Who cares?

You do. You even took the time to let us know. Thank you.

word! [flashing back to the 80s]

Cycling at the verge of exhaustion for hours on end takes more mental determination than swimming for a few minutes.

Enough said.

[QUOTE=SwimBike;7288597]hahahahaha. I swear I just almost fell over laughing. You really think that you can compare these two sports? 30 minutes of effort?

This thread was guaranteed from the start to turn into cheerleading for one sport over another. Ridiculous. When I watch an olymic competitor, I`m pretty much awestuck regardless of what`s being contested. Swimming a mile in under 16 minutes? I find that pretty baffling. A sprinter doing a 9.69 100 meters? Freakish. Gymnastics? `Strong` isn`t even close. Running sub-5 minute miles for 26.2 miles? Not a bad effort. Cross country skiers. Reasonably fit, you think? (Winter olympics, ok, but...). The list goes on. No one gets to the top of any sport by chance. Thousands of hours are are invested.

I know you're being sarcastic here, so I won't flame you on it.

But there are people out there stupid enough to believe "it's not illegal if you don't get caught", truly one of the 5 stupidest things ever to emerge from the mouth of a human.

Bob Hamelin rules Lance and Phelps

I have a lot of respect for Mr. Armstrong and I could not expect a classier answer than that ...

Hmmm Armstrong or Phelps? Or Thorpe?

Tell you what, I will give you the definitive answer when I win the Tour de France 7 times and get 8 gold medals in swimming in one Olympics. Till then, I am not sure.

I believe that any great contribution from man for mankind should not be compared but combined to show our increased humanity ...

Funny thing. Thorpe is often listed as the best athlete ever. I feel for this until I did some research. His decathlon pentathlon double was impressive and unique, but only 2 Olympics existed where this was possible (The modern pentathlon is an entirely different beast). But I became convinced he falls far short of his press clippings when I found out he also entered 2 regular events and finished out of the medals.

Seems in a sense the best athlete is the one with the best press agent.

That said there are several things about Phelps events that seem to not have been mentioned, or at least not put forth with both sides.

Others have pointed out winning 8 medals in swimming is far 'easier' than in some other disciplines. Wrestlers have only 2 events. Well one could go out of weight class, but even for a superman that would only get to 4. But going for 8 creates a problem, Phelps often raced against other fresher swimmers. Did Lance ever do this? It would seem quite the opposite if anything.

Some keep comparing 7 TDF wins for Lance to just the Olympic medals for Phelps. There are worlds championships every year. Phelps has multiple years with many medals. I think the last worlds he had 8 total, 7 gold. There are events Phelps has not lost at for well over 4 years, events he swims multiple times each year.

Lance had the chance to ride other events, he did not.

Some make much about the length of the TDF. That is a two sided issue. That very length gives the chance to recover from a mistake (something Lance was a true master of, recovery and minimizing the impact of mistakes). Phelps did not have that chance. In most of his events a mistake ment a loss. 400 IM and 4x200 relay being exceptions.

One thing I find a bit ironic is that whenever Lance is compared to Merckx his supporters say it is not possible to match what Eddy did, the world has changed. The same could have been said about Spitz and Phelps.

But there is one way they are very very similar. There are definate team aspects for both. The biggest single reason that many thought that Spitz's mark could not be passed was that it is much more difficult to win 3 relay's. Phelps had some great help. Leazak (sp) made up a full body length on the world record holder in the final leg of the first relay. The same world record holder who won the 100 later on. Somehow those teammates get forgotten.

If you want to expand the discussion to the greatest athlete/Man's Man of all time you should be talking about Beantown's own Splendid Splinter.

Phelps better than Lance? Of course.

Better than Eddy? Good lord, no.

Well since I bike and swim... and do the latter competitively... frankly I think the TDF is a ball buster compared to a 100m swim...

I've done long rides (as much as 165 miles in one day... more typical... a century) and long swims, (2 miles in a day) and at a competitive level I think the long ride beats a long swim as far as endurance is considered.

I was really blown away a few years ago when some columnist compared the TDF to golf in Sports Illustrated... told me the guy did not have a clue as to the sort of effort required for a multiday bike race.

Now on the flip side, I don't recall Lance ever looking like this...

This is Dara Torres... 41 year old female Olympic medal winner (swimmer) :



And I can tell you that I get in shape faster when swim season comes around. Swimming really sculpts my body in a hurry.

However, comparing a 100m swim (even 8 of them) to a 23 day cycle racing event... that's just crazy talk.

Go Dodgers?

If the issue is just doing it yes the TDF is much harder. But just finishing is not the goal. Winning (or at least improving personal records) is. Don't know what the conditions of your 2 miles in one day were, but competitive swimmers do much more on a regular basis. 5-6,000 yards were the norm decades ago for decent high school swimmers. And those were not swim 1000 yards, those were 50-200 yards usually pretty close to all out. Most I ever did was 13000 in one day. a 3 hour AAU workout in hte morning and then started to workout with my college team in the afternoon. Didn't finish the afternoon workout (with others who had not trained in the morning). The coach decided I was toasted (he was right).

It would be interesting to see how many people here could finish (legally) either a 200 fly or 400 IM in a 50 meter pool. I'm not at all sure I could at this point. Heck I'd be surprised if more than 10% of the people here could finish a 50 meter fly (long course) without getting DQ'd.

Actually I do the "2 miles in one day" every other day in the summer... in open ocean water... or at least I did 2 years ago. I took it easy last year and kept it to only a bit over a mile every other day. (and my racing times really suffered) I was a competitive swimmer in high school and college... and yeah 5000 yard pool workouts were pretty standard daily fare. (ug, wind sprints... ) I was never all that good speed wise that I was doing 2 workouts a day. (I have my limits).

At 52, I compete in Rough Water swims, but I don't think I've done even a 25 fly in about 10 years. I do a bit from time to time just for fun... but it takes practice to get the rhythm and form just right. You're probably right about most here not being able to an IM... swimming takes practice to be efficient... and if you're not doing it... well, expect to flop. But I doubt many here could do say 12 days at TdF either... The racer types might be good for a few days... but that would be it.

Phelps got the glory for the 8 medals... all record busters or darn near. Lance got 7 wins at TDF, that too is a record buster. (he didn't "just finish")

But the actual event competed in... TdF is hands down harder than even an 800m swim. And I'm sticking to that. But Dara is still MY hero.

Wow I have to say that you have intrigued me. You have really done some good research and make some very valid points.

phelphs does not eat 12000 calories per day,if he did he would get fat quick,heck If I eat 12000 calories per day riding my bike on a 100 mile journey or a 33 mile walk I will still get fat.A 100 mile bike ride for me burns about 5000 calories with a 11 hour ride.

I did that once and boy those inner thigh cramps hurt like,never do that again.i only do about 40-50.

phelps >> mark9950

Genec,

Do you swim at the Cove?

When Phelps turns 35, let's see if he can run 3 separate marathons in 3 years, all in under 3 hours.

And this is not a calorie eating contest.

Yeah, but I bet Phelps can bench press way more than Lance.

So what?

I know most people don't consider surfing to be a real sport, but Kelly Slater is closing in on his 9th world championship. He's 36 and I suspect his level of fitness is damn near equal to Lance. What he does certainly takes more courage than cycling or pool swimming and the technical difficulty is much higher as well.

Don't know if this is fair, I bet it would be hard to ride a bike in a pool