2001; Lucia et al., 2001; Foley et al., 1989). To the best of our knowledge, there has been no such investigation into the body composition of Downhill mountain bikers. Anthropometric characteristics for the subject group of the present study are displayed in Table 3.1. As there has been no other investigations into Downhill athlete body composition comparisons can only be made against athletes from other cycling disciplines and thus anthropometric measures were chosen accordingly in order to be specific to all cycling disciplines as well as DH. Foley et al., (1989) reported femur length in sprinters to be shorter than in other endurance-based cycling events (pursuit and time-trial). They suggest that the shorter limbs can tolerate a greater quickness of movement and therefore would be advantageous when coping with the high pedal rates. The Downhill athletes from the present study had a longer femur length (482 ± 38.7 mm vs. 366 ± 10.6 mm) and in keeping with this, were of greater stretch stature to the sprint athletes (184.7 ± 9.4 vs. 169.2 ± 2.5 cm). In fact, the Downhill specialists had a stature and body mass profile similar to time-trial specialists (10 miles 12 hr) measured in Foleys investigation (time-trial – characteristics: stretch stature, 186.3 ± 3.0 cm; body mass, 76.0 ± 2.8 kg; femur length, 424 ± 8.5 mm). It is important in Downhill mountain biking to produce large powers and generate them quickly, as periods of pedalling are short and intermittent (Hurst and Atkins, 2006). It is suggested that sprint specialists produce greater PPO than endurance cyclists (Craig and Norton, 2001). Tying together the suggestion that sprinters have shorter femur lengths, the current study identified a negative correlation between time to
2001; Lucia et al., 2001; Foley et al., 1989). To the best of our knowledge, there has been no such investigation into the body composition of Downhill mountain bikers. Anthropometric characteristics for the subject group of the present study are displayed in Table 3.1. As there has been no other investigations into Downhill athlete body composition comparisons can only be made against athletes from other cycling disciplines and thus anthropometric measures were chosen accordingly in order to be specific to all cycling disciplines as well as DH. Foley et al., (1989) reported femur length in sprinters to be shorter than in other endurance-based cycling events (pursuit and time-trial). They suggest that the shorter limbs can tolerate a greater quickness of movement and therefore would be advantageous when coping with the high pedal rates. The Downhill athletes from the present study had a longer femur length (482 ± 38.7 mm vs. 366 ± 10.6 mm) and in keeping with this, were of greater stretch stature to the sprint athletes (184.7 ± 9.4 vs. 169.2 ± 2.5 cm). In fact, the Downhill specialists had a stature and body mass profile similar to time-trial specialists (10 miles – 12 hr) measured in Foleys investigation (time-trial characteristics: stretch stature, 186.3 ± 3.0 cm; body mass, 76.0 ± 2.8 kg; femur length, 424 ± 8.5 mm). It is important in Downhill mountain biking to produce large powers and generate them quickly, as periods of pedalling are short and intermittent (Hurst and Atkins, 2006). It is suggested that sprint specialists produce greater PPO than endurance cyclists (Craig and Norton, 2001). Tying together the suggestion that sprinters have shorter femur lengths, the current study identified a negative correlation between time to
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