Objectives for 2014

My '2013 Season Summary' (Link) affirm to me that 2013 has been a pretty decent year, in fact, a pretty awesome year. Yes, there were a few things that didn't get ticked off on my season objectives, but overall I got to where I wanted to be, with some good results along the way.

In this post I take a look at what is in the diary for 2014; ideas and plans for the coming year on the bike...


1. Retain 2nd Category Licence
One of my objectives for 2013 was to attain my 1st cat. licence. That didn't happen, which to be honest I sort of predicted, given that the time I could race in 2013 was limited due to my finals, job hunting and holidays. However, retaining my second category licence was good enough for me, in fact I quite enjoyed being able to still race in the 2/3's road races such as Surrey League.

For 2014, I will again try for 1st cat., but I would still be happy to stay as a second cat. racer. Perhaps I’ll use the spare time that I have from not racing every weekend to do some other exciting things on the bike.

2. Epic Tour Mk2 
This was an objective for 2013; but it had to be postponed due to various reasons. However, for 2014 it is on! Preliminary plans include flying out to Carcassonne and riding back through the Pyrenees to Biarritz, then up the Bordeaux coast to St. Malo. There will be wild camping, there will be mountains, there will be local cider, there will be washing in rivers, and there will be a lot of laughs!

3. Coast to Coast Mountain Bike Ride
I've wanted to do one of these for a while, so it will be one to tick off the bucket list. The provisional idea is to follow the route of the Rat Race over a long weekend; riding from the west coast of the UK to the east coast through the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and Yorkshire Moors. Three days of riding with ultra lightweight camping kit on the mountain bikes. Bring it on!

4. Double Imperial Century (on road)
Just because I like big numbers.

5. Wiggle Dragon Ride
Working for Wiggle means that I had to do this event! What I didn't have to do was opt for the 300km distance one with 3437 metres of climbing, known as the Dragon Devil. But I did, and it is going to be one seriously long day in the saddle. Better start getting those base miles in, and some more climbing practice...

Those are the ideas and plans, let's see how many I can make happen. Follow the blog to keep up to date with my progress...