Both the don't make it to complicated to have fun and the you need goals viewpoints are valid we just need to have a balance between them that works for us.

In late '05 my goal was to not be sick and fat anymore, I'm still pretty fat but I'm not sick. I walked away from the really fat sick part. And then part way into walking it off I realized the 50 year old knees weren't to happy so I dusted off the old mountain bike in May of '06 and started just commuting to work and riding a wee bit, and then the crazy idea that I could ride a century came to mind. I managed a 7.5 hour century on the mtb in Sept '06. This year I've fallen a lot, and not ridden as well, but I wanted to ride the century faster this time. SO I bought a nice entry level Jamis and this year I rode the century in 6.5 hours and my wife rode the 25 mile ride her first really long ride ever! I don't know what my goal is for next year yet, partly its going to be to really work on my weight again, I've been gaining all summer and really really don't like where that is headed. But my riding goal is still pretty nebulous, RAGBRAI keeps calling to me I've never done a really long ride and that sounds like a pretty cool goal.