How These Cyclists Actually Kept V Their Resolutions and How You Can, V Too

Setting goals, and then maybe tweaking them, will make you stronger, fitter and more motivated this year

When I asked for New Year’s resolution success stories partway through the year, I expected to be met with jokes and groans, not a resounding, “I’m crushing it!” from dozens of cyclists. Since I regularly write about resolutions and goals, and sadly, how they’re rarely fulfilled, it made me wonder: did the pandemic play a role in helping us finally start to establish resolutions that we could actually meet? Things like eating healthy and cooking at home were easier in the early part of 2021 with most of Canada still not allowing indoor dining. With more people than ever working remotely, goals such as adding 10 minutes of yoga to each day or training during lunch breaks, then hopping on Zoom conferences while still in sweaty workout gear, became more realistic.

The debacle of a year that was 2020 may have also helped people feel more positive about their 2021 goals and resolutions in general, because for many, there was nowhere to go but up. “The year 2021 was definitely better than 2020: the only direction was to improve,” one rider said.

So, what wisdom can we take into 2022 now that (I hope) we’ll be back to regular racing soon? I spoke with experts in the goal-setting space as well as cyclists who managed to nail their goals successfully to figure out what they did right, and how you can make 2022 your year.