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He was involved in a sport that no one in America cares about except the sports media who are aiming for a gig in France.

What a bunch of crap. Americans as individusls are deeply engaged with cycling as a form of sport and exercise. The only reason it is not more popular is the high injury and death rate associated with cycling in American cities due to an almost pathological automobile culture and drivers who have a basic animosity toward the bicycle and see cyclists as convenient targets for aggression on the road. Don't get me wrong. I love my pickup and will never exchange it for a bullet train to nowhere like the libs expect all of us to do. But in Europe or at least France Spain and Italy cycling has been so much a part of the fabric of the culture for so long that there is respect and consideration for anyone cycling on the roads there. I don't think that will ever happen here. Meanwhile our grade school kids are being disenfranchised from baseball and being herded into soccer uniforms to become like Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina and all the other "advanced" civilzations surrounding us.

Like it or not, competitive bicycle riding isn’t even on the radar here in the US. That doesn’t mean Americans don’t enjoy riding their bikes, it just means that very very few are actually interested in watching a bicycle race on television or in person.

The left has been pushing soccer hard for the last decade or so. I’m not sure it’s catching on as much as they had hoped. There seems to be a disgruntled set 15-40 year olds who follow soccer for no other reason than it isn’t American. Interesting, Europe has a set of people in the same age range who follow the NFL for no other reason than it’s American. Ok, they’re probably following it because it’s better than soccer.

In any event, the government schools try to herd kids into soccer but by the time they’re teenagers they’ve largely abandoned it for football and basketball. I think it’s going to take more than herding kids into soccer at 7-9 years old to overcome the allure of playing on a high school football team. Especially so in the areas of this country that are completely obsessed with high school football.

But in Europe or at least France Spain and Italy cycling has been so much a part of the fabric of the culture for so long that there is respect and consideration for anyone cycling on the roads there

Here in Italy, the cyclists ride as if they own the road, much to the frustration of drivers. I'm surprised there are not a lot more accidents.