Participating in sportives is a wonderful experience for cyclists. These events bring together riders of all levels for challenging routes and camaraderie. However, amidst the excitement, safeguarding your bike becomes crucial to prevent the heartbreak of theft. Here are the top ways to ensure your bike stays safe during a sportive:

Use our bike park!

We’ll start with a shameless plug….As part of the Wales Sportive, Pedal Cover are offering free secure bike parking participating in the event! Sadly, it’s not uncommon for organised thieves to target sporting events and with many participants having the mentality of safety in numbers or thinking they won’t be the ones getting their bikes stolen, they make easy pickings for unscrupulous criminals. Don’t end up bike less, use our free bike park!

Don’t leave bikes on roof or visible in car.

Many of us will travelling from outside of Wales with the bikes in or on the roof of the car.  It’s important to remember that leaving expensive bikes visible on a vehicle is not advised. If you do have to leave your bike on the roof of the car, just be mindful that the locks on roof racks are not rated by insurance companies. Be sure to use a sold secure lock around the frame of your bike and through the roof rack. If leaving your bike within the car, it is advisable to cover the bike up from view as soon as possible.

Take your bike into your accommodation

When booking accommodation, check with the host or hotel whether or not you can keep your bike within your room.  Most hosts will be happy for you to bring your bike into the room but it’s important to respect their property and ensure the bike is squeaky clean. It also means you can get up, eat and out on the bike much faster in the morning

After the event, try to keep the bike in plain sight

While it’s tempting to mingle and explore during and after the ride, try to stay near your bike as much as possible. Thankfully bicycle theft at the Wales Sportive is rare (the bike park helps 😉 )Thieves are more likely to strike when they see an unattended bike, so keeping it within your line of sight is crucial.

 What lock should I use and who are Sold Secure?

Sold Secure are a third party rating company who test bicycle locks to see how easy they are to break open. The vast majority of bicycle locks sold in the UK will have this rating, and will usually display their rating proudly on the packaging. If you are unsure, you can check your lock against the database over on their website. There are some lock manufacturers who use terms like Gold and Silver in their marketing but are not rated by Sold Secure. Make sure you look for the Sold Secure logo when buying a bicycle lock.

 If you are leaving your bicycle unattended when out and about, or if it stored somewhere not secure, then it will need to be locked through the frame to an immovable object with an approved lock. Bicycles worth £1,500 or more need a Sold Secure Gold rated bike lock. Bicycles worth less than £1,500 can be locked with Sold Secure Silver.

How should I lock my bike up?

Your bicycle should be locked through the frame to the immovable object with your approved lock. Make sure you do not lock the bike through a wheel, or any other part which can easily be removed. If a thief is able to steal your bicycle without the need to cut your lock, then the bicycle would not be covered.

What bike locks are best?

So long as the lock you use meets the required Sold Secure level for the value of your bicycle, it does not matter which type of lock you use. However, some styles tend to be better or practical than others. D-locks tend to be the strongest. They are very hard to cut and thieves will generally pass them by to find a softer target. Chain locks can come in a very wide rand of quality but are generally easier to bypass than D-locks. They also tend to be quite heavy and best used in unsecure garages where a D-lock might be difficult to get on and off. Cable locks are nice to carry around but are notoriously easy to break. They are of course, best avoided!

Hopefully this article has been informative and helps you make some good decisions when it comes to event day but most importantly, we hope you have a brilliant day of traffic free cycling. See you there!

If you are taking part in the Wales Sportive, it’s worth checking to see if you have the correct level of insurance in place. Pedalcover offer a combined home and bicycle policy, travel insurance and also bicycle only insurance policies to cover sportives, cycle racing and cycle touring. Better still, Long Course Weekend and Wales Sportive participants get 15% off our dedicated cycle and travel insurance! If you need any help, just give our friendly support staff a call on 0800 121 4424