The government’s recently published vision for walking and cycling “Gear change” (Department for Transport, 2020a)is a step up from previous announcements on cycling. I think it is a great vision for everybody who cycles and people who’d like to.

Three elements of particular interest to allied health professionals include:

• Piloting an approach for GPs to be able to prescribe cycling (this could already be implemented locally by joining up the dots between different organisations)
• Increasing access to e-bikes by setting up a new national e-bike programme, with the possibility of financial support, and
• New infrastructure assessed by a new statutory body, Active Travel England, which makes people feel safe to cycle.

These are all incentives to cycle (and so gain the health and wellbeing benefits of doing so) but as ever, the devil is in the detail – or lack of it – and the…