Sportive

RCUK’s 2016 new year’s cycling resolutions

These are our goals for 2016 - what are yours?

It’s that time of year again. Where did the last 12 months go? As 2015 turns to 2016, it gives us a chance to look back on the year that’s been, and what’s to come.

So, in the spirit of things, here at RCUK we’ve decided to commit our new year’s resolutions to paper… or, worse still, the internet.

As well as looking back and thinking about what we’ve achieved this year, we’ve scratched our heads and thought about what we want to do on the bike in 2016. Some of these goals are pretty manageable; the others? Well, we’ll give them a good crack.

What are your new year’s resolutions? What are your hopes and dreams for life on two wheels? It’s an opportunity to wipe the slate clean, dream as big or small as you want, and plan for the year to come. Now’s the time to be ambitious, right? Let us know in the comments section at the bottom or on our Facebook page. Don’t worry, we won’t hold you to them…

Will a Bianchi Specialissima be Mike’s new bike? Just don’t tell his fiancée

Mike Anderson, deputy editor

Put the gadgets away

Seeing as I test a lot of kit I always seem to have some kind of new gadget to ride with. It’s great. Except, of course, when it’s not. I’ve spent more time staring at screens this year than I really should have, so next year I want at least one ride per week where I leave the tech at home and just enjoy riding the bike. Why focus on the numbers when my burning legs can tell me all I need to know about how slow I am?!

Acquire at least one more bike

Because you always need another bike. But please, don’t tell my fiancée. They’re much harder to reject when they turn up on the doorstep…

The Tour of Flanders is a unique sporting spectacle (Pic: Trek)

Go to the Tour of Flanders

I’ve been to E3, Gent-Wevelgem and ridden in Flanders on multiple occasions, but it’s time to finally go and see the big one. It’s the best bike race in the world’s best place to ride a bike. And I want to be there.

Colin Henrys, staff writer

Lose weight

No need to sugar-coat it! Becoming an adult with more pressure on my time and a wife who cooks large portions of good food means I’ve slipped into bad routines and am no longer the lean, mean racing machine I once was (*cough*). Yes, it would be nice to improve power to weight ratio and all that malarkey, but first things first let’s get back into the kit I used to fit in when I first started…

Follow a training plan

Which leads me nicely into point two. With no structure to my training – both on the bike and off it – it’s harder to find motivation to get out and ride. A training plan will solve the problem of time constraints and also offer realistic goals to work towards in the new year.

Ride the Trans-Pennine Trail

Living in Warrington, I’m handily placed to get on to the Trans-Pennine Trail – a dedicated cycle path which leads all the way from Fleetwood on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire to Hull on the other side of the country. Following rivers, disused railway lines, bridle paths and the like, it’s about two-thirds off-road and one-third road. ‘Route 62’ should be an ideal ground for logging some serious miles (once my gear’s up to scratch). Plus it’s an ideal way of charting progress – the fitter I am, the further I can go (though not all the way to Hull… why would I want to go to Hull?!).

George Scott, editor

Ride in another (new) country

We’re lucky in this job that we get to travel around a little, usually to bike launched or trade shows and normally to the European cycling heartlands of France, Italy, Spain and Belgium. They’re all incredible places to ride – you’ve got the Alps, Dolomites, Pyrenees and Flanders for starters – but in 2016 I want to spread my wings and ride in a new country. Where? Well that’s some way off but my hit list includes Norway, Iceland, Vietnam, the United States, so one of them may be a good place to start…

Climb Mont Ventoux

Mont Ventoux looms large on my bucket list just as it towers over the lavender fields of Provence. I’ve climbed the Col du Tourmalet and Alpe d’Huez – the two other iconic mountain ascents of the Tour de France – and now the Giant of Provence is the next one to tick off.

Get better at looking after my bike

I know my way around the bike but there’s definitely room for improvement. I’d like to have a better understanding of the intricacies of bicycle maintenance – that might mean taking a course of burying my head in a book – so that if anything goes wrong I can confidently deal with it.