Maybe I should've posted this in the racing sub-forum but I decided to place it here.

I have to admit, I've been an "athlete" in one form or fashion since I was 13 years old (now 40). This always surprises my football buddies but I think cycling is tougher and more demanding than football (and I played football...). Frankly cycling is more grueling than anything else I've tried. I think ultimate fighting might be tougher, but only just....

Duh.

Boxing has it covered. If you think 'getting dropped' sucks on a group ride, try it in the ring.

Alligator wrasslin' is pretty tough, from what I hear.

But it's nothing compared to the Tuesday Night Group Ride that sometimes hits upwards of, like, 35 mph on some downhills.

Getting hit never bothered me that much. Having your heart come out your mouth while you're trying to calculate your strategy and analyze the strategy of the guys around you while you're going into a hard 90 degree left turn at 27mph with guys leaning on you is pretty d@mn challenging.

Where I will give credit on boxing is taking/giving the punches, while analyzing strategies, and expending a lot of energy is tough also. Same with ultimate fighting. I can only imagine though - I haven't actually done either. The only martial art I've done is fencing (its way more demanding that you think also)

A hard road race on crappy roads (Copperopolis, for example) is definitely more grueling than a HS football game. Even playing both ways, there's a lot of standing around and half time.

I rate basketball as the toughest, full court sprinting with 4 or more games a week for 8 months is a serious workout. Cycling I would rate as #2 just because the season is shorter and there are gaps between events. But I am talking about a physical workout not getting the s**t kicked out of you like a cage match.

I'm sure there are a lot of other athletes from other sports saying the same thing - 'our sport is the toughest' and then laugh at people who shave their legs and ride bikes in spandex.

Anyone here ever played competitive water polo? I hear that is pretty damn tough. Swimming / treading non-stop while playing pretty much a full contact sport.

I used to play water polo. Until my horse drowned.

Cycling doesn't have to be tough. But then, tough is what you make it. I say to my co-workers that I do a few rides on a 40 mile round trip route a few days a week. They look at me like: you do that in a day .. after work?

Others I ride with say: you aren't even breathing hard as we go up some climbs .. What's tough for one is peanuts for others. But on shear heart rate numbers or calories expended per hour, cycling may be up there. Toughest? I dunno ..

But since I'm on BF, I say hail jeah!

In the terms of pain/minute I would put motocross above cycling but as a whole its hard to top a grueling 4-5 hour race(or even a really hard group ride) and then when the cramps and fatigue really start setting in the hard stuff begins.

Competitive running is tougher than cycling. Cycling is up there, but there are a few, few, that are tougher at the higher end of the sport.

uffa - like the group ride we had last night with the relentless attacking into a 20 mph headwind. Oh yeah wait, that was me...

I've done running (though not at a super high level, but same for cycling I suppose), I think cycling is tougher. I enjoy running even when I'm going really hard at it. Cycling gets to a point where I'm just spitting and cussing.

I am going to have to go with Australian Rules Football, simply the smell of all those Aussies would make me deathly ill.

Every sport is tough. Olympic Weightlifting is tough because all of the hundreds of hours under the bar comes down to 6 attempts on the platform. Swimming is tough because those cats get up at 3 in the morning to drink bleach water and practices last forever. Triathlon is tough because you have 8 hours of time trialing...
Mass start bicycle racing does have an agony factor that is sport specific. You never know what the race will bring, it might be fast or slow, the pace might be erratic, terrain plays a role. Hold a wheel can be excruciating but then the pace might ease.

I would say rock or mountain climbing.

The toughest sport by far is BFNP (Bike Forums Non Posting...very few can spend time here without running their fingers)

SFTU and eat your Cookie Dough Ice Cream. As always save some for me, I'll need it in September.

Evar.

Gymnastics is the toughest sport in my opinion. I remember some sports magazine did an analysis of different sports and rated them in different categories to try and come up with the toughest sport. Boxing was #1, gymnastics was #8 and cycling was somewhere in the 20s. However cycling was rated the toughest in terms of endurance, and gymnastics was the only sport that had a 10 in any category (flexibility).

i vote for rowing. take the pain you feel in your legs from cycling, then move that pain to you legs, back and arms, and compress it all into a 6-8 minute race. then remember that the second your technique goes to sh**, the whole boat is going to suffer for it.

The toughest part to this "sport" is the Road Cycling forum on BF.

+1 I find running to be more difficult than cycling. Run a marathon sometime.