Anyone that hasn't maintained 25mph+ for over an hour, let alone 1600 miles over mountains, hasn't a clue about how hard it is to race road bikes.
Endurance sports hurt. They tax the mind and the will to continue. An endurance athlete has to continously hold the line between blowing up and falling back, red line so to speak, all the while in extreme discomfort. And, unlike your burst activities, that focus has to be maintained sometimes for hours. I've marathoned, ridden 60 mile timed rides, swam miles, etc., and no burst activity comes close.
Of course I didn't even mention the hundreds of miles a week you have to train to be really good, how much of it needs to be high tempo, how critical diet is, etc.
Cried when they hit the ground? Yes, if you're sliding down a mountain at 60mph and you hit the asphalt, I'd bet you'd hurt, too. Compared to NASCAR? Too funny. In NASCAR you have all that equipment between you and everything else. Besides, any "sport" that can be conducted with a beer in one hand isn't really a sport, is it?
You have to be both mentally and physically tough to be an endurance athlete.
