5 Ways to Stay Safer on Every Bike Ride
Bike riding is inherently risky: Whether you’re a seasoned cyclist or new to the bike, roads and trails present hazards to riders. But the best things in life don’t come free. By taking precautions and riding smart, you can protect yourself against the biggest dangers and stay safer on every ride.
Light Up
Winter is here, and that means fewer hours of daylight. Commuting to work at 7am suddenly feels like the middle of the night—and by the time you leave the office at 5pm, it’s pitch black again. When you're riding in low-light conditions, bike lights are one of the best ways to keep both yourself and the road ahead of you well-lit. Using a blinking rear light makes you easier for drivers to spot, and can make you more visible to other trail riders with limited reaction time.
A front light can illuminate things you might miss in dusky shadows. When light shopping, Lezyne Product Manager Kyle Casteel advises choosing lights with at least “150 lumens to see, anything under to be seen.” That means even Lezyne’s cheapest rear light, which puts out seven lumens, helps; its red light is more visible than white light, so fewer lumens are needed to keep you visible. “There is an industry-wide push to get riders to use lights while riding during daylight hours,” Casteel adds. “Throwing a blinker on during the day greatly increases visibility.” Subscribe to Bicycling to stay current on the best new lights.
File a Flight Plan
Before you head out, it’s good practice to let at least one person know where you’ll be riding, and roughly when you’ll be back. You can even get tech that stays in touch for you, like the ICEdot tracker. The tracker, which sticks to your helmet and sends an automatic message in the event of a crash, newly provides ride notifications and a live tracking feed: “That way you can change your mind about your route as you see fit but you're still communicating with someone about your plans," says ICEdot’s Chris Zenthoefer. ICEdot sounds a bit Big Brother-ish, but if you crash and are stranded with no cell service (or worse, are unconscious), you’ll be glad you had it.
You can also use an app like Find My Friends and turn “Always Share Location” on with a friend or family member so you’re constantly trackable.
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Have Accessible Emergency Info
Having readily-available emergency info is a smart—if a little grim—precaution. You can set up your smartphone to provide certain emergency info, even within the lock screen, by setting up the Health App on iPhones or Owner Settings on Androids. That way, if something does happen to you en route, emergency personnel can see and call your emergency contact, and access vital info like allergies.
Going on long rides can drain your cell battery, so have a Plan B: Carry a card in your saddlebag with emergency contact info and any pertinent medical info, or invest in wearable identification like RoadID bracelets. “A friend was found unconscious after being hit by a bus and went to the hospital; they then rang his wife based on details from his RoadID,” says Greg May, a mountain biker and exercise physiologist. He adds, “Since then, I've had one, as has my wife!”
Carry a Spare
You don’t have to carry everything but the kitchen sink on a ride, but you should never leave home without the gear you need to fix a flat (a tube, CO2, and minipump), plus a multitool. An extra pocket-sized windbreaker or rain jacket is another must-have, in the event that you’re stuck fixing your bike, or the ride takes longer than expected. Pro endurance mountain biker Rebecca Rusch even says that with crazy weather in Colorado, she always has a shower cap and plastic gloves tucked into her saddlebag in case of sudden storms.
RELATED: How to Stay Safe While Riding in Traffic
Wear Your Helmet
It’s a little obvious, but bears repeating: Wear your helmet. Always. Even a short ride can end in a crash, and you’ll never be upset that you opted to wear one. According to recent stats from the US Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, only 17 percent of fatally injured bicyclists were wearing helmets—and many of the deaths were due to severe head trauma. Don’t forget to regularly check your helmet for wear, tears, and cracks, especially after it’s been in a crash, an overhead compartment on a flight, or the floor of a car.
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