Originally Posted by
MDcatV
despite the ease with which people in the know find races via bike reg or whatever means we use, I don't think access is significantly different today. Very few people outside of the small circle of people who race bicycles knows that bicycle racing is going on. Way off the topic of this thread, but the sport is really not promoted at all, and even once people become involved, it's confusing to people on how to participate.
Oh yes. When I was around 10 or so (mid 90's), I was VERY interested in the concept of bicycle racing, but did not know that organized racing actually existed because my parents and other adult relatives/family friends were not cyclists and did not themselves know anything about it, or who to ask. I actually drafted up a letter to the town asking them to hold bicycle races for kids. Quite humorous, in retrospect. As it happened, I didn't actually end up racing bikes until over a decade later in college, because by then I knew some people who raced and could tell me what to do. In spite of modern resources, it's still pretty hard to just stumble across bike races and decide to up and do it.