Enjoy the process – time for new year's resolutions, but not as we know them

If you're reading this while making notes in your journaling pad while sipping something virtuous and non-alcoholic, I take my hat off to you. If these are new-for-26 habits, long may they last and I hope you get a lot from them.

Alternatively, you might be imbibing a cocktail of all the leftover Christmas booze while eating cake and loudly declaring your lack of any belief in new year's resolutions. Either way, it's all good.

Resolutions have in some quarters become victims of their own hype, with resolution-making decried as just another invented requirement and another guilt-stick with which to beat ourselves.

But looked at in the cold light of day they become mere process goals of a kind. Milestones you put in place to help you achieve something. That might be adding 20 watts to your functional threshold power by starting a training programme; or becoming a less 'enthusiastic' drinker by only doing so on special occasions; or improving your sleep by walking outside each morning.

Personally, I began to lose a certain amount of faith in my own new year's resolutions when I realised I was essentially putting processes in place to allow me to get back to square one each summer, before a winter of hiding from the bad weather capped by the excesses of the festive season undid all the work. Again.

However, there's no denying that January represents an obvious slate-cleaning opportunity. Assuming we can bring ourselves to overlook the artificial constructs of the Gregorian calendar, there it is, shining like a beacon – 1 January and a brand new year.

Sure, you could pick any day of the year to make changes, and many of us do. But the very first day provides the ideal starting block.

For cyclists in the northern hemisphere, it works all the more effectively, given that a consistent programme of riding and healthy living begun on 1/1 has the potential, if you last the course, to transform your fitness by the time the warm weather rolls around in May. Perfect timing for all those event goals that we often spend this time of year fervently scribbling down.

For me, it'll be another dry January and February – something I've done the past three years and that acts as an effective, if slightly dull, reset after Christmas.

There is also the beginnings of a plan to be better on the bike this summer than I was last summer, but right now that feels more like an abstract hope rather than any kind of concrete resolution (I know, good luck with that one, right?).

Most of all though, I resolve to keep enjoying riding my bike as often as possible and to remember that, even when it feels like a drag, nobody ever regrets going for a bike ride.

Whether it's the midweek blasts crammed in during lunch hour on familiar local trails and lanes, or long weekend rides exploring further afield, I'm going to try to remind myself that they're all a privilege and they all count. Rather than just being a stepping stone on the way to improved fitness, each one is a little slice of living life to the full and I'm aiming not to lose sight of that.

I'm also going to aim to redress my 'cycling hermit' status this year, and enjoy riding far more often with friends and clubmates. I reckon about 90% of outings over the last two years have been solo, and a few recent rides with mates have reminded me of what a joy that can be.

Whatever your cycling goals, and whether or not you count them as resolutions, I hope you enjoy your riding in 2026. Happy New Year!