So much for the alleged "health benefits" of mountain biking....

Mike

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ench-Alps.html

Holiday Briton, 60, dies after 300ft fall from bike track in French
Alps

A sixty-year-old British man has fallen more than 300 feet to his
death while mountain biking in the French Alps on a camping holiday
with nine friends.

By Alexandra Williams in Chamonix
Published: 12:36PM BST 01 Aug 2009
The fall occured near Chamonix-Mt-Blanc, one of the world's most
popular mountaineering areas Photo: GETTY/AFP

The body of the man, from Brighton, was discovered on Friday afternoon
by police in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc.

He hired a bike on Friday morning and went for a ride alone along the
Balcon Nord track, a popular mountain biking and walking trail.

Hikers discovered his bike impaled on a tree just below the track and
alerted police.

A search by helicopter located the man’s body 330 feet below the
track.

A spokesman for the Mountain Police in Chamonix said: “We do not know
why the man fell. We are waiting for the results of a post mortem.

“The man hit several trees and fell a considerable distance – 100
metres. It is very steep in this section.

“We believe he was on his own. He was on holiday with friends but he
was the only one who went biking that day. There are no witnesses to
his fall.

“The Balcon Nord is a popular route and technically it is not too
difficult.”