Chris Zacho 'The Wheelman said:
In fact, I'll be willing to bet, that out of all the posters on this
board, only one, maybe two, max. are black. If indeed anybody here
is.
Quoted message said:Where are all the black riders? What is it about our sport that makes
it
Quoted message said:so unappealing to an entire race of people?
It's an interesting question, but I wouldn't limit it to
black/non-black. I'm curious about the demographics of recreational
cycling. In my experience of club riding (Boston), many groups seem
under-represented. I think cycling is a bit like running in that
respect, only perhaps more so.
How do people get into cycling? Perhaps it's the path that's important.
Most of us don't have a cultural heritage of recreational cycling, so
it's something we have to pick up from other kinds of exposure. I
became "exposed" in an east coast university town (Boston) where a few
acquaintances were serious cyclists during college. I bought a bike
then and did a bit of cycling out of imitation, I guess.
A lot of people like me (middle-aged guys) seemed to pick up cycling
during college, let it lapse a bit afterwards, then returned to it when
seeking a fitness activity. I don't think I'd be cycling now if I
hadn't had that relatively brief exposure during college.
The people I know who do physical work seem to prefer non-physical
recreations (like fishing). Almost all the cyclists I know have
non-physical (desk) jobs. Most of the cyclists I know seem to approach
cycling as more of a fitness activity than a social one, which seems to
bias things to an older population, as there are many better venues for
workout with socialization. The few black club cyclists I know are all
like me: middle-aged, middle-class, college-educated, desk-jockys.
Lastly, I consider the impact of sports on TV. When I played basketball
regularly, you'd see a big increase in turnout during the pro season,
peaking during the playoffs. Similarly, the rise in popularity of
sports like tennis & golf seems to follow the TV coverage and rise of
super stars. Cycling just doesn't get that kind of exposure, so that
limits the demographic breadth of interest. How's a kid today
(black/white/male/fem) get to know about cycling and become a club
cyclist later on?
I do mountain bike patrol in a park that has a very heavy
black/latino/asian user base. White people typically hike and mountain
bike, non-whites picnic, fish and swim. Recently, I've seen a few small
all-black groups of MTB riders show up. I don't think I've seen any
mixed groups. Boston, like most of the country I guess, is still pretty
segregated socially. If cycling is popularized via friend-to-friend
contact, then the lack of black-white socialization may be the only
thing which keeps the activity segregated. It's really a shame since
cycling is so neutral in terms of all factors: age, gender and income,
never mind race.
