I think cycling is a sport where you cannot be discouraged easily you have to keep going back at it. The first few times you race or try to get into the sport there is a good chance you might find yourself off the back.
In the West or anywhere else, the treatment of people in an undignified way (structural and institutionalized racism against Latinos or African American citizens) as well as a dangerous dehumanization of some people (in Palestine, Iraq, Africa or Asia) are simply unacceptable.