Eleven Christmas Gift ideas for Cyclists

Christmas is only 28 days away: you're working 20 of them, the school curriculum and family engagements take up another 6 of them and if you're really lucky riding your bike two Sunday mornings might take up one of them. That leaves the usual one day on Christmas Eve to do your Christmas Shopping!

The above isn't something you can change but you CAN get an early bid in for what you'd like to find in your own Christmas Stocking by forwarding this e-mail on to the all important people now highlighting the appropriate parts!

Tell them the truth!

No, we don’t want yet another pair of socks with bicycles on them or a bicycle shaped bottle opener or yet another tee-shirt with an over-used stereo-typed slogan! 😠

What we REALLY want is another bike …

1. A New Bike

The price tag 🏷 on this one is admittedly rather expensive but bicycles 🚲 do range in price from free to frightening.

Your local Bike Rescue centre will have some of the former (they usually accept donations) and often have some exciting rusty classics your bicycle enthusiast might be thrilled to receive to tinker 🔧 with in the garage with winter.

The latter is best avoided as a gift for fear of making an expensive mistake as tastes in the frightening department vary dramatically depending on the purpose of said bike 😅

If you were after something a little easier to wrap here follows ten other enlightening ideas 💡

By Aliexpress

2. Funky Bar Tape

We are no longer restricted to boring basics in this department and this is an area where cyclists can now ‘personalise’ or ‘pimp’ (choose your preference) their steed.

Road.cc have put together a few ideas

road.cc list Best bar tapes!

Or if you want to be really adventurous and personalise your gift then bikeradar show you how to tie dye your own

Tie dye your cockpit

Putting it on is quite another matter. Best to avoid your loved one when this is happening. Excellent gift for added garage time this Christmas. If this is something you are seeking to avoid however read on …

3. A Strava Subscription

If you've never heard of Strava it's a fabulous social media app for athletes allowing them to record their rides and explore new routes. 

Yes it can become quite competitive but only if you make it so. 

Even if your loved one is not 'into' social media and doesn't fancy letting all and sundry know their vital statistics, the beauty of Strava is that it can be totally private too!

Read all about it here.

Sign up here: https://www.strava.com/

4. Lights

Cyclists need good lights! There are a plethora of bicycle lights available on the market. Encourage your loved one to ALWAYS have a back light as a minimum. Night and Day.

Visibility is increased tremendously during daylight hours with a flashing back light.
Re-chargeable or battery-operated.
It does no harm to always carry a spare battery-operated back light in with the tool-kit.
Back lights are notorious for falling off at hideous road ramps and being flattened by the car behind before you’ve had a chance to retrieve them!

Amazon have squillions to choose from. And if they already have good lights get them some little LED Christmas lights to light up their ride 😊

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
By Occasionally Eggs : Recipe here

5. Bake them a Cake!

We cyclists love a good snack out on the road and not only are gels and power bars expensive they’re also pretty boring after a while.
What we really love are a variety of home bakes packed full of hearty wholesome carbs. Gluten-free muffins are my favourite - I add chia, sunflower seeds and dried cranberries to this Recipe
(Even if your cyclist isn’t gluten-free I find that using gluten-free flour for my ride snacks where I’m bent over is kinder on my tummy).

Make your own flapjacks with nuts, dried fruit, chia seeds, honey 🍯 and oats and cut everything into cute little bike-sized, I mean bite-sized chunks.

Or buy a bicycle shaped cutter and make them a whole cookie jar of ginger biscuits and wrap it in a new tyre tube with tinsel (they can never have too many spare tubes) 😉

6. New Kit

Every cyclist loves receiving something new to wear on the bike. Go on - take a punt - just pick something that you like 👍 (and make sure you can send it back and swap it 😂)

But an actual piece of clothing you can wrap and therefore open on Christmas Day is always much more fun than a gift card. And if you get it hideously wrong it’s also funnier … and that’s what makes Christmas.

7. National Cycle Network Sponsorship

Sponsoring a mile is a unique and fun way to support the network.
You can have your certificate personalised and make the purchase through Sustrans here:
https://shop.sustrans.org.uk/products/sponsor-a-mile

8. A Tennis Lesson

Seriously, if the cyclist in your life seems to just cycle ALL the time they need a little respite every now and then and to try a different sport or past-time just for fun.

Whether it's a sky dive, ballroom dancing, backgammon, ballet or a boxing session, doing something new is a fabulous present on a number of levels:

1. Different sports exercise different muscles.
   
2. It's good fun and you can do it with them
3. They might like it and keep it up
4. It does the brain good to learn new things which is great for mental well-being
5. It'll be a real surprise! 😉

Sitting on the bike in the same position for prolonged periods of time can have its own issues which brings me to the next gift on our list

9. A Massage

This can be of the Do-it-yourself variety or better still treat them to a session with a qualified Sports Therapist. If you are in the Leighton Buzzard area this well-reputed clinic boasts some excellent results combined with Stott Pilates techniques.

https://www.thesportstherapyroom.co.uk/

If you are elsewhere in the world it is always a good idea to seek out recommendations for such treatment rather than just Googling it and relying on the SEO results!

Too many cyclists leave it until they are in pain before they make such a visit whereas multiple injuries can be prevented with regular specialist treatment and adoption of the right exercises.
Although the former might be a whole lot of fun and slightly less expensive the latter is more likely to have the desired end result.

10. Gadgets

There is always a new gadget out there but no, not just any old gadget, I'm not talking about the bottle openers I refer to in my opening paragraph, I'm talking about the little things that make life on and off the bike easier.

Bike-packers like small, practical things they can carry like compact chargers and waterproof phone holders, easy-to-dry sports bras and fold up toothbrushes while the quick spin cyclist might like a state-of-the-art bike computer, an extra-light rain jacket, a diddy little multi-tool and sunglasses to match his/her bike.

Amazon has them all!

Breakfast aboard our yacht, Linda before departing to cycle a new island each day!

11. A Cycle Holiday!

That’s where we come in! We all need a holiday to look forward to. Our holidays come in two styles (avid and active) and the challenge can be combined with sunshine and luxury.

In the case of Spain and Croatia the sunshine is far more likely than on our Scotland and Ireland Tours but when the sun shines on them it truly is a rugged heaven!

Nothing beats our Croatia Tour for abject post-ride luxury. The Skipper and his crew will carry your bike aboard and pour you a drink to aid your recovery from a challenging but stunningly beautiful day on your bike. The chef then prepares an incredible 5 star meal each night where you are served aboard by a dedicated waiter.

But be quick we only take 12 on the yacht and we only have two tour dates in 2023!
The good news is that this particular tour also suits non-cycling partners 👍

Browse through all of our 2023 tours here:

https://www.wildatlanticcycling.com/

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy your Christmas pedaling wherever you are; whether you are popping to the shops for last minute cream for the pudding, turbo-ing in the garage or braving the snow on piste on your fat bike!