I am not shaming anyone's reaction to this. I am just stating that it's really hard to ignore these kinds of comments, which are so personal, and just plain mean, when it happens to you. At this point in my life, I could probably let something like this roll off my shoulders, but I wouldn't say that about myself for the majority of my life. I see too many people whose daily lives are devasted by mean words. The bullying at the middle school I worked at was nothing compared to what I currently see adults doing to other adults. It takes years of work and a lot of emotional strength to ignore this. Sorry, I just don't realistically see that most people, especially people who have fragile sense of self to begin with, have the immediate power to ignore such incidents. What I observe is that people stuff and deny these comments, and let it eat away at them.
Personally, I am happy when I see anyone on a bike, but I'd be lying if I said that others I ride with haven't made nasty comments about the size of other riders. Guess I am just human and admitting that if someone directed a nasty comment like in the article toward me, it would not be easy to let it go.