No cycling boom around here

[zizou]

If you got back into cycling 4 years ago then you may not have noticed it so much, after some years of growth that was probably the peak of the boom with Wiggins winning the Tour and London 2012. Go back 10 years though and it is a massive change.

Mountain biking has declined a fair bit over that time

 

[DCLane]

I can only rely on my local evidence:

My club (Ravensthorpe CC) has gone from 40 members to over 150, almost all riding. That includes both men and women. Also there's a 'sideline' club that has 50 beginner riders.

The LBS I use (Sowerby Cycles, Mirfield) appears busier.

There's a lot more bikes on my commute than 5 years ago and my work's bike cage is so full they're going to be building another. 5 years ago finding a space was easy.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Yeah, sorry.

Oh, you're local. Is the bun throwing on today? My friend thought she saw a sign.

Don't know about the buns!
We're walking to the Flowing Well at Sunningwell for lunchtime beer :-)

 

[HarryTheDog]

I live in a village in Essex and the increase in cycling is very noticable, I see hundreds of cyclists going past my door every weekend from families to massive club peletons, 4-5 years ago the only club you would have seen where a couple of local ones. My own road club regularly has 40 riders. The side effect of this is the anti-cyclist feeling around here is bigger. I used to go to family get togethers and no one mentioned cyclists now I quite often hear complaints of too many cyclists clogging the lanes and villages.

Also the race scene is now more competitive, I have recently got back into xc racing. 4-7 years ago you could turn up as a bit of a "fit tubby" and be in company with several others and get a decent result. Now I only see one or two "tubby" guys lined up at the start, I am sure the more casual racer is now getting put off. On talking to people who used to race some say they wouldn't now as the standard is so much higher and they would just look silly.
Its turning into the situation the LVRC has with road racing, they have such a fearsome reputation as uber fast the normal weekend cyclist won't have a go which is a shame, instead of becoming more inclusive the race scene seems to be coming more excusive around here.

 

[Dave 123]

Cambridge is unbelievable!

In more was than we can appreciate....

 

[Jimidh]

I cycle mostly in Midlothian, East Lothian and Scottish Borders - there has been a huge growth in all types of cycling over the past few years.

On my morning commute I see many more cyclists than previously and on both road and mountain bike rides there is always plenty of other cyclists about.

 

[Julia9054]

Went for a 35 mile ride on a nice day at the start of April this year. There seemed to be so many cyclists, I decided to keep count. So, excluding the first mile or so, I got to 97!
The numbers on my commute seem to have stayed fairly steady over the last 5 years.

 

[GuyBoden]

It's great to see a lot more cyclists on the road, the more cyclists on the road the better IMO.........

 

[Tim Hall]

It's great to see a lot more cyclists on the road, the more cyclists on the road the better IMO.........

Exactly. And it means the white van man/estate agent in a hurry/photo copier sales exec in her Mondeo has a better chance of knowing what it's like to be on a bike and will hopefully be more careful around me.

 

[jonny jeez]

Reading this thread, I am no longer sure if I am a cyclist, a mamil, a strava nut,a commuter, a peloton rider or as one person put it...an ordinary rider (whatever the he'll that is).

I guess I shall just keep riding whilst we all work out the tribal references.

 

[RedRider]

One thing I've noticed more of in London these last couple of years is more of those Danish-style bikes with kids in the box out front, and kids on bikes in family mini pelotons. On the road and everything. It makes my heart skip.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Reading this thread, I am no longer sure if I am a cyclist, a mamil, a strava nut,a commuter, a peloton rider as one person put it...an ordinary rider (whatever the he'll that is).

I guess I shall just keep riding whilst we all work out the tribal references.

I consider myself a cycling peasant.....

 

[Gravity Aided]

We have a great number of cyclists in our area, but the number of commuters and transport cyclists stays about the same. The same old characters, at least on my commute. And I know by my average speed where I'll meet each on on my part of the trail. Just a cross section, not truly a scientific sample. But all my local cycling shops are staying open and doing well.

 

[dodgy]

Can you expand on that dodgy.

Hard to articulate it, really. I sometimes hear people in the pub, bought a bike 2 years ago and now they're THE authority on cycling. They've read up on all the last 30 years of grand tours and know the winners off by heart, just so they can impress. Basically conjuring up their own little fake cycling CV. They wished they'd been riding in 70s/80s/90s like the rest of us, so they pretend they were

More practically, it felt special being part of a club that nobody understood apart from the odd rider you'd encounter now and again, that knowing look, the grin as you both acknowledge we'd be a lot more comfortable at home in the dry rather than labouring up Wrynose in the rain.

Lots of this and other stuff. I'm sure you know I don't need to justify how I feel any more, but I do still prefer it how it used to be. There are some advantages to the upsurge, I think the roads are generally safer.

 

[growingvegetables]

Round the east side of Leeds, "boom" might be an exaggeration.

But unrecognisable compared with, dunno - ten years ago. Many more people on bikes - years of steady growth since the TdF. Two new bike shops in the last ten years, in addition to a fine long-established LBS and Halfords; all busy enough.

I live near the Roundhay Park-Temple Newsam "Core Route" (Leeds Council speak for a tortuously-winding-route-from-nowhere-to-nowhere-zealously-guarded-by A-frames) - well used by riders out for a pootle, and by Sky-riding groups.

Ten years ago, I would VERY rarely see another commuter - now, it's unusual not to see 3 or 4, even on my current short 2 mile commute.