Can we have a sensible discussion about race?

i sure would like to find some way of supporting african athletes

An acquaintance of mine has been quite heavily involved with Kenyan Riders[/url].

It isn’t obvious from the website whether you can support them financially, but this is clearly a brilliant project.

Again, it’s a noble cause and a heartwarming story, but it’s a diversion from what I originally asked, specifically, why black people from the developed countries don’t become cyclists.

To be honest, I wonder at the motivation of people those sort of projects: are they truly interested in developing the sport, or are they more interested in mining a rich vein of natural physiological talent as a quick route to success?

Care to explain that as it makes no sense at all to me other than the generic insult of the French.

You can support the Women’s Afghan cycling team here.

Don’t think you’ll be asking this question in a few years’ time. There’s bound to be a lag between kids being inspired, then going through the youth ranks

Colombia had a national tour and a vibrant racing scene for much of the 20th century, despite being horrendously poor and very underdeveloped. As a result, it has produced some really significant racers, and their example has created more.

I work with kids going through the Basque youth system and you can see increasing numbers of juniors/cadets from Colombian families, probably for that exact reason.

That’s not to say that black kids don’t have white role models but it’s bound to be a factor. Why do you see a more even spread of races in some sports (skateboarding, bmx) but not others?

it’s a diversion from what I originally asked, specifically, why black people from the developed countries don’t become cyclists.

Fair point. I wonder how much of it has to do with role models. There are almost no black pro cyclists, so enthusiastic young black British people probably don’t gravitate to cycling but rather to other sports where there are plenty of more obvious role models*. If there were half a dozen black pro stars that would probably be somewhat different. If those stars come from Kenya, so be it.

*that’s not to say that a black kid can’t be inspired to be a bike racer by watching Mark Cavendish.

Lets face it cycling is basically the new golf so its not surprising that the racial profile of the two sports are very similar!

I think cycling as a middle class sport is a relatively new phenomenon but the marketing people need to chase the money so it will become increasingly “aspirational”

As for more black and asian people riding bikes generally rather than professionally, well I can only comment on my local area which therefore involves a large degree of bias as 97% of people in Glasgow are white so obviously the cyclists tend to be white too.

What’s it like in London, surely given that its a lot more ethnically diverse and a lot more people ride bikes there must be plenty of non-whites commuting?

An acquaintance of mine has been quite heavily involved with Kenyan Riders.

It isn’t obvious from the website whether you can support them financially, but this is clearly a brilliant project.

well if i could find the time and resources i could probably build them some bad ass racing bikes

As an aside, I remember watching UK pro Dave Clarke riding in a crit in Preston City Centre a few years ago. A guy standing next to me said “There’s something you don’t see every day…”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“A black man riding a bike whilst the Police just stand and watch!”

Mildly amusing if slightly close to the bone, but probably quite a telling indictment of the number of black riders…

Pretty impressive that he managed a cycling career and a music career. What were the other four guys doing while he raced?

Yup, look at London as the biggest city in the UK.

This is off topic but I grew up in London and the countryside seemed incomprehensibly, incalculably far away. I was speaking to a youth worker in Portsmouth (or Exeter or somewhere) and she said that there are kids there that have never seen the sea because they never leave their estates.

Excellent interview with Dave Clark in Rouleur a few issues back, really interesting read. I overtook him once going up the hill into Crich. I was in the car, and he still took some catching.

I was in the car, and he still took some catching.

I watched him riding my local Oakenclough race where they climb a nasty little hill called Delph Lane 5 times. He still has the KOM up that hill and he did it in his big ring every time!!!

I read he’s a fan of 200 mile training rides… Wonder what his background is and how he came to try cycling over other sports…

This is off topic but I grew up in London and the countryside seemed incomprehensibly, incalculably far away. I was speaking to a youth worker in Portsmouth (or Exeter or somewhere) and she said that there are kids there that have never seen the sea because they never leave their estates.

I agree, but that’s not because the sea (or countryside) aren’t there, more a lack of related ambition, why would a kid want to ride out of Portsmouth/London?

It’s the same in any sport though, they all follow the same process:
1) Mass try-out session, like sending cubs/youth-clubs to a BMX or velodrome track
2) Of those 50 kids, 2 might then get a relavent bike and/or take it up as a hobby
3) Of those kids 1 in 10 might keep it up long enough to get really good at it and stick with it.
4) Of those kids one in 100 might turn pro.

The difference to football is pretty much every kid in the country is at stage 3 before they even finish primary school.

It’s the same with sailing, there’s probably hundreds of kids passing through our club each week with a fairly reprisentative mix of backgrounds, yet the membership is still (AFAIK) 100% white british. I guess sailing probably has it even harder as it’s a sport that requires a time comitemnt from the parents, so unless your parent’s sail or are prepared to put in the hours to enable the kids regardles then it’s unlikley the kids will stick with it.