You know you’ve got a difficult job when a hefty portion of it is devoted to recovery.

For a professional bicyclist, “suffering” enters into the daily routine of up to five hours in the saddle, careful monitoring of diet, and at least 10 days a month away from home, competing against equally driven cyclists. All the time in between is spent resting sore muscles.

Fifteen eight-man teams, some of the world’s most finely tuned athletes, will make their way through St. Joseph Monday, embarking on the first of seven stages of the Tour of Missouri bicycle race. The News-Press talked to several of the riders, including last year’s winner, George Hincapie, to find out what it takes to compete at the professional level.

Mr. Hincapie, 35, is one of the more familiar names in the sport, which hasn’t quite gripped Americans like it has Europeans. He was a teammate of Lance Armstrong during his seven Tour de France wins and has a long list of accomplishments in his 14 years as a professional. He also has a sports clothing company, but his days aren’t spent pushing sales.

“My day job is cycling,” he said, adding that the number of hours and type of training he does fluctuates throughout the year. But during the season, Mr. Hincapie averages about 30 hours a week on the bike.

“It’s like people going in every day for work,” said Ivan Dominguez, a Cuban-born sprinter who is coming off a stellar 2007 season, including two stage wins in the Tour of Missouri. “We go in for really hard training.”

Most riders focus on a diet heavy in protein and carbohydrates to keep their bodies in racing condition. Sugar and alcohol are treats seldom ingested.

“I don’t eat junk food,” Mr. Hincapie said. “I basically eat for performance.”

Michael Creed, 27, has been racing in Europe since he was 17. Living with his wife now in Colorado Springs, Colo., he also watches his diet but tries to follow the advice an older cyclist once told him: “Be disciplined enough not to be too disciplined.”

At 5 feet, 10 inches and about 150 pounds, Mr. Creed, who rides for Los Angeles-based Rock Racing, reaches his peak performance at around 142 pounds.

“You can’t hold that weight for very long,” he said. “You get sick. You hold that for one or two races.”

Jeff Louder, who will ride with the Swiss team BMC at the Tour of Missouri, has about 5 percent body fat when he’s in optimal form (adult males average about 15 percent or more). Cyclists strive to maintain a strength-to-weight ratio, which becomes especially important when climbing steep mountain roads.

“Cycling is one sport where you can’t afford to do that,” Mr. Louder said of overeating.

Another thing that cyclists can’t afford is making uncalculated risks. Consider driving 60 mph down a hill in your car and then jumping out onto the asphalt.

Ben Day, an Australian rider coming to the Tour of Missouri with the Toyota-United team, ate asphalt going 50 to 55 mph at the Tour of Georgia earlier this year. Slipstream rider Timmy Duggan took a disastrous fall (he suffered head trauma and a broken scapula and collarbone but is making a full recovery) and brought down Mr. Day behind him.

“We all understand the risks that we undertake,” said Mr. Day, who suffered a back injury and some road rash in the crash. “No one wants to see anyone crash.”

But there are rewards for all the risk and suffering. Sponsors pick up the tab on the multi-thousand-dollar bicycles and gear. Most riders are contracted for one to two years and receive a salary.

“We’re definitely getting by,” said Mr. Day, who had to leave his native Australia to make a living at cycling. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t choose to make the sacrifices we make. We’re no pro footballers or golfers or anything like that.”

Mr. Creed said his is a “top heavy” sport where in the same race, you’ll have one rider getting paid $500 a month plus expenses and the racer next to him will be making $1 million a year.

“It’s a hard sport to pay your dues in,” he said. “I don’t think people understand how much we suffer and how much we have to try.”

Michael Ball, the owner of Rock and Republic jeans, also owns Rock Racing, which has a cutting edge image bolstered by black Cadillac Escalades team vehicles. Mr. Creed said cycling is stuck in a rut in America because it’s a fan-sponsored sport. However, with more proactive owners such as Mr. Ball, the sport would grow and find more investors and ultimately televised coverage of events.

“The more Michael Balls we have, the better,” he said. “He wants to get fans behind the sport and the teams.”

But despite the money or lack of money or a need to grow the sport, there is a common theme among cyclists, and it seems to revolve around an addiction to the burn. When asked, almost all of the racers said it’s a love for the sport and ability to maintain grueling workouts.

Mr. Louder, 30, said he’s got more years left in him before he hangs it up. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do in retirement, but he’s not worried about it.

“I’ve done the hardest thing in the world to do,” he said, suggesting that anything else he chooses has got to be easier. “I’ve got dedication and confidence.”

Jimmy Myers can be reached at jimmym@npgco.com.