I like the way you take this sacred cow and rip its head off.
I like critical thinking also and have often questioned the competitive drive
However, I have also seen another side

but only when I began to ride
in the race at a competitive pace
what I found was that there was so much camaraderie
so many people working behind the scenes
to make an event happen
there is much cooperation and sacrifice
only one can take the benchmark and push it further
in 10 years that becomes the entry line

In nature cooperation and competition flow in and out of each other, can not if fact occur without each other

attachment, now that is a bitch
finding our own value, our group membership
proving our worth
all of this is a nasty trap
but only we can walk into and out of it
no one can make us believe the things we say or the way we talk to ourselves.
we own that 100%

I call it "fair conditioning" - its kinda cool to have some response ability