Originally Posted by
CrankyOne
Per capita and per square mile there are likely many more racers (road, mtn, and x) in Germany than in the US. As mentioned above they're not as noticeable because of the number of other people riding bicycles.
I'm not anti-MAMIL but I am anti MAMIL culture. 'Cyclists' have become quite hated across the US. And often for good reason. People have learned that someone wearing lycra is very likely to be a jerk. Not always, but often. They are likely to run red lights — when others have right-of-way. They 'take the lane' and block traffic when it's not necessary. They filter to the front of drivers at red lights and stop signs so the drivers have to pass them yet again. Most of the time there is fairly decent cooperation between drivers and people riding bicycles in Europe that you don't see in the US.
Interesting, I certainly saw cyclist filtering in Germany. Why not? But, there is also much more cycle infrastructure and pathways to allow bicycles to be able to get to useful places with minimal time spent in conflict with autos in Germany. Whereas here the only way to go from useful place to useful place is on a roadway. Now, sure we have some MUPs etc but they are designed for recreation largely and go nowhere useful.