DrVandy Dhawan

Lives Devon Age 43

Ifind cycling to work over winter really quite exhilarating. The oxygenation and the wind blowing in your face makes you feel so much calmer. The first step out of the door can be tricky, but after a cool cycle to work you feel so awake and alert.

If you are a busy parent, cycling to work is a great way to keep exercising in winter when the days are darker and shorter. As I am trying to juggle childcare, work and time for myself, cycling means I have activity automatically built into my day. Those health benefits propel me over winter. But with all the physical distancing and transport di culties now, winter cycling is brilliant for our mental health too.

I am a doctor and started cycling in 2015 when I lived in Newcastle and my commute was 4km. I was doing research at the university and was inspired by the students who cycled. The road to my children’s school was always jammed with cars, so I would cycle to school with my children and then carry on to work. So when we moved to

Exeter this year, we chose a house that was close enough to work that my commute would be on my bike again.

Riding with my kids means that I’m also building a healthy legacy. That’s definitely a motivation on cold days. I don’t want them sitting in front of their screens all winter. If it is snowing and dangerous, we won’t go. And if I can ride through a park, I will. But cycling is just part of our normal routine now.

I also feel motivated to inspire my female colleagues and other mums. When they saw me cycling, I would get admiring glances: ‘Look, even in this weather, she is cycling with her boys!’ But I tell them that you don’t need anything special – equipment or a certain bike – to do it. You just have to start.

They see people in Lycra and think cycling is not for them. But that’s not true. I ride a hybrid bike and I wear my normal work clothes. Over winter, I just roll my trousers up or I wear a skirt with some tights and a reflective rain jacket.

If you cycle all year round, your bike becomes a part of you. You miss your bike like you miss your car when it has gone for repairs. You don’t care about clothing; when you fall in love with cycling, you just want to be out on your bike. On a cold day, you can lose yourself in your thoughts, just taking in the environment and the calmness of being outside. It’s a beautiful way to start a winter’s day.

“My colleagues see people in Lycra and think cycling is not for them. But that’s not true. I ride a hybrid bike and I wear my normal work clothes”