Although it’s only the start of February, there are little signs that spring is just around the corner. The daffodils and snowdrops are peeking through, and your thoughts have turned to the cycling goals that you happily agreed to, whilst enjoying a glass of champagne on New Year’s Eve!!

To point you in the right direction we have enlisted the help of Kerry Bircher, cycling coach with Revolution Cycling. Following on from her training plan for your first 100 Kerry addresses the need to ensure your bike is up to scratch:

Hopefully you are feeling motivated to start training. You may been lucky enough to secure a place in Prudential Ride London, have just downloaded the TWC 100 Mile Cyclosportive training plan and taken your bike out of the shed.

For short journeys, any good working bike will do – you might have an old 10-speed racer, a shopping bike or a bargain mountain bike, but if you are embarking on a long distance training programme then you will need a well maintained and serviced bike. If your bike has genuinely been gathering dust consider having it serviced at a specialist bike shop to ensure it’s roadworthy.

How to: Get the best road bike for your budget 

 However, you should also get into the habit of checking your bike regularly yourself using the ‘M’ Check. This involves conducting a safety check of all the main working parts on the bike tracing an ‘M’ shape and with practice, should take no more that between one and two minutes.

The M-check should be done each week, and when you get used to it, it won’t take longer than a few minutes to do.