While reading the latest Mailbag entry on velonews.com, this letter struck me as odd:
Dear Velo,
Here is an incident that would have happened only in a women’s race. A few years ago, during the Cascade Cycling Classic, downtown criterium, a rider was forced wide on a turn. She hit the curb and had a scary crash, landing flat on her back. After missing a lap, she got back in the race. Between the curb and her landing, she and her bike hit my wife and son-in-law.
After the race, she rode back to see if all of us were OK, even though she was hurt (and abandoned the next day).
I really can’t imagine a male pro doing that.
Dennis Krakow
Bend, Oregon
I don't frequently read the letters on velonews.com, so maybe I'm reading this out of context. In fact, I hope I am. Because by itself, this letter makes me think that some guy suddenly felt the need to proclaim that because one female racer was nice to him and his family several years ago, male racers are jerks.
And that's kind of weird.
4 comments:
While I understand your point of view, I actually read this differently (even before I saw your commentary). It wasn't really necessary or expected that she go back and see if they were okay, and it wouldn't have been for a man either. Therefore, he was not implying that men are jerks. That would only be the case if it was necessary and expected for anyone to go back. Rather, it was just a general complement to women.
Regarding the incident, I view this as a compliment to the woman cyclist alone. There's a lot of women that would not have gone back either. So kudos to her. Not being able to read the letter writer's mind, I can't be sure that he was taking a swipe at male cyclists by generalizing what she did to all women, but it does sound that way. Oh well. I do agree that going back wasn't required so once again, it was a really nice gesture on her part.
I guess I should clarify--I'm not offended or anything. I'm just puzzled that this guy would suddenly feel the urge to share his experience with a national audience, apropos of nothing.
Maybe this is one of those things that's only funny to me.
It's clear. This guy is slow, so he feels like faster riders are all jerks. By saying "it would of ONLY happened in a woman's race", he is blatantly saying that male racers are jerks and NONE could have compassion like that...because they are faster than him.
Why does it just randomly come out...because every time he rides, his pent up aggression grows as faster riders pass him...by writing it, and having it published, he surely had the guilt of being so slow lifted off his shoulders. I'm happy for him.
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