Answer:
The statement most develops the central idea that:
D. bicycle racing was a popular sport in the 1880s and 1890s.
Step-by-step explanation:
American author Sue Macy (born 1954) published "Wheels of Change" in 2011. The book focuses on how bicycles served as an instrument for women to break rules and challenge societal standards and expectations in the past.
The quote we are analyzing here was taken from Chapter 4 of the book. The paragraph as a whole states that indoor racing was popular and that women were very interest in seeing other women race. However, our focus in on this particular sentence:
"7,000 people watched the night Frankie Nelson set her 18-hour record."
The sentence above develops the idea that bicycle racing was a popular sport in the 1880s and 1890s. Seven thousand people is a lot, even for today's standards. That number shows the popularity of the sport. Since the sentence does not include information concerning who was racing or watching the race, nor where the race was taking place, we can safely choose letter D as the best option.