OLD AGE PEDALLER BIKE BUG SPREADS

Lockdown cycle boom

MORE pensioners took up cycling during lockdown than any other age group, research shows.

Almost 40% of them got in the saddle – either buying a bike or hauling one out of their garage.

But just 25% of middle-aged Britons took up cycling while Covid-19 restrictions were at their peak and the roads quietest.

And only 27% of those in Generation Z – people born between 1997 and 2010 – and Millennials said they had taken to two wheels since the lockdown started.

As well as getting out and about on their bikes more often, older riders were also more appreciative of the natural world around them.

Some 44% said lockdown has given them a newfound love and respect for flora and fauna.

By comparison, just 28% of Gen Z said they had become more in touch with the natural world, according to the study by power providers Bulb.

Alastair Henderson, 69, of Edinburgh, said: “I dusted off the old bike from the garage in April and I’ve been doing 10 miles every day ever since.

“I don’t need Lycra and all that nonsense – I just put on a helmet and go.” The study, which was launched to find the most “sustainable” age group in the UK, also found women had cut down on clothes shopping in lockdown.

A total of 52% said they had bought considerably fewer garments and shoes since the start of restrictions, compared with 37% of men.

The older generation again were top of the pile when it came to making do with the clothes they had. Around 55% said they had not been buying as many clothes as normal, compared with

31% of Gen Z.

The study also found that pensioners were less likely to use their car than younger people, with 39% saying they hadn’t driven their motor since the start of lockdown, compared with 23% of Gen Z.

And OAPs were more likely to recycle and be more mindful about energy usage in their homes than Millennials, who were born between 1981 and 1996. A spokesman for Bulb, which offers

100% renewable electricity and carbonneutral gas, said that two-thirds of those polled claimed they were keen to live more sustainably.