The thing that I love about cycling is that it quite handily can be competitive sport, transportation, recreation, and it's good for your health, too.
I reckon cycling isn't considered that big of a deal here in the US because most people still consider a bicycle a kids' toy.
I ride daily, to work and back, and I ride recreationally, and I might start riding competitively next year. Everyone who knows me knows I'm a bike nut, but most people I know say the same thing pretty often, that being, "Man, I haven't been on a bike since I was like 12." Kids start thinking they're too grown for riding bikes right about the time they hit puberty, right about the time they could actually start having way more fun with it. Right when they're getting bigger and stronger, when they could start getting a LOT faster and riding much nicer bikes, they decide that bikes are just kid stuff.
I never went through that phase, myself...I just graduated from my old banana-seat bike to my mom's old 10-speed that was hanging around the garage, but I never cared that much about popular opinion, anyway.
But I think cycling would be more popular overall if it could be pitched to the average Joe as a lifetime activity, that it's not just for elementary school kids, and that older kids and adults can have a good time, and kids who don't have the physical makeup for basketball and football might just have what it takes for one or another competitive bicycling discipline.
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Wheeeee!