Is cycling an important sport?

[avecReynolds531]

Yesterday afternoon, I was listening to a Belgian classical music radio station. At the top of the hour was the expected news, then a live report on Fleche Wallonne. This was repeated hourly through the race.😊

When Raymond Poulidor died, it was the first headline news on the same station.

If a classical music radio station chooses this, it gives an idea of how bike racing can be viewed in one country, and the different level of respect for this beautiful two wheeled invention (that we all love & have in common).

 

[BalkanExpress]

As the say goes*

"In the land of the Belges, the two wheeled man is king"

Hugely important aspect of Belgian life, in particular Flanders but not exclusively so. During the Covid lock-down the government was very careful to ensure that cycling as exercise was still allowed: the social impact and political fall-out of banning it was considered, by the Flemish political parties in particular, to be too great.

* No it doesn't I made it up

 

[gavroche]

Cycling on the continent has always been highly rated and very much practised. That is one of the reasons why drivers there have a lot more consideration and respect for cyclists. As a sport, it has always been at the top of the list for the media and hugely popular.

 

[cougie uk]

I don't think any sport is important. They can be popular though.

 

[matticus]

Meanwhile in London: if you ban cars from a local road so people/children can enjoy walking/riding to shops/cafes, they actually use tanks* to push past the barricades.


*well OK, SUVs

 

[kingrollo]

Is any sport "important" ?

The only important aspect of cycling are the health benefits it gives ...what can be more important than that ?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Yes

 

[dan_bo]

I don't think any sport is important. They can be popular though.

Have to disagree

Sport is a means of not kicking the shoot out of each other

Sport is one of the myriad ways an observer can witness excellence

Sport is really really important

 

[matticus]

Ernest Hemingway — "There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games"

 

[MichaelW2]

My local paper ( Diss Express) features 2 page spreads of the fishing news in the sports section.

 

[roadrash]

My local paper ( Diss Express) features 2 page spreads of the fishing news in the sports section.

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.......
Teach a man to fish and he will spend several hours sat beside a muddy puddle in the pissing down rain....wishing he was out cycling

 

[C R]

Have to disagree

Sport is a means of not kicking the shoot out of each other

Sport is one of the myriad ways an observer can witness excellence

Sport is really really important

Football hooligans

 

[Ian H]

The only important aspect of cycling are the health benefits it gives ...what can be more important than that ?

I cycle for various reasons, but these relate to pleasure not health.

 

[mjr]

Cycling is a sport? I thought only cycle racing was. The rest of cycling is stonking fun! (Cycle racing is fun to watch but I've got my doubts about how much fun it is to do at the highest levels, from rider comments.)

 

[MichaelW2]

Is any sport "important" ?

The only important aspect of cycling are the health benefits it gives ...what can be more important than that ?

And the convenient local transportation.
And the money saved on buses, taxis and cars.
And the feeling you get when you freewheel down a swoopy curve.