Dear USA Today, I assumed, when I began following your "10 Hardest Things to do in Sports" that motorsports would not be included. Why? I'm not sure, maybe because the first few on the list were/are fairly traditional, even mainstream "human body" sports. Most people simply don't realize the endurance, strength and concentration it takes to work with certain hi-performance machines on a professional level because they don't even get to try these things on a novice or beginner level. Then, lo and behold, driving a racecar comes in at number 2. This is when I thought, maybe, just maybe, you'd bring in the physically demanding modern motorsport of MOTOCROSS where riders spend upwards of 30 minutes straight (usually twice in an afternoon) racing a dirt and sand track that looks more like a scaled down mountain range that's been hit by mortar fire... with 39 other racers scrambling for the same 2 lines into most corners. All the while trying to tame a hi-performance machine that could suck the arms out of an average person's shoulder sockets and buck them to the heavens with a compressed spine. But no. Not mainstream enough, I suppose. Take the time to check it out and you'll find there have been studies done recently on how fit these athletes are compared to those of other sports... not too mention the added toughness of a pretty high attrition rate due to injuries. The odds of making it through an entire season of outdoor professional Motocross, that's 24 races, in the top 10 are pretty slim... And last year, our 250cc champ, Ricky Carmichael (Team Honda), won every single race at every single event, by an average of 25 seconds over the #2 rider. Unheard of... a record that will be near impossible to match. I realize you are a mainstream publication, but please try not to discount sports that are not, simply because you don't know about them or haven't bothered to do the research. Thanks for reading. Andy Jenkins PS Tour De France at #8 behind returning a serve and hitting a golf ball straight?! PPS What about skateboarders (some amateur!) who flip a tiny wooden board under their feet then land it on a 2inch wide handrail and grind metal to metal for 50 feet down a set of 15 stairs -- under the pressure of being chased off the property by an overzealous security guard! Is that not absolute precision, balance, grace and skill? back