No cycling boom around here

[SpokeyDokey]

I don't see that many here in the SE Lakes - over 20-25 miles I'd maybe see a handful in the milder months and maybe 1 or 2 in the winter months.

I occasionally see the odd club ride in progress.

I do see more on the Windermere to Ambleside road in summer but they are usually tourists who have hired a MTB whilst on holiday - they are usually casually dressed and struggling with the inclines.

 

[mjr]

Quite an increase. It's now very unusual to ride far here without seeing someone cycling, except maybe in bad conditions on a few of the nasty-but-necessary A-roadside routes that feed into the nicer routes.

Cambridge is unbelievable!

You'd best head for Reality Checkpoint and make sure you're not imagining it, then!

 

[Venod]

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

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

I find wherever you go in Yorkshire numbers have increased, York (always a cycling hub) have all types of cyclist and several new cycle cafes combined with bike shops/workshops, Ilkley has probably the biggest club in the country, you can't go round Dalby without seeing another cyclist, but we have always had a good core of people riding its just increased more in the past 5 year..

 

[oldwheels]

This weekend great weather in Argyll and was out Saturday and Sunday north of Oban. Lots of cyclists of all types from Strava geeks to family groups with kids on the cycle paths. Thera are quite a few who commute in this area as well. Myself fit somewhere in the middle with no plastic hat or mamil gear on a Bromptom.Can still do the distance tho' and average speed is surprising.

 

[stephec]

@Pale Rider Where's the bike shop in Leyburn?

I go there a few times a year and don't remember ever seeing one.

 

[Smokin Joe]

When I moved down here 15 years ago the sight of another roadie was so rare that you'd both pull up to have a chat, and a couple of times I had drivers stop to tell me they were cyclists too and have a good chinwag with another geek. Now there are so many road bikes about it's boring.

It won't last, the whole boom is just a fad and most of the newcomers will pack it in once they find they have peaked and their Strava times are not showing any improvements. I've spouted this before but the whole thing echoes the motorcycle boom that began two decades ago, comfortably off middle aged males with high disposable incomes able to afford the best bikes and kit, then all of a sudden the whole scene died on it's arse and motorcycle dealers were going bust right, left and centre. To sustain a boom into something permanent you need youngsters getting into the sport, and that is just not happening.

 

[gazza_d]

Is the so-called boom in cycling largely illusory?

I reckon it is in my patch of the north east - Tyne and Wear and County Durham.

There are no more cyclists now than when I returned to cycling about four years ago.

I use the C2C path a lot, which as a key national challenge route, one might expect to be busy both with locals and those doing the full ride.

Routinely, I can trundle up it for eight or 10 miles and only meet a handful of cyclists - and sometimes none - coming the other way.

My mate Chris has a good handle on this, he rides most days and manages my local bike shop.

He told me he sees fewer cyclists on his travels, and most of the shop's customers are regulars who have been using the place on and off for years.

I've less of a handle on roadie numbers, the handful of local clubs seem to survive OK, and there has been a couple of new ones open in the last few years, so that might indicate a small increase.

The guy who runs the bike shop in Leyburn, north Yorkshire, told me he saw a blip just after Le Tour, but most of those new roadies no longer ride, so he's back to his core of mountain bikers.

That there London is an exception, @ianrauk posted a report saying there are now more cyclists on Blackfriars Bridge than car drivers.

When I cycled a bit in the West End in the 1980s, it was me - on my Raleigh Marauder - a few couriers, but not many others.

Sales figures from Halfords - down - give a good indication of the national picture.

So apart from London, I reckon there are fewer cyclists compared to four or five years ago.

What are numbers like in your area?

I use the C2C daily commuting from Tyneside to Durham. Whilst not on the scale of London, I have seen more people cycling along that route year on year over the last 3 years or so. In particular the section through Washington where the C2C has been linked past up past Nissan via what is now good wide traffic free paths has seen an increase.most mornings now, I pass around 10 each morning where a year or two ago I'd be lucky to see anyone else at all.

It is patchy though and seems very dependent on infra, which NE councils are reluctant or unable to invest in.

 

[Dirk]

....... To sustain a boom into something permanent you need youngsters getting into the sport, and that is just not happening.

It is around here. There is a thriving youth scene supported by the local bike clubs and shops.

 

[Smokin Joe]

It is around here. There is a thriving youth scene supported by the local bike clubs and shops.

Maybe.

Nearly all the riders I see here are thirty somethings and upwards.

 

[Julia9054]

It is around here. There is a thriving youth scene supported by the local bike clubs and shops.

Same round here. I teach several young lads 15 - 18 who ride and who race. Also half the staff of Specialized Harrogate are ex pupils!

 

[Dirk]

Maybe.....

Definitely.

 

[Pale Rider]

@Pale Rider Where's the bike shop in Leyburn?

I go there a few times a year and don't remember ever seeing one.

Converted farm building up a lane just outside the town.

http://www.leyburnbikes.com/contact-us/

 

[screenman]

Maybe.

Nearly all the riders I see here are thirty somethings and upwards.

Better eyesight than mine, I can seldom judge the age of a cyclist whilst riding. The youth scene in the clubs around these parts is growing quite well.

 

[screenman]

I think some people may be put off cycling once they meet up with some of the grumpy old folk that think they own it.

 

[Glow worm]

I live only 10 miles from Cambridge so yes, cycling is of course booming in the area. On my doorstep, I'm lucky to have the Lodes Way, a mixed network of quiet lanes and cycle paths pretty much linking Ely and Cambridge. I rode along it earliyish this morning on my way up to North Norfolk, and it was already buzzing with a nice mix of roadies, family groups and miserable old solitary buggers like me!

Later, heading up from Kings Lynn to Sandringham, again large numbers of cyclists and a lot of cars around Sandringham had bikes on board. I don't recall seeing so many bikes 10 or 15 years ago.