In article , David Ferguson
wrote:

People who cycle now don't decide whether or not go out because Lance
is cycling.

I do imagine that the number of people who enter the sport/recreation
each year because of their exposure to Lance will decrease, but he was
going to retire someday anyway.

Cycling isn't popular enough to notice the decline in participants.
What we'll notice is the severe decrease in coverage by magazines and
television.

The popularity of bicycle racing ( in terms of the number of people
actually racing) isn't really affected by Lance or any other popular
Pro racer. The bigger factor is having good grass roots programs that
make it easier for people interested in racing to give the sport a try.
We could probably easily double the number of USCF licensed riders if
each racing region had monthly training clinics for new racers, more
separate races for Cat 5 men and Cat 4 women ( at both the elite and
master levels) and other programs to make life easier for entry level
riders.