Some People's Pets...

    I was watching the Tour de France this morning, and saw this:

    Now, it should be noted that neither the dog nor the rider were hurt.  In fact, the dog hopped right up, looked at the rider as if to say "do you mind?" and just continued along the road as though nothing happened.

    The thing that really blows my mind is how ridiculously easy the carbon-fiber rims on these racing bikes transform into the spoked equivalent of a taco shell.  This rider was going probably around three or four miles per hour when he hit the dog, and, as you can see, it just collapsed.

    Now, that sort of thing isn't really a huge deal or anything, but, keep in mind that these crazy bastards are also throwing themselves and these bikes down bumpy, twisting and turning Alpine roadways at speeds way in excess of 40 mph on these wheels which seem as delicate as spun sugar. 

    Kind of scary, don't ya think?

-DP  

*update*    Here's a YouTube video of the rider (Marcus Burghardt) hitting the dog.  It's a little tough to gauge his speed since the video's on a slowed replay, but as you can see, he's not moving fast, and, as Gaz said in the comments, the dog's look is priceless.