Peloton - not really tricky so much as French, in fact, meaning a small "pelote", a ball of rolled-up strands or threads, especially of wool, the typical thing for a
cat to play with. In racing sports, especially cycling and running races, the peloton is the main group of racers moving along together, dangling (as it were) from the thread of leading riders or
runners stretching out along the road ahead of the main group.
The English equivalent is "bunch", which otherwise means "strapec" (a bunch of bananas, grapes). The peloton can be "bunched up" (tightly packed and close together) or
"strung out" (forming a long thin line), and this links back to the word "string" ("špagát" - the association with spaghetti is clear too). And thinking of pelotons reminds me of the great
performances of Peter and Martin Velits in this summer's big cycling stage races, the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta.
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