I was just talking with my teammate in the hotel about the popular question of why people aren't starting and sticking with racing.
Its hard.
Yeah, all sports are hard right? Then I realized - marathon, fondos, triathlon - these are a different breed. Cycling is more akin to gymnastics, ball sports, etc. Cycling is a competitive sport. What other sports have guys over pro-sport age going out for serious competition a dozen or 5 dozen times a year, training basically always? Definitely not running or tri for the vast majority. Sure a few people take these super seriously like a real sport, but most of these people train hard or not so hard for a key event or two, just to finish or try and go faster than last year. Do you see huge numbers of 34 year old amateur any sport going out and grinding out season after season? Not really. I don't know one person who actually competes in ANY sport other than people I met racing bikes.
Just a random thought that I didn't wanna start a whole thread over.