Cycling is a great way to exercise and get from A to B. You also get to enjoy that warm fuzzy feeling that you get from making the right choice when it comes to your carbon footprint. Riding a bike or an e-bike can be great for your muscle tone, endurance, weight, and overall mood. Cycling is considered a low impact exercise, meaning that your bones and joints don’t suffer from the same onslaught that they would if you were jogging every day.
Even though cycling is a low impact exercise, cyclists do get injured while riding their bikes. Collisions with vehicles are rare, but many people will suffer injuries caused by hitting stationary objects or even just falling off their own bike. These cycling injuries are common and quite painful to experience.
As a cyclist, you may be wondering: “How can you prevent injury while cycling?” The good news is that with the right techniques and best practices, you can avoid many of the common cycling injuries. Here are the nine safety tips on how you can prevent injury while cycling:
1. Wear a helmet
The best way you can prevent injury while cycling is to wear a helmet. If you have ever seen a bicycle helmet after an accident, then you will know just how much they can protect you from harm. The helmet will probably be destroyed after a hard impact from concrete, but without that to protect you the damage to your head would be quite severe.
2. Use hand signals while cycling
Using hand signals while cycling is not only courteous, but it can prevent injury and potentially save your life. Even the best driver on the road is not a mind reader and if you can let them know that you are making a turn, they will be much more aware that you are present and about to change direction or speed. This makes everyone much more confident in the other’s next move.
3. Use the bell while cycling
The bicycle bell is a small item with a big impact. It can easily prevent injury while cycling. You have a bell on your bike to alert other cyclists that you are passing and to also let cars know that you are there. Sounding the bell when you are passing a parked car that has people in it is very important and you should not just trust that the passenger or driver is aware that you are passing.
4. Install lights on your bike
Installing lights can help you to prevent injury while cycling at night. Even if you have no intention of riding at night, you should have lights on your bike. You never know when your plans will change and you might have to cycle home in less than ideal conditions. This is especially important to keep in mind when the days are getting shorter. You might get caught out in dim lighting.
5. Learn how to brake smoothly
A common cause of cycling injuries is breaking too hard and too fast. This can become very dangerous as there may be bikes behind you or you could simply lose control and fall over into traffic or pedestrians. This advice is very important for young children or those new to cycling.
6. Obey the rules of the road
If you are riding a bike, or driving a car, the same advice applies. Be predictable on the road. If you make a sudden change to your direction or speed without signalling, the rest of the people on the road will not have enough time to react.
One of the most basic rules of the road is that you should always stay on the right side of the road. Occasionally, you see some cyclists flaunt this rule that think it is okay to do so if they are only taking a quick shortcut. Other people on the road may not see you if you are coming from a direction that they don’t expect you to.
7. Wear reflective clothing
In order to prevent injury while cycling, you need to do all that you can to be seen. Wearing all black makes you hard to see, even with lights on your bike. You need to do all that you can to be seen and heard by others on the road at all times.
8. Maintain your bike
Making sure that you check your bike regularly for any damage can help to prevent injury. Ensuring that the tires have enough air means that you will have enough contact with the road to slow down and comfortably control your bike. You should have a professional take a look at your bike once in a while to ensure that everything is in working order.
9. Protect your back
Bad posture when riding a bike can cause discomfort when riding in your lower back. This might dissipate quickly when you stop riding however over time you will be doing some damage to your spine and back muscles. Cycling with a correct posture can help you to prevent injuries and accidents.
