Research Partnership Grant: Track 1 - Older Adults (Ages 55+) and Bicycling

Note:

• The Research Partnership Grant has two foucus areas: Track 1: Older Adults (Ages 55+) and Bicycling; and Track 2: Youth Cycling Research and Evaluation.
• Aplicants should select a funding track and pose a clear research or evaluation question aligned to the chosen track.
• Outride

Our Mission: Outride provides research, cycling programs, and funding to empower all people to experience the social, emotional, and cognitive benefits of cycling.
Since 2012, Outride has partnered with over 400 schools and granted $2M+ to over 250 cycling programs, impacting more than 50,000 youth annually.
What is a Research Partnership Grant?
Outride works with many incredible community organizations and educators who are expanding access to cycling and its benefits to brain health through our Community Impact Grants and school cycling programming, Riding for Focus. Over time, many have shared an interest in evaluating programming, cultivating applied research partnerships, and learning about practical tools to demonstrate impact, which is why Outride is launching a new Research Partnership Grant to help communities evaluate their impact and translate research into action.
What’s the purpose of this grant?
This funding opportunity aims to:
Strengthen real-world evidence on cycling’s benefits for older adults and youth, including brain health, mental wellbeing, social connection, and physical function.
Build evaluation capacity within community organizations.
Foster meaningful community/academic partnerships that translate research into practice.
Generate toolkits that help organizations improve programs and secure future funding.
Share findings by amplifying existing research and translating that into programs.
Gain investment from funders, policymakers, and practitioners to expand equitable access to the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical benefits of bicycling.
Support culturally responsive projects that reach communities facing the greatest barriers to cycling
Focus Areas
The following focus areas are guided by Outride’s mission and Theory of Change, our learnings so far, and existing gaps in the field.
Track 1: Older Adults (Ages 55+) and Bicycling Track 2: Youth Cycling Research and Evaluation
Older adults face distinct barriers to biking such as fear of falling, low bicycling confidence, mobility challenges, social stigma, and limited access to appropriate bikes. Yet research shows strong promise using cycling as a tool to improve health and well-being outcomes among older adults. Regular physical activity, including cycling, is associated with slower cognitive decline, improved executive function, and mood regulation. In addition, group rides and community cycling programs can address loneliness and increase older adult participation in social events. And importantly, skills-based riding and progressive practice may reduce fall risk and improve confidence.
Despite these benefits, few older adult cycling programs have been rigorously evaluated in real-world community settings, and even fewer studies included older adults with diverse backgrounds. This track aims to understand the impact of bicycling on older adults' well-being and brain health.
Focus areas may include:

• Best practices for developing bicycling confidence among older adults, including type of bicycle, instruction progression, program components, etc.
• Exploring the role of group rides in supporting social connection among older adults
• Understanding brain health, wellbeing, and/or cognitive outcomes of bicycling participation on older adults
• Bicycling programming that engages older adults from underrepresented populations
• Partnering with a researcher to support with data analysis and write-up of an existing organizational dataset that aligns with older adults and bicycling
• Partnering to share existing research around bicycling’s impact on older adults via toolkits or other dissemination strategies.