I notice there is very little interest in competition cycling in North America these days. Is this because of the 'Lance Armstrong' problem?

I'll forgive Lance.  But only if he gives me a few dozen of those "Live Strong" bracelets. 🤣  He's history.  Nobody gives a cr*p 💩 about him.  I bet if you looked hard enough, you could find some races within your region of the country on USA Cycling. https://usacycling.org/events

It was NOT a "Lance Armstrong problem" it was a CYCLING problem in general.  International cycling has been arguably the dirtiest sport in the history of sports with respect to doping, years before Armstrong, and even up until now.  To put this into perspective, if you finished in the top 30 in the Tour De France in any year that Armstrong won, you were cheating.  If you weren't, you simply weren't going to perform well enough to compete.  This isn't a defense of Armstrong by any means, his behavior was disgusting, and went beyond the cheating itself, but to act as though it was in effect something only he was involved in, is preposterous.  They were ALL doing it.  Many of them STILL do.

Americans just aren't very interested in bike racing. If another American came along who was good enough to win the Tour de France, Americans would be interested again. Until then, not so much.

1) Lance Armstrong has been forgotten.  Ancient history.  2) What part of the world do you live in?  Surely it can't be anywhere close to the Midwest.  If it is...you must be hiding under a rock.  Over the weekend of March 20th & 21st, Big Shark (bicycle shops) hosted the 2021 Tour of St. Louis.  Despite the cool temps, the turnout (both racers & spectators) was HUGE!  

Saturday morning - The Wildwood Centaur Time Trial.  Saturday afternoon - The Carondelicious Criterium  and Sunday The Mike Murray Classic Forest Park Criterium.   https://www.bigshark.com/articles/2021-tour-of-st....

Lance who?      

There's been a pandemic, all sports attendance is down right now. Before the pandemic cycling events in North America was getting a lot of coverage and spectators. The lance Armstrong issue is ancient history as far as media coverage and spectator viewing goes.