds all the records is a good bike rider
1. Trials - it’s basically all skill.
2. BMX flat land - again, pure skill
3. BMX street
4. Road x serious skill in bunch riding and descending
5. XC - you need to be seriously skilled to ride those course at speed on those bikes
6. Jump/trails, be that BMX or MTB
7. Downhill
8. Enduro - it’s just people who are good enough to ride DH or fit enough to ride XC
Skill isn’t the ability to ride a bike fast on the flat
Agreed, but what cycling discipline is just riding on the flat? All involve skill of some kind, often skill that’s not overly obvious.
Skill isn’t the ability to ride a bike fast on the flat
Holding your shit together at 90kph downhill into a hairpin bend with a sever penalty for failure requires some ability.
Likewise hucking a big gap jump, or downhill on a gravel track at 40kph.
Different skills but skills just the same.
Anyone who says road riding doesn't take skill isn't riding fast enough.
You've missed track riding from your list.
4. Road x serious skill in bunch riding and descending
Lol, no it doesn't.
Road
Cx
Downhill
The rest Jump, BMX, Enduro and XC (roadie turns up at the top level of competition and kicks everyone’s arse at it) much of a muchness
The kind of bike riding I do is the most skilful because I am totally great.
Big steep tech climbs on Ebikes.
Surprised to see people ranking road cycling so highly, granted, I'm not an Elite, but having raced with that category, compared to a discipline like BMX, there's very little skill involved. Obviously not quite the same as the really good riders who race the World Tour races, but still.
Unicycle hockey.
Impossible Ultimate Wheel.
1 - DH
3 - BMX
4 - 'duro [3 and 4 are close]
2 - Jump
5 - XC
7 - road
6 - gravel
1. Gymnastic/synchronised/artistic etc team-cycling
2. (As above) solo-cycling
3. Trials/jumps
@tomhoward has mentioned trials, feel free to amend my list though the top 3 is solid
No it isn't. Trials top, no doubt.
No matter what discipline you choose the skill level required goes through the roof the closer you get to the top. All need different skills in different amounts but to be good or even the best at whatever discipline you choose is hard.
anything that is against the clock must be high up (DH, BMX, Enduro) as you cannot be 'just quite good' at it and expect to be top level. DH and BMX are on the same course over and over, so similar in that respect, but DH has more fear and uncertainty so edges it. Enduro has more uncertainty again but is also less split second/compromised so that counts against it.
Jump is cool but isn't 'competitive' so that downgrades it.
XC is fine but it's fitness. I could ride an XC course.
road is fitness too and there are some well dodgy pros, skill-wise.
gravel isn't even worth commenting on.
The roadies turn up saying road riding takes skill, but can't dispute it's bottom of the list. 😀
What about bike polo, where do we put that?
*cough* Track?
A guy at work uses the basketball court to practice Unicycle hockey. Insane skill!
Or is it the reverse? CX bikes are a liability on anything technical.
I'd say its just different.
Im sure the Athertons and Sven Nys are probably of equal fitness now hes retired, I still suspect he'd run rings arround them on an obstacle strewn CX course.
Likewise despite being the winningest CX rider I doubt he'd accept an invitation to Hardline.
XC is fine but it’s fitness. I could ride an XC course.
I think most people probably could roll round most of Hadleigh Farm, but there's a difference between doing those drops on a 150mm travel trail bike, after getting off to look at it, rolling your bike over it to check chainring clearance and finally psycing yourself upto doing it and just about riding it out.
And doing it at 10/10ths with a rider trying to overtake pushing you off line is probably a different matter.
road is fitness too and there are some well dodgy pros, skill-wise.
Likewise, ride down a road, no problem.
Ride down the Alp D'Huez hairpins at 90km/h having ridden up the other side in 20 minutes, yea..... rather you than me.
Like saying Damon Hill lacks skill becauee he wasn't as good as Schumacher, and besides its only driving a cars, you can drive a car.
Clearly never done a road race or track race. Hitting 40mph plus with 40 other riders (a few less in track) just inches away is just about fitness?? Talking out of your arse (with all respect!!).
anything that is against the clock must be high up
Well, I wasn’t going to put time trialling at the top, but as you insist...
You put gravel riding above road, what ****ing skill is there in gravel racing? damn sight less than road.
Purely for different surfaces @kuco
Everytime the tdf (for e.g) hits cobbles there's always a mass crash, as road riders don't have general bike skills to compensate
Skill isn’t the ability to ride a bike fast on the flat
Some classic Lance
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=haEbtHiUcBc
I think the question needs changing.
How long would it take to train a complete novice to participate in the cycling disciplines?
I think most people can ride road, just very few can ride this fast!
I've ridden a bike all my life but I don't think I'd make it down rampage Alive!
Everytime the tdf (for e.g) hits cobbles there’s always a mass crash, as road riders don’t have general bike skills to compensate
Missed it first time around, this is a troll thread.
You could train loic Bruni to win a road race.
You couldn't train any current adult elite road racer to even make top 10 in the junior DH world cup
I think you've got to rank the skills first then apply it to the disciplines. So many different types of skill across them. e.g. where does skill of riding in a bunch compare to hucking a road gap.
Are you lot not looking at the cycling gymnastics? The question was about skill not fitness.
Road
You couldn’t train any current adult elite road racer to even make top 10 in the junior DH world cup
Sagan??
Pidcock?
Van der Poel.
Let’s be honest it’s about picking the right line for four or five minutes in a really bad outfit. Doubt if Bruni could win a pro race certainly not to do something such as Kelly coming down the poggio or Paris Roubaix
In an under the bridge surrounded by goat bones style to match the OP, how come y'all need all that suspension and big tyres and huge brakes if the DH/Enduro stuff is so skillful?
...Enduro seems to be for those who can't do DH and aren't fit enough for XC...
Trolly enough?
My take on it: could you Complete the same course as say, a pro roadie in a big race? Yes, easily (but much slower). How many people could complete the sections in a championship trial?, very very few as very few have the skills. There we have the 1st & last positions on the list.
What constitutes technical riding for a given discipline may help?
MTB: berms, rock gardens, roots, jumps, drops, skinnies & ladders etc
Road: has a roundabout 2300m from the end.
😉
Road racing - must be hard to keep tabs on all the drugs, blood samples, masking agents and dodgy steaks.
could you Complete the same course as say, a pro roadie in a big race? Yes, easily (but much slower)
The skill is being able to do it at a reasonable pace (I have no issues with trials being regarded as a sport requiring great skills)
Road racing – must be hard to keep tabs on all the drugs, blood samples, masking agents and dodgy steaks.
That’s what a DS is for! I seem to recall a thread on here where basically it was accepted that dh’ers were a bit too thick to dope 😉
Commuting on icy cobbles in heavy traffic with tramlines to cross...
Been a very long time since I had to do that, but I reckon I had more scares doing that than any other riding I've done. There's no option of recovery, you have to have it just right all the time.
Otherwise trials, or for skill + big balls, downhillers.
Road racing – must be hard to keep tabs on all the drugs, blood samples, masking agents and dodgy steaks.
No drugs in xc?
E bikes in CX....
No drugs in xc?
Or enduro...