Professional Cycling - Oh, how far we've come.

For you new cyclists, this may seem strange.

As recently as 1989, we couldn't get same day coverage of the TdF.
Detroit newspapers gave it a small mention on page 10 of the Sports section a day later.
I can safely say that NO one in my town knew what the Tour was.

Now, two nights ago, I was in a brew pub in my town, and the TdF was on every screen in the place. And people were watching.

If you're new at this sport, you have no idea how strange that was.

That is so nice to hear...I've seen it only once at a pub here (in the evening), but we have some local haunts where we can find the morning broadcasts (although I usually stay home and watch it there).

I am so glad we have the interweb too....there were no up to the minute race updates on the net in 1989!

EventServices, I second that, we went out last night for a bite, figuring we'd have to ask someone to turn the baseball game off etc..

HA! the tour was already on, and this is the deep south, which really made it surprising.

How's PJ doing on the boards up there he tells me on the phone he is riding well

As recently as 1989, we couldn't get same day coverage of the TdF.
Even with other promising 'murcans in the peloton (and remember - Julich has been there a while already), how long after LA quits will it take to get to the same place again? :(

I don't think it'll take that long. I think we've turned the corner.


And Pauly is rippin' it up on his Colnago.

I think that next year we'll get nothing more than 1 hour daily recaps of each stage.

This was covered in Cycle Sport recently....

"There's a small hard core of cycling fans in the US who followed pro cycling pre-Lance. After he retires, the fan base will return to these few."

Sad but true.

I think this forum is a good example. Every July 100 people suddenly show up and disappear immediatly after the tour is over. At least 3/4 of them are only interested in Lance. They're likely gone for good in two weeks.

We may have gained a few cycling fans but most of them will be TDF fans only. Those of us interested in Het Volk and the Tour of Lombardy will sadly remain a small group.

I love Het Volk!!


what about the Grote Scheldeprijs? :)

I don't think it'll take that long. I think we've turned the corner.
Does anyone remember football? The real game, not the one with lines on the field every ten yards. People have tried at least four times (over about 30 years) to create leagues to have it take hold in CONUS, and only in the last few has it been even marginally successful past the first season. And there are a lot more people there to support football than there are to support cycling.

The key to the success that was achieved was due in large part to building up a fan base by playing the game in schools. And having a good organization supporting kids' play - like Little League and Pop Warner. But even after all that, there are roughly the same number of American players on professional teams elsewhere in the world as there are Americans in the peloton. But none of them have anywhere near the profile of LA. Nor the human interest dimension of LA either.

Until you start giving out lots of scoring points for best strip; or prettiest bike; or leading at each mile marker; or the riders stop every few miles and fight with each other, I think cycling will remain below the commercially successful point on the radar in the USA.

Sad, but I am afraid only too true.

It just doesn't have the kind of stuff that appeals to enough people there to become commercially viable. Which is the key to much of a venture's success, especially enough to get TV coverage.

what about the Grote Scheldeprijs? :)
And the Driedagse??? :p

Putte Kapellen?

GP Knokke-Heist?

omloop der fritzwagen?

ha ha

or today's Grote Prijs Stad Geel?

Does anyone remember football? The real game, not the one with lines on the field every ten yards. People have tried at least four times (over about 30 years) to create leagues to have it take hold in CONUS, and only in the last few has it been even marginally successful past the first season. And there are a lot more people there to support football than there are to support cycling.




Even having alltime great and erectile disfunction spokesperson Pele playing in NY couldn't get the game going in the US.

This gets us back to the two biggest culprits keeping cycling in the dark ages: USCF and USACycling.

Rather than try to plant a corn field of new riders by getting into the school athletic programs, they cultivate a handful of roses in their greenhouse in Colorado.

How hard would it be to create a one-day program that can be sent to every junior high school gym class in the country via DVD and on-line programs?
But no, instead they're spending all our money chasing Olympic medals as if THAT will change the world.

You wanna promote cycling in the US you have to overcome the almighty automobile first.In Europe cycling isnt just a sport,its basic transportation for many, here, biking for transportation is a freakshow or complete rarity,until that changes, it isnt gonna get much bigger.I live in a midwestern city of 1.1 million people, Id guess even during the summer less than 100 people ride for transportation each day, less than 40 in winter, with numbers like that its no wonder cycling as a mainstream sporting event is practically non existent.

You wanna promote cycling in the US you have to overcome the almighty automobile first.In Europe cycling isnt just a sport,its basic transportation for many
The point is well taken. However, I am not sure that they can't coexist. As I recall from when I was a kid (a long, long time ago) almost everyone of my age rode a bike. Perhaps the trick is to get to them before they are old enough to drive.

I used to love to drive. I was raised in sportscars. I was a racing fanatic. But eventually I came to my senses, and started cycling. :D

I don't agree. If you follow that line of thought, we should be a country full of car racers.

It has more to do with educating young people about bike racing as a sports option. Exposing them to a bike race.

So far, to that end, N-O-T-H-I-N-G has been done.

Does anyone remember football? The real game, not the one with lines on the field every ten yards. People have tried at least four times (over about 30 years) to create leagues to have it take hold in CONUS, and only in the last few has it been even marginally successful past the first season. And there are a lot more people there to support football than there are to support cycling.

The key to the success that was achieved was due in large part to building up a fan base by playing the game in schools. And having a good organization supporting kids' play - like Little League and Pop Warner. But even after all that, there are roughly the same number of American players on professional teams elsewhere in the world as there are Americans in the peloton. But none of them have anywhere near the profile of LA. Nor the human interest dimension of LA either.

Until you start giving out lots of scoring points for best strip; or prettiest bike; or leading at each mile marker; or the riders stop every few miles and fight with each other, I think cycling will remain below the commercially successful point on the radar in the USA.

Sad, but I am afraid only too true.

It just doesn't have the kind of stuff that appeals to enough people there to become commercially viable. Which is the key to much of a venture's success, especially enough to get TV coverage.

Using the soccer analogy, sure, MSL soccer isn't drawing big numbers, and maybe never will. But we can now see pretty much all of the World Cup games, which I know in the 80's we couldn't. Will the Tour of Georgia ever get a huge TV audience? No. But the I think the Tour has now captured enough of an audience that it will get more than a passing mention every night on Sports Center. I believe it will recede a bit after Lance retires, but there are enough American riders and team leaders (and future hopes such as T. Danielson) having success that it has established itself as a minor sport in the U.S. Football or Basketball? No, but I for one am not looking for popularity, just to have the events televised.

Even having alltime great and erectile disfunction spokesperson Pele playing in NY couldn't get the game going in the US.

I disagree, but I guess it depends on how you define success (and the Pele who played for the Cosmos wasn't Pele in his prime, more like Michael Jordan with the Wizards). I don't think soccer will ever be a major sport in the U.S., but you can't argue with the seeds that were planted with the NASL in the 70's/ 80's, and how competitive the U.S. has become in international soccer in the decades following. It's a niche sport with a huge youth participation base, that just doesn't work as a commercial sport in the U.S., but it shocks me how many people follow the World Cup every four years, just like the Tour has now become.

I don't agree. If you follow that line of thought, we should be a country full of car racers.

And China should be the dominant world cycling power.