It's fair to say that, by his own very high standards, last year's Isle of Man TT was something of a letdown for lap record holder Peter Hickman.
A winner only once in the opening Superbike race, before the week culminated in a very rare crash out of the Senior TT, Hickman didn't get the results he had hoped for - and wants to make amends in 2025.
Partly the nature of building your entire season around a single two-week event, it's easy to see even the smallest of disturbances going into the TT cascade into a disappointing year - or at least a disappointing one by your own high standards - and it's fair to say that's what happened to Hickman in 2024.
Not quite comfortable from the beginning with the FHO Racing BMW team (the squad he would ultimately split with ahead of 2025, despite his two-year deal) and not quite fully fit, it on paper meant dissatisfaction in 2024 - but more fire in his belly for the coming year.
"Things are never that easy," the 14-time TT winner admitted to The Race. "I wish it was, but it never is.
"It didn't go the way we wanted it to, but at the same time I had four really strong years previous to that, and I was probably due a bad year.
"If a 'bad year' is a win, three second places and to walk away from slipping off, then that isn't that bad a year at all.
"It's a bad year by my standards, or what's expected of me, or what I expect of myself, but then there was also a lot of other things going on in the background, things that people don't get to see.
Isle of Man TT all-time winners
1 Michael Dunlop - 29
2 Joey Dunlop - 26
3 John McGuinness - 23
4 Dave Molyneux - 17
5 Ian Hutchinson - 16
=6 Mike Hailwood - 14
=6 Ben and Tom Birchall - 14
=6 Peter Hickman - 14
"It's not just about the riding on the circuit. I wasn't in the best of health, there were lots of other things going on - and hey, life is life. We deal with it the way we have to deal with it, and we move on.
"2024 was a tough year, but you only get the real big highs with some lows, and 2024 was a low so let’s see what 2025 brings."
With a whole new team structure around him - in the form of the 8Ten team co-owned by Hickman and team-mate/rival Davey Todd - for the coming TT, Hickman said he is fully confident that he'll be able to get back to winning ways.
"You can't force it," he stressed. "It's not a place where you can force things, it's a place where they have to come to you. They didn't come to me last year, and that's just the way it is.
"I have to deal with that, I have done, and we're moving forwards and looking into 2025. I feel the best that I've probably felt on the bike in a really long time. Maybe even ever.
"I've entered all eight [non-sidecar] races at the TT, and I want to walk away with eight wins, but of course that's also a massive tall order. But hey, who knows? Miracles can sometimes happen, and we're hoping for one this year.
"It's a tall order, because so many things have to come together at TT for it to work. To win one race is super difficult, and to win two or more is even more difficult, so who even really knows?
"We're there because we want to win. That's what we want to do. I'm looking forward to it, and I'm feeling really happy with myself and with the team, with the people we've got around us.
"It's a really happy team again, which is how it used to be and how we like it, and definitely how I like it as a rider.
"I want to go and enjoy myself, to have good fun and to be with my mates and my missus and my family, and to have a really good time at the TT. I'm really looking forward to it and I can't wait to get going."
