It’s my experience that bikes are nowhere near as popular with the 10-16 year olds as they were, say, 10 years ago. There seem to be fewer kids on bikes and certainly less images of children and adults on bikes than there were only a few years ago. I’ve been polling my friends and colleagues about some reasons why this is so. Perhaps it is down to Lance Armstrong never being able to shake off the rumours of substance abuse, despite his legacy and hero status in America. Could David Cameron have made mountain biking the epitome of uncool, in one quick and easy PR step?

Has pop culture and the proliferation of z-list celebrities (people who have become famous for simply appearing on Big Brother or the internet without any obvious skill or talent) become the modern aspiration of children, so that they no longer look up to those who are successful by dint of effort and commitment, but simply look up to those who can achieve press coverage?

I have to admit that I do struggle to find examples of modern heroes who are admired for their effort and strength — perhaps Andy Murray, who made it far enough and with enough panache to be inspiring!? But I then start to draw a blank. Perhaps you can let me know what you and your class think?…

This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 9:47 pm and is filed under Fun, Summer of Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.