Contact in soccer is somewhat manageable. I played a lot myself and while it can get pretty rough, you're mainly talking about bruising. The stuff that can happen in cycling is on another level. And soccer players just don't face a shit scare like sprinting at 75km/h in a packed bunch

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and what do they have in common? both are legends.

They both have the same watts per kg right now.
Although I think Lemond might edge out Ronaldo

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I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree

That's why women don't race bikes, probably not even able to ride them.
The whole it's a mans sport is ridiculous, a way to build up your ego.

As has already been pointed out, compairing one sport to another is silly. They are all hard at the top levels. They way in which they are hard does vary.

^"It's a man's sport true and true."

I didnt mean that literally! I just meant thats its way thougher then the average bloke imagines. I have plenty of lady cycling friends who race at top level and they're as tough as it gets

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Show them this story:



http://bikeraceinfo.com/oralhistory/magni.html

FM: During stage 12, from Grosseto to Livorno, I crashed on the descent out of Volterra and broke my left collarbone. At the hospital they said I should put on a plaster cast and quit. But I didn't want to. Since the next day was a rest day, I told the doctor to do nothing and that we should wait and see. The day after I asked the doctor to put on an elastic bandage instead of a cast because I wanted to try to ride the following stage, Livorno to Lucca. It worked! I wasn't among the first riders but I finished.
VP: There is the famous picture of your riding holding a piece of inner tube in your mouth during the 13th stage, the individual time trial of San Luca. Can you explain?
FM: Just before the stage started I tried to ride my bike on a climb and I noticed I couldn't use the muscles of my left arm to pull on the handle bar very hard. So my mechanic, Faliero Masi, the best mechanic of all time, cut a piece of inner tube and suggested I pull it with my mouth. That was a great idea!
VP: Then, during stage 16, from Bologna to Rapallo, through the Apennines, you crashed again and broke your humerus.
FM: Yes, I didnt have enough strength in my left arm and I crashed after hitting a ditch by the road. I fell on my already broken bone and fainted from the pain. The ambulance came to bring me to the hospital. In the ambulance they gave me water and I got back on my feet. When I realized that I was being taken to the hospital I screamed and told the driver to stop. I didn't want to abandon the Giro!
I mounted my bike again and restarted pedaling. The peloton had waited for me, so I arrived in Rapallo in a relatively good position. I had no idea of how serious my condition was, I just knew that I was in a lot of pain but I didn't want to have X-rays that evening. During the days that followed I could hold my own.

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Oh he falls in the "Hard Ass" category no doubt. What are those bars 38's?
Plenty of soccer players crying "Mama" after a hit.
After they wipe their tears they score the next goal on a penalty kick.

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I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree

This is an endless discussion I had before. It only stopped because I finished in school, and don't talk to the guy anymore. He also meant that Motocross is the all time hardest. It is probably very hard, and like cycling vs. football, and impossible comparison. A large amount of sports are hard in their own ways. Sometimes, when I have to stay at the wheel of the local pro, It can be a minute or half an hour before I get the chance to rest. I get over the edge, and sometimes don't know for how long. But still, its impossible to say in my opinion. But when it comes to which sport is the thoughest. No discussion. Even if you broke you finger, you still wont make football more though than cycling.

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Pro-Soccer (?), but who calls it that apart from perhaps in the US? In London/UK one's referred to as a Footballer ("Football Player"). Chances are you're quite good to begin with to simply be called a Footballer. As with "most sports" the games are such that anything less than the top crop quickly gets filtered out. Form of natural selection..

Football is popular because it's captured the popular imagination (certainly in UK/Europe and the money to follow). As for difficultly and compared to cycling well that's another debate.

As a cyclist you'll know in any long duration event (example typically stages) most of your time is actually spent "sleeping". You're not actually "cycling" for 6 hours.. Efforts are targeted. Also no such thing as Training for 5/6 days/week. With that amount of training you'd do more harm than good if you're actually Training.

I do race for 6 hours....okay, longest race I did was 190Km Elite nationals and not exactly 6 hours, but believe me, I raced every minute of it hanging to the grim death. I do train 7 days a week. I'm every day on my bike until the mid september when season ends. Then I have a few days off and 2 months relatively easy on bike and I'm doing a lot of crosstraining. In March I've already did 1800Km and average air temperature in March is -4c here.


Lance "quotes" not required

Hey guys, let's keep it civil, yeah?

I understand some on this forum are still facing cold weather and difficult riding conditions, let's not let our frustrations with that or other aspects of our lives carry over to the forum.

Thanks.

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Yup. What prendre said... Come on guys. We are all on the same side on this forum, correct?

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And you can call me Macktastik Honey Pete Kicks, thank you.

Sometimes I'm not so sure about that. It seems like few 'footballers' have taken over.

but y umad?