Point I think is being missed here:
Most Americans, save for the hard core cycling fans, have no access to cycling, but have easy access to Lance.
1. Cycling isn't really covered here. We have versus, but not much else. The entire concept of Cycling, beyond Lance/US Postal isn't really understood in the masses.
2. Lance made waves. He is/was popular, was in mass culture, commercials, and is/was a source of national pride.
3. If you came in because of Lance, then tried to follow easily beyond the TdF, you really wouldn't be able to. There is a massive jump between normal fan, who is willing to watch something if they see it on tv, and major even follow online a bit, and a real hardcore fan, who will search out streams online, and pay attention when cycling disappears from tv for weeks at a time.
*shrugs* I got interested because of Lance.
I saw his 6th tour win.
Now I watch whatever I can, when I can, and follow a bunch of different riders. I personally tend to like the Luxembourgish riders, just because I lived there for awhile, but that's just me.
Most Americans, save for the hard core cycling fans, have no access to cycling, but have easy access to Lance.
1. Cycling isn't really covered here. We have versus, but not much else. The entire concept of Cycling, beyond Lance/US Postal isn't really understood in the masses.
2. Lance made waves. He is/was popular, was in mass culture, commercials, and is/was a source of national pride.
3. If you came in because of Lance, then tried to follow easily beyond the TdF, you really wouldn't be able to. There is a massive jump between normal fan, who is willing to watch something if they see it on tv, and major even follow online a bit, and a real hardcore fan, who will search out streams online, and pay attention when cycling disappears from tv for weeks at a time.
*shrugs* I got interested because of Lance.
I saw his 6th tour win.
Now I watch whatever I can, when I can, and follow a bunch of different riders. I personally tend to like the Luxembourgish riders, just because I lived there for awhile, but that's just me.