New year, New plans....

Happy New year to you all.

January is such an awkward month to begin a new year - someone should get it changed - all of those resolutions, to be better and purer; those vows to stop drinking and eat healthily; the perversions regarding fitness regimes and gym memberships..... all of these things in a month where you wake and dress at a time of day so dark it could easily be the middle of night, when sunlight visits for maybe an hour each day if we're lucky. Rather than a time for reinvention, resolutions and change January seems to me more a time for bedding down; staying with what you know, being comfortable.... surviving. New Year would be better starting in Spring or Summer - both times infinitely more suitable for embracing change. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against change, I love new bursts of energy and a life made up of different acts. I don't necessarily want to be the same person year after year, however New Years resolutions are never the way to change anything - particularly as they seem to involve, in the main, a massive denial of anything enjoyable, anything associated with fun. Surely life can only get better when you resolve to have as much of that as possible.

We've made some cycling plans for 2015 that continue our tried and tested methods. Namely a few decent long rides and a main 'target' - something to aim for.... a 'goal' ride.

We are planning riding to Skegness in April - that's a 100 miler (one way). We've done it a couple of times previously and its a good way to get a century into our legs early in the year - not too much uphill either. We intend to ride the Dunwich Dynamo this year - a mad ride from central London to the Suffolk coast - 100+ miles, riding through the night so that we arrive on Dunwich beach as dawn breaks. We've entered the Prudential Ride London again - that was a highlight from last year so we're hoping to repeat it - riding around London on traffic-free roads with thousands of other and crowds of  applauding spectators is a definite feel-good. Our main ride will be Barton in the Beans to Bruges. Yes we continue our alliterative escapes with a ride down to the coast, across to France and up the coast from Calais via Dunkirk and into Belgium. 300+ miles and a nice hotel break at the end. The Tour of Leicestershire last year was another good tester - I'm hoping we'll manage that again too.

So there it is. Plans?, Resolutons? - call it what you like - essentially it's cycling and, hopefully, fun.