steve-in-kville 

Okay, so for starters, my workplace is very sports enthusiastic. Football, baseball, hockey, NASCAR.... even a few soccer buffs. I once told them that NASCAR stands for Non Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks!! Thought I was gonna get jumped after work!! For real! Lunchroom conversation is always about sports. "Your team plays our team this weekend", etc, etc. Most of the time it ends in arguments and people will not talk to each other for days on end! We had two guys that couldn't be in the same room for well over a year... over golf!! They finally made up a few weeks ago.

So myself and the only other guy that works there talk pro cycling. He rides, I ride, we following the world pro teams and such like. We see each other once a week and we talk about the track cycling, road cycling, spring classics, Wiggo going on his own, who pissed hot after a race, etc. We get these looks like we are aliens, like we're talking a foreign language. "Who cares, follow a real sport!" are the majority of the comments we get.

Really. I speak to one person for 15 minutes all week, we don't yell at each other, just enjoy the sport. But I'm the oddball. Whatever.


Rant over.

Giacomo 1 

Well, you have one more guy to talk cycling with than I do!

Even the couple of guys I ride with could care less about the pro cycling scene. I'm actually trying to convince one of them that claims he's actually seen a cycling race on TV once, to come with me to Virginia next Sept. to watch the World Championships. Not happening. He thinks it would be boring. It's frustrating, but I get it, it's not football, it's not "merican enough". Maybe if the riders covered there bodies in gang tattoos! Yeah, then Americans would love it!

Actually I think the sport needs a big personality like Lance was to bring it back to the masses and make it popular here again. There are simply no big name, big personality American riders out there right now.

Anyway, that's why I participate in this forum, to be with like-minded pro cycling fans...

Slackerprince

Let them know that there are lots of crashes. Broken collar bones, blood, etc. That might help, but probably not.
I only watch pro cycling and MMA, so at least I can chat about the UFC.
I did watch the Masters this year just to see what that was all about.


S

fietsbob

Get a Job In Belgium.

caloso

As Judge John Hodgman would say, people are going to like what they are going to like.

TCR Rider

You are not alone in feeling alone as a fan of pro cycling. No one I know really follows the pros other than knowing they are all juiced up. Hard for me to argue with them on that. I get a more intelligent discussion talking to my wife about it than anyone else I know. That's one of the reasons I come to these forums and find out that I might be a fan but I'm not such an expert after all

MinnMan

Lots of my cycling friends follow the races, essentially none of my non-cycling friends do. If you really want to meet cycling fans, join a road cycling club (not necessarily a racing club, though that would be an even more fertile place for your hunt.)

OP - sorry, but your workplace sounds like hell - not simply because of the lack of cycling fans.

cmh

Maybe people would be a bit more open to listening to your talk about cycling if you didn't call them rednecks?

Wanderer

I just wish that there was more of it on TV.............

Red Tornado

My workplace was sort of like the OP's several years ago. Central Texas meaning hunting/fishing/football/NASCAR/baseball are the "in" sports.
Lots of guys have the 4WD diesel (some dually) pickups and used to tell stories about "rolling coal" on cyclists. Rolling coal is when they kick it down while passing and fumigate the cyclist(s) with black exhaust; you can also tune your diesel engine to to that if you have the right chip, etc. Also heard stories of guys that live in the country enjoying watching their dog(s) chase cyclists.
Their story changed when they found out one day that one of their co-workers was a cyclist. ".... but I wouldn't do that to you" was the most common statement I heard after they figured out that the bicycle parked in the corner of the tool shop belonged to me. Textbook closed-mindedness, but I've been quilty of that myself. Typically a rational reply to their statements brought some intelligence back into the conversation. I usually explain that those stupid looking people in SPANDEX just want to get their workout in and make it back home - like everyone else.
The past few years have seen several folks at work actually take up cycling, so that's a positive IMO.

roadwarrior

But you will have to learn to speak French and Flemish.

I lived there for a couple of years.

roadwarrior

Goodness you know very little about auto racing.

fietsbob

A Friend went to a US brand Fast Food chain franchise, in Munich , the people that worked at the Burger Joint spoke 4 languages fluently .

roadwarrior

It's not a big deal when you live an hour or so away from countries that all speak different languages. You just pick it up.

fietsbob

So why doesn't TX, NM, AZ, & CAL , have all students , graduating , bilingual ... by now? hint : racism.

race in Europe, or even spend a little time there, you learn a bit of their languages , alstublieft, danke schön

steve-in-kville 

Enlighten me.

For real, I respect everyone's interests. But the real kicker is when you refer to a NASCAR driver as an "athlete." That just makes my day. No, your guy is a driver, our guys are riders. Now which is the "athlete" here??

Not flaming, just sayin'.

roadwarrior

Um, have you ever driven a car at 200mph for four hours pulling four to six g's? Ever been able to focus on anything for four hours without killing yourself? Been in a 200mph wreck on Saturday, then got back in the car on Sunday to race?
It's funny, the number of drivers that do triathlons, run marathons, in the off season.

The weight workout most of these guys do would kill you.

Now I will grant you most of my acquaintances are in Indy Car. A close friend of mine is a personal trainer and works with these guys. You most likely would not survive one of their workouts. Indy Car drivers train like fighter pilots due to the g's they pull.

and here's what's really funny...I know several that race bikes, and do triathlons. I've ridden with them.

And so you know I raced a bike professionally. So knowing several of the drivers and having raced a bike, I kind of feel a bit more qualified to make the call on who is fit.

Unless you have done one of these things, you really do not know.

this reminds me of the time a guy told me that drag racing was easy. All you did was drive in a straight line. Yeah...with 6,000hp behind you that you that you have to control. PUlling 9 negative g's at the start and 9 again after pulling the chutes.

I love the 41.

https://www.ironman.com/triathlon/new...o-ironman.aspx

A short list of racers that do triathlons to train for racing:
Josh Wise
Jimmy Johnson
Trevor Bayne
Joey Logano
Kasey Kahne

Jimmy Johnson's weekly workout is 5 miles of swimming, 40 miles of running. and 100 miles of cycling. That's how you win all those championships.

My only point is if you are going to be critical, at least have a little sense of what you are talking about.

https://www.mensfitness.com/life/spor...indycar-champs

Heck, the workouts the pit crews do would kill most people.

And I am not trying to flame you. I am trying to educate.

steve-in-kville 

roadwarrior, I will concede, you do have a point. I have never seen a fat driver. My apologies.

WCroadie

I agree, there are no real big names in America to get non-cycling people excited about cycling races. My buddy and I also feel that is why, at least here in the mid atlantic, amateur race numbers are down quite a bit from the mid 2000's. No big american winning.

I am used to it tho, growing up I played soccer and ice hockey and there were my favorite sports, I had to watch soccer on PBS on saturday afternoons, none of my friends cared about it.

a77impala

I don't disagree that race car drivers are athletic, I have a hard time classifying the actual racing as a sport.

koolerb

People in the US barely know it exists. I got curious last year and tried to start watching some races. I realized pretty quickly it's hard to find this stuff. Steephill.tv has been the most reliable source of content I've found so far. But to your point, yes, when people see me watching it, or I talk about they're like WTF???

This is the first year I've watched the Giro d'talia, really enjoying it.

FrenchFit 

Let me spice this up:

"And so what's your profession", "I go nowhere fast".

OK, great physical condition, but so are MMA fighters. So what?! This "sport" is an environmental nightmare, dozens of men driving machines in circles as fast as they can, fueled by god knows what, *****s of corporate sponsors.

Athletes? Not in my book.

Panza

Here I am at work, following along with the Giro, wishing I had friends who remotely liked professional cycling. Even my cycling friends find it boring. Maybe your lack of a good comeback is the reason why they look down on cycling. 8 ) Don't let them get to you, just enjoy what you like and your coworkers will respect that.

Giacomo 1 

You should google racing.

You would be surprised at how environmentally clean and aware of the environment professional racing is. Much of the advancements and clean technology we see in our passenger cars comes through racing, especially Formula 1. The Prius that I'm sure you drive is a lightweight environmentally speaking compared to most modern racing machines.

If you want to hate the sport of racing, that's fine, but you should do some fact checking before making such statements.

A little spice right back at ya!

FrenchFit 

Seriously? A 4 million pound carbon footprint for each weekend of racing; it's more like environmental terrorism, less like awareness. Are you really crediting NASCAR with technology break-throughs underlying the Prius? LOL.

And, ... I drive a 740i thank you.