'You train them, I handicap them – you stick to your job and I'll stick to mine'

In this most baleful year, a quiet announcement back on October 9 is far from the worst thing that has happened. But it will always be significant to me because it felt deeply personal.

Things have changed in Halifax. Its industrial past and Pennine topography – the only cyclists you used to see were in the Tour of Britain – still dominate the landscape, but 'the Halifax' is now a brand name rather than a building society, the Guardian culture section has visited the town and labelled it the 'Shoreditch of the north', and on that sad October day the Timeform annuals were sent into retirement.

I had the privilege of writing for those iconic books, Racehorses and Chasers & Hurdlers, for 16 years.