On their bikes.

Push bike sales in the UK rose 50% last year and this trend is thought to be riding on inspiration from the success of the British cycling team at the Beijing Olympics, as well as tougher economic times.

The UK's largest cycling retailer, Halfords, sold 34,000 bikes under the government's Cycle to Work scheme, which offers tax breaks of up to 45% on buying a new bike.

Halfords has sold more than one million bicycles for the second consecutive year and is responsible for over one in three sales in the UK.

In the first quarter 2009, the drop in overall like-for-like sales improved from 7.8% prior to last Christmas to 3.8%. When adjusted for the impact of Easter, which occurred in the comparable accounting period in 2008 but in April this year, the decline was 3%.

Declining revenues from electronic sat-navs that are used to help drivers navigate have weighed heavily on the company, with price deflation of up to 25% on sat-nav units.

Deflation is now easing below 20% as a result of the strong dollar's impact on manufacturing costs abroad - but so is consumer demand.

The retailer is forecasting annual profits rising roughly 2% to about US$137 million for the year to the end of March 2009.

However, despite the rise, Halfords (whose corporate tag line is "we go the extra mile") has been forced to drop its pilot stand-alone cycle stores due to the success of sales from its superstores, as well as migrating sales to the Internet.

The resurgence comes after years of declines in cycling. Between 1980 and 2007 bicycle journeys fell by 17%, while travel by car rose by 78%, according to figures from the Department for Transport.

The National Travel Survey also revealed that men cycle more than women, with the gap widest among teenagers. Men aged between 17 and 20 make five times as many cycling trips as women of the same age.

Also cashing in on the cycling craze is the fashion chain Topshop, which has launched a range of products for female cyclists.

The chain said it was responding to demand following the success of Olympic gold medal cyclists Rebecca Romero and Victoria Pendleton in Beijing.

While cycle sales are booming, sales of new cars in Britain dropped 30.5% in March to 313,912 compared with the same period last year, according to European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA).

from Paul Laundy, London Office