The Average Cyclist - 2014

I came across a Cycling Weekly article discussing the results of an on-line survey they have carried out in 2014 - the full survey is here: Link

I thought it was interesting to see where I came in these results, so I have been through some of the answers and compared myself. Here we go

Q1 Male or Female

Male 90% Female 10 %

I am a male and given that its unusual that I see many women when out and about the result isn't really a surprise

Q2 How old are you?

Average age: 43 years and one month
10-15 years 0.6% 16-20 years 2.7% 21-25 years 4.6% 26-30 years 7.2% 31-35 years 8.0% 36-40 years 14.4% 41-45 years 18.5% 46-50 years 19.0% 51-55 years 13.0% 56-60 years 6.8% 61-65 years 2.7% 66-70 years 1.5% Over 70 years 1.0%

I am 49 so fall in right in the biggest group

Q3 How long have you been cycling?

Average length: 12 years and 9 months
0-1 years 10.3% 2-3 18.9% 3-4 10.3% 4-5 7.2% 5-6 5.4% 6-7 4.0% 8-9 4.2% 10-15 7.3% 16-20 4.6% 20-30 8.5% Over 30 years 19.1%

I was not quite sure what they meant here. I have "cycled" for over 40 years as a means of transport but I think they really mean "how long have you been cycling for pleasure, doing sportives etc etc) and in this case its just about 5 years. Though looking at the data I can't quite see how they get an average of 12 years.

Q4 How tall are you?

Average height: 5’10”
Over 6’8” 0.1% 6’8” 0.1% 6’7” 0.1% 6’6” 0.2% 6’5” 0.6% 6’4” 1.8% 6’3” 3.2% 6’2” 7% 6’1” 7.9% 6’0” 13.1% 5’11” 13.4% 5’10” 15% 5’9” 10.6% 5’8” 9.4% 5’7” 7.5% 5’6” 4.4% 5’5” 1.5% 5’4” 1.8% Under 5’4” 2.6%

I am 5'11" so just slightly over the average height

Q5 Do you hold a British Cycling racing licence?

No 84% Yes 16%

A strong no from me - not interested in racing - although I am am member of British Cycling (Ride Member) for the legal insurance

Q6 Do you own a power meter?

Yes 9% No 91%

Another strong no from me again - too expensive and not training for anything other than miles

Q7 How much do you weigh?

Average weight: 12st 3lb
Under 10 stone 8.7% 10-11 29.9% 12-13 39.3% 14-15 14.8% 16-17 4.4% 18-19 1.1% Over 19 stone 1.2%

I am just 11 stone so on the lighter side of he survey respondents - a good place to be I reckon

There were a lot more questions but I lost a bit of interest with some of them so here are a few of the more interesting ones

Q20 Who do you ride with?

A club 34.1% My friends 54.2% On my own 72.6%

I ride alone (and I count commuting in this) or with a friend

Q24 How many hours a week do you ride outdoors?

0 0.6% 1-2 4.8% 2-3 8.7% 3-4 12.3% 4-5 11.9% 5-6 16.0% 6-7 14.6% 8-9 11.8% 10-11 12.4% 12-13 3.7% 14-15 1.6% 15-20 1.8%

A pretty stupid question as for many people the real answer is "it depends".

Q26 Which cycling or fitness apps do you use?

None 15.5% Strava 68.1% Map my Ride 12.2% Edomondo 3.9% Training Peaks 5.0% MyFitnessPal 6.8% Garmin.Connect 41.1% Wahoo Fitness 1.6%

Not really a surprise - all the people I know who cycle and use a fitness app use Strava. Although I would strongly recommend using Veloviewer it uses your Strava data but does a lot more with it - its so good I even paid for the "PRO" version - it was only £9 or so so much better value than Strava Pro - I'm not that bothered with setting targets and more interested in the data analysis