WE REVEAL THE DEFINING TRAITS OF THE MODERN AMATEUR CYCLIST

RIDES FIVE TIMES A WEEK; OWNS FOUR BIKES; RACED BACK IN THE DAY; NOW PREFERS TTS AND ULTRAS; SUBSCRIBES TO THREE TRAINING APPS; RACKS UP OVER 5,000 MILES A YEAR; IS FITTER THAN MANY HALF THEIR AGE...

- David Bradford

Cycling Weekly recently ran an online survey asking readers about their riding habits and training methods. Join us as we examine the preferences, practices and aspirations of the contemporary amateur rider.

WHO TOOK PART

Nearly 600 cyclists completed the survey, and the biggest chunk of them – nearly 40% – were from the UK and Ireland. The next biggest region was North America (35%), followed by the rest of Europe (16%). There’s no hiding from the fact that cycling still has a stark gender imbalance: 96% of survey respondents were male. Nor is there any escaping the ageing demographics of populations in general (among high-income countries) and magazine readers in particular: the biggest age cohort was 55-64 (31%), followed by 45-54 (28%) and 65-74 (19%).

THEIR BIKES 

We asked survey respondents to tell us how many bikes they owned, and it’s very clear that the days of cyclists having just one do-everything ‘workhorse’ are well and truly over. Nearly half (43%) told us they owned three to four bikes, and a quarter said they owned more than five. Only 8% of respondents owned just the one bike. The n+1 rule is clearly alive and well.WHY THE YRIDE

We wanted to know our audience’s motivations for riding their bikes, and first asked whether cycling was respondents’ main sporting interest. Thankfully 90% said yes it was. Next we enquired about their main reason for riding. The biggest motivation by far was general fitness/health (61%), followed by competitive fitness (32%).