I agree. I live in a city and cycling for sport in the city sucks, regardless of whether there are bike lanes or not. There are too many traffic lights and traffic gets in the way. The good cycling spots are outside the city like you said and bike lanes are great to get out of the city and to those spots. Plus, I’d wager most people who cycle for sport also do a lot of other trips by bike too.

I also just want my loved ones to be able to get from point A to point B safely. That’s way more important than my sport.