Where are they all?

According to a survey on exercise, there are 3.2 million "recreational"
cyclists in the UK.
(4th most popular form of exercise, ahead of football but behind walking,
swimming and the gym)
That's about 5% of the population.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6220358.stm

Where are all these cyclists? I see the same few dozen every week.

Tom

--
Return address is dead. Real address is at
http://www.happy-penguin.info/address.jpg

Tom wrote:
According to a survey on exercise, there are 3.2 million "recreational"
cyclists in the UK.
(4th most popular form of exercise, ahead of football but behind walking,
swimming and the gym)
That's about 5% of the population.

Where are all these cyclists? I see the same few dozen every week.

On easy lanes half a dozen times a year on their summer holidays. I
suspect quite a lot of the 3.2 million gym "users" go for a couple of
times in January and then... don't go much more.

My hobbies list has me as a climber. Got out once this year, not at all
the year before, so I'm just as bad!

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Tom wrote:

Where are all these cyclists? I see the same few dozen every week.


My guess would be that the figure quoted is derived from surveys asking
the wrong questions.

"Do you own a cycle?" or "Are you a regular cyclist?" would get
different answers from for example "Do you cycle on average more than
once a week?"

Then again when answering surveys people lie. Alcohol consumption,
cigarette consumption, and tory voting are all usually underestimated
by surveys as they are perceived by some to be unpopular unhealthy
vices Well two out of three anyway (your choice).
Iain

wrote:

"Do you own a cycle?" or "Are you a regular cyclist?" would get
different answers from for example "Do you cycle on average more than
once a week?"

From reading the article, I get the impresion that people were asked to
list activities that they have done for at least 30 minutes in the last
month. The survey didn't state which month they were asked though :-)

I would imagine that it was during the summer, which might also explain why
we beat football (out of season) but then maybe football included a half an
hour kick-about with the kids

Then again when answering surveys people lie.

True, I often lie on surveys, usually on the "do you have double glazing"
and the "would you like to save money on your house insurance" questions.

Iain

Tom
--
Return address is dead. Real address is at
http://www.happy-penguin.info/address.jpg

On 8 Dec 2006 02:28:56 -0800, wrote:

Tom wrote:

Where are all these cyclists? I see the same few dozen every week.


My guess would be that the figure quoted is derived from surveys asking
the wrong questions.

"Do you own a cycle?" or "Are you a regular cyclist?" would get
different answers from for example "Do you cycle on average more than
once a week?"

Also the word recreational muddies the water as well. If someone uses
their bike to get to and from work and the shops are they a "recreational
user"? In the strict sense of the word no, but they probably cycle a
lot more than a lot of the people that are so classed. You then get on
to perceptions - someone who only cycles a couple of times a year to go
on a family picnic might see that as recreational use. Someone who is
a utility cyclist who cycles to the same picnics would see it as just
their normal means of transport.

--
Andy Leighton =
"The Lord is my shepherd, but we still lost the sheep dog trials"
- Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us_

In article ,
Tom wrote:
Where are all these cyclists? I see the same few dozen every week.

Try Millport in the summer - about 1,000 a day if the weather is good.

But they are on their annual cycle run :-)

Sandy Morton wrote on 08/12/2006 13:00 +0100:
In article ,
Tom wrote:
Where are all these cyclists? I see the same few dozen every week.

Try Millport in the summer - about 1,000 a day if the weather is good.

But they are on their annual cycle run :-)


Perhaps if you told them they are supposed to ride the cycles, not run
with them ;-)

--
Tony

"...has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least
wildly inaccurate..."
Douglas Adams; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6220358.stm

Where are all these cyclists? I see the same few dozen every week.

They never existed?:

http://www.citycycling.co.uk/issue18/issue18page22.html

Tom wrote:

Where are all these cyclists? I see the same few dozen every week.


That'll be partly my fault. A few days after getting back from my LEJOG
effort I took a phone call from someone doing a survey. They asked me
how much exercise I'd undertaken in the past month. I gave an honest,
if unrepresentative, answer. :-)

That'll be partly my fault. A few days after getting back from my LEJOG
effort I took a phone call from someone doing a survey. They asked me
how much exercise I'd undertaken in the past month. I gave an honest,
if unrepresentative, answer. :-)

Heh, I got a similar (possibly the same) survey, and rattled of a list of
activities that ran to nine items: cycling, running, walking, fencing,
badminton, ultimate, football, swimming and circuit training.

The secret of surviving that lot is to replace lost calories as quickly as
possible; we need 2500 a day so they must be important! Proper cyclists
know that consuming calories in a liquid form gives a faster rate of
absorption.