I read somewhere that the average person in the US reads at a 7 to 8th grade level. Newspapers are written for the 11th grade level reader. However, stupidity is not confined to this country. Today is the first stage of the Tour de France. Spectators are stupid.
See the person holding the sign with Allez on it? Where is that person looking? She's looking at the cameras. This is her big day to be on television. That sign is right in front of an oncoming rider.
The rider hit the sign holder. You can see her crumpling from the impact of the hit.
This is the result of the stupid person, not paying attention to where the peleton was, waving her stupid sign.
There were injuries, riders who have spent countless hours training for this event are now out of the race. It just irritates the living snot out of me that there are not more course marshals on the road sides preventing this kind of thing.
That's it! That's all I have to say.
That breaks my heart for those cyclists.
ReplyDeleteIf this was not so sad and frustratingly stupid it would be ....hilarious. But then that is just my mood today, I am having an out of body experience.
ReplyDeleteStupid should hurt the stupid person more, instead of the bystanders. Poor cyclists.
ReplyDeleteStupidity is ubiquitous.
ReplyDeleteI was watching this, it was an horrific and needless crash. It's a great to see the crowds lining the roads but not this. I also fear for the riders on the steep climbs when idiots decide to run along side them.
ReplyDeletesomehow it doesn't make me feel better to know that it's not just Americans who are stupid. that last photo looks like that one domino took out all the others. how do you start again after something like that?
ReplyDeleteJesus! That's quite a pileup. I'm surprised they give spectators such close access to the race course. Wonder if that will change now?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college and working as a reporting intern at a newspaper, I was told by another reporter to write at an eighth grade level. I don't think we were THAT simplistic, though. Eleventh grade sounds more like it.
This stupidity made me so mad. In addition to the riders injured, the number of these uber-pricey racing bikes that were destroyed or damaged is mind-boggling. They are trying to go after the fan who caused this, but I read that at most her fine will be 15,000 euros, and that is IF they find her. That is not nearly enough for the carnage and chaos her idiocy caused, IMO.
ReplyDeleteHopefully that woman's 10 seconds of 'fame' will also land her in a great deal of financial and legal trouble. Just trying to unwind from the pile up would have been a huge problem.
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