2024 Outride Summit Recap

Supporting Wellbeing through Cycling Across the Lifespan

On Thursday, July 25th, Outride hosted the 2024 Outride Summit, welcoming educators, non-profit organizations, researchers, and the general public to the Specialized Headquarters in Morgan Hill, CA. The day focused on the theme of supporting mental wellbeing through cycling across the lifespan. A welcome video by Mike Sinyard, founder of Outride and Specialized Bicycle Components, emphasized the importance of bicycling as a tool for mental health and called for a broader movement to support cycling opportunities across the lifespan.

Cycling: Advantages and limitations for optimal aging

Dr. Norman Lazarus, an 88 year old professor from King’s College London, taught the audience about the trinity to optimal aging, which includes physical activity, mental wellbeing, and nutrition. He shared some key insights from his book, The Lazarus Strategy: How to Age Well and Wisely, and dove into the concept of the trinity as well as how he has remained so healthy into older age. He emphasized the importance of physical activity for longevity and even showed the audience MRI scans of active individuals across the lifespan in comparison to non-active controls. Spoiler alert: his MRI image looks like the scan of a 31 year old from a lifetime of physical activity and living a healthy lifestyle! 

Vitamin Nature: Nature-based Mental health interventions for children, adolescents, and young adults

Dr. Sumita Sharma, a double board-certified psychiatrist at UCSF, followed, speaking on the importance of access to nature for mental health. She reviewed many impactful studies from the growing field with the audience, including one which found children with ADHD had increased attention and focus after just a 20 minute walk outside. Dr. Sharma also highlighted the disparities in access to nature which impact mental health, especially among underrepresented communities, pointing to the need for equitable access to nature. 

 Riding for focus across the USA

Outride’s Research Specialist, Lauren Schuck, shared an update on what we’re learning from Outride’s middle school-based cycling program, Riding for Focus. She detailed the lifestyle behavior trends in youth and positioned Riding for Focus as an important program to address physical inactivity, excessive screen time, and low mental wellbeing. Lauren then dove into differences in student responses across different locale types (rural, town, suburb, city) to explore what implementing Riding for Focus looks like across different regions. Lauren also announced the creation of a new initiative by Outride that aims to connect researchers and community programs. Click here to learn more and to join the Outride Research Pool!

Panel: Successes and opportunities for cycling programs across the country

The morning of presentations concluded with an inspiring panel of community leaders, moderated by Esther Walker from Outride. Panelists included Roxanne Mejia with I Challenge Myself, Ryan McKinney a Riding for Focus Champion at Spooner Middle School, Shaun Price with Silver Stallion Bicycle and Coffee Works, Tavaghn Monts with Momentum Bike Clubs, and Morgan Lavender with Mile High 360. The panel shared what they’ve learned from implementing youth cycling programs while also discussing the top successes and challenges they face.

expo and poster presentations

Following the morning of presentations, there was an Expo and Poster session for the in-person attendees to allow for networking, diving deeper into bicycling programming, and more! Educators and researchers presented their latest work alongside organizations like Public Profit, HeartTechPlus, Adventure for All, Prime-Ability, PeopleForBikes, NICA, Project Bike Tech, and more. The expo fostered collaboration and connection among attendees and enabled them to have deeper conversations around the importance of cycling for social, emotional, and cognitive health.

RECORDINGS AND RESOURCE LIST

If you missed this year’s Summit, or just want to revisit the materials, be sure to check out the links below. In addition to the presentation recordings, we’ve also compiled a resource list that references any research or resources presenters mentioned, along with links to all of the posters presented and organizations present at the expo.