What's one activity that is growing among Americans 45 years and older, while it declines among the population as a whole? Bicycle riding.

The finding is in a report entitled "Global Aging and Sports: The Impact of Aging of the World's Population on the World of Sports." It was prepared by The Consilience Group, LLC, for SBRnet, a Princeton, New Jersey-based sports marketing research firm.

I'm a little surprised in the findings that bicycling has declined among the population as a whole since the early 1990s. However, the National Bicycle Dealers Association reports that the peak participation year for cycling was 1992 with 54.6 million participants. The most recent estimates available are for 2002, when 41.4 million Americans took to their bicycles. Sales figures, however, show steady growth. ...   more »

The results are in for the 2006 bike mileage survey, and I see there are quite a few long-distance cyclists who voted. Nearly one in five responded that they had bicycled 8,000 or more miles this year.

I'll do the calculations for you: 8,000 miles is an average 154 miles per week. Wow. Even if the bulk of the miles were tallied on long summer rides, you'd still have to put in a good weekly average to get your miles up there.

I'm also impressed that more than half of you -- 57% -- bicycled more than 3,000 miles last year ...   more »

How many miles did you ride your bicycle in 2006?

Vote in the poll in the right column and see where you stack up against other Biking Bis readers.

Right off, I'm ashamed to admit that I barely skimmed 2,000 miles. Looking back over my monthly bike logs, I see notes for serious bike mechanical problems in February, the commitment of managing youth baseball in March through mid-June, and illness this fall.

They're all flabby excuses ...   more »