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| *Vultures Knob>>>Cycling |
Why are there no black cyclists? |
I just wondered why you never see any proffesional cyclists who are black?? This is largely a socio-economic question, but I'll give it a shot from an American point of view. This question could also be asked as why there are so few American cyclists from a working-class background (this would include poor whites, poor Hispanics and poor blacks). Cycling is an expensive sport when compared to baseball, basketball or football. Baseball really just requires a glove and a bat. You can use a 20 year old glove, and you only really need one to three bats per team. Basketball just requires a ball and a hoop. Football requires a ball, helmet and some pads- which can be used for years and years. Cycling requires a properly fitting bike that only lasts a few years, expensive specialty clothes that wear out in a few seasons, and wear items such as tires, chains and the like that need to be replaced a few times per season. There is no community support system. Almost all American public schools have baseball, football and basketball teams. Almost none have cycling. This makes it a sport that you would have jump into (and pay for) without the support of taxpayers. Yes, some schools have a pay-to-play system, but the facilities, equipment, coaches, etc are still more expensive per person than the $50-200 fee paid per year by student athletes. The only support system that does exist are the barely profitable institution of the local bike shop. They may sponsor teams and races, but not like a city can with a high school team. Then there is just the physical problem of location. In America the working class live in two areas- the inner city and the vast rural expanses. If you grow up in the inner city your access to places to ride and local bike shops are slim. In Detroit, Michigan, a city of 870,000 people and 143 square miles, there are two bicycle shops. In the suburb of Livonia, Michigan, a city of 100,000 people and 36 square miles, there are three bike shops, and two more less than a mile from the city limits. You would also be limited in the inner-city with safe places to ride. Mountain bike courses tend to be in the outer suburbs and road cycling can be physically dangerous. If you grew up in rural America you may have miles and miles of road to ride on and forests to cut your own paths in, but there are very few bicycle shops. This question could also ask why there are so few black hockey players, golfers, horseback riders or gymnasts and the answers would be similar to cycling. I do know a few black cyclists that are GREAT- but they are quite the middle-class suburbanites. They prefer other things lol there usually from a different culture, or country originally, and motorcycles aren't big where they come from... they all ran home with the free bikes There are. Nelson Vails, for one. there are black cyclists. i remember very well when i saw three, their clothes were pink...imagine pink on a black guy....uhh There are tons of black cyclists, though few (if any) international-level black pro road cyclists. There are quite a few black American track cyclists. But, there are few (if any) international-level cross-country skiers either. There are also few international-level Asian pro cyclists, even though China has the largest population of cyclists in the world. So I would offer that it's a cultural thing. African kids who are good at endurance sports most likely want to emulate their marathon runner heros. Blacks in other countries probably follow the sports that blacks are already into (and dominate) like basketball, football and soccer. |
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