Emma Pooley takes a break

[Owlie]

Here she is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Pooley

She was the 2010 world champion in time trialing, and British road and time trialing champion in that same year. And I would not dare call a career in academia "less demanding".

Seriously. It doesn't have the physical demands, sure, but it's just as mentally demanding, if not more so, IMHO.

[Rebecca19804]

Emma Pooley is a cycling heroine here in Britain. From the viewpoint of cycling fans, it is certainly NOT a case of "not doing well enough". The problem isn't just the salaries but the fact that the womens cycling team keeps losing its sponsors, putting the whole programme at risk. Over and over and over again. That has got to be almost impossible to deal with mentally and emotionally, on top of all the demands of training and competing. More power to her, I say!