Cycling : Confidence and Security

Riding with Traffic

a) Remember that you are part of the traffic. Think about acting like a car, although you have much more visibility being higher up. Move with the traffic and take up the place of a car at key features like traffic lights and roundabouts.

b) Stay clear of the gutter. Position yourself in the road, particularly where the lane might be narrow, to help drivers appreciate that you are traffic too. This also helps keep you clear of the drains and potholes.

c) Anticipate what is coming up, and what others are doing. Keep you head up and look around as well as using your ears. This means you will have a smooth and calm ride.

Use eye contact with drivers. This breaks down barriers very effectively, helps drivers see you as a 'real person' and ensures that you know that they know that you are there!

d) Be confident and you will feel confident, and others around you will see that too.

It's also important to be wearing a helmet and have lights for cycling in the dark, so you are visible to other road users.

Something else I considered when buying my bike was security. It's so shiny and new that I feel very protective of it at the moment!  

There is a great article on BikeRadar.com which details all the things that you can do at home to improve your bike storage security - this is especially important as insurance policies usually specify that the bike is only covered if it is appropriately secured.

To that end, today I did a bit of DIY and fitted a larger hasp clasp and a padlock on the door of our shed. I don't feel that the area we live in is particularly bad for crime, but it's a deterrent at the end of the day.

Other options I'd like to add would be replacing the screws with bolts, which you can even superglue so they can't be undone...

...and covering up the window so you can't see what's inside.

Of course, another thing to consider is not making the shed too conspicuous so that it attracts people who think there might be something worth stealing inside! But with these efforts, it gives me peace of mind and means I'm at least covered on my insurance.

For when I'm out and about, I have several heavy duty locks including this one from Abus which weighs a ton!