Is cycle sport encouraging uptake of cycling?

Cycling is just a nice thing to do, whether you're pootling to work or hurtling down a mountain. It's all good.

A nice whole-school approach Mike.

The promotion of cycling as a sport, requiring special bikes, shoes, freakishly ugly clothes and foam hats, and a high level of fitness must surely put people right off. In countries such as Holland and Denmark, where cycling is just practical transport, riding a bike is an almost universal way of life. In countries such as Britain, USA, where it is primarily a sport, we cyclists are a freakish minority, regarded as lower forms of life by some sectors of society.

You get the 'against' point well.

Right now we have our own 'weirdo' kind of cycling and that's not roadie in full Cervelo lycra speeding on their £1000+ road bike, but the commuter who think they need helmet, glove, day-glo vest, windstopper, pannier, maybe clipless shoes etc.

Those 'weirdo' cyclists are more likely to put people off cycling than the roadie weirdo.

Interesting observation ... though you've muddled what I was saying a bit, I was using 'cycle weirdo' to mean what the general public might perceive people travelling without a car or motorcycle, not the roadie brigade. I was saying that sporty cycling makes it seem 'proper' and other kinds aren't. Apparently there was an inquest recently into the death of a cyclist where the driver had asserted that because the woman cyclist wasn't wearing a helmet, lycra, whatever, cycling fast and asssertively, that she was in some way not a 'proper' cyclist, which somehow absolved some of his reponsibilty for her death.