Where did you surf today ?

[godsavethequeen]

Imagine the earnest Guardian articles if learning to ride a bike was an adult thing. “My instructor made it look easy, zipping around balanced atop a sleek machine with impossibly skinny tyres, barely even holding on to the steering bar. I took a deep breath and climbed aboard my chunkier steed which, to my relief, had been fitted with extra wheels to keep me upright. ‘Here goes nothing’ I muttered as I launched away from the kerb, my bum already protesting at the cruelly hard seat...”

[Drailed]

[Cranked]

I think that is an appropriate position to take on a surfing forum, no?

No.

Riding 1' of whitewater on a 10' mal is the equivalent of just riding a bike.

Jesus fccck, trying to compare riding a bike to someone learning to paddle out in average conditions, paddle onto a wave and trim across open face face. Fccck, there is no comparison. Wtf are you cnuts harping on about.

The bike riding equivalent of this is probably jumping a table top or maybe a double:

https://youtu.be/GMJECwzi7gE

To do what that rider did in the vid I referenced takes 10 years minimum of dedication

https://youtu.be/9-rL463HPQA

[steve shearer]

I think that is an appropriate position to take on a surfing forum, no?

No.

Riding 1' of whitewater on a 10' mal is the equivalent of just riding a bike.

incorrect.

[Cranked]

Sorry.

Yeah, I guess the bike might be harder.

[steve shearer]

incorrect.

riding a bike, as the very vast majority of people around the globe do it, is incomparably easier than surfing.

[Cranked]

Ummm the number of people doing it is not relevant to the difficulty. The number of bike riders in the world is probably at least a thousand fold or more than the number of surfers. I would warrant that nearly every person in the world had access to a bike before the age of 10.

I've seen videos of blind and paraplegic people catching waves on softboards on their first attempts.

[steve shearer]

yeah when the are pushed in.

99.99% of people who attempt it can learn to ride a bike competently. Thats because it's fcuking easy.

I'd reckon conservatively that less than 1% of people who attempt surfing become competent. Thats because it's fcuking hard.
Most don't get past going straight in the white wash on a huge board.

You don't see or acknowledge that reality?

[Legion]

By your own braggadocio and definitions, fishing is more difficult than surfing.

[steve shearer]

unless you're a mark on a charter boat it pretty much is.

from that switch I take it you now concede the point?

[Legion]

No. But if we were to accept that fishing is more difficult then we'd be accepting your fallacy of faulty generalisation.

(surfing is) ... by far the hardest sport/activity.

[steve shearer]

why do bike nerds get butt hurt so easily?

there, I can change the topic too.

[steve shearer]

Here's a thought experiment.

We take three hundred random 15 year olds who have never ridden a bike, surfed or fished and divide them up into 3.

One group of a 100 gets a bike.
One group gets a surfboard, the other a fishing rod and box of tackle.

Using a basic measure, say, riding up and down a road, paddling out into 3 foot surf and cutting across the face and catching a fish, which group is more likely to succeed.

Given basic instruction you'd reckon 80-90% could learn to ride, 5% might be able to paddle out and ride a green wave and less than 1% would be able to catch a fish.

[Cranked]

yeah when the are pushed in.

99.99% of people who attempt it can learn to ride a bike competently. Thats because it's fcuking easy.

I'd reckon conservatively that less than 1% of people who attempt surfing become competent. Thats because it's fcuking hard.
Most don't get past going straight in the white wash on a huge board.

You don't see or acknowledge that reality?

Here's a thought experiment.

We take three hundred random 15 year olds who have never ridden a bike, surfed or fished and divide them up into 3.

One group of a 100 gets a bike.
One group gets a surfboard, the other a fishing rod and box of tackle.

Using a basic measure, say, riding up and down a road, paddling out into 3 foot surf and cutting across the face and catching a fish, which group is more likely to succeed.

Given basic instruction you'd reckon 80-90% could learn to ride, 5% might be able to paddle out and ride a green wave and less than 1% would be able to catch a fish.

I reckon that 99.9999% of people who can ride a bike will never get to this standard

https://youtu.be/GMJECwzi7gE

which is the equivalent of getting out in the surf, choosing and catching a wave and turning and trimming down the face.

And only around 1000 will ever do this (its about 100 times more challenging and dangerous than it looks):

https://youtu.be/9-rL463HPQA

Extreme talent, decades of dedication and certain injury is required to ride a bike well. Is it extreme and unusual, yes, as is surfing well in challenging conditions.

[steve shearer]

you're getting further and further down the rabbit hole of bike wanking.

just stop.

riding a bike is a form of transport, a means of getting from a to b.
it has a utilitarian value, it is easy to learn, easy to become competent.

Mountain biking is an offshoot of that. Because a man can ride a MTB down a mountain does not mean riding a bike is hard, anymore than a man walking a tightrope proves that walking is hard.
it means riding a mountain bike down a mountain is hard*.


Surfing has zero utilitarian value, it offers no means of transport.
it is done purely for recreation and is hard as fcuk to learn.

Hence the incredible angst of the adult learners who will never, ever become competent.


*but not that hard, most people can do it competently.

[foamy]

Bicycles are a great design to give easy self-propelled transport for the masses.
I wasn’t allowed a bicycle growing up because we lived in a very hilly area. When I was 45, I got up early and taught myself to ride a bicycle and was competently cruising around a very large resort within 40 minutes. On day 2, I was speeding down bush trails doing little jumps. I do not possess any freak bicycle riding talent.

Surfboard riding is a fair bit harder to get to an equivalent stage.

[Cranked]

you're getting further and further down the rabbit hole of bike wanking.

just stop.

riding a bike is a form of transport, a means of getting from a to b.
it has a utilitarian value, it is easy to learn, easy to become competent.

Mountain biking is an offshoot of that. Because a man can ride a MTB down a mountain does not mean riding a bike is hard, anymore than a man walking a tightrope proves that walking is hard.
it means riding a mountain bike down a mountain is hard*.


Surfing has zero utilitarian value, it offers no means of transport.
it is done purely for recreation and is hard as fcuk to learn.

Hence the incredible angst of the adult learners who will never, ever become competent.


*but not that hard, most people can do it competently.

That's a red herring Steve, we are not talking about bike riding for utility but as a sport, one that people do for the thrill and pleasure of it, just like surfing.

How about motor racing is that getting further and further down the rabbit hole of wanking? It too is a sport, but millions use motor vehicles just for their utility.

[foamy]

SUPs are more a bicycle equivalent