Cyclist
Bikes are taking over the world (sort of)
Strava has released its annual Year In Sport report, which showcases the trends of the past year across generations and offers key insights into the trends of different cycling disciplines.
I can hear the groan already ‘ergh, you mean gravel’. Yes I do. Embracing dirt is on the rise, with 55% more gravel rides recorded than in 2022. Trail running is also exploding (but we are all about cycling so ignore that).
While running was the most popular sport to upload, cycling – including e-biking – was firmly in second place. What’s more, the number of users who recorded an e-bike ride rose 23%. I’m looking at you Cycling Electric.
Turns out us cyclists are also pushing our limits too, as the share of cyclists on Strava who rode a metric century (100km) rose 5% in 2023.
But where’s all this data really from? The report analyses activity uploads on Strava between 1st October 2022 and 30th September 2023, and excludes activities set to ‘Only Me’. It also includes survey data from 6,990 respondents and a random sampling of active people both on and off the Strava platform.
Generational divide
Before we dive in, a quick explanation on the jargon: Boomers are people born 1946–1964, Gen X are 1965–1980, Millennials are 1981–1996 and Gen Z are 1997–2010.
Boomers uploaded the greatest number of rides followed by Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z, while the running trend was in reverse. Perhaps it is something to do with cycling being a lower impact sport and getting older? Or is Lycra simply more enticing when you’re trying to grow old gracefully?
While Gen Z aren’t the top cyclists according to Strava, the TikTok-loving generation is embracing the bike for commuting and accounted for 17% of bike commuters worldwide. The largest share was millennials at 47%.
Elsewhere, if you are a KOM or QOM chaser, watch out for Gen X as this sneaky generation won the most crowns in 2023.
Other little nuggets of information shared are the top ride segments recorded by travelling athletes. The Team Ineos test came in first place, it’s 1.62km at an average 6.6% gradient. The current men’s course record is held by Jesús Herrada of Cofidis (with Filippo Ganna of Ineos technically joint). A blow to the team I’m sure.
The Strava report reveals that the top bike brand in the UK was Giant, followed by Trek and Specialized, while the Garmin Edge 530 was the most popular bike computer. It also looked at motivations and barriers to doing sport. It found that climate change is impacting our exercise habits as 75% of athletes on Strava said extreme heat affected their exercise plans in 2023 and poor air quality affected 27%.
But I have saved the best till last. It turns out I need to change my name in order to be a faster rider as, according to the report, women named Femke and men named Robbe uploaded the fastest median rides.
No doubt we will see an increase in ‘how to change my name’ searches on Google. If only it were that simple.
Want to actually ride faster? Check out our tutorials on how to increase your speed and how to make your bike faster.
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