The statistic in the last sentence helps develop the idea that bicycle racing was a popular sport in the 1880s and 1890s by showing that the success of the first cycling periodical in 1877 quickly led to the publication of many more cycling magazines. the rapid increase in publications about cycling was directly responsible for Americans’ growing interest in bicycles. Americans became interested in cycling around the same time that the publication industry began to flourish. Americans’ fascination with the bicycle influenced the rapid growth that occurred in the publication industry.