Originally Posted by
patentcad
Here is why cycling is so hard: in running the faster runners run away from you. In cycling you're straining to hold the wheel of a guy who would have dumped you an hour earlier in a running race, but in cycling you can draft. Or you can try to draft. In other words you are constantly being forced to ride at a pace that is often over your head, and that can be excruciating at times. Less incentive to do that in running since you get blown out much sooner if you're an inferior athlete.
I don't agree, I would actually say they are fairly similar in this respect, guys get shelled from the pack at different times through out the race. Sure there are guys who drop off right at the start of running races, but thats because the entire field starts together, it would be like combining all the cats in a road race some of the beginners and such get shelled right away, but most the halfway competive field stays together. Yeah there are guys who rabbit, like breaks in cycling. The race sorts itself out as it goes and guys drop from the lead pack. It's a pretty common strategy to sit on a better person, basically you pick out someone faster than you and hang with them as long as you can. In track at least, cross country tends to break up more, you often see the really good guys sitting in the bunch waiting till the bell lap when they make there move. It conserves energy and ensures you only work as hard as you need to, something that becomes important when you compete in 4 events a night.