New Year Resolutions or Good Intentions?

As I sit housebound due to catching my first cold of 2017 on New Years Eve, It’s a good opportunity to start planning my riding activities for 2018.

At 51, I am long past making New Years resolutions. After all, they always get broken after a week or two.

However, I do like to start each New Year with a fresh start of New Year intentions. There might not seem to be any difference between a Resolution and an Intention, but it’s a psychological difference. A resolution to me says I MUST do something. I either do it or I don’t. And when I falter, then I’ve failed, so what’s the point in continuing.

An intention, to me is something that I WANT to do. There isn’t a simple pass or fail criteria. At the end of the determined period of time, success is measured by how much further I am forward than I was at the starting point.

Does this sound like a cop out, an easy way out of commitment? Maybe it is, but it doesn’t have to be. A good intention can still have a goal or a target, but the intention gives you options on how to achieve the goal.

What are your cycling goals in 2018?

Do you want to start cycling regularly and meet other people? Do you want to get faster, stronger, go further? Have you entered a big event that’s going need a lot of training? These are the goals. Now you need to work out what you need to do to get there. This will form your good intentions that with determination will become good habits, and set you flying towards that end goal.

I set my end goal back in August 2017. I want to not just qualify for Paris-Brest-Paris 2019, http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/index-en.php, but qualify comfortably, and know that I am in excellent shape to complete the event.

I did my first attempt in 2015. However, starting my ultra long distance rides on the qualifiers was not the greatest way to go about it, and I didn’t complete the full distance. I’m older and wiser now, and have a female partner in crime to also bring up to speed.

The training has already started. I’ve made a commitment to get fitter, stronger and faster. My good intentions for 2018 are to ride more often (ideally daily), get to the gym for cross training sessions, and complete lots of long rides during the year. Going into 2019 (The year of the qualifiers and the event), I want to be in the best possible shape.

If your NY good intentions, or indeed your NY resolutions involve spending more time on the bike, what are you going to do to make it happen?

You can ride with friends, join a social cycling group, join a club or sign up for a charity ride or a cycling holiday.

State your intention – make it happen.

Happy New Year everyone

Marcia