SQUIDS from the DGR
A friend shared a link to an Instagram video today, of a bunch of riders who decided to rip through the streets after attending the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride. As most you might know, the DGR is a charity ride where they ask you to dress up and ride "dapper". While I have my own reservations against big group rides, DGR or otherwise, I support the idea of such a ride as long as it is for a good cause.
However, I have a problem with riders like these who, in the spirit of being “dapper”, wear minimal protective riding gear and then go speeding through public roads. These guys were riding at speeds in excess of 160 Kmph on public roads. I remember that video where a group of riders were doing close to 300 Kmph, in full gear, on a public road and then they crashed. I have seen the entire video and trust me, it was not a pleasant sight.
Imagine if, God forbid, they had an accident? People will say that the DGR encourages unsafe riding habits. Yes, I know that is stupid. I know that logically, the DGR has no control over what people do or how they ride, before and after the event but I have seen enough geniuses to know that such a hyperbolic thought is not impossible in this day and age.
These riders are the kind of idiotic social media celebrities who use events like the #DGR to not wear riding gear, then rip through the streets. The rush that comes with speed is understandable but why on earth do people not understand that this is the wrong sort of example they are setting for their "followers"? In the age of information and social media, one must filter their own actions and think about the signals they are sending out to a whole bunch of people who are just waiting for some form of validation for their own warped ideas.
These people are just another bunch of SQUIDS. Yes; there, I said it. If things go south, and in such cases there is a high possibility that it might, all their "dapperness" will be scraped out from their bodies.
However, I have a problem with riders like these who, in the spirit of being “dapper”, wear minimal protective riding gear and then go speeding through public roads. These guys were riding at speeds in excess of 160 Kmph on public roads. I remember that video where a group of riders were doing close to 300 Kmph, in full gear, on a public road and then they crashed. I have seen the entire video and trust me, it was not a pleasant sight.
Imagine if, God forbid, they had an accident? People will say that the DGR encourages unsafe riding habits. Yes, I know that is stupid. I know that logically, the DGR has no control over what people do or how they ride, before and after the event but I have seen enough geniuses to know that such a hyperbolic thought is not impossible in this day and age.
These riders are the kind of idiotic social media celebrities who use events like the #DGR to not wear riding gear, then rip through the streets. The rush that comes with speed is understandable but why on earth do people not understand that this is the wrong sort of example they are setting for their "followers"? In the age of information and social media, one must filter their own actions and think about the signals they are sending out to a whole bunch of people who are just waiting for some form of validation for their own warped ideas.
These people are just another bunch of SQUIDS. Yes; there, I said it. If things go south, and in such cases there is a high possibility that it might, all their "dapperness" will be scraped out from their bodies.
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