'Cycling On Prescription': a gear change or a wrong turn?

Abstract

COVID-19 has taught us in the most tragic terms that socioeconomic gradients in health apply in a pandemic just as they do in chronic disease. I have a background of research into cycling and I am now a practice nurse, so for me, the UK Government’s Gear change policy,1 heralding a ‘bold vision for cycling and walking’ on the back of a boom in bike sales and journeys, has been a welcome development amid the headlines of sadness and uncertainty. The most ear-catching part of the announcement was that of GPs prescribing cycling. But cycling advocates treat grand policy announcements with caution, mindful of the chasm between funding allocated to road building and cycle infrastructure. My last research activity was a 3-year study, Cycle Boom,2 on cycling in the older population. I interviewed 50–80 year-olds about their cycling histories to find the contexts in which there was continuation, rediscovery, disengagement, or absence of …