Riding a bicycle for hours on end does weird things to your brain. On a good day you find yourself slipping into an almost meditative state where your head is clear and life seems gloriously simple. Since we're at the dawn of a brand spanking new year it seems like a good time to share three lessons I learned on two wheels in 2011.

1. Healthy balance

I have four panniers on the bike so balance is very important. If one pannier bag is full of beans and beer cans then I get the wobbles, I'm less efficient and it's a hell of a lot harder to get where I want to go. Life is a little bit like that, sometimes we put too much in one of our life-bags. (Cheese alert!) If you have too much in your career bag, your sports bag, your socialising bag or even your family bag the rest of your life starts to wobble. When you can get the balance right, everything flows.

2. Dead things = Danger

No matter which country I'm cycling in, I've noticed you've got a much higher life expectancy rate if you stay off the national highway. You see a lot less road kill on the quieter back roads so whether you're a possum, a bird or a wobbly cyclist, the fewer dead things you encounter, the better your chances.

3. Find the gap

The final and most strikingly obvious thing I learned while riding a bicycle last year was, when you come to a narrow squeeze or there's a parked car or scared hedgehog in your way, if you look at the obstacle you hit it every single time. (I have the bruises to prove it.)  But if you instead look where you want to go and find the gap, you don't even see the obstacle in front of you.

Here's to a balanced, long and happy life and finding all the gaps in 2012.

What about you? Did you have any moments of clarity or lessons learned in 2011?