Nascar crashes. Fender benders. Celebrity weddings. Everyone loves a good train wreck. And bicycle forums are no different. After nearly five years, the infamous “Bicycle Safety – The Math of Speed.” thread on Twospoke.com was finally locked. Over the years, it racked up some impressive numbers. The 17 pages and 168 replies were hardly legendary on their own. But with over 1,000,000 page views, it certainly ranks as something noteworthy.
This thread had all the ingredients of a good read. You’ve got your basic internet troll that posts “facts” that were really just some opinions sprinkled with questionable data. The kind of stuff where someone makes up a story, then embellishes misinformation to support it. Throw in a little bit of conspiracy theory, made all the more amusing when the original poster creates another username to support his position. Because nothing adds credibility like agreeing with yourself. At this point, more an more members have to throw their two cents in, mostly to point out the fallacy of the information presented. As cars spun out of control on fire, trains derailed, and teenage girls in daddy’s car ran into frail attorney’s wives driving expensive European cars, the thread gained momentum. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then another comment was worth several thousand more views. The 2nd most prolific thread in the Road Cycling portion of the forums has yet to hit 120,000 views. And that’s one where members can show off their bikes. Who doesn’t like to show off their shiny gear? But even that can’t compete with pure folly.
Perhaps some cycling college student will use this thread as a case study for their psychology class. Despite the lack of any really useful information, so many people have chosen to view this thread. That’s surely some sort of reflection on our obsession with tragedy. If you’re going to let your curiosity get the best of you, go have a look. But if you have any interest in cycling, or beer, or even photography, you may find some far better threads to follow on Twospoke.com.
– Brian