24 days of Christmas cycling
Christmas is almost here and many people will be celebrating whether they’re religious or not. You can use the 24 days leading up to Christmas Day – known as advent – as an excuse to get out on your bike using the ideas below; or add your own.
Advent starts on 1 December, so we’re posting this a few days before so you can start planning.
If you do any of these, we’d love to see any photos you share on social media. Remember to use the hashtag #CyclingAdventureCalendar and tag @WeAreCyclingUK.
1. Decorate your bike with Christmas decorations
Get your bike in the festive spirit by decking it out with some tinsel and other decorations. You even add some battery-powered fairy lights for extra sparkle.
It’ll certainly get you noticed – although the addition of jingle bells might get on people’s nerves. Just take care not to get tinsel or wires caught up in moving parts like the wheels or chain.
2. Go on a Christmas lights ride
Now that your bike is suitably decorated, hop on it to explore your local area’s Christmas lights. There are always households that go all out, even creating full-on lit-up nativity scenes in their front gardens.
You can create a route taking in all these houses and head out after dark to really make the most of the lights. The kids will love it and can take photos of their favourites. You can treat yourself to a warming hot chocolate when you get home.
3. Go carolling with your cycle group
Spread the Christmas joy by getting a few cycling friends together – all of whom will have decorated their bikes of course – to sing Christmas carols by bike. You could even collect donations as you go for a local cause.
Extra points if you all dress up appropriately!
4. Collect the tree by bike
This one’s a lot easier with a cargo bike – but never underestimate the ingenuity of cyclists when it comes to carrying large objects by bike. Some local authorities offer cargo bike hire, so check your council’s website.
Whether you’re getting a real tree or plastic, you don’t need the car. It’s perfectly possible to transport large items by bike. Just make sure you don’t block your eyeline.
5. Cycle to a local bakery to buy mince pies
Mince pies are an essential part of Christmas and if you get yours from a local bakery you’ll be supporting a local business and helping to boost your local economy.
Pick them up by bike and you’ve already burnt the calories, so you can feel doubly virtuous.
6. Collect the materials to make your own Christmas wreath
A DIY Christmas wreath is a festive way to decorate your front door and test your crafting skills. A local garden centre should be able to provide you with everything you need.
Look for mixed evergreens like ivy and pine, while pinecones, pyracantha berries, rosehips and dried flowers will add colour. A roll of thin wire is used for the base. There are some great tutorials online if you need some inspiration.
7. Make Christmas decorations out of old bike parts
While you’re feeling creative, you could try turning those discarded bike parts that you’ll never use but can’t bear to throw away into decorations. Unwanted cogs can be transformed into tree decorations or you could fashion tealight holders from an old chain.
You could even save some money and turn bike parts into gifts. People have made belts out of old innertubes, cufflinks from chain links and even jewellery using part of a broken chain.
8. Cycle to see the Christmas lights be turned on
Many towns across the UK will brighten up the town centre with Christmas lights and have an official turning on ceremony – usually with a local celeb doing the honours.
Cycle down to one close to you and enjoy the spectacle with friends and family. A hot chocolate in a thermos will help keep you warm while watching proceedings.
9. Bake some cycling-themed cookies
Get your Christmas cooking started with some bike-shaped biscuits to hand out with the mince pies and sherries on Christmas morning. Santa will no doubt appreciate a handful left out on Christmas Eve too.
You can try fashioning your own or buy a cycle cookie cutter. Use green and red icing for that complete Christmas look.
10. Play Christmas music while cycling the kids to school
If you’re part of a bike bus cycling the kids to school, you could coordinate with other parents and volunteers to play Christmassy songs on your phones.
If the children are old enough and experienced enough cyclists, you could encourage them to sing along. Help them wrap some tinsel around their handlebars too and it’ll brighten up a cold morning’s ride to school.
11. Deliver your Christmas cards by bike
Channel your inner postie and hand deliver your Christmas cards by bike this year.
Back in the day, of course, much post was delivered by bike and some of the old MailStar bikes were refurbished and sold as Elephant Bikes. If you’ve got one of these handsome machines, we’d love to see photos!
12. Mince pie ride
Many Cycling UK groups put on annual mince pie rides during December. Check out our events page to find one near you. At their simplest these are rides that include a stop at a café for hot mince pies and coffee – possibly even with a squirt of cream.
Some, however, have evolved into big events held in town halls, with stalls, prize draws and a range of goodies on sale, as well as the pies!
Members can ride with any member group; non-members can join up to three rides. For affiliate groups, contact the group to find out their rules.
13. Try night riding for the first time
Riding in the dark can be both exhilarating and a bit scary, especially if you’ve never done it. There’s something about the nighttime, the quieter streets and the lights shining from streetlamps, other road users and even houses.
With the days at their shortest, you don’t even have to wait till late in the day to try out some night riding. Don’t forget that you’ll need lights – both front and back – and we advise that you don’t go anywhere too quiet. Getting a few friends together will make the ride more social. You can tempt them with some of those bike-shaped cookies you baked earlier in the month!
14. Organise a ‘supermarket sleigh ride’
This originated in Bristol, with a group of cyclists collecting unsold food from supermarkets and delivering it to a food bank so less well off people could enjoy a proper Christmas dinner.
Organise your own by contacting local supermarkets to arrange food pickup and a close-by food bank for delivery. Then get as many cycling friends as possible to help carry the food.
If there aren’t any food banks near you, a collection of last year’s unwanted Christmas presents for a children’s centre or items for charity shops would also surely be much appreciated.
15. Visit Santa’s grotto with the kids by bike
Young ones love going to Santa’s grotto in December to get an extra present and let Santa know what they want for Christmas – a balance bike perhaps?
This year, why not take them there by bike? It’ll be a great family day out and if they’re old enough to get there under their own steam it will be quite the adventure for them.
16. Deliver presents by bike
You got the cards done earlier in the month, now it’s time to make like Santa hand deliver all those presents for people you won’t be seeing on the day.
Work out a route taking in all the houses you need to visit and let friends and family know you’re on your way. Hopefully they’ll have a mince pie ready for you when you get there. Best to leave the sherry as a reward when you get home, though.
17. Go for a sunrise ride
There’s something quite amazing about watching the sun rise as you ride, especially if you can get out in nature, even if it’s just a local park. Head out just before sunrise so you can get to your planned destination just as dawn breaks, watching the sky turn all kinds of beautiful colours.
Dawn comes at its latest in December so you won’t have to get up early. Bring a thermos of hot coffee to keep yourself warm and remember you’ll need lights for cycling before sunrise.
18. Start planning your summer riding
If the cold weather and short days are getting you down, now is the ideal time to start planning for spring and summer.
You might want to take up a new type of cycling, try a challenge such as riding one of Cycling UK’s long-distance routes or go on a cycling holiday somewhere with sun. Get a cup of something hot and get out those pens and paper!
19. Have a festive get together with your cycling buddies
Invite your friends over for drinks and nibbles. You can offer them the mince pies you bought on your cycle to a bakery and the cookies you baked – and get them to bring something too.
Or you could arrange a ride to one of your favourite cafés and leave the catering – and the washing up – to the experts.
20. Watch a cycling documentary
Take advantage of the longer nights and settle down to watching some documentaries about your favourite pastime. You can even indulge in some Christmas wine.
There are plenty out there, but our three recommendations are Beauty and the Bike, Eastbound and Chasing the Sun.
The former follows two groups of young women, one from the Cycling Demonstration town of Darlington, UK, where nearly all teenage girls have stopped using a bicycle, the other from Bremen, where cycling is the transport mode of choice for most teenagers. It’s free to watch on YouTube.
Eastbound is Jenny Graham’s inspirational story of her record-breaking ride around the world. It’s also free to view on YouTube. Chasing the Sun follows Chase The Sun riders as they cycle coast to coast, sunrise to sunset, showing how the bicycle might just save the planet.
21. Shortest day ride
Each year brings around the shortest day, 21 December, also known as the winter solstice. There are just seven hours and forty minutes of sunshine. In 2024, it’s a Saturday, so make the most of those limited daylight hours by going for a bike ride.
This close to Christmas Day itself, you might find it hard to make time, but remember that cycling is a great stressbuster and you’ll get back home with a clear mind and raring to finish off the wrapping.
22. Volunteer at a Cycling UK Christmas events or ride
Volunteering has been shown to have all kinds of benefits, from making new friends and gaining skills to improved wellbeing. If any member groups nearby are holding festive events, you could volunteer to help out – they’ll be grateful for the assistance.
We have many other volunteering opportunities if events aren’t your thing, including admin roles and support in our Facebook groups.
23. Cycle to an outdoor ice-skating rink and enjoy some skating after your ride
Many towns and cities host winter wonderlands throughout December, with ice-skating rinks. Get the family together and cycle down for a day of fun on the ice.
Most have winter cafés where you can treat yourselves to a hot chocolate afterwards.
24. Donate to our winter appeal to help support future generations of cyclists
Cycling changes lives for the better, and we want to continue building a better world by bike. If you can, we’d really appreciate a small donation to our winter appeal so that we can carry on improving cycling for everyone.
Happy Christmas to everyone. We hope you enjoy our advent-ure calendar!
