[Lio]

No, I don’t think I am conflating that at all.

I’m not a professional rider. Nothing special about me.

Yet on a small hill near my house, with a maximum gradient of maybe 8%, I regularly hit 40mph.

When I need to I’m able to safely decelerate uneventfully.

It’s really not that rare. It happens every ride. I get to the bottom and I just go on with my day.

You won’t suddenly loose control if go past a arbitrary speed. Just read the road conditions and act accordingly.

This is not something only professionals do whilst wearing body armour. That’s an obviously silly suggestion to anyone that regularly rides a bike.

If you must make a car analogy then a better one would be crashing at 80mph on a motorway. If you do it will be life changing.

The same thing applies on a bike going 40mph but I happily do both when I think it’s appropriate to the conditions.