Appearance a factor in stopping the Irish cycling to work

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Would be cyclists are not cycling to work in Ireland because they are worried they will be judged on how they look on a bike or once they get to work.

A survey by Irish cycle to work scheme company Bike to Work Ltd found respondents were worried that their workmates would judge them on their appearance if they cycled.

This included 43% worried about sweat patches on their shirts with 17% of women saying they wouldn’t want to sweat off their make-up. Fourteen per cent said their hair would be ruined by wearing a helmet, while 11% were stressed about having sweaty feet.

In what appears to be a lengthy list of “lazy man” excuses, factors such as health, the weather and the time needed to cycle to work, are mentioned as barriers to cycling to work in the survey.

Lazy attitude

Bike to Work Ltd believes one of the main things stopping people cycling to work was a lazy man attitude with respondents using excuses such as getting up earlier, not having enough time or the journey being too long as excuses not to cycle to work.

Weather is also seen as a deterrent to regular cycling to work with just under half of the respondents mentioning this as an issue.

Health

Twenty per cent said they wouldn’t want to cycle among the traffic, while 14% said they didn’t believe they were fit enough to cycle to work. This is despite 52% of the respondents living less than 5km from their workplace.

Overcoming barriers

Overall the survey found that of the people questioned, 78% of people did not cycle to work. However, 66% of respondents said they would consider cycling to work if they could overcome the barriers mentioned above.