Cycling Tougher than Football ?
Anton Berlin
http://ewoud.home.xs4all.nl/cycling/20110710_tourdefrance_carcrash_720p.html
We always think of football as a dangerous sport, but cycling can be
brutal too.
In a recent Tour de France crash, Alexander Vinokourav (Astana) broke
his femur, Jurgen Vanden Brouck (Farma-Lotto) fractured his scapula
and Dave Zabriski (Garmin-Cervelo) broke his wrist.
The most amazing thing to see was Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoliel-DCM)
and Juan Antonio Flecha (SKY) continue on after being taken out by a
TV camera car only 20 miles from the finish of a spectacular stage
that both were in contention to win.
A couple hours later I came across this on my Twitter account:
"If Peyton Manning crashed onto a barbed wire fence and returned to a
game, you'd never hear the end of it for the rest of your life" -
@jasonWS (Jason Gay - Wall Street Journal)
Peyton Manning did not crash through a barbed wire fence going over 30
mph yesterday, and the chances are he will never do that in a game.
I know he has to stare down 300 pound, 4.55-forty-running defensive
ends who would like nothing better than to put him on the bench. But
Peyton Manning is wearing the best equipment available today to stop
those hits from ending his career. Besides, can defensive players
REALLY hit a QB anymore?
Yeah that's what I thought...
Unlike Peyton, Johnny Hoogerland actually went through a barbed wire
fence yesterday at over 35 mph, when an impatient TV Network driver
attempted to pass a 5 man breakaway during the Tour de France. I'm
sure most of you saw this on SportsCenter 800 times, or on the
Internet. Not only did the driver take out Hoogerland, but also Juan
Antonio Flecha, one of the best riders in the world.
Both of these riders were looking for a stage win at the Tour, and
both, despite being bloodied and needing stitches, got back on their
bikes and continued their race. For that they were awarded the "most
combative rider award" (this has never been awarded to two riders in
the same day).
Hoogerland had been on a fantastic run and looked to be the front-
runner for the Climbers classification award, and had just taken the
jersey back from American Tejay Van Garderen with points taken over
the earlier portion of the race.
Cycling is a dangerous sport
Many people think cyclists are not real athletes because they do not
play a sport with a ball, or a stick, or even a standard field/court/
rink. They wear colorful uniforms called "kits" and look like they
have been starved for most of their lives, except for their legs.
Cycling is not a sport most of us grew up with, so it is foreign, much
like Soccer to many Americans over 35 years old.
Unlike the NFL, which has never had a player die on the field, cycling
has lost 10 professional cyclists in the past decade. Wauter Weylandt
recently died in the Giro d Italia.
And those are just the deaths. In the Tour of Switzerland during a
descent in stage 6, former Tour de France Climbers Classification
Champion Juan Soler crashed and spent several weeks in a coma, and has
been hospitalized with serious brain trauma since.
While the NFL has a player paralyzed about once a decade, cycling on
average loses 10 times that to fatal crashes in the same time. That
doesn't even take into account the number of racers killed during
training.
Professionals regularly reach speeds of 50-60 mph while descending
steep mountain passes, within inches of the riders around them.
The guys who usually descend the fastest are the sprinters. Normally
heavier, and more solidly built than the stick thin climbing
specialists, (think wide receivers and Defensive Ends in size
comparison) sprinters use their weight advantage to catch the group
when going downhill.
This can cause some of the big group finishes that have the most
spectacular crashes at speeds of over 40 mph.
Unlike professional football players, the only protection they wear is
a 6 ounce foam helmet to protect their head. Those helmets amazingly
do an incredible job of preventing even more deaths.
So, am I trying to say Cyclists are tougher than football players?
No. (ball less pussy)
However, what Jason Gay said on his tweet was absolutely true, if
yesterdays' incident had involved Peyton Manning, we would never hear
the end of it...ever.
Fred Bucephalus Birchmore
so. NFL players go for 4-5 seconds at a time and then sub in someone
from the bench.
Bo Jackson never even showed up for that Tour de France thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sz6xhPkGJ4&feature=related
A. Dumas
> So, am I trying to say Cyclists are tougher than football players?
So, the football groups are dead? Unbelievable, more sense than us.
Anton Berlin
Yeah I put as much bait out there as I could without pulling the "Jenn
Sterger Naked" subject line card
Who'd thought the strike would hit so hard ??