Was he wearing a Helmet?

"Was he wearing a helmet" - a woman asked as we had a communal chat about the sad death of Wouter Weylandt in the coffee shop this morning. It's a rather annoying question these days - up there with how many gears does your bike have? "Yes he was wearing a helmet".

The front page of the sports section today showed the Belgian cyclist in his prime. I'd never heard of him before. In the Giro yesterday he crashed at high speed on a technical descent and, after losing a lot of blood, died despite 'reanimation' attempts. A crude term but one that shows how badly hurt he was. It's a shame that the only subjects to allow cycling on to the front page is either a death or drugs. It shows how our human nature is drawn to tragedy and controversy over success (The tour has been lead by an Englishman and a Scotsman which has barely been covered by the press).

Cycling is misunderstood in the UK - the general public is so distanced from the sport now that it does not seem to comprehend how competitors can put their bodies through so much effort. There was a naive question posed about safety by a BBC interviewer today, who seemed to miss the point that accidents happen, especially on descents at race speed. Italian roads are also not the best in the world, though - and despite the crash happening on a straight - I'm not suggesting it was the cause. David Millar commented that it's one of a million things you have to go through as a professional cyclist. Last night on our easy ride north and back into town there was none-the-less a few hairy corners. But human nature also dictates that you generally have a need for survival. I just wish I could say that the same for the young Belgian.