Photo: The last ride of 2017 on New Year’s Eve. I’m standing next to Peter who is dressed as the only ninja on the ride.

New year, new blog. Inspired by my wife’s blog www.Jancanrun.com I have decided to blog about my cycling adventures. How I got here is explained in ABOUT.

New Years mean new plans. Yesterday, on the Islington Cycling Club Forum I posted my objectives and plans for 2018. That seems a good place to start this blog:

“Like many others my 2017 cycling year finished today. In my second full year on the bike I clocked up 12,023km and climbed 105,538 m (Garmin metres not Strava phone app metres!). I am very happy with that, so now seems a good time to document my goals for 2018.

In essence 2018 is a training year to help me prepare for Paris-Brest-Paris in 2019

I know I can ride for long distances (e.g. 401km in 16.5 hours solo this year) but I have been able to rest the following day. I now need to train for multi day events. That’s my focus for 2018.

Jan – Mar: London

• Working off the festive weight gain
• Club rides. Intro Rides and Group Skills volunteering
• 200k audax
• Kent University online course The Science of Endurance Training and Performance.

Apr – May: Italy

• Start with a few solo 2 and 3 consecutive day rides.
• Fly back for the London Revolution with @Sir_Shannonball and @DavidMason.
• Nove Colli Grandfondo, Cesenatico

June: London

• Back to London to host the Pansèrs at The Italian Job
• Any audaxes I can fit in

July – Oct: Italy

• 500k in a day ride
• Multiple day rides culminating in a PBP simulation (4 consecutive days of 300km, returning home each day). This will establish that I can/cannot cycle 1,200km in 90 hours leaving me the night time riding/sleeping/feeding/battery vs dynamo strategy to work out/practice
• Host the second edition of the ICC Pansèr twinning weekend in August
• Continue with local multi day rides
• Geneva – Nice, 6 days of climbing in the Alps in September

Nov – Dec: London

• Club rides and volunteering
• Complete this year’s target of 15,000 km

That’s the rough plan. Let’s see how it turns out.”