I get what you're saying, but this isn't an old man fallacy.
Your example of better training, etc with Shiffrin muddies the waters a bit. I fully agree that as time goes on many things improve across all sorts of sports; most notably knowledge, training, coaching and equipment. But there's techniques that get used now that weren't even thought of 30yrs ago. The entire floor has been raised. I'm not suggesting starting someone off on an ancient HT, for sure take advantage of the better geo available.
My two main points for a HT are that you can be more aware of how the bike is reacting with the trail and that people typically ride slower. Things like poor cornering and braking technique can get masked on full suspension bike, so you're forced to pick better lines and thus are more engaged with the trail on a HT. Personally I see that as the beauty or riding a HT, it's a more immersive experience.
Once poor skills/habits are developed, it's rather difficult to replace them with new ones. There has to be significant desire on the part of the individual to build better habits because the mental energy required is high. This is ultimately why I think the HT is a better is that it provides and environment where learning good skills is rewarded more quickly and helps set up better long term success.
FWIW I'm pulling this together from the areas of coaching, psychology and sport psychology. I also don't think it's delusional to suggest people were better bikers on older equipment when you consider some of the things people were doing on the absolute crap bikes that existed 20-25 yrs ago compared to now.
June 3, 2024, 12:50 p.m. - Mark
I get what you're saying, but this isn't an old man fallacy. Your example of better training, etc with Shiffrin muddies the waters a bit. I fully agree that as time goes on many things improve across all sorts of sports; most notably knowledge, training, coaching and equipment. But there's techniques that get used now that weren't even thought of 30yrs ago. The entire floor has been raised. I'm not suggesting starting someone off on an ancient HT, for sure take advantage of the better geo available. My two main points for a HT are that you can be more aware of how the bike is reacting with the trail and that people typically ride slower. Things like poor cornering and braking technique can get masked on full suspension bike, so you're forced to pick better lines and thus are more engaged with the trail on a HT. Personally I see that as the beauty or riding a HT, it's a more immersive experience. Once poor skills/habits are developed, it's rather difficult to replace them with new ones. There has to be significant desire on the part of the individual to build better habits because the mental energy required is high. This is ultimately why I think the HT is a better is that it provides and environment where learning good skills is rewarded more quickly and helps set up better long term success. FWIW I'm pulling this together from the areas of coaching, psychology and sport psychology. I also don't think it's delusional to suggest people were better bikers on older equipment when you consider some of the things people were doing on the absolute crap bikes that existed 20-25 yrs ago compared to now.