Rethinking Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions have a bad rap. After all, how many of you can say you've stuck to them much past January 1st? Resolutions are often associated with unrealistic expectations and a cycle of failure. I'm aware of these pitfalls but I do like goals.

I decided to ask the crew here at NSMB to make some SMART goals related to mountain biking. In this case, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

From personal milestones to a classic wheelie challenge, these objectives reflect a passion for and a commitment to progression, which keeps us all coming back for more.

To make it more interesting, we're going to follow up in six months and then again at the end of the year to find out how the goal setting and keeping went. How's that for accountability!

Cam McRae

I’m not big on resolutions but I like to use the arbitrary division of the calendar year to consider how to tackle the 12 months to come.* And this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot with regards to mountain biking. I’ve been injured and mostly off the bike for the last 6 weeks which got me thinking about the time I spend in and out of the saddle and how both can influence my riding. It made me realize that I have some unfinished business in terms of realizing my full (but meagre) potential as a descender. Or at least I hope that is the case. That’s a long winded way of saying that I’m still hungry to improve, specifically in terms of my descending skills. 

*with apologies to Janus, the Roman God of beginnings, after whom January is named

With that in mind, I put together a list of 7 activities I’ve engaged in that have improved my riding performance in the past. The bad news is, I haven’t been consistent enough about most of them to build momentum, which is what I’d like to change. 

The parameters Hailey laid out for us were to make these goals SMART so I’ll choose one of my seven, which I think I can apply these goals to: Riding North Shore Bike Park at least 10 times between January and March. 

I’ve ridden the park enough times to know that it’s one of the best ways to improve my bike handling skills, which is my ultimate goal. Happy New Year!

Emma Le Rossignol

I want to ride through Boogie Nights and successfully hit all or most of the features. To achieve this, I will dedicate regular progression sessions to practice each section individually and then slowly piece it together. I will also practice on less technical jump trails to build skills and confidence. My aim is to complete this by fall 2025.

Pete Roggeman

This is a new one for me! While I certainly have set annual goals in the past (and stuck to them with varying degrees of success), I’ve never come up with MTB specific goals before. There was the year I raced BCBR, but I let myself off the hook by saying I wanted to ride it, and I didn’t train seriously or hold myself to more than that. So, thanks to Hailey for challenging us with this assignment. There are a few different areas I want to target: riding with new people (or friends) and doing a better job of documenting some of my rides. Let’s break those down into goals:

1) Riding with new people (or old friends): I’ve met a lot of great people through this sport. When you work in the industry, that’s inevitable. However, between introducing newbies to riding or just going for a ride with someone I wouldn’t normally bump into in that context - whether because they live somewhere else or just run in different riding circles - there’s a social element to mountain biking that I haven’t tapped into as much in recent years. I’d like to change that. 

The goal: go for a mountain bike ride with 12 new people in 2025. It’s equivalent to one per month, but the cadence may not work out that way. And I don’t mean ‘go on a group ride with 6 strangers two times’. The point here is to use the bike to connect with someone new, or one of a short list of people I used to ride with many years ago.

2) Do a better job documenting some of my rides: When I look back on some of the trips and rides I’ve been on over the years, there is a long list of them that have zero documentation - no photos, no written memories, nada. That’s not good enough. I regret that already, but will only come to regret it more as time passes. Whether it’s regular rides with the same people that happened 100 times that start to blend together (looking at you, Cam and Trevor!) or new rides with new people, I want photos and words or video. Some will stay private, others I’ll publish to the site. So, this is a two-pronged goal. 

The goal: First, I’m going to make a concerted effort to make journal entries (or photos and a few thoughts) about 10 memorable, special, or significant rides this year. Second, I’m going to make at least 5 videos, each one documenting a trail or classic ride here on the Sunshine Coast. They’ll be POV videos of trails, ridden non-stop. The bonus here is it’ll keep me learning about how to shoot a riding video, something I’d like to do anyway.

I may have more goals for the bike this year, but I’m keeping those to myself for now - but I’ll check back in during a mid-year check up in case there are updates to those.

Mike Ferrentino

Every year, I make some vague promise to myself that I am going to ride more. And every year, I end up failing to hold myself to that. So, this year, I’m putting the clock on it. In 2024 I learned a lot about the value of mellow rides and relearned a lot about putting time in on the bike. For 2025, I want to put some measurable accountability in place, but in an achievable way.

Once upon a long ago time, I was working in a bike shop, racing bikes, and commuting to and from my bike shop job by bike. The commute alone ate up about 8 hours a week, and then there was the dedicated time spent trying to make myself puke going up hills, as well as getting rad in the woods, as well as racing. It all added up to about 15-18 hours a week spent riding, and at least half that riding was noodling along at commute pace. It was a good balance and I got kind of fast during that time. Then I became a freelance writer, and the carefully metered out time of riding became looser, less disciplined. But I was still riding and racing a lot. Then I became a magazine editor, and following that took a job working for a bike brand, and I ceded all priority to work. I have never been good at boundaries or time management, so I basically prioritized work, leaving me with less and less time to ride. Ultimately, I got fat and depressed.

I’ve recovered somewhat from that, but I still absolutely suck at prioritizing my time. So, for 2025, I want to stop throwing saddle time under the bus. I am pledging to ride more. In my case, that means 10 hours a week. 520 hours in the year.

Doesn’t seem like much for some people, but for me and my binge/purge habits, it is a necessary step. The goal isn’t to get fast again; I harbor no illusions there. The goal is to honor riding more, to develop a pattern of ride prioritization instead of letting work and doomscrolling dominate the clock. I know for a fact that the shittiest bike ride is still several orders of magnitude more enjoyable than the fifth or sixth edit of committee written copy blocks. Riding has always made me feel better about myself, about the world, about my place in the world. It’s a paradoxical irony that I therefore have forfeited that good feeling so consistenty for such a long time in order to do shit that often does not make me feel all that great.

So, 10 hours a week. If I fail to hit 10 hours in one week, the deficit must be addressed the following week. Terrain doesn’t matter, speed doesn’t matter, so long as the pedals are turning. Weather is not an excuse, but the personal jury is still out on indoor riding (easy to say that from the relative comfort of Mexico in wintertime). About two-thirds of that saddle time will be spent pedaling barely hard enough to break a sweat. Doesn’t matter. Strava and an Apple watch will silently judge me as I go. 

Matt Cusanelli

I enjoy the burst of stoke that riding enables equally as much as how it acts as a catalyst to ensure I stay healthy and physically fit. I've never been one for the gym, often opting to go for a run or ride my gravel bike as a break from mountain biking, but the past few years it's become evident that some time in the gym is a path towards limiting injury and being able to ride my bike better.

In high school I was lucky enough to be in a strength and conditioning course and the gains I made over those few years improved my body position on the bike, allowed me to pump and jump higher, and ride longer. The past few years however, between a busy schedule and a physically demanding job, I have ignored the gym entirely.

In 2025 I plan to go to the gym twice a week, focusing on push/pull exercises like pushups, pullups, deadlifts, squats, and cleans. The goal is to improve my strength by 50% by the end of the year. Undoubtedly an improvement of that magnitude is unsustainable for multiple years, but since I've taken the past several years off, there's likely some good progress to be made. In January I will get some baseline numbers established and plan to check in throughout the year with my progress, as well as reflect on the impact that this strength has had on my riding.

Hailey Elise

I'm going to be real with you all here: I have a note in my phone with daily goals related to mountain biking. Don't get me wrong, I ride for pure pleasure often. However, setting intention for a ride coincides with the notion of Purposeful Practice and supports measured progression. That being said, I thought I would come to the table with a good ol' fashion wheelie challenge. This skill has eluded me for years and well, why not 2025 to make it mine!

Specific: Consistently wheelie for at least 10 metres by the end of 2025.
Measurable: Practice wheelie drills for at least 30 minutes, twice a week, and track progress in a riding journal.
Achievable: Focus on gradual improvement by breaking the skill into steps, such as mastering balance point and brake control.
Relevant: Learning to wheelie will enhance my bike handling skills. Also, it looks fun!
Time-Bound: Dedicate the first three months of 2025 to mastering the balance point, with the aim of hitting the 10-meter goal by December 2025.

How do you think the team will do with their 2025 SMART goals?

What are your goals for 2025?