With the country being battered by arctic conditions it might seem a perverse time to reflect on the success being enjoyed in a sport most commonly enjoyed in the great outdoors. However, as the year comes to a close it is a good opportunity to look back at the achievements of 2010 and look ahead to what is arguably the most exciting period in the history of cycling in the UK.

Britain's Olympic and Paralympic cyclists returned from Beijing in 2008 with an unprecedented haul of medals which elevated the sport into the public conscience more than ever before. Around the same time, British Cycling embarked on a partnership with Sky under an "Inspiration to Participation" banner. Put simply, this aims to get more people cycling by providing quality opportunities to ride a bike in a safe and supportive environment in the shape of City and Local Sky Rides, underpinning existing talent and club programmes, and contributing to the continued success on the world stage through support of Team Sky and the Great Britain Cycling Team.

These two landmarks signified a step change in the approach and outlook of British Cycling. The organisation itself has more than doubled in size during this period and hugely ambitious targets have been set both in terms of participation and membership as we seek to establish a firm base on which we can continue to grow the sport for many years to come. Put simply, we want the success we enjoy at the elite end to make a positive impact across all levels of the sport.

In terms of how we are doing, the bare statistics paint a positive picture. Just last week, Sport England announced the latest data from their Active People programme which showed that 99,000 more people are cycling at least once a week - well on the way to our target of 125,000 more by April 2013. Our own research highlights the positive impact of Sky Ride on this, with the 2010 programme increasing once a week participation by over 40,000 - a fantastic advert for what have proved to be a hugely effective way of encouraging more people to embrace the joy of cycling.



Moving up the cycling ladder, over the past 18 months we have increased the number of competitive events delivered in the UK from 2,542 to 3,283 - a rise of 29 per cent. This not only provides competitive cyclists with more opportunities to ply their trade, but it also ensures more people in more parts of the country can enjoy the great spectacle of cycling in close quarters – be it road, track, BMX,  mountain biking. cyclo-cross or cycle-speedway. If this in turn encourages them to give it a try, then all the better.

At the elite end things are more competitive than ever as our main rivals have reacted strongly to the success we enjoyed in Beijing. That, combined with the changes made this year by the UCI to the Olympic programme, qualification criteria and team size, creates a new set of challenges for us, but the consistently high performances across the different disciplines this year show how we're maintaining our focus on the job in hand. Compared to the same stage of the Beijing cycle, we're in at least as good a position in terms of athlete preparations and performance so we can without doubt look forward to more iconic and inspirational performances at 2012 thanks to the significant public investment we receive via UK Sport, supplemented by the added benefit that Team Sky will undoubtedly bring to our Olympic preparations.

All this is underpinned by an upsurge in British Cycling membership which has risen almost 40 per cent in the past 18 months to stand at just over 35,000 now. In the current economic climate this is a staggering achievement but, once again, our targets for membership are ambitious - 100,000 by March 2013. No mean feat, but by continuing to widen the appeal of cycling and providing opportunities for people to get involved be it for the first time via a Sky Ride, through one of the accredited Clubs across the country, or at a sportive or competitive races, we are confident  we will reach our goal.

Indeed, when looking ahead, what is particularly exciting is that we're confident there's plenty more to come. Through 2011 we'll be launching more new initiatives to help get more people cycling more regularly. This, along with the continued success of Sky Ride and further growth of our existing programmes puts us in a strong position to maintain this progress in the run-up to 2012 and beyond.

Ian Drake is the chief executive of British Cycling