Luck, and a quick reaction saved the life of a cyclist who found himself hanging off the side of a bridge at the end of a bicycle race in the United States.
Mike Allec, 51, was sprinting for the line in the Santa Barbara Road Race on January 28 when he got caught up in a crash that knocked him sideways just as the race was crossing the bridge, 10m above a sloping creek.
Video of the crash, take from the camera of a fellow competitor, went viral when it was posted to YouTube.
Allec told CyclingTips.com.au that he attributed his potentially life-saving maneuvre to "good reflexes and luck."
"As I started to flip over, I don't know if it was just momentum, because I was headed that direction, or if something bumped me, but I got pushed over to the wall, and as soon as I hit the wall... I knew I had hit the wall, and I knew I was on a bridge, but I didn't know how far down it was.
