This weekend, in the middle of the night – at 2am in the blurry bit between Saturday evening night and Sunday morning – Britain will lurch back in time by 60 minutes. This is great news for Sabbath slumberers (extra hour in bed) and early-bird cycle commuters, who might make it to work in some semblance of daylight for the next few weeks, but it does herald the beginning of the dark half of the year.
And while that definitely doesn’t mean you should let your bike get dusty, it does necessitate some wardrobe and routine changes if you want to keep cycling through winter in comfort and safety.
Have a glow up
First up, if you haven’t already done so, this weekend is the perfect time to locate your bike lights, front and back (plus all the cables and paraphernalia that go with them) and make sure they’re fully charged up, and that the fittings and fixtures on the frame of your bike are all still in good nick (and actually correspond with the lights). If you can, go with a couple of combos. When riding roads in winter, you basically can’t have too many lights and reflectors.
Go up a gear
Bright and reflective clothing is also highly recommended, of course, but the best winter cycling jackets don’t have to make you look like a lollypop lady or road worker, there are plenty of good-looking garments out there with less garish reflective elements that are still highly visible.
Warmth, breathability and waterproofing are obviously key factors to think about as well. Besides an outer jacket that will protect you from the elements and help you be seen, go for some decent thermal underlayers, invest in some good gloves if you haven’t got a pair, and consider a neck tube of some sort.
Your choice of shoes is critical at this time, too – riding in the dark is one thing, but cycling with wet and cold feet will make the experience utterly miserable. Cycling shoes notoriously let toes get cold, partly because of their rigidity, and while donning warm socks and using overshoes will help, you can’t beat a proper pair of winter shoes, with higher cuffs, increased insulation and breathable waterproof membranes all combining to keep you more comfortable.
While we’re at it, you’re not going to be able to keep all this clobber clean and pristine over the winter, but fitting some mudguards to your bike will significantly reduce the amount of filth that gets thrown up on to your clothes and shoes, which means they will last longer and retain their reflective capability better.
Re tyre early
No matter what kind of bike you’re riding, the turning of the seasons can be a good prompt to bust out some new rubber, in this case winter tyres. Riders on gravel bikes will be well aware of the benefit of extra traction during the winter, but when you’re cycling a hybrid commuter or road bike – or an e-bike for that matter – some fresh tread can make a big difference to your confidence on increasingly mucky and slippery road surfaces. In diminishing light staying the right way up is all the more important, too, with other road users’ visibility and reaction times also being impacted by low light.
Puddles and darkness combine to conceal all sorts of puncture threats, on roads and trails, and even the best tyres can only offer so much protection, so be sure to keep new tubes and tools in your biking backpack or frame bags. Or, of course, you could consider going tubeless.