They say one is the loneliest number, but when it comes to supercross and motocross, #13 is the lonely one

WORDS: Blake Wharton

People have been contemplating the significance of numbers and symbols and their meanings for thousands of years. Those meanings often vary from culture to culture, but each seems to hold certain numerical figures in high regard, while also avoiding others as bad omens. Those numbers are usually associated with death or relating to a historical event. And that’s probably the case for many when it comes to #13.

Some claim that its association with bad luck began in the Middle Ages, overlapping with the belief that Friday the 13th is an especially unlucky day. That’s because on Friday, October 13, 1307, the powerful Knights Templar were rounded up by rivals in France on trumped-up charges, their wealth seized, and many were burned at the stake. That’s some serious bad luck! Getting dealt the 13th card in tarot is bad too. It’s the Grim Reaper—Death, though not necessarily for the person it’s handed to. Even Christianity has its concerns about the number 13, as it was the 13th guest at the final supper, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus with a kiss, and we all know how that ended.