:Cyclostat

As an update from my previous Post, I’d like to first make a compariston, using the more advanced google insight. Below is a graph of cycling searches, with a relative search index number on the right. FYI, higher numbers mean more searches, but don’t necessarily denote a specific number of “googles”.

The graph shows a general trend toward a decrease in “cycling” googles, but then I looked at the yearly averages:

Yes, that’s right. 2009 showed a slight increase! We’re actually above the 2007 numbers, but not quite at 2006 numbers.

So, this could mean two things:

1) A decrease in the world’s interest in cycling

2) A saturation of knowledge in cycling, which is now reaching equilibrium

3) A possible upswing in cycling interest? That remains to be seen, but MAYBE.

And before anyone gets on my case for using this ridiculous measure, Google is using this to measure the fucking flu.

That’s right. Google is assuming that more people google Flu-related things during flu season and that this is indicative of Flu prevalence. We’ll see how that turns out.

Comments Off on Update on Cycling Trends

I love Google Trends, and today I was looking for some cycling related things. One thing lead to another and I found this:

Yes, the number of Google searches for “cycling” is decreasing yearly, as the number of news articles (bottom of figure) is increasing. I’m not sure what this means.

If you’re curious about the peaks throughout the graph, here is a detail shot for 2008:

I’m pretty sure you can guess what causes people to Google “cycling” during this 20ish day period around July. It rhymes with Blour de Pants.

And yes, the trend is there for “Biking” as well.

I’d guess that the peaks are not quite as high for “biking” because most of the world calls the sport “cycling”. So couple that fact with the fact that the Tour is more popular over seas, and you get an attenuated “biking” peak around the Blour de Pants time. I’m sure that this peak also reflects summer and good times in the sun as well.

Comments Off on Google Trends