Goal Setting in Cycling, and what my goals are
So in case you live in a forest, secluded from modern civilization (in which case, please tell me how you get internet out there), yesterday was January 1, which marks the new year. As is tradition (in North America at least), the bulk of the population has just set some New Years Resolutions that may or (the more likely) may not be held for the following year.
Before I even start, I think that the whole "New Year, new me" thing is stupid. If you really want to complete something, the arbitrary day to start should be today (as in whatever day it currently is, not necessarily January 2). But it's that time of year, and I'm really good at jumping on bandwagons, so here we go.
As a cyclist, my resolutions are all about cycling (shouldn't be all that surprising). Last year my resolution was to ride 10,000km over the course of the year, which you'll just have to trust me that I did it. I uploaded 9,200km to Strava, and a lot more than 800 without any tracking devices.
My Year in Sport
So getting on to 2018, why should you set a goal in the first place?
Well as great as cycling is, we all have off days. This is perfectly normal, and if you're just riding for fitness, it's perfectly alright to just not ride for a couple days. I'd love to say the same thing is true about for the more competitive folk out there, you all know the days, when you know you SHOULD go out and train, your body feels alright, but you just don't want to ride.
Before I get too far, I'm not trying to tell you to go ride 100km every day and if you don't want to ride one day, just suck it up (I tried it one time, lasted about 5 days). There is such a thing as overtraining (something I'm absolutely terrible at), and good mental health is arguably more important than good legs. It's just that some days you need an extra kick in the pants to go out (rain, wind, too hot, too cold, late night last night, etc.), and having a goal helps with that.
Beyond that, completing a goal just feels good. This fall I finally cracked a 400 watt 20 minute (if that doesn't mean anything to you, just know it's a lot). Now it was on an indoor trainer that tends to read a bit high and is generally not incredibly accurate, but I need to be close if I can get it to read that high, and it felt really good.
Some very big numbers for my 20 minute
So what should your goals be then? Sadly there isn't one answer that fits for everyone, however I do have a couple pointers on how to choose what your goals should be.
First off, goals should be plausible, and attainable. Not easy, (well, they can, but where's the fun in that), but not impossible. If you said "I want to ride more this year", when do you succeed? For 2018, I have a goal to track 12,000km of bike rides on Strava. When I hit 12,001km, I have reached my goal.
Goals should also have a time frame. This helps light a fire under your... saddle. Using the distance example, I limited it to one year. If I didn't specify a time, I could technically ride 821 meters every day for the next 40 years, and still meet my distance deadline. That said, not all goals need to be one year. I would like to get onto at least a trade team by the end of this year, which has been a goal of mine since the beginning of 2017, and my goal of a 400 watt 20 minute did actually have an end date (disobeying my own rules I'm sorry).
Finally, don't worry about what anybody has to say. In my opinion, any day on a bike is a good day. It really doesn't matter if you're 16 trying to get to the Tour, our 60 trying to get your ftp up to 500. As long as you get out on a bike and enjoy what you're doing, that's a win. One of my goals this year is to use my Garmin less, and enjoy just riding more, since that's what I liked when I started cycling. Sure there's an end date, but I can't really "finish" using my Garmin less. I plan on doing this by only using my Garmin on training/recovery rides, but you get the idea,
I'd also like to say it's ok to fail. I told myself at the beginning of 2017 that I would get on to the provincial performance team. I have the power numbers, but not the race experience (thanks Winnipeg). I was going to head over to some races in the States, but an injured collarbone following a crash had different ideas for my season. It wasn't a failure of a year though, I moved up a race category and should be able to move up again early spring.
Now some ideas for goals: My goal for 2018 is
Finish a certain race----------------------------------------------BC superweek
Try and get a certain power (or power to weight)---------400 watts at 5+ watts/kg (1hour)
Ride a weekly/monthly/yearly distance----------------------12000km this year
Become more social----------------------------------------------N/A but group rides??
Lose weight---------------------------------------------------------75kg race weight
Sorry for the lack of pictures this week, it's been cold so my hands freeze whenever I take them out of my gloves. Next week will be a bit more interesting, it'll be about winter bikes :)
TL:DR
Goals should be attainable/quantifyable (know when you've reached them)
Goals should have an end date, so you're motivated to work on them
Don't worry too much about your goals, riding is fun, enjoy it
Before I even start, I think that the whole "New Year, new me" thing is stupid. If you really want to complete something, the arbitrary day to start should be today (as in whatever day it currently is, not necessarily January 2). But it's that time of year, and I'm really good at jumping on bandwagons, so here we go.
As a cyclist, my resolutions are all about cycling (shouldn't be all that surprising). Last year my resolution was to ride 10,000km over the course of the year, which you'll just have to trust me that I did it. I uploaded 9,200km to Strava, and a lot more than 800 without any tracking devices.
My Year in Sport
So getting on to 2018, why should you set a goal in the first place?
Well as great as cycling is, we all have off days. This is perfectly normal, and if you're just riding for fitness, it's perfectly alright to just not ride for a couple days. I'd love to say the same thing is true about for the more competitive folk out there, you all know the days, when you know you SHOULD go out and train, your body feels alright, but you just don't want to ride.
Before I get too far, I'm not trying to tell you to go ride 100km every day and if you don't want to ride one day, just suck it up (I tried it one time, lasted about 5 days). There is such a thing as overtraining (something I'm absolutely terrible at), and good mental health is arguably more important than good legs. It's just that some days you need an extra kick in the pants to go out (rain, wind, too hot, too cold, late night last night, etc.), and having a goal helps with that.
Beyond that, completing a goal just feels good. This fall I finally cracked a 400 watt 20 minute (if that doesn't mean anything to you, just know it's a lot). Now it was on an indoor trainer that tends to read a bit high and is generally not incredibly accurate, but I need to be close if I can get it to read that high, and it felt really good.
Some very big numbers for my 20 minute
So what should your goals be then? Sadly there isn't one answer that fits for everyone, however I do have a couple pointers on how to choose what your goals should be.
First off, goals should be plausible, and attainable. Not easy, (well, they can, but where's the fun in that), but not impossible. If you said "I want to ride more this year", when do you succeed? For 2018, I have a goal to track 12,000km of bike rides on Strava. When I hit 12,001km, I have reached my goal.
Goals should also have a time frame. This helps light a fire under your... saddle. Using the distance example, I limited it to one year. If I didn't specify a time, I could technically ride 821 meters every day for the next 40 years, and still meet my distance deadline. That said, not all goals need to be one year. I would like to get onto at least a trade team by the end of this year, which has been a goal of mine since the beginning of 2017, and my goal of a 400 watt 20 minute did actually have an end date (disobeying my own rules I'm sorry).
Finally, don't worry about what anybody has to say. In my opinion, any day on a bike is a good day. It really doesn't matter if you're 16 trying to get to the Tour, our 60 trying to get your ftp up to 500. As long as you get out on a bike and enjoy what you're doing, that's a win. One of my goals this year is to use my Garmin less, and enjoy just riding more, since that's what I liked when I started cycling. Sure there's an end date, but I can't really "finish" using my Garmin less. I plan on doing this by only using my Garmin on training/recovery rides, but you get the idea,
I'd also like to say it's ok to fail. I told myself at the beginning of 2017 that I would get on to the provincial performance team. I have the power numbers, but not the race experience (thanks Winnipeg). I was going to head over to some races in the States, but an injured collarbone following a crash had different ideas for my season. It wasn't a failure of a year though, I moved up a race category and should be able to move up again early spring.
Now some ideas for goals: My goal for 2018 is
Finish a certain race----------------------------------------------BC superweek
Try and get a certain power (or power to weight)---------400 watts at 5+ watts/kg (1hour)
Ride a weekly/monthly/yearly distance----------------------12000km this year
Become more social----------------------------------------------N/A but group rides??
Lose weight---------------------------------------------------------75kg race weight
Sorry for the lack of pictures this week, it's been cold so my hands freeze whenever I take them out of my gloves. Next week will be a bit more interesting, it'll be about winter bikes :)
TL:DR
Goals should be attainable/quantifyable (know when you've reached them)
Goals should have an end date, so you're motivated to work on them
Don't worry too much about your goals, riding is fun, enjoy it
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