I’m hoping that publishing my cycling goals, and making my progress public, motivates me to push on and have a successful year. Obviously, success is relative and highly personal – your idea of success might be very different to mine – but if I can improve as a rider through working towards some specific targets, they’re worth setting.

Without further ado, here they are:

1. Ride a variety of distances in SPOCO (TT) events and qualify for a 2017/18 handicap.

2. Finish in the bunch in at least one ELV Winter Series 2/3 crit (bonus point – place in top 10).

3. FTP of 300 by 1 April (don’t worry about weight, I can afford to put on a few kg in muscle and it might even be a good thing for my riding as well as my vanity).

4. May to October – focus on road races and place/score BC points in a 2/3 standard race.

5. Gain 2nd Cat licence by end of the season.

They’re deliberately varied to help me develop different aspects of my cycling.

I’ll re-visit this post every now and then and, with a bit of luck, tick off a few of these goals as the months and races roll by. I’m sure there’ll be set-backs along the way – injuries, illness, crashing and hangovers are hazards of the trade – so I might need to re-visit and adjust my expectations.

For now though, it’s game on…