I’m beginning to think about what my objectives and targets are. Initially my main concern was general health as I approached retirement. My GP calculated, on the basis of weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and aspects of my life style, that I had about a 1 in 3 chance of having a ‘heart event’ in the next 10 years. In addition to this I was not enjoying physical activity, something that had been very important for much of my life – mainly cycling, squash and walking. Since I wanted to do more cycling and walking in a reasonably long , healthy and active retirement it was necessary that I started to reverse the trend of the previous 20 years and lose weight and get fit. This much I have written about before. I have also intimated, partly in jest, that I would like to take part in the alpine sportive, La Marmotte, in July 2016 when I am 70. This gives me about 3 and a half years to get ready. In all probability this may well be beyond me but it gives me a target and even if I fall short no doubt I will be much fitter and healthier as a result of trying to achieve it. There will also be intermediate objectives and challenges along the way as over the next three summers I will be gradually progressing to ever more demanding rides some of which will be longer club runs and sportives. I have also thinking about dabbling again in local club time trials. I won’t be particularly competitive of course but the age group system will give me a realistic benchmark and PBs will be more important than position on the leader board. I will probably start with a few 10 mile events, perhaps at the back end of this season, and build up to 25s and 50s next year. For the hillier spotives I will have to revise my weigh loss target, currently 13 stone 7 lb, down to nearer 12 stone and below. This post is just to record that I am considering a rather more ambitious project than I started with last July. I’ll see how I get on over the next 12 months or so.