I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but with less than 7 weeks left till Christmas, winter is most definitely on its way.

This week, for the first time in months, the long cycling trousers came out, and it became an issue if I forgot my gloves in the morning. Stopped at traffic lights after a hard climb your breath now graphically demonstrates how hard you breathing, creating your own personal fog. And the looks from work colleagues now turn from amusement at your continued cycling to work, to genuine worry about your well-being.

But the simple fact of the inevitability seems to keep us going. Yes it will get colder; so we don more layers. It may get windier, but battling against a headwind will only make us work harder and gain more. Rain may become a more frequent travelling companion, but those same garments protecting us from the cold impart their waterproof functionality.

There are simple ways to prepare for the onset of winter, but most actually have nothing to do with keeping you warm. Everyone will have the layers of clothing which they need - I have pressed into action normal jumpers and jeans under cycling trousers to ward off the cold in the past. What you really need to do is make sure your bike is working properly, because while things going wrong in the summer can be annoying, in the winter, while it's dark and cold and the wind chill is setting in - well at that point your bike becomes your worst enemy as it keeps you incessantly from your end of ride cocoa.