Middle-Aged Men in Lycra – MAMILs - may dominate the roads but do they also dominate the cycling audience?

Nature Notes: MAMILs can now be spotted all over the British Isles, as far north as John O’Groats. More common in the warmer months, their carefully calibrated journeys to rural feeding points see them gather in large groups, often at weekends. There, in bright summer plumage, they communicate in a highly specialised language before returning to homes in towns and cities. Their numbers continue to grow and in many areas they are considered a pest.

The growth in cycling has been well-documented in recent years, not least the phenomenon of the Middle-Aged Man in Lycra or MAMIL. MAMILs have been seen as the bedrock of this explosion in participation but have they also driven a media market for cycling which has seen major broadcasters competing for rights?

Let’s take a look at the data around fans of the Tour de France, cycling’s premier property.

First of all, a comparison of major cycling markets tells us that, yes, the UK audience for the Tour is disproportionately male. In fact, it has the second largest proportion of male followers of all of the 13 major markets we looked at (only the US has higher). 

At 72% male, it certainly looks likely the MAMILs will be strongly represented in the audience. But what about the middle-aged bit? Are they, too, disproportionately represented?

The answer again is yes. There are twice as many Tour followers in the UK in the 45-54 years-old bracket as there are in any other major market, making this a peculiarly British phenomenon. In fact, 40% of all UK Tour de France fans fall into this bracket. 

So why should this be? After all, cycling is a relatively accessible sport, widely covered on free-to-air TV, with a good number of female role models.

Well, there should be no doubt that the dominance of middle-aged men in this audience is strongly related to the rise of the MAMIL.

Participation often drives fandom and to a certain extent, vice versa. So the more middle-aged men in lycra there are on our roads, the more middle-aged men are likely to watch the sport on TV. After all, what else would they talk about on their Sunday ride coffee breaks?

And there do seem to be more men on the roads – according to the National Travel Survey, men make three time as many cycling trips as women. Rapha, the British cycling brand, sells only around 10% of its kit to women.

What about the role model factor? Well, despite the number of household names in British cycling (think Pendleton, Deignan (nee Armitstead), Kenny (nee Trott) and Varnish) media coverage of women’s road racing is relatively thin on the ground. Outside of an Olympics, there is a limited amount of women’s cycling on TV.

As for the middle-aged part? Well, cycling is aspirational, fashionable and good for health – all things many men of a certain age are often keen to keep a grip on. Equally you may ask why younger people aren’t watching the sport? The answer? Well, it’s a sport for middle-aged men so why would they?

In fact, this rather flippant answer tells us something unusual (perhaps unique) about cycling as a major sport. And that is that its watching audience is highly reflective of its participating audience. In terms of a cycling brands trying to reach cycling consumers, this high degree of reflection is something worth paying for.