Pandemic leads to a bicycle boom, and shortage, around world

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Pandemic leads to a bicycle boom, and shortage, around world

2020-06-14 21:04 Last Updated At：21:10

Fitness junkies locked out of gyms, commuters fearful of public transit, and families going stir crazy inside their homes during the coronavirus pandemic have created a boom in bicycle sales unseen in decades.

In the United States, bicycle aisles at mass merchandisers like Walmart and Target have been swept clean, and independent shops are doing a brisk business and are selling out of affordable “family” bikes.

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FILE-In this May 20, 2020 photo, a bicyclist wears a pandemic mask while riding in Portland, Maine. A bicycle rush kicked off mid-March around the time countries were shutting their borders, businesses were closing and stay-at-home orders were being imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic in which millions have been infected and nearly 400,000 have died. (AP PhotoRobert F. Bukaty)

FILE-In this Wednesday, April 8, 2020, photo, bicyclists wear pandemic masks while riding in Portland, Maine. Bicycle sales have surged as shut-in families try to find a way to keep kids active at a time of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP PhotoRobert F. Bukaty)

FILE-In this Thursday, June 11, 2020, photo, bicycle display racks are empty at a Target in Milford, Mass. A bicycle rush has been brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. In the U.S., bicycle aisles at mass merchandisers like Walmart and Target have been swept clean, officials say, and independent shops are doing a brisk business and are selling out of low- to mid-range "family" bikes. (AP PhotoRobert F. Bukaty)

FILE-In this Tuesday, June 9, 2020 photo, bike display racks are empty at a Walmart in Falmouth, Maine. A bicycle rush has been brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. In the U.S., bicycle aisles at mass merchandisers like Walmart and Target have been swept clean, officials say, and independent shops are doing a brisk business and are selling out of low- to mid-range "family" bikes. (AP PhotoDavid Sharp)

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FILE-In this May 20, 2020 photo, a bicyclist wears a pandemic mask while riding in Portland, Maine. A bicycle rush kicked off mid-March around the time countries were shutting their borders, businesses were closing and stay-at-home orders were being imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic in which millions have been infected and nearly 400,000 have died. (AP PhotoRobert F. Bukaty)

FILE-In this Wednesday, April 8, 2020, photo, bicyclists wear pandemic masks while riding in Portland, Maine. Bicycle sales have surged as shut-in families try to find a way to keep kids active at a time of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP PhotoRobert F. Bukaty)

FILE-In this Thursday, June 11, 2020, photo, bicycle display racks are empty at a Target in Milford, Mass. A bicycle rush has been brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. In the U.S., bicycle aisles at mass merchandisers like Walmart and Target have been swept clean, officials say, and independent shops are doing a brisk business and are selling out of low- to mid-range "family" bikes. (AP PhotoRobert F. Bukaty)

FILE-In this Tuesday, June 9, 2020 photo, bike display racks are empty at a Walmart in Falmouth, Maine. A bicycle rush has been brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. In the U.S., bicycle aisles at mass merchandisers like Walmart and Target have been swept clean, officials say, and independent shops are doing a brisk business and are selling out of low- to mid-range "family" bikes. (AP PhotoDavid Sharp)

Bicycle sales over the past two months saw their biggest spike in the U.S. since the oil crisis of the 1970s, said Jay Townley, who analyzes cycling industry trends at Human Powered Solutions.

“People quite frankly have panicked, and they’re buying bikes like toilet paper,” Townley said, referring to the rush to buy essentials like toilet paper and hand sanitizer that stores saw at the beginning of the pandemic.

The trend is mirrored around the globe, as cities better known for car-clogged streets, like Manila and Rome, install bike lanes to accommodate surging interest in cycling while public transport remains curtailed. In London, municipal authorities plan to go further by banning cars from some central thoroughfares.

Bike shop owners in the Philippine capital say demand is stronger than at Christmas. Financial incentives are boosting sales in Italy, where the government’s post-lockdown stimulus last month included a 500-euro ($575) “bici bonus” rebate for up to 60% of the cost of a bike.

But that's if you can get your hands on one. The craze has led to shortages that will take some weeks, maybe months, to resolve, particularly in the U.S., which relies on China for about 90% of its bicycles, Townley said. Production there was largely shut down due to the coronavirus and is just resuming.

The bicycle rush kicked off in mid-March around the time countries were shutting their borders, businesses were closing, and stay-at-home orders were being imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus that has infected millions of people and killed more than 450,000.

Sales of adult leisure bikes tripled in April while overall U.S. bike sales, including kids’ and electric-assist bicycles, doubled from the year before, according to market research firm NPD Group, which tracks retail bike sales.

It's a far cry from what was anticipated in the U.S. The $6 billion industry had projected lower sales based on lower volume in 2019 in which punitive tariffs on bicycles produced in China reached 25%.

There are multiple reasons for the pandemic bicycle boom.

Around the world, many workers were looking for an alternative to buses and subways. People unable to go to their gyms looked for another way to exercise. And shut-in families scrambled to find a way to keep kids active during stay-at-home orders.

“Kids are looking for something to do. They’ve probably reached the end of the internet by now, so you’ve got to get out and do something,” said Dave Palese at Gorham Bike and Ski, a Maine shop where there are slim pickings for family-oriented, leisure bikes.

Bar Harbor restaurateur Brian Smith bought a new bike for one of his daughters, a competitive swimmer, who was unable to get into the pool. On a recent day, he was heading back to his local bike shop to outfit his youngest daughter, who’d just learned how to ride.

His three daughters use their bikes every day, and the entire family goes for rides a couple of times a week. The fact that they’re getting exercise and enjoying fresh air is a bonus.

“It’s fun. Maybe that’s the bottom line. It’s really fun to ride bikes,” Smith said as he and his 7-year-old daughter, Ellery, pedaled to the bicycle shop.

The pandemic is also driving a boom in electric-assist bikes, called e-bikes, which were a niche part of the overall market until now. Most e-bikes require a cyclist to pedal, but electric motors provide extra oomph.

VanMoof, a Dutch e-bike maker, is seeing “unlimited demand” since the pandemic began, resulting in a 10-week order backlog for its commuter electric bikes, compared with typical one-day delivery time, said co-founder Taco Carlier.

The company's sales surged 138% in the U.S. and rocketed 184% in Britain in the February-April period over last year, with big gains in other European countries. The company is scrambling to ramp up production as fast as it can, but it will take two to three months to meet the demand, Carlier said.

“We did have some issues with our supply chain back in January, February when the crisis hit first in Asia,” said Carlier. But “the issue is now with demand, not supply.”

Sales at Cowboy, a Belgian e-bike maker, tripled in the January-April period from last year. Notably, they spiked in Britain and France at around the same time in May that those countries started easing lockdown restrictions, said Chief Marketing Officer Benoit Simeray.

“It’s now becoming very obvious for most of us living in and around cities that we don’t want to go back into public transportation,” said Simeray. But people may still need to buy groceries or commute to the office one or two days a week, so “then they’re starting to really, really think about electric bikes as the only solution they’ve got.”

In Maine, Kate Worcester, a physician’s assistant, bought e-bikes for herself and her 12-year-old son so they could have fun at a time when she couldn’t travel far from the hospital where she worked.

Every night, she and her son ride 20 miles or 30 miles (30 or 50 kilometers) around Acadia National Park.

“It’s by far the best fun I’ve had with him,” she said. “That’s been the biggest silver lining in this terrible pandemic — to be able to leave work and still do an activity and talk and enjoy each other.”

Joe Minutolo, co-owner of Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop, said he hopes the sales surge translates into long-term change.

“People are having a chance to rethink things,” he said. “Maybe we’ll all learn something out of this, and something really good will happen.”

These influencers are teaching Christianity online — and young people are listening

ATLANTA (AP) — Millennial and Generation Z Christian influencers are increasingly filling a void in American religion, growing audiences across digital platforms by steering young people to biblical answers to tough questions that aren't always answered in Sunday sermons.

“I can be that in-between — Monday to Saturday help — to give you practical things to make you feel like you’re not walking this walk alone,” said Megan Ashley, 35, sitting cross-legged in sweats on the couch where she records her “In Totality” podcast.

From myriad backgrounds, these influencers talk candidly to their listeners about everything from anxieties and doubts to dating and culture, delving into the Bible’s complexities. Those of faith say Christian influencers are galvanizing young people looking for meaning in a culture that lacks it at a time when years of declining church attendance has slowed.

“What they’re making accessible is a truth that transforms people,” said Lecrae Moore, a Christian rapper and podcaster. “There’s something that’s happening existentially — supernaturally — that I can’t explain.”

Ashley and Moore are among a half-dozen popular influencers who described their work for this story. With and without formal theological they training, they describe themselves as churchgoers who don’t want their messages boxed in by denominational labels.

Some grew up in church; others didn’t, but they commonly describe experiencing a spiritual transformation that came out of hardship or a sense of emptiness they pin on secular lifestyles.

“We’re like, listen, we’re two mess-ups too. It’s OK,” said Arielle Reitsma, 36, co-host of podcast “Girls Gone Bible,” which gets more than a million listens or streams each month.

These algorithm-savvy podcasters fit comfortably in a long tradition of Christian celebrities, said Zachary Sheldon, a Baylor University lecturer on media, religion and culture who cited televangelist Billy Graham as an example. Working independently, they can harness audiences more easily than established congregations and media organizations can.

“Exposing people to the faith and challenging them to ask questions and search for something more” are really good things to do, Sheldon said. But he pointed to “potential dangers in granting them too much authority on the basis of their celebrity and their acumen with social media.”

These influencers encourage church attendance and describe reaching a variety of people, including those who have been particularly disconnected from religion, which polls show is a growing number of young Americans. Only 41% of people ages 18-35 surveyed in 2023-24 said they believe in God with certainty, down from 65% in 2007, according to the Pew Research Center.

“People are spiritually hungry, emotionally hungry, and I think for the first time ever … people are encountering Jesus even through online platforms, and they’re realizing, this is true life and fulfillment,” said Angela Halili, 29, Reitsma's co-host.

The pair now draws live crowds since starting the podcast more than two years ago. At an event in Atlanta, they warned hundreds of fans against idolizing work or relationships, Bibles in hand, and recounted their days as Hollywood actors battling addiction, heartbreak and mental health disorders. Halili said God brought them “radical healing,” and they want listeners to know that God can perform “miracles” in their lives, too.

Afterward, they hugged and prayed for people in the audience, where Anna Williams, 17, said she considers both Reitsma and Halili to be “a big sister” in her life.

Even as they espouse biblical principles as guidance toward true joy, influencers say that being Christian can be hard.

God “does make everything better, but that doesn’t always come in the way that we think it’s gonna come,” said “In Totality” host Ashley.

Her current obsession, which she teaches with fervor, is a biblical passage about living as a sacrifice. God asks people to give up certain wants and behaviors so they can grow closer to him, Ashley says. She said her intensity grew after a healing encounter with God’s “severity” as a freshly divorced single mom plagued by suicidal thoughts and depression.

Bible passages, day-to-day plights and heavier challenges are covered on “With the Perrys,” a podcast led by husband and wife authors and spoken-word artists who also run a streetwear brand.

“It is the all — how do we do all of this stuff in this weird flesh and weird world?” said Jackie Hill Perry, 36.

She is an admired speaker who is working towards her seminary degree and wrote a book about leaving behind same-sex relationships. She and husband Preston Perry, 39, started podcasting in 2019. Followers already resonated with Perry's theological debates and story of growing up around poverty and violence before finding faith and becoming a Christian evangelist.

“God calls us to ruffle feathers sometimes, to speak to culture,” Perry said.

In a recent episode, the Perrys urged listeners to be honest with God about struggling to trust him. Through focused prayer, obedience and Bible reading, God brings lasting peace, answers and growth during hard circumstances, they say, but this requires more than quick fixes like scrolling and sex.

At just 22, Bryce Crawford teaches Bible chapters on his self-named podcast and posts videos of himself talking to people about Christianity at Pride parades, the Burning Man counter-culture festival and a satanic temple.

Rather than shout “repent,” Crawford’s street evangelism aims to change minds through kindness. His followers say they're attracted by his empathetic yet bold demeanor while delivering talking points against lifestyles such as same-sex marriage.

“My issue with ‘repent or burn in hell’ is that people get frustrated because they don’t know why you’re telling them that,” said Crawford, who describes being severely anxious and bitter toward God until God healed him at a Waffle House. “Our tactics have been one-on-one conversations, calmly listening, asking questions because we care about them, and in that explaining our worldview.”

These influencers acknowledge that online Christianity has its challenges.

A hyperfocus on online drama and Christianity's more esoteric beliefs can miss the basics, such as love and Christ's sacrifice, Hill Perry said. She worries that “simply talking about gentleness or respect or kindness or patience is gonna be boring” to people.

And the deep political and cultural rifts among Christians emerge online too.

For example, Halili and Reitsma got pushback for taking the opportunity to pray at a pre-inauguration rally for President Donald Trump. The Perrys have been criticized by conservatives for talking about police brutality and racial injustice, and liberals for expressing opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.

Some followers say these influencers provide a welcome alternative to the buttoned-up pastors they grew up with who spoke of God as a faraway deity that would reject them for breaking too many rules.

“I really needed someone who was a younger Black female portraying something that wasn’t super traditional,” said Olivia Singleton, 24. She's involved with her church and likes her pastor, but feels like these influencers are like “one of the girls … walking out the faith with you.”

Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.