Cyclists in our area have much to look forward to in 2018.

The first major event of the year is on Sunday, January 7. when the final round of the 2017-18 cyclo-cross National Series is run off at Trinity Park, the Suffolk Showground.

Organiser Steve Grimwood reports that he has built a scaffolding bridge to test riders' skills and to give the event a Belgian feel – and he already has 460 entries.

Looking further ahead on the calendar, the Men's Regional Championship road race is to be held in Norfolk for the first time for many years.

Strada Sport will promote the race, which is on Sunday, August 19 on the Shotesham Circuit, which is barely six miles from Norwich and is both testing for riders and perhaps the most visually attractive of all East Anglian road circuits for spectators.

Among non-competitive rides, Bike Event Ltd's Norwich 100 will be on Sunday, June 3.

For MTB enthusiasts there is a round of the National Cross Country Series at Phoenix Cycleworks, which is to be staged at Kentford on the weekend of June 9-10.

Incidentally, the date of the next Aspire MTB entry-level MTB races at Kentford is Sunday February 10 and not as I stated last week.

Two of the most hotly-contested time trials in the region will be the East District CA 10 and 25 miles championships, the 10 to be held at Tottenhill on Saturday June 4, and the 25 at Wisbech two weeks later.

Before that though the EDCA's 2017 Championship Awards are to be presented at Carbrooke – that's at lunchtime on Sunday, January 21.

As usual, there will be 50-kilometre reliability ride in the morning.

It is sad to be reporting that Derek Buttle has died at the age of 87.

In the early 1950s Derek rode for the Dayton Cycles and Hercules mass-start teams and competed in three editions of the Tour of Britain.

He retired at the age of 25 and for many years lived in Needham where he and his wife Sheila ran the village post office.

However, at the age of 80 he was still riding 50 miles a week and remained a stylish rider.