Don't Stop Riding

You are still riding to work aren’t you?

Yes, yes, I know it’s cold and the chances are that every other day you have to go festive drinking somewhere, or shopping, oh and half of the world has headed off to far flung bits of Britain for Christmas already, but all that makes it one of the best times to ride to work.

All you need is a bit of extra planning, whether it’s knowing when to leave the bike as a drunken ride home on ice isn’t the best idea, or allowing a bit of extra time to negotiate the side roads which haven’t been cleared so effectively. But with that and a pair of warmer socks, and gloves and some sensible layering and you can take advantage of the quieter roads and save yourself a miserable wait in the cold at a bus stop. I even think you can manage it in shorts. I certainly will be. Just remember that the shower you have when you get to work or home will hurt as the blood comes back into your extremities, and also to take enough warm clothes with you to not freeze should someone suggest a cheeky lunchtime or after-work pint, it’s really not the weather to be standing around with the smokers in just a tee-shirt. The good news is you’ll be wearing all the extra cycling kit you normally take in case it gets colder so there’s more room in your bag.

Mind you, in the spirit of finally having a Christmas Number One single that isn’t manufactured pop and a foregone conclusion, don’t let us tell you what to do.

Christmas week has crept up on us a bit, and we’ve hardly had time to do a handy list of suggestions for presents for cyclists or anything (warm socks and gloves are an obvious winner I think), perhaps we’ll save that for next year.

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