Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
If you are not making an inference then I suggest you completely re-write your o.p. to make that clear. I speak, read and write American English with some fluency, and I came away from the o.p. with a very strong feeling that you were making value judgements of American cycling practices. I do not think I am the only one.
So am I. I am not going to re-write it to suit you. I reported exactly what I saw. You should read it as a contrast to what I see here.
I started myself riding in Germany. Following the stay I was hooked and could not stop. As to the sport type riders, they come out Sunday morning, so if you are not out there yourself you may miss them. There are obviously many race type shops but they their merchandise has nearly no overlap with the commuter shops and they are fewer, maybe one in four.
Regarding obesity, when I am at an airport looking for the gate where my flight takes off for the US, the unfortunate sure sign that I found the right one is the sudden abundance of people who cannot fit into a chair.
That is funny, regarding the airport gate. Same here. I got turned around but had a sigh of relief when I found the right gate, it was easy. Ball caps, sneakers, preponderance of dad jeans and some extra heft and I knew I was at the right gate and on my way home. America is vast in comparison to Europe and to categorize everybody here as obese is incorrect or everybody there as sleek and fit because neither is the case. But, uh, if the sneaker fits, well, at least I was assured I was at the correct gate
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