Is recreational cycling becoming less popular (excluding London commuting)

[Moon bunny]

In Lancashire, and my own club, there has been a definite drop in winter riders. I think it's the advent of the man cave, Zwift and smart trainers. I know plenty of people who look out the window and a hint of poor weather sends them to the garage..............for the winter.

Personally, I couldn't do it. The thought of two hours in the garage would drive me insane. We ride 12 months of the year, the only conditions which put me off are if it's raining when I'm due to leave, risk of ice, high winds of 20+ I feel winter riding is more beneficial to me than hours on a trainer.

@123456789 I don't see why you exclude London commuting? You could hardly call that recreational!!!!!

If I was going to sit indoors, pedalling away and going nowhere, I would do something useful with the effort, get an old treadle sewing machine, and run up a dress while I was at it.

 

[Paulus]

There were lots of club rides, groups and solo riders heading out through Barnet towards Hertfordshire yesterday.
Doesn't seem to be a drop in numbers around here.

 

[Oldhippy]

I haven't noticed a drop in Kent but have noticed many more e bikes.

 

[Drago]

Not much different here in Poshshire. That is to say there is still very little leisure cycling.

 

[lazybloke]

The strava feeds have been filling up with pretend rides for weeks now, which might explain lower numbers of riders, although i was surprised at just how few I saw in Bedfordshire this last weekend.

The indoor trainers might be good physical exercise, but it sure aint cycling and it doesn't give me the same mental 'lift' as a real bike ride out in mother nature with views, trees and fresh air.

 

[Jameshow]

Different areas definitely have different volumes if cyclists, Yorkshire has many more cyclists than Devon but that might be population density!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

About 80 riders out on the Essex 3Rs 100:audax last Sat

 

[Dogtrousers]

About 80 riders out on the Essex 3Rs 100:audax last Sat

Is that a lot for an Audax in Nov? It sounds like a lot to me. But I'm only a dabbler in Audax and haven't actually done one for a couple of years now.

 

[HLaB]

Cr@p dreich weather on Saturday saw the numbers down in my group and it seemed the same in general but on Sunday it was dry and it was probably the most riders I've seen for a bit.

 

[sevenfourate]

Not convinced one ride is a good sample size to base a hypothesis on……

 

[lazybloke]

Is that a lot for an Audax in Nov? It sounds like a lot to me. But I'm only a dabbler in Audax and haven't actually done one for a couple of years now.

Not a question I can answer authoritatively, as 2024 was my first year of Audax and I only did two events, both 100km.

The Audax results page doesn't seem to breakdown riders by finished/DNF/etc, it just lists "records" which I think means finished within the time limit.
I can see 117 records for my "Winter Warmer" in Sussex, back in Feb, and only 73 for my "Tour of the [Surrey] Hills" in August.

The winter warmer was firstly wet, and then bitingly cold. HAts off to anyone who struggled to the end; I eventually got back there about 2 hours out of time.
The TOTH was the other way - I did finish it, but the blazing sunshine and temps into the 30s made it really hard work. Quite a few people dropping out of that one.

 

[ColinJ]

@123456789 I don't see why you exclude London commuting? You could hardly call that recreational!!!!!

I think that was the point... to NOT consider the large numbers of London cycle commuters in the recreational category! (In case anybody thought about posting that they see thousands of cyclists every day in London.)

 

[grldtnr]

I'm in Essex, it's not really a county I associate with leisure cycling.

I might be in that same corner of the world , domiciled in the South East , but get away from our very busy conurbation into the deep belly of Essex, and it is a very leisurely Cyclist County, go West from Chelmsford,North or East, and it's relatively quiet, and good cycling, used to be out there most weekends on my bike.
But In the South East, it has become a motor jungle.
Most in my patch will be out beside the Thames , across the marsh,towards Hadleigh Country park and the Olympic park MTB course, but they are off roaders mostly, not suitable for me with the recumbent trike, as it has a restrictive gate at the Benfleet end, .
I 'm not bonkers enough to take my trike onto the Olympic course

 

[Alex321]

Haven't noticed any drop off in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Still saw dozens of riders during my morning drive to Bridgend and back. Fewer when I managed to get out on the bike in the afternoon, but that is normal, there always seem to be more out in the morning than in the afternoon.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I might be in that same corner of the world , domiciled in the South East , but get away from our very busy conurbation into the deep belly of Essex, and it is a very leisurely Cyclist County, go West from Chelmsford,North or East, and it's relatively quiet, and good cycling, used to be out there most weekends on my bike.
But In the South East, it has become a motor jungle.
Most in my patch will be out beside the Thames , across the marsh,towards Hadleigh Country park and the Olympic park MTB course, but they are off roaders mostly, not suitable for me with the recumbent trike, as it has a restrictive gate at the Benfleet end, .
I 'm not bonkers enough to take my trike onto the Olympic course

I agree about Essex.Even though i live in South Essex which is quite urban i have only got to go 10-15 minutes and i'm cycling down quiet leafy lanes.