Cyclist Wouter Weylandt died racing downhill in the Giro d'Italia on 9th May 2011. The kind of cycling he does is nothing like what I do when I am out on my bike, and the pressures that led to his accident are nothing like those I will ever face on two wheels. I can't pretend to understand what it is like. I don't follow competitive cycling but from the little that I have seen it doesn't surprise me that an accident can be fatal: these guys pick up a lot of speed and there isn't very much between them and whatever they hit if things go wrong. There is also quite a large group of them together in pelotons, with individuals trying to overtake in close proximity to their rivals- the potential for a touch-and-fall is big. And yet they seem fearless when they are racing. Hats off to them. Or rather helmets off to them.
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