Winter safety for women who cycle

Volunteer Cycle Ride Leader Carol Black shares some of her top tips for cycling safely during the winter. 

Safe cycling for women

I was asked to write about safe cycling in the winter for women. I sat down and wrote a load of waffle and put it to one side. Then thought about it a bit more.

To my mind this can be covered in three categories; road safety, bike safety and personal safety. So let’s deal with the elephant in the room here.

Safe winter cycling for women should be exactly the same as it is for men – but we all know that once the clocks go back in October women generally go out less in the evening.  I’m not going to dwell any further on this as the subject is well covered by many others, and we all know the cause of women’s caution.

All I will say is that if you know a woman who would like to cycle more in the winter and does not, invite her out for a ride with you. She’ll probably say yes.

So, let’s cover those first two categories!

Staying safe on the road

Road safety basically boils down to two things – being seen and watching out for winter–related hazards in the road or path (and avoiding them!). Lights are always important, but in the winter I tend to double up, even in the daytime.  One static and one flashing on both front and back.

The low sun at this time of year means that drivers, pedestrians and other cyclists are occasionally temporarily blinded, and it is already difficult enough to be seen so I’m not taking any chances.  Cold weather depletes the batteries faster so if I’m out for a longer ride I usually carry a spare. My bike is white, has white shopping bags on the rear rack and I wear white gloves plus a white hat or earband. The number of times I’ve clearly not been seen always amazes me.

The debris that is thrown to the side of the road at this time of year means I’m far more likely to be cycling out in primary position – the centre of the lane – to avoid it. I once had a large twig get picked up and stuck in my wheel when riding close to the kerb. The twig got caught on my mudguard, the bike stopped abruptly and I went flying. I won’t be making that mistake again!

The one thing we certainly haven’t been able to avoid this year are puddles and lying water. Hidden potholes = punctures and lying water means less contact of the tyre on the road surface. All of this just means riding slower than usual. No ‘knee out, lean over’ whizzing round corners!

Staying safe on your bike

As for bike safety, that all depends on keeping the bike clean enough to be able to give it a good check over before each ride. When it’s warm and sunny I love cleaning my bike but in the winter it can be a miserable task. I’m lucky that my ‘daily travel’ bike has a hub gear, so no derailleur and a much shorter chain to deal with. The chain is my focus – desperately trying to get rid of every spot of rust is a thankless task, but worthwhile.

I’m a ‘kitchen sink’ kind of bike mechanic so use items I have around the house for this; my favourite being a toothbrush. I buy cheap children’s toothbrushes for this purpose. They’re smaller and softer but still have a mild abrasive action. Then it’s just a case of a drop of wet weather lube on each link, a whizz round with the pedals before wiping the excess off. I can’t say I do this on a particular schedule – just when I remember, have time or notice that I’ve neglected the task cos I can hear the chain as I pedal.

I have an old spray bottle in which I’ve made up a very dilute solution of Fairy liquid. I keep this in the garage and find that a quick spray of this on the frame means I can immediately wipe off the black, oily gunk that the back end of the bike picks up in the winter. Again, this is not necessary after every ride. I use a cheap dishwashing brush to get dried mud off both bags and frame if I’ve not had time to deal with the bike at the end of a trip.

I also use a bottle brush to get in about the sharp angles on the frame and between each spoke where it meets the wheel rim. Being a bit old-fashioned my bikes all have rim brakes. Keeping the rims clean is necessary so that the brake pads get a good purchase on the surface when needed.  Keeping the rims clear of grit also means less chance of scoring and damaging them.

Summing up

In summary, winter cycling safety just boils down to lots of boring stuff.. Riding slowly, cleaning the bike and taking extra care to get togged up so that you’re seen. Other than that, I hang up the road bike with the skinny tyres, take a deep breath and just embrace that feeling of the cold air on my cheeks. And of course the best thing about a cold bike ride is having a really good excuse for a mug of hot chocolate when you get home.

Carol Black, Cycle Ride Leader