I was living in an information bubble for a couple days last week in regards to the end of the Tour of California. I was pretty sure the Tour de Levi would go off as it has the past two years, but this is bike racing, and I didn’t want anyone to spoil my viewing pleasure by leaking the outcome. I finished up the race just the other night and although the racing was extraordinary there was a phenomenon happing in the background that had me a bit perplexed. I fully understand the commotion and hysteria associated with being a fan at a world class cycling event. I’ve been to the Tour of Missouri, and Tour of Georgia multiple times and have been apart of the mayhem myself. It certainly acceptable to get a “little excited” when witnessing your two wheeled hero pass by after a few drinks, but what the Cali residents were drinking I don’t know.
You see, any time the race went towards the heavens, the TOC crowds started to get…well…stupid. Possibly in an effort to replicate the famous Devil from European cycling lore, the TOC spectators to seem to go to great lengths to stand out. Guys dressed in red, white and blue with huge afro wigs. Dudes in Speedos, nothing else. Clown suits, and sumo fat man outfits. Heck even the Pope running alongside the Peloton. It really appeared to me that those in question weren’t fans per say, but a community of losers looking for their 15 minutes of fame. Seems typical of a state where the rise and fall of Hollywood fame happens daily, that its residents would try to use Versus as a means to stardom.
It’s a part of bike pro bike racing I know, but come on guys, I want to see skinny guys in spandex flying up a mountain pass, not your fat ass running along side in a purple banana hammock, man boobs bouncing, all while carrying Old Glory wrapped around a stick you found on the roadside. Oh the humanity!
You see, any time the race went towards the heavens, the TOC crowds started to get…well…stupid. Possibly in an effort to replicate the famous Devil from European cycling lore, the TOC spectators to seem to go to great lengths to stand out. Guys dressed in red, white and blue with huge afro wigs. Dudes in Speedos, nothing else. Clown suits, and sumo fat man outfits. Heck even the Pope running alongside the Peloton. It really appeared to me that those in question weren’t fans per say, but a community of losers looking for their 15 minutes of fame. Seems typical of a state where the rise and fall of Hollywood fame happens daily, that its residents would try to use Versus as a means to stardom.
It’s a part of bike pro bike racing I know, but come on guys, I want to see skinny guys in spandex flying up a mountain pass, not your fat ass running along side in a purple banana hammock, man boobs bouncing, all while carrying Old Glory wrapped around a stick you found on the roadside. Oh the humanity!
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