One great advantage of cycling is that journey times are predictable: you always know exactly how long a trip’s going to take because you don’t get stuck in traffic jams.

That’s the theory at least, but how come I always arrive for appointments exactly five minutes late, regardless of whether it’s a seven minute or a 25 minute ride?

My perma-tardiness is all down to the rigmarole of getting ready to ride. Getting ready can actually take as long as the journey itself. I’m sure the same happens to you: you’re outside, about to ride away, when suddenly you realise you’ve forgotten your lock, lock key, waterproofs, gloves, helmet, lights, working batteries for the lights, or pannier bag.

The process of fetching the missing items requires you to unlock the gate, unlock the back door or the shed, locate the item – invariably in the shed if you started your search in the house, and indoors if you began looking in the shed. You then have to lock up doors and gates before setting off. It’s enough to put you off cycling altogether.

The key to hassle-free riding is organisation. It used to take me a good 10 minutes just to corral all of my bike gear before going out, especially in autumn and winter. With a jacket in the hallway, helmet under the stairs, house keys in the hallway but bike keys in the kitchen, riding shoes in a shoe rack, gloves and lights by the back door, I was a guaranteed five minutes late to get anywhere.

Now I have a streamlined system with all of my bike gear, in a dedicated box by the back door, and life feels so much simpler. But even being organised won’t recharge your lights for you, and the failing evening light at this time of year always catches cyclists out.

Especially on these bright autumn mornings, it’s easy to forget to take your lights as you leave for work, and batteries do go flat. It’s a real conscious effort for cyclists to be lit, rather than something that’s automatically there as with a car.

For city riding, the clever money is on dynamos. Not the old style that click on and off the tyre sidewall, but hub dynamos. They generate minimal friction and provide ample light for front and rear bulbs. The beauty of hub dynamos is you can’t forget them and they don’t need charging. You can use locking nuts to prevent the wheel (usually the front wheel) being stolen and the light fittings front and rear are bolted on and unlikely ever to get stolen as they aren’t standalone units with batteries.

Failing that, battery-powered handlebar-mounted lights are getting bigger, better and miles cheaper every year. If you just need to be seen by drivers, you can’t go wrong with Cateye lights and all of Oxfordshire’s bike shops sell them. This autumn, be prepared, see and be seen.