Helpful Unusual Inborn Traits

            In the Tour de France, many cyclists were challenged to cover more than 2,200 miles in three weeks with only two days to rest. Sounds crazy, right? After a cyclist finishes, he would've summited 23 mountain passes. Some could be more than 6,500 feet high. The Tour de France requires a cyclist to have extraordinary stamina to be able to complete it's course. To be able to do the course, a cyclist needs to not only have intense training regiments, but they also must harbor a set of inborn traits that help their body respond well to intense training and courses. For example, there are the lungs, which bring in oxygen for the body. The oxygen is used to convert fuel into energy so that the cyclist can continue. In the body of a Tour de France rider, they will be able to do all the lung functions better than most. Tour riders leg-pumping muscles are also able to take in a larger proportion of oxygen that reaches them, called VO2 max. Elite cyclists will be able to pedal at the highest level of exertion for longer periods of times than others. Some people call these Tour de France Riders "mutants", because they are able to do intense things with the help of inborn traits.

            This article relates to science concepts because it has to do with how the body functions for certain people, and how some unusual inborn traits can be helpful rather than harmful to a person.  It gives a better understanding of mutations in the body, and it is also a good example of how mutations in genes can be harmful or helpful to an organism.

            This article is important to us because now we know that some unusual inborn traits can be helpful to the body instead of harmful. Knowing this information now, scientists can research more about the benefits of having unusual inborn traits. People with these traits will be able to know and understand better what they might be able to do better than others.

http://news.discovery.com/human/tour-de-france-riders-bodies.html