When out for a cycle, I like to travel light, but always take some money and a credit card in case of emergency. My boyfriend, who runs a laser-cutting business, made me this perfect ‘woody wallet’, which is just right for holding a banknote (for ‘emergency’ coffee and cake stop), a pound coin (for a phonecall, if phone boxes still exist?), and a credit card (for all other emergencies).

 

I’ve had my fair share of emergencies when cycling, from my basket breaking when fully loaded, which necessitated parking my bike and get a taxi home with the contents of the broken basket, to being the victim of a hit and run, when I needed to call for help and arrange for transport to get me and my bike home. Without a credit card on me I would have been well and truly stuck.

Another cycling emergency that happened last year was when my hub failed. Now I had not budgeted for any major cycle maintenance, thinking that Sturmey Archer hub gears were built to last. Well, mine didn’t. Apparently the components of the newer ones are made of cheaper metal, but the cost of replacement of the whole hub is not cheap. Luckily bicycle-building is another hobby my boyfriend enjoys, and he managed to strip it down and locate the faulty parts. I used my credit card to order the tools and parts needed, and he was able to get it up and running again. Phew!

Of course what constitutes an emergency when cycling is open to discussion. Cycling past a shop window that shows the perfect pair of shoes that I have been coveting for months with a ‘50% reduction, today only’ sign would set off flashing red emergency lights in my brain, a squeeze of the brakes, and a quick stop to dash in and whip out the credit card (lucky I got a new basket eh?).

 

 

Now, I need to put a disclaimer here, as I do not want to be encouraging the building of debt through credit card use. I will only use my credit card when I know I have the money to pay it off in full each month. I bank with Santander, and their online banking system makes it easy to manage. You can set email or text alerts such as ‘Alert me before my credit card bill is due to be paid’ or ‘Alert me when the amount available to spend on my credit card falls below a certain amount’ so you know where you are with your spending, and you can also set up direct debit payments so that your bill is paid on time every month. The card I have is the Santander 123 credit card, so I also get cashback on my spending every month. So as long as you have your financial wits about you, you can make credit cards work for you, and not against you.

Whatever you feel about credit credit cards, I think you will agree that they are essential items ‘in case of emergency’ – however you define that term.