GCN Show: What should be the focus of your 2024 cycling goals?

It’s the start of a new year and that means plenty of us are already thinking about what we want to achieve in the year ahead. You might have been prompted by Strava’s end-of-year stats that made you realise, like Si, how much riding you’ve actually done in the last 12 months. Or you might feel, like Dan, that you haven’t done nearly enough and this year is going to be a big improvement.

Whatever your reasons it can be a good idea to set some goals to help keep you motivated and on the right path to achieve your objectives. This is where Dan and Si start looking at some of the different things you can aim for during the course of the year. Maybe a total distance for the year works for you – especially if you’re thinking about commuting to work more on your bike. Riding to and from work every day soon eats away at your target.

Or perhaps opting for single-distance rides is more your thing – like ticking off your first 50-mile ride, your first 100km etc. There are loads of milestones you could come up with to keep you focused. Just don’t ask Mark Beaumont for any inspiration, his tends to be things like your first 250km, ride the width of Africa…

The other big goal that many of us have is speed, like riding a certain distance in an hour. Or just improving your average speed. These do come with the issue that there’s a temptation to manipulate your progress (cheating), like choosing flatter routes, only riding with a tailwind – but of course, we wouldn’t suggest you’d ever do anything like that.

While we’re talking about goals for the year ahead, one great way of breaking things down is to take each month at a time. Which coincidentally is exactly what we’ve done with our 30 in 30 challenge. The premise is simple – complete 30 minutes of exercise each day for 30 days within January. It’s not just cycling either, it can be running, swimming, yoga - whatever you fancy to keep you going.

Whatever your goals might be, let us know in the comments and tell us how you intend to achieve them!

Cycling Shorts

Some very sad news emerged from the world of cycling this week with the tragic passing of former pro cyclist Melissa Dennis née Hoskins. In a tragic incident on New Year’s Eve, Hoskins was fatally struck by a vehicle. Her husband and recently retired pro rider Rohan Dennis has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, driving without due care and endangering life. Our thoughts go out to everyone who knew Melissa, in particular her two young children.

Elsewhere the guys start looking at some of the new kits released by the race teams over the last few weeks. Although we get a bit of insight into their fashion critique they’ll be officially rating all the kits in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, you can check out our summary of all the pro cycling kits for 2024 and take a glance at the first images that have emerged of riders in their new attire.

Hacks and Bodges

Let’s take a look at your Hacks and Bodges submitted this week. Remember if you want a chance to be featured in a future show, then upload them here and please give us as much detail as possible.

Stereo bike from Troy

Troy tells us that he came upon this bike whilst surfing the internet for stereo parts. It's a pretty tidy installation but we wonder what it sounds like?

© GCN

Bike parts wreath from rallymatt

rallymatt tells us: As it is the season of festooning our houses with tat; I rummaged through my ‘box of bits I haven’t thrown away yet, but will probably never re-use’ and created this, frankly incredible seasonal hint to Santa.

Bike gate from marksargewirral

What about this then? This was spotted on a recumbent bicycle riders' Facebook page and looks like an old bike chopped in half to make an interesting decoration on the gateway to this driveway. It's either a hack for the ingenuity or a bodge for ruining a perfectly good bike. What will Dan and Si decide?

3D printed hoods from fidelbretana

Here's what fidelbretana had to say about these hoods: I know Si loves anything 3D printed, so I just wanted to share this 3D printed hood that I put on my daily track bike. We found this design concept and had it printed then put on my bike with some clamps from leftover brakehoods with a couple of wraps from an old bartape and viola! A very clean looking hood that helps me grip the bike well especially when climbing without having an actual brake hood on there.

Coming up on the channel this week

Wed 3 January: Learn how to trackstand with Conor Dunne and Hank

Thu 4 January: The best ways to transport your bike by car - it's not just putting the seats down and shoving it in the boot

Fri 5 January: Are two short rides a day better than one longer one? Si Richardson looks at the science behind 'split days'

Sat 6 January: Conor Dunne rides 100km on flat pedals

Sun 7 January: We tried to break the kilo world record, downhill