With cold winds in your face and slick surfaces to navigate, the winter is not the ideal to ride on your typical bicycle. Many of us use a bike as our regular transportation, and some of us have our bikes tricked out for winter riding, as well. In order to make the most of your bicycle during the cold winter months, and avoid sticking to an indoor bike, here are some tips for staying safe and sound and avoiding
accidents while doing so.
Layering up is your best bet against getting injured just from the cold of a winter bike ride. This is not a matter of your normal layering, though – you should invest in bicycling clothes that are meant to be layered. They are typically thinner than normal layers, but act to keep you performance ready, as you will warm up as you ride. Riding in a full winter outfit makes bicycle riding more difficult, and may actually cause you to sweat more – if you then remove layers, your sweat will cool you, defeating the whole purpose of your winter outfit. You should consider:
This is always important, but during most times of the year, we tend to think of this as what to wear when cycling at night. With winter, you might be dealing with snow and with drivers whose own views are obstructed, so visibility is just as important when it’s cold out. Go with the usual suspects: reflective clothing and gear with reflectors on all sides, and make sure your bike has safety lights, using the brightest of your lights for the rear of your bike to avoid being rear-ended. If you do experience a bicycle accident, contact us.
You should be sure to check your bike’s tire pressure regularly, as they will lose pressure faster in the cold weather. Checking before each ride is a good tip. When refilling, though, you should be sure to keep your tire pressure at the low end of the acceptable range, in order to increase your bike’s traction, as it keeps you closer to the road and spreads your tire’s footprint out more that way.
Yes, for winter time, make sure your water bottle has warm water in it. This not only helps warm you up when you take a drink, but it is also helpful for keeping your drivetrain from rusting from all of that riding. You should also make sure to wipe your drivetrain down after you ride each time, and if you can, store your bike indoors (cover it if you’re storing it outside).
Especially if winter has come on fast, you can’t expect to be up to your summer speeds, so be sure to warm up to your typical cycling speeds. You need to adapt to how your environment has changed, which could change your cycling style or even your route for the winter.
blogs
What to Look for When Hiring an Attorney
In Arizona and California, two big car cultures on the grow, you’re statistically more likely to be involved in some sort of motor vehicle accident or have some other legal concerns surrounding your automobile. Other injuries, like dog bites and slip and falls, are all-too common, and can be difficult to navigate with some kind […]
Five Apps for Bicyclists
Bicycle accidents happen all the time in the United States, and practicing bicycle safety is relatively simple – it just involves a lot of mindful riding and the safest possible equipment. Another part of safe bicycle riding is making sure you have your routes planned out and, in the case of an emergency, it doesn’t […]
Five Helpful Facts and Tips About Motorcycle Accidents
Motorcycles are specialist machines. They require their own licenses, training and a specific discipline for driving safely. Learning to drive defensively on a motorcycle can be more difficult than doing so in an automobile. Each year, there are 2,907 total motorcycle crashes, 2,274 of which result in injuries and 156 of which result in some […]
Causes of Motorcycle Accidents in the United States
Whether due to size, or footprint of the motorcycle, or sheer stability, or a combination of these factors, motorcycles are much more likely to be involved in an accident than other automobiles. Certainly, in some cases, this is a visibility issue as well, with many drivers of other automobiles not looking in their blind spots […]
More Apps for Increased Rideshare Safety
If every ride you take is just you and an unknown driver, it doesn’t hurt to look into your safety options. And while any unsure situation could potentially turn dangerous, you can do yourself a favor by finding helpful methods for letting people know where you are and where you’re going to be, and generally […]
How Dangerous Are Motorcycle Accidents?
Motorcyclists are more likely to die in a traffic accident than people inside passenger cars. In fact, they are 28 times more likely, due to a number of factors, including things like potential low visibility from the blind spots of other vehicles around them. Motorcycles are also most likely to be involved in collisions with […]
Winter Slip and Fall Accident Tips
Whether your winter is cold and snowy or just plain cold, winter is a time when slipand fall accidents are increasingly likely. Cold, wind, ice and snow are problems on their own and when they combine, it’s a perfect storm of injury possibilities. Typically, these conditions result in bruises and bumps, but there’s always the […]
Five Helpful Facts and Tips About Pedestrian Accidents
The pedestrian fatality rate in Arizona is more than double that of the national average, at 1.61 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people. Most of these are male pedestrians, killed at a rate of almost three times as much as female pedestrians. Keeping pedestrians safe is everyone’s job, but as a pedestrian, you should understand the […]
Five Products for Increased Automobile Safety
It should be no surprise that in Arizona and California, with the increasing dependence on cars, automobile accidents are increasingly likely. In the event of an accident, you want to have as many bases covered as possible – from minor repairs you can do yourself to getting yourself out of harm’s way as quickly and […]
Bicycle Accidents
Bicycles may be a reliably safe mode of transportation but, as in so many accidents out in the world, the problem is not often with the mode of transportation you’re in, but how the person who hits you is traveling. Every year, more than 50,000 bicyclists are injured in collisions with automobiles. Too few of […]
formulario de contacto
