Temporarily, the celebrity of the biking couple Travis and Sigrid came crashing to the ground in a road traffic accident. It resulted in thousands of criticisms of Travis Nelson on social media which is the exact opposite to what he would like to see.
You may have bumped into Travis and Sigrid on your Internet travels. He’s a young guy who likes to take his pure white Norwegian Forest cat, Sigrid, around London on his bike. She sits in a basket at the front and he captures all the action on video. He posts the videos online on social media and he has become a celebrity as has Sigrid.
There are a few biking cat celebrities on the Internet actually. Travis started his exploits during the Covid lockdown when he decided to take Sigrid out on a lead which developed into their cycling exploits and ultimately, recently a book which you can buy on Amazon by the way which cemented their celebrity (see above).
But all the action takes place in London and as you can imagine there is always the potential for an RTA. London is known for its traffic jams and polluted air. There have been quite a few road traffic accidents involving cyclists and vehicles in London over the years sometimes causing serious injury and the even death of the cyclist.
And this is where Travis exposes himself to criticism. In this incident which he filmed and posted on the Internet a motorcyclist (I think the other person was riding a moped) came up too close to him at traffic lights and brushed against his handlebars.
This made him lose control and both Travis and Sigrid fell off the bike. It was not a high-speed crash. They couldn’t have been going more than a few miles an hour at the time but it looks a little bit ugly and it just might have been more serious.
Sigrid was not hurt but Travis bruised his knee which he says might interfere with his cycling for a while. A kind woman came up to him afterwards and enquired about his health. He said that he was okay. A police car happened to be very close by and they criticised him for not wearing a helmet!
Travis went on his way. Sigrid did not escape the scene of the crash as she is kept on a lead when inside her basket. Anyway, she kept calm. Sigrid is an amazing cat really because she loves her bicycle trips. She is naturally a very calm cat.
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The interesting aspect of this RTA is that temporarily Travis and Sigrid’s celebrity was dented and bruised because they were criticised quite heavily apparently on social media. There was even a threat to report him to the RSPCA (which would not have worked). You can guess what the criticism is.
Ostensibly, he is endangering the life of this cat and the accident proves it. And he is doing it in the interests of his celebrity. In the interests of making money from his celebrity. He is abusing his cat. That would be the negative criticisms and of course there is the pollution in London. When you are riding a bike around London you are breathing in a lot of toxic air from road traffic. That would be my major concern.
But set against that you have to balance the positives which is Sigrid loves these trips. She gets plenty of mental stimulation and an exciting life. The opposite is full-time indoor boredom. On balance, I would support Travis because he entertains people, he entertains his cat and he makes a bit of money on the side. There’s no real harm and is the first accident he has had.
He says that cycling around London is not dangerous. It is the traffic which can be dangerous! I get that. He’s saying that he is careful and that’s clear because as mentioned this is his first accident and it was a minor one.
It is also clear that he will not stop. He can’t stop actually because Sigrid insists on going out. Once you provide your cat with such fun you can’t pull the plug on it. It’s like trying to keep an indoor/outdoor cat inside the home full-time. It’s almost impossible to achieve that.
The people who criticised him I think are not thinking about his exploits in the round by which I mean the positives versus the negatives.
