Outdoor cycling activity affected by COVID-19 related epidemic-control-decisions

Abstract

Aim The lockdown of sports infrastructure due to the COVID-19 pandemic has substantially shifted people’s physical activity towards public green spaces. With Germany’s lockdown as one of the more severe governmentally imposed epidemic-control-decisions, we tested to what extent the frequency of outdoor cycling activities changed from March to June 2020. Methods User behaviour and frequency in 15 urban and 7 rural German public green spaces was quantified using cycling data from the fitness application Strava. Changes in cycling activities were analysed with four different generalised linear models, correcting for factors like weather conditions and temporal changes in the user base of the fitness application. Results We found a clear increase in outdoor cycling sport activities in urban public green spaces in response to epidemic-control decisions (e.g. increase by 81% in April relative to the expected value (95% CI [48%, 110%])). In contrast, biking in rural areas showed no significant change with epidemic-control-decisions in place. Conclusion Fitness App data, e.g. from Strava, can be used to monitor visitor behaviour and frequency. The increase in outdoor cycling activities during epidemic control decisions likely reflects a shift of sport activities from indoor and team sports to outdoor and individual sports. This highlights the importance of accessible green space for maintaining physical fitness and health. Beyond this shift, it is likely that outdoor activities may be of particularly importance for stress relief in times of crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sports-Related Injuries Evaluated in US Emergency Departments

“…18 Several urban centers experienced a surge in outdoor activities during the lockdown, especially in cycling volume. 8,34 The increased demand for outdoor activities and equipment explains the isolated rise in cycling injuries observed during the pandemic, with untrained "at-risk" individuals suddenly taking up the sport. However, despite efforts to promote exercise during the pandemic, many people continued to struggle with a prolonged reduction in physical activity.…”

Natural Environments, Psychosocial Health, and Health Behaviors in a Crisis – A Scoping Review of the Literature in the COVID-19 Context

“…Other physical activity assessments were performed via self-report inventories, while only one study used device-based assessment via a step-counter (Hino & Asami, 2021b). Two other studies used Strava to assess walking and cycling (Schweizer et al, 2021a;van Houwelingen-Snippe et al, 2020a). However, these studies do not report whether specific features of the natural environment were relevant to the motivation of people to go there for physical activity, nor did these studies provide information on whether physical activity in natural environments displaced other types of physical activity that were currently not possible due to the COVID-19 restrictions (e.g., organized sport).…”

Exploring mobility pattern changes between before, during and after COVID-19 lockdown periods for young adults

“…Bicycling and bicycle-sharing in Budapest experienced the lowest decrease (23% and 2%, respectively) but at the same time bicycling accounted for the highest growth (4%) in terms of modal share ( Bucsky, 2020 ). In Germany, bicycling in urban public green spaces increased in response to epidemic-control decisions while bicycling in rural areas showed no significant change at the same time (March–June 2020) ( Schweizer et al, 2021 ). Other studies that noted a decrease on active modes include a decrease of 5% in India comparing data before COVID-19 and March 24th–April 12th 2020 ( Bhaduri et al, 2020 ) and a drop of 71% in bicycle-sharing ridership in New York ( Teixeira & Lopes, 2020 ).…”