2026 has started fairly quietly for me, a morning at home with the boys, then over to Partho’s for a catch up and tasty home cooked lunch. Although I took my camera with me, I did not take any photographs today, so do not have anything to include at the top of this post. I have also got three more days off before I go back to work and the boys go back to school, so hopefully there is still time to squeeze some fun in…
Like last year, we do not have much planned ahead for the year – we know that we have got a lot of work to do on the house, and a list of trips that we would like to do. So hopefully we can get through both of those lists. Owen turns ten this year, so I am sure we will do something to mark that in June.
A carry over goal, but something that I need to remember, as it is so easy to get carried away with day to day life. Seeing Partho today was a good start though.
Make my blog more robust
Another carry over from 2024, but I did not get around to it – I have an idea of how I want to do it, and it should be easier than my previous plan.
Refresh my photography portfolio website
Like the previous goal, it is carried over from previous years. This is lower priority than my blog, so I will likely tackle this once the blog has been updated.
Get the MR2 to Wales
The MR2 was mainly used for commutes and school runs last year, I really should take it out for some proper drives.
Ride three new pump tracks
Owen has been asking me when we can next go ride at a pump track – I do not remember riding one at all last year, so that needs to be remedied. There are a few new pump tracks locally so we should try them out. I just need to rebuild my Clockwork Evo first…
Sort out cycle speedway bikes for the boys
Last season the boys both borrowed bikes for cycle speedway from their club – as I did not want to have another two bikes to deal with whilst moving house. This worked OK for Owen, as they had a few decent bikes in his size, but Henry struggled with the only bike the club had available in his size.
Ride at Bwlch Nant yr Arian
A goal carried over from 2023, Bwlch Nant yr Arian in Mid Wales has some great looking trails, and is also known for their daily Red Kite feeding – which is enough of an excuse for me to go for a ride. It also seems like somewhere that might be worth visiting with Jen and the boys as part of a Mid Wales trip. What makes this trickier is that it will likely need to be a weekend away, as it is a bit of a drive from Coventry.
Ride in the Peak District with Partho
This has been a goal for a while, but we never quite get around to it, we always end up being tight on time, so end up at Cannock Chase. Must try harder in 2026.
Finish my garage
I was hoping to have the garage finished this autumn, but other jobs in the house ended up taking priority, then it got too cold to paint. The electrics, lights and doors are sorted out, I just need to finish painting the walls and floor, give everything a thorough sort out, add some bike storage and get the personnel door replaced.
Complete the front bedroom project
The front bedroom was meant to be the first project we did on the house – we left it empty when we moved in, with the expectation that it would be the master bedroom when we rearranged the layout upstairs. Except that our planned layout would not work – so we have got a new plan… We think that the front bedroom used to be two rooms, a double bedroom and a box room. We are going to revert to that layout, and have Henry in the double room, with the box room becoming my office. I miss being at the front of the house, and I think it will be easier for running network cables etc. My current office at the back of the house, will become a dressing room – hopefully that will also be completed this year!
Get my weight down to 90kg
Is it even a new year without a plan to lose some weight?
The lack of any firm plans for 2026 is exciting, I just need to work out how to combine all the potential plans in my head with the work needed on the house. The year has started well, and hopefully that will continue.
As the sun sets on 2025 this is a look back at what has been a busy year for me. We moved out of our house on Oldfield Road to a detached house in Allesley Green, a mile or so down the road. Searching for a house, preparing our old house for sale and then the general stress of moving took up most of the first half of the year. Then once we moved, the second half of the year got even busier with the unpacking and renovations. Alongside working and looking after the boys it has not really left time for much else…
The last day of the year has been pretty good, we started off with a wintery walk across the fields – I miss having the Hearsall Common woods on our doorstep, but the fields are a good alternative. Parts of Pickford Brook were frozen, and the boys enjoyed playing with the ice on the surface. After a quick lunch, the boys and I went to Hicks Lodge for our final bike ride of the year. On the way I saw something I thought I recognised – the school I went to 38 years ago, (for one year only) – I checked on the map later in the day and it was indeed the school I went to, even though I barely remember anything from the school. The lack of leaves on the trees meant that I could see it. The ride itself was good, the boys, rode well, Henry particularly, as he has not done much mountain biking recently. We also had a good hot chocolate and cake stop at the end, as the sun dipped below the horizon for the final time in 2025 – the photo at the top of this post. In the evening Jen’s parent’s joined us for a buffet dinner.
Work on the house has been slower than we hoped/expected, but our plans have changed, so it is probably good that we did not rush into things. We have finished Jen’s office and Owen’s bedroom – having the boys in separate rooms was the main reason we needed to move, so it is good to have that checked off before Christmas. Owen chose the colour scheme for his room – bright red, and he has got my old 90’s hi-fi system set up. We will be doing Henry’s room as a priority next. My parents have also moved house, to be closer to us, they are now less than twenty minutes away by car, which means we can see them more often. They are also able to pick the boys up from school once a week. Before the boys were both at school full time they used to have them one day a week, and it was nice to see them regularly, so it is great to have that again.
With the house move, we did not get away on holiday, we had a day out in London (for Henry’s birthday), a trip to North Wales, a brief trip to Suffolk and I went back to Wales with my dad to watch Rali Ceredigion the UK round of the European Rally Championship.
2025 has not been a great year on the bike, the stats do not tell the full story, as most of my rides have been on my new (to me) Orange Speedwork gravel bike, rather than my mountain bikes, which makes for easier distance. Living further out of town means that I can get out into the countryside for a short lunchtime ride, which I have been doing a lot. I have not done very much mountain biking, but what I did do was on my Orange Four – it was good to have it back! I also took part in my first race. For Christmas I built Owen a new bike, and we rode to my parents house for Boxing Day, which was one of my highlights of the year.
Photography has taken a back seat this year, aside from a couple of mountain bike races, I have mostly been photographing what the boys have been doing. I have not really had the time or headspace to really focus on photography, I have taken some “good” photos, but I feel like they are record shots, rather than anything creative. Although I have managed to get out with the camera over the Christmas break, so hopefully I carry that on to 20206.
Owen has had a busy year, in addition to karate, where he earned his green and then blue belts, he has taken up cycle speedway. He took a fairly big crash in a regional race which knocked his confidence, although he was not injured. He returned to the track at the end of the season and had a good race meeting – finishing joint second and taking home a trophy! He has carried on mountain biking, and completed the full “Follow the Dog” trail at Cannock Chase. He was the poster boy for the races at the official opening of our local mountain biking trails. I also took him karting a couple of times, which he enjoyed – but that makes mountain biking look like a cheap sport, so we will not be doing that too often!
Always opposite to Owen, Henry has added karate to his cycle speedway – I was not expecting him to stick at it, but he is really close to getting his orange belt. He still has his unique style, and very strong ideas on what he wants. For Henry, 2025 has definitely been the year of K Pop Demon Hunters, he has also been getting in to pop music, particularly Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift.
This year it feels like I have spent more time with my nieces, which has been nice. At three and almost two, they are nice ages and we see them enough that they comfortable around us and even seek me out for a cuddle. Being an uncle is great!
At the start of the year, I set myself some goals. I posted a halftime update in June, but here are the final results:
Spend more time with my friends
Must try harder – My closest friends have met up as a group twice, including wives and kids, which is impressive in itself. I have also seen my friends separately a few times, but with everything going on I have not seen them as much as I would like.
Make my blog more robust
Fail – I will have to carry this over to 2026…
Refresh my photography portfolio website
Must try harder– I did some minor tweaking of the images, but left it at that.
Do something car/motorsport related every month
Must try harder– I doubt I managed to do something every month, but did get to more events than previous years. A rally at Donington Park (above), a couple of karting trips with Owen and a trip to Wales.
Get the MR2 to Wales
Fail – I got to Wales twice, but not in the MR2, one trip was in Jen’s car, and another was as a passenger in my dad’s old Boxster.
Ride somewhere new with Owen
Fail – We rode some trials that he had not previously ridden, but I do not think we have ridden at any new locations.
Do some bike trips just myself and Henry
Fail – Henry prefers cycle speedway to mountain biking, so I did not want to push this one. Although he did some good riding today, so will see if we can get away together in 2026.
Get to the summer with three working bikes
Fail – I got to one point where I ended up buying a bike, my Orange Speedwork, so that I could have a bike to ride. In my defence, my Clockwork Evo was put into storage whilst we moved, then I did not want to start building it back up until my new garage/workshop was finished. That did not happen. I got the workshop to the point a bike could be built up, and started on the Clockwork Evo, but Owen’s bike took precedence. I will have three bike rideable in the next few weeks though.
Ride at Bwlch Nant yr Arian
Fail – Again. This will be carried over to next year (again), with higher priority given that Natural Resources Wales seem to be giving up on their mountain bike facilities, including Nant Yr Arian. I got closer than on previous years, on the basis that I drove past the entrance when I went to Aberystwyth with my dad for Rali Ceredigion. It highlighted just how far away it is, so probably needs to be an overnight trip.
Ride the “Ladybower Loop” with Partho
Fail – Life has got in the way for both of us, and we have not ridden together as much as we would have liked. Far less had any adventures to the Peak District.
Tidy my garage
Pass/Fail – I got my old garage very tidy, and then fully empty. The new garage is another matter though…
Take my niece Sienna to the zoo
Fail – I have spent more time with Sienna, but we have not managed to get to the zoo. I might have to tweak my plans, as the other day she told me that her favourite animals are elephants, and Twycross, our local zoo, does not have any.
Get my weight down to 90kg
Screenshot
Fail – Every year. Must try harder. My weight was below 90kg for a few months, although I expect that was down to muscle wastage, as I was not riding much at the time. Unfortunately it coincide with the body composition analysis on my Withings scales failing, so I do not have any data to back that up. I have finished the year lighter than I started, so I will take that as a tiny win…
Once again it looks like I have failed to achieve more of my goals than I acheived. I think for next year I need to be realistic as I know work on the house will be a priority.
I usually like to check in on my goals for the year at the end of June, but June was particularly busy this year, after we moved house, so I am a couple of months late with my update.
Spend more time with my friends
More effort needed! We had a great time karting earlier in the year, but we have all been super busy with new jobs/new houses/kids etc.
Make my blog more robust
Just this evening I have made a quick change to the AWS CDK stack I use for this blog, so the tiniest bit of progress…
Refresh my photography portfolio website
Not yet, but this is a good project for when the weather is rubbish.
Do something car/motorsport related every month
I think I can blame the house move for this. I had a good start to the year, karting with my friends, I also went again with Owen and his friends for his birthday party. Owen and I also went to the Dukeries Rally at Donington Park again. Next weekend I will be taking my dad to Wales for the British round of the European Rally Championship. I do not think I have been to any car shows this year though.
Get the MR2 to Wales
We have not chosen which car we will take next weekend, but this might factor in to my decision. The poor MR2 has barely been driven this year. On top of that, it has also been living outside for the last few months. I am hoping to drive it more, and get it inside the garage sooner rather than later.
It has been pretty difficult to get Henry out on his bike at all, he is less keen to ride than Owen. We had a breakthrough recently, where he rode the blue graded Perry’s trail at Cannock Chase, and even enjoyed it!
Get to the summer with three working bikes
I got to the summer with two working bikes. Although I barely rode my Orange Four, on the other hand I have ridden my Orange Speedwork loads. The third bike, my Orange Clockwork Evo is another victim of the house move. It is due a full rebuild, I have most of the parts, but they are in our lockup. As soon as my garage/workshop is sorted I will start rebuilding the Clockwork Evo – I want to be able to ride it on my birthday!
Ride at Bwlch Nant yr Arian
Not yet, I can blame this on the house move too, as I have not been able to get away for many riding trips this year.
Ride the “Ladybower Loop” with Partho
Another one that has probably been missed, as we have both had busy years, even getting to Cannock Chase for a few hours has been tricky. We also both have busy Septembers lined up and then we are running into the winter.
Tidy my garage
My old garage was very tidy when we moved. Unfortunately I have not been able to get my new garage fully sorted yet. The walls are half painted, the electrics are half done and new roller shutter doors are on order. Then I need to paint the floors, arrange some hanging bike storage and unpack my things. At least the new garage is bigger, so should be easier to keep tidy.
Take my niece Sienna to the zoo
We have spent a lot of time with Sienna this year, which has been great, but unfortunately we have not been to the zoo. It has been good spending more time with both of my nieces this year.
Get my weight down to 90kg
The graph is trending in the right direction for sure! I have had two or three weeks under my target weight too – just got to keep that going for a few more months!
Moving house was not at the front of my mind when writing these goals, so it is fair to say that the goalposts have moved somewhat… We did have a goal to get the upstairs of the house sorted by the end of the year, and the boys into separate bedrooms, but we have had a few setbacks, and are thinking about changing our plans, which will set us back somewhat. We may end up not redoing the rooms fully until next year, but will hopefully get the boys into separate rooms, at least temporarily.
I started 2025 as I mean to go on – riding my bike! We saw the new year in at home, after a tasty roast dinner, one of our friends came round with her son, who is friends with Owen. The boys played together nicely – although Henry wreaked havoc on their Minecraft world, by releasing all the livestock from their farms. Then the older boys started making some videos on their tablets. The grown ups were able to chat and drink Select Spritzes (a throwback to our trip to Venice last year). All the boys managed to stay up to see in the new year – a first for Henry.
Thanks to their late night, the boys gave us a lie in this morning and after a very late breakfast of pancakes and bacon, we got the fire lit and settled in for what was forecast to be a cold and rainy day. However, the weather improved, so I got out for a short local ride on some muddy trails. It was a slow ride, but it was good to get out for some fresh air, especially as I was not expecting to be able to get out.
Usually going into a new year we have a lot of plans, but do not really have anything firm for 2025, we have a few ideas for holidays – all we know is that we want to get Henry on a plane, and we would like to go back to Scotland. We may combine these ideas, but we could also go to France, or somewhere completely different, and drive to Scotland as a separate trip. There may be some big exciting changes coming, but they are just ideas at the moment, so I do not want to jinx anything. Our lives are still going to be busy with activities for the boys – Owen has decided that he wants to join Henry at cycle speedway and Henry wants to join Owen at karate – whilst better than two new activities being added, it was nice that they both had their own things going on. Hopefully not having too much in the calendar will leave plenty of opportunity for spontaneous adventures.
A carry over from 2024, but it was the topic of the group chat with my friends last night, so will continue to make more of an effort in 2025.
Make my blog more robust
Another carry over from 2024, but I did not get around to it – I have an idea of how I want to do it, and it should be easier than my previous plan.
Refresh my photography portfolio website
Like the previous goal, it is carried over from last year, and I have got some ideas, although in typical Lewis fashion I have started by sorting out my Lightroom catalog, to make it easier long term to find my top images. Writing this now, has made me have a rethink, so my portfolio may end up getting updated more than once…
Do something car/motorsport related every month
Some of my favourite days last year were motorsport events, watching a rally, and going to Festival of Speed. So I want to make sure that I do more of it. I have got a things lined up for the next few months – karting this month and Race Retro next month.
Get the MR2 to Wales
The MR2 has not had enough use, so I want to make sure that I get it out, and Wales is my favourite place to drive, so combining the two seems like an ideal plan!
Ride somewhere new with Owen
Owen’s riding has come on so much over the last few months, so I want to keep the excitement going. I have a few ideas on where we could ride, but it comes down to holiday plans.
Do some bike trips just myself and Henry
It is too easy for me to ride with Owen – we can ride fun trails together at a decent speed. However this has meant that Henry has not ridden with me as much as Owen had when he was the age Henry is now. Which means that Henry is not as confident on the bike as Owen was. I know Henry will appreciate some daddy and Henry time and hopefully it will help his confidence on the bike.
Get to the summer with three working bikes
At the moment I have one working bike, but only just. I have been riding my hardtail, a lot, but it is desperate need of a full rebuild. However in order to do that I need to get my full suss bike working again, and ideally my town bike, neither are big jobs though.
Ride at Bwlch Nant yr Arian
A goal carried over from 2023, Bwlch Nant yr Arian in Mid Wales has some great looking trails, and is also known for their daily Red Kite feeding – which is enough of an excuse for me to go for a ride. It also seems like somewhere that might be worth visiting with Jen and the boys as part of a Mid Wales trip.
Ride the “Ladybower Loop” with Partho
This is a more focussed version of the “Ride one of the 10 of the best XC trails in the UK” goal, which I have had for a few years. And also another goal which relied on my full suss bit being rebuilt. I last rode there in 2018, it was a tough ride, but very rewarding.
Tidy my garage
Another long running goal, which should help with other goals.
Take my niece Sienna to the zoo
Being an uncle is fun, Sienna is two and half now, which is the sort of age
Get my weight down to 90kg
For the last ten years, at least, my goal has been to get my weight down to 85kg, which has clearly not happened. 90kg is more achievable, but if I get there, I will try to keep going to 85kg. My plan is more riding and less pizza.
The lack of any firm plans for 2025 is exciting, the year has started well, and hopefully that will continue.
As the sun sets on 2024 (photo from earlier in the year, the weather is rubbish tonight), I am sharing my look back at the year. 2024 has been a pretty good year, especially after the rubbish end to 2023. The first exciting thing of the year was our weekend in Manchester, for the Bricktastic Lego show. Owen and I went to Wales in the spring, then again in the autumn, riding at Bike Park Wales both times. I also went to Wales to watch a rally with my dad, which was one of my highlights of the year. We had some good holidays – Dorset with Jen’s family, the South Downs with my family, and Jen and I went to Venice, but I have been a bit rubbish at blogging, so no posts to link to.
2024 has been a decent year on the bikes, although mainly the hardtail really. In previous years I have mainly ridden on my own, but I have been more social this year. I have ridden a lot with Partho – my favourite ride of the years was when he demoed a Cotic bike in the Peak District, natural trails are great fun, but the hills are tough. In the summer I joined the local mountain bike club, the Godiva Trailriders, for a few rides, although I still struggle to keep up with them on rides. However the highlight has been riding loads with Owen towards the end of the year – his riding has come on so much with regular riding. With all the riding I have neglected workshop time – I am almost at the point where none of my bikes are rideable. More time in the workshop needed.
I have had a great year behind the camera, helped by upgrading my camera. I feel like I have really gelled with the new camera in a way that I was not expecting to, harking back to 2009 when I bought my Canon 1Dmk2, and I felt like I produced my best work. I have shot a lot of mountain biking, mainly the local races at Stile Cop, but I really enjoy the vibe they have on the hill, and I have been getting to know the regular racers. It has not only been action photography, I have also dabbled in both landscape and street photography, including a fun morning shooting around the Coventry ring road with some other local photographers. I have found myself taking a lot of black and white photos, the Acros film simulation on my Fuji cameras is great. Naturally, I have taken a lot of photos of the boys, and also both my nieces – being an uncle is fun!
Work has been particularly busy this year, with a few projects being delivered, and some diversification in to app development, which has been interesting. It has been a double edged sword though, as I have often ended up working late into the evening when I have something to finish – I love what I do, so do not mind, but it does mean that I have not been able to work on personal projects as much as I would have liked.
Owen has had a much year than 2023, his year started off with a small operation to remove a Hickmann Line from his chest, but he has bounced back. He started getting into photography and we have enjoyed some great days out together. He has also made great progress with his karate – achieving his yellow belt, and then his orange belt. He has also competed at both regional and national level – both times being knocked out in the first round by the same lad, who went on to with both titles. However riding with Owen these past few months has been great, he rides at a good pace now, so I have a decent ride, rather than just pootling along behind him. He also enjoys when Partho joins us on rides, he feels like he is one of the boys.
Henry has also had a good year, he is a right character, and takes his role of “annoying little brother” very seriously. He is so different to Owen, especially how they dress, Henry likes to dress smartly – or to wear a princess dress. He often has multiple outfit changes a day, which is both cute and frustrating. He continued with cycle speedway, making great progress, especially towards the end of the season, and he want to ride a “proper” speedway bike without brakes next season. The biggest change for Henry has been that he can now read and write, that first year at school has just a dramatic change, over the last few days he has even started reading books to himself, which has been nice to see.
At the start of the year, I set myself some goals. I posted a halftime update in June, but here are the final results:
Spend more time with my friends
Must try harder – I have spent a lot more time with Partho, mostly mountain biking, but also various other trips out. I have found it more difficult to meet up with the rest of our group, and we did not get to all celebrate our fortieth birthdays together. We did meet Rich in Manchester when we went to Bricktastic. The photo above was from the only time that we managed to get the whole group together – for lunch and an autumnal walk in the Peak District.
Make my blog more robust
Fail – As mentioned in my mid-year update post, perfection has been the enemy of progress here. I probably just need to spend a day on it, however finding a free day to spend sat at the computer is proving difficult
Refresh my photography portfolio website
Fail – I did make a start on this, but did not finish it. It looks like there have not been many changes to Adobe Portfolio, which I use to power the pages, so it is just going to be a case of choosing some more images.
Photograph a rally
Pass – I actually photographed two rallies – a single stage rally at Donington Park and the Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages in Wales. The trip to Wales to watch the rally was one of my favourite days of the year, so I am hoping to go to another rally next year. Owen seems keen to join me.
Fail – Owen hardly did any riding at the start of the year, then we did loads in the last four months, but focussing more on quality, rather than quantity. His longest ride was actually at Bike Park Wales (spoiler for the next goal!), where we rode 21km, which did not include being driven to the top of the hill four times. Owen’s technical riding has come on so much…
Ride at Bike Park Wales with Owen
Pass – Another goal that I can check off twice! We had a weekend in Wales in May, which included an afternoon at Bike Park Wales, then we made it to the Little Rippers Halloween ride, after many years of clashing dates/hospital visits. Bike Park Wales more than lived up to the hype, it is the best place I have ridden, and I am looking forward to visiting again.
Ride at 417 Bike Park with Henry
Fail – Henry is very different to Owen, and is less of a daredevil – he enjoys riding his bike on the cycle speedway track, or on the blue graded trail at Hicks Lodge. I am sure that he would enjoy riding at 417 (when it eventually reopens), but he would hate the idea of it and I do not want to push him. I think I’ll get him to ride at Newbold Comyn, as the trails are similar in difficulty, but it is nearer and free to ride.
Ride at Bwlch Nant yr Arian
Fail – Again. This will be carried over to next year (again), with higher priority given that Natural Resources Wales seem to be giving up on their mountain bike facilities, including Nant Yr Arian.
Ride one more of the “10 of the best XC trails in the UK” with Partho
Fail – This one is on me – Partho is keen to ride the Ladybower Loop in the Peak District, but I have some bike maintenance to do before I can tackle it, as my Orange Four is currently out of action, and I did not fancy it on a hardtail.
Sort out the boys toys
Fail – We did make a good go of it before Christmas, but then Christmas happened, and the boys got loads of toys, so the house looks like there has been an explosion in Toy R Us…
Tidy my garage
Fail – The garage is still a mess, with bikes and bike parts everywhere. I thought I had a goal to “tidy my office”, so I spent this afternoon sorting out my office, which was needed, but unfortunately does not mean that I can tick off a task.
MR2 jobs
Partial pass – As with last year, this has been hampered by a messy garage/too many bikes and not enough space to work on the MR2, however I did get some jobs done. And it got new brake callipers when it was in for service, and also the paint blemishes were sorted.
Make sure that my pensions and investments are working for me
Pass – Just about. Sorting out my pensions was a boring task that I had been putting off, but just in time for the end of the year, my old pensions have all been moved into a SIPP with Interactive Investor, which seems to be getting me better growth and lower fees. Once I had worked out what I wanted to do I thought it would be a quick process, but every step of the way seems to have been slow, especially getting money out of old pensions, but in the final days of the year the last cash has been transferred from an old pension, although it will take a few more days to arrive and be invested. I had reviewed my other investments and was happy with them, but in the last few weeks the provider has put their fees up, so I need to look into alternatives for those.
Get my weight down to 90kg
Fail – Every year. Must try harder. I had a good second half of the year, but you can tell when the weather started getting bad in October and I was not riding my bike as much. Looking at the past week or so the trend has been downwards, despite a few meals out, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep that going in to 2025.
Once again it looks like I have failed to achieve more of my goals than I acheived. I think for next year I need to try and ride (and work) less, so that I can focus on other goals.
One of my goals for 2024 was to do a 50km bike ride – I had a few routes planned, but had not yet got around to riding them. I had planned to take a full day, ride at a casual speed, maybe have a lunch stop etc. However, sometimes things just fall into your lap…
This summer I have been trying to join the local mountain bike group, the Godiva Trailriders, on their Wednesday evening group rides, as I find riding with faster riders helps me to push myself. This evening was a prime example! The pace was faster than I am used to (16km/h average), and my first experience of riding off road, at speed in the dark. On trails I do not know. I did lose the rider in front of me a few times, as I was right on my limit but fortunately the group waited for me.
As we got to the end of the group part of the ride I realised that it was one of my longest rides to date – no wonder I was struggling, but also that I could push on to 50km if I took a slightly longer route home. So I did, and ticked off one of my goals!
I usually like to check in on my goals for the year at the end of June, once again it has come around very quickly! It feels like we have packed a lot into the first six months of the year, but we have still got plenty of exciting things planned over the next few months…
Spend more time with my friends
Whilst I have just spent a nice afternoon with Partho, his wife and dogs, at home eating BBQ (the best pulled pork I have ever cooked), it has definitely been an exception. We have been for a few bike rides together, but I have barely seen my other friends. By the middle of next month we have all turned forty, and are yet to celebrate together. More effort needed.
Make my blog more robust
I have made some improvements, but what it really needed is a full refresh of the infrastructure. I had started this, but had been bogged down trying to do it “correctly”, crafting the perfect infrastructure in CDK. However perfection can sometimes be the enemy of progress. There is no need for me to reinvent the wheel, when I can simply spin up a proven AMI on an AWS EC2 instance. I have a couple of other projects to get out of the way first but will be looking at the blog next.
Refresh my photography portfolio website
Not yet, but this is a good project for when the weather is rubbish.
Not yet, but I have got a decent route planned, which I am hoping to do in the next few weeks.
Ride 25km with Owen
Owen and I have done a few more rides around the twenty kilometre mark, but we need to get something longer planned. Ideally it needs to be off road, but without too many climbs.
Ride at Bike Park Wales with Owen
Another one that I can check off – I won a Bike Park Wales pass with Little Rippers, and Owen and I spent the weekend in Wales. We only managed two runs before Owen called it a day as he was feeling unwell.
Ride at 417 Bike Park with Henry
Not yet, I am hoping that we can fit this in during the school summer holidays. The bike park has been closed the last few weeks, but should be reopening soon.
Ride at Bwlch Nant yr Arian
Not yet, but next time I get a free day, it is where I am going!
Ride one more of the “10 of the best XC trails in the UK” with Partho
This has been one of my goals for a while, but for various reasons it has not worked out. We did get out for a fun ride in the Peak District, where Partho demoed a Cotic bike. He has now bought one, so hopefully that means we will be riding more together.
Sort out the boys toys
Massive fail. I have sort of sorted out their Lego, but our lounge started of the year with relatively few toys, after we had it redecorated at the back end of last year, but more have gradually crept in…
Tidy my garage
Another fail.
MR2 jobs
The MR2 has had at least one wash this year, and is booked into the bodyshop in a few weeks time to get some minor scuffs tidied up.
Make sure that my pensions and investments are working for me
Boring. My employer is rejigging our work pension plan at the moment, so using that as an excuse to put this off…
Get my weight down to 90kg
After eating all of the Easter treats, my weight is finally trending in the right direction, I need to have a few good weeks of eating sensibly and riding my bike lots before going on holiday at the end of July and hopefully that will get me back on track.
July looks like it is going to be a busy month for me, culminating it a family holiday to the South coast, apart from the bank holiday, August and September look a lot calmer, so hopefully I will be able to make some headway with my goals for the rest of the year.
Owen and I started 2024 as we mean to go on – riding mountain bikes! We saw in the new year at home, my best friend Partho, his wife Marilena and their two sausage dogs, Otto and Leo, who came round to our house for a dinner party. We had Pastitio, a Cypriot meat, pasta and béchamel sauce dish, similar to lasagne. Jen was going to make it, but Partho and Marilena offered to make it and bring it with them, as they had the correct pasta from Cyprus. Instead, Jen made a “Burnt Basque Cheesecake” for dessert. It was one of the tastiest dinners of the year. It was a low key evening, but really nice to spend some time together. Henry did not quite manage to stay up until midnight, but Owen did, just. He was flagging by 23:30, but we kept him going.
Thanks to their late night, the boys gave us a lie in this morning. After a late breakfast, Owen and I loaded up the van to drive to Hicks Lodge, for a first proper ride on his new bike. Everyone else had the same idea, so it took us a while to get parked up. When we eventually got to the trails they were wet, but still running well. Owen seemed to take well to his new bike – I need to stop giving him such long head starts, as I struggled to catch up with him on a few sections. He has lost some fitness whilst recovering from his recent illness, and could not keep up his initial pace, and we only managed one lap. It was great to be back out together though. Hopefully we will be doing much more riding together later in the year – one of his new years resolutions is “not to say no, to going for bike rides”.
We have not got any riding trips planned yet, as Owen still needs to take things easy. However he is looking forward to our trip to Manchester for the “Bricktastic” Lego show. We have a few other trips planned: Jen and I will be going to York in a few weeks, we hope to repeat our trip to Weston-Super-Mare for Cruise to the Prom and we will be joining my parents, brother, sister-in-law and new niece, for a week on the South Coast, near Brighton, in the summer holidays. Jen and I also have a trip to Rome to rebook. Hopefully we will also be able to squeeze in a few more trips.
Life always seems to get in the way, but this year I am going to make a more concerted effort to spend time with my friends. I saw a couple of my best friends, separately, yesterday and it was really nice to spend time with them. We all just need to be a bit more organised, especially as the lads all have big birthdays coming up, which we should probably celebrate.
Make my blog more robust
My blog went offline for a few months last year, and the replacement I deployed has not been great either. Last year I focussed on making what I had more robust, e.g. failing health checks triggering an AWS Lambda script to reboot the server, but I think I need to start from scratch and get something more reliable.
Refresh my photography portfolio website
A goal carried over from last year. My original plan to do customise the skin I’m using in Adobe Portfolio failed, because that option is not available. So all I need to do is choose some new images, hopefully it will not be a big job.
Photograph a rally
Rallying is my favourite form of motorsport, and it has been over ten years since I last saw one live. So I would really like to get to a forest and see some rally cars sliding around on gravel roads. My dad has also said we should go to a rally this year.
Complete a 50km bike ride
My goal last year was to do three 50km rides, I did not even manage to do one. This year I have set myself a more achievable target. Fitness wise, I am sure I could do three long rides, but it is more having the time in the summer, and what else I would have to miss.
Ride 25km with Owen
Like last year, this is more Owen’s goal, as he wants to beat his longest ride to date, which stands at 20km – his goal last year. I will have to think of somewhere we can do a long ride, without too much climbing. Sherwood Pines was a good bet last year, but it would be better to ride somewhere else this time.
Ride at Bike Park Wales with Owen
Another goal carried over from last year. We had booked on to the Little Rippers Halloween ride at Bike Park Wales, but had to cancel, as Owen was in hospital. He needs to get his bike fitness back before a big day at a bike park.
Ride at 417 Bike Park with Henry
I had completely forgotten that we rode the pump track at 417 Bike Park last year, Henry had been keen to ride the bike park trails, but we had not paid for that and I promised him that we would come back. Henry must also have forgotten about it, because usually he would keep reminding me. This will likely be one for later in the year when Henry has moved on to Owen’s old Orbea.
Ride at Bwlch Nant yr Arian
Another goal carried over from 2023, Bwlch Nant yr Arian in Mid Wales has some great looking trails, and is also known for their daily Red Kite feeding – which is enough of an excuse for me to go for a ride. It also seems like somewhere that might be worth visiting with Jen and the boys as part of a Mid Wales trip.
Ride one more of the “10 of the best XC trails in the UK” with Partho
In 2022, Partho shared an article with me called “10 of the best XC trails in the UK“. I have ridden a couple of the trails, and parts of a few more, last year we planned to try and ride a few more together, but it did not happen. We discussed it last night and decided we would aim for a more realistic “ride one of the trails”.
Sort out the boys toys
Last year we redecorated our lounge, and have kept it mostly free from toys, and it is lovely. There is so much more space. The downside is that the toys are piled up in their room, so we need to sort them out – ideally maintaining the nice “grown up” lounge. We need to sort out some storage and to be be ruthless, as realistically there are only a few toys that they play with regularly.
Tidy my garage
I did not get around to this last year, if anything, the garage got messier, as more bikes arrived. A thorough sort out is needed and I also need to be ruthless.
MR2 jobs
Last year marked ten years since I bought my MR2 Roadster, for the most part it has been cheap motoring, and very reliable. Last year I planned to tackle those little jobs that will prolong it’s life, things like cleaning the drain holes. The wheels could also do with a thorough clean and a good coat of wax. However, I’ll need to get the garage tidied first… There are also a few blemishes on the paintwork that I would like to get addressed.
Make sure that my pensions and investments are working for me
When I changed jobs a few years ago, I made sure I could access my old work pension, but other than that have just left it sitting there. I had a work pension with my new job, and set up a SIPP to boost my work pension, but other than paying in to it monthly I have not checked how it is getting on. I think some sort of of “health check” is needed, and maybe some consolidation. It is a boring job, but one that keeps getting put off, having it written down as a goal should mean I am more likely to do it.
Get my weight down to 90kg
For the last ten years, at least, my goal has been to get my weight down to 85kg, which has clearly not happened. 90kg is more achievable, but if I get there, I will try to keep going to 85kg. My plan is more riding and less pizza.
Hopefully 2024 will be a better year than 2023, it has got off to a good start, so I will do my best to carry on with these positive vibes…
2023 has been a mixed year – the first nine months were pretty good, but the end of the year has been hard for all of us, as Owen has been ill. He seems to be over the worst of it now, so I will focus on the good stuff! The highlight of my year was our road trip to the Lake District, Scotland and Saltburn-by-the-Sea – it was not the big European trip that we had planned, but nonetheless, it was our best family holiday to date. In the spring we also had trips to Somerset and another to Legoland and to visit my brother in Kent. This month Jen and I both celebrated our fortieth birthdays, although our plan for a long weekend away in Rome had to be postponed. At home, the year started off with a new sofa, which then kicked off a full redecoration of the living room, including a new carpet, after a central heating leak. Clearing the room out, and only bringing back what we need has made as much of a difference as the new decor, but we still need to sort out all of the other stuff stashed around the house…
I have also had a good year behind the camera, shooting more mountain bike races, and even a bit of motorsport. I went on a landscape photography workshop in the Peak District, but sadly had not yet got around to processing and sharing the images, as it was the week before our summer road trip. The boys continue to be my main photographic subjects, usually on our regular walks in the woods up the road from our house.
Although my website, in particular this blog, have had a rubbish year, with a lot of downtime, I feel like I have progressed a lot as a developer this year, both at work and on my personal projects. The main thing that I want to keep on with is using Infrastructure As Code, in particular AWS CDK to define the infrastructure for my projects.
Owen is growing up and starting to get his own interests – mainly computer games, reading and history. Sadly for me he seems to be drifting away from MTB, he often takes some convincing to join me on rides. Then gets upset that he does not get to ride much. Hopefully the new bike he got for Christmas will spur him to ride more next year. His main riding goal for the year was to ride twenty kilometers, which he achieved in September. He also joined a karate dojo, and was making good progress with that before being taken ill. He will be able to restart karate in the new year and work towards his yellow, and hopefully orange belts. Of course the main thing that happened for Owen his illness and subsequent hospital visits. Thankfully we are over the worst of it now though.
Henry has also had a big year – starting school being the highlight, I think he preferred nursery, but he is doing well with his reading and writing, and seems to be making friends. Outside of school he has joined our local Cycle Speedway team and enjoyed going to the weekly training sessions. He continues to be a right little diva – he knows what he wants, and he makes sure everyone knows about it.
At the start of the year, I set myself some goals. I posted a halftime update in June September, but here are the final results:
Pass the AWS Certified Developer Associate exam
Pass – This goal was carried over from 2022, but I managed to get it done in the summer. I then started studying for the AWS Security Specialist Certification – I was almost ready to take the exam when Owen got admitted to hospital.
Fail – I did look in to this, but was disappointed that there was not much manual customisation available on the Adobe Portfolio service, which powers my photography portfolio. I have started to select some new images for the portfolio, but did not get very far.
Photograph more bike races
Pass – I shot four bike races this year, the Cannock Chase Winter Classic XC race, and three downhill races at Sitle Cop downhill trails. This is by far my favourite type of photography, and I am glad that I have been able to do it more often. I even sold a few images, not quite enough to pay for my new lens though.
Take a wildlife photo I am happy with
Fail – I put this on hold, as I have realised that to get an image that I will be happy with will require time, in addition to a much longer lens. Whilst I could have borrowed the lens, time was the bigger constraint, so I made an effort to concentrate on sports photography.
Complete at least three 50km bike rides
Fail – I did not manage one. I had planned one, including route and childcare, but the weather forecast was rubbish, so I wimped out. I did manage one ride over forty kilometers, with the Godiva Trailriders, and given that was at a much faster pace than I am used to, I am sure that fifty kilometers is doable.
Fail – Owen did not ride much earlier in the year, so I did not feel that he would have the bike fitness for a summer trip to Bike Park Wales. We had booked to join the Little Rippers Halloween ride there, but had to cancel as Owen was admitted to hospital.
Ride at Bwlch Nant yr Arian
Fail – This one is on me. I still want to ride there, I just need to pick a weekend and go! I will be carrying this goal over to 2024 for sure.
Ride some more of the “10 of the best XC trails in the UK” with Partho
Fail – We did not manage to get too many full days together to ride, so it was just the odd ride at our usual spots, Cannock Chase and Sherwood Pines, as always though, it is just good to be abke to get out together,
Tidy my office
Pass – Given the current state of my office, I am only just scraping a pass. But for most of the year, it has been a lot tidier than it was. My excuse is that towards the end of the year I need some mess in there to disguise the christmas presents I have stashed. Ideally I will give it a quick spring clean tomorrow before I restart at work though.
Tidy my garage
Fail – I have got too many bike projects on the go, and too many bikes in general. This year I think I sold two, and added three, only one of which was for me. This is another goal that needs to be carried over to 2024.
MR2 jobs
Fail – Again, I had too many bike jobs, so wil need to carry these over to 2024.
Van upgrades
Pass – I had the interior of the van insulated and carpeted, a Loaded Bikes system installed to transport the bikes securely and an awning rail fitted. The interior is a nicer place to be and it is easier to get the bikes in and out of the van. However, we have not managed to have the days out in the van that we would like. The boys and I (minimal help from the boys) managed to get the awning set up to give us some shade on a very warm visit to Mallory Park. I think it is one of those things where we need to get dates in the calendar reserved for van days out, otherwise something else always crops up. The van was great for our trip to Scotland though.
Monthly blog posts
Fail – My blog was offline for two months, so those months were missed. I feel like I have been getting better towards the end of the year, so hopefully I can carry the momentum forward to 2024.
Flagged emails
Fail – I have just checked and I have 639 flagged emails, more than I started with. Hopefully none of them are too important… At least I have been making a concious effort to address them though.
Get my weight down to 85kg
Massive fail – Again! Looking at the data from my Withings Scales Amazon affliate link, I was losing weight for most of the year, but put a load back on this month. At one point, whilst Owen was in hospital, my weight dipped below 90kg, but I’m not sure that being so stressed you forget to eat is really a sustainable weightloss strategy.
Once again it looks like I have failed to achieve more of my goals than I acheived. I think for next year I need to try not to over commit myself, but given the past few months I am mainly happy that we are ending 2023 without daily hospital visits and two (mostly) healthy children.
I usually like to check in on my goals for the year at the end of June, but due to the issues with my blog server, I have reviewed them two-thirds through the year, rather than halfway through. You would have thought that would have given me more chance to check off goals, but we will see…
Pass the AWS Certified Developer Associate exam
Done! I cannot be too smug though, as it was a carryover goal from last year. Given how much time this took in the spring, I am not sure why I have committed to doing another certification, AWS Certified Security – Specialty in the Autumn.
Rebuild my Orange Four
Also done! Again, a recycled 2023 goal, but it has been great being back on the Four, especially at the Golfie earlier this week. I have been riding it so much that it needs a service now. The Clockwork Evo is also due a big rebuild – it was a good job I got the Four finished when I did. Fortunately, I now have Maurice, my new-to-me urban bike, for running errands around town, as the Four is too valuable to leave locked up outside shops. Currently, I have a commuter bike in the work stand for Jen, it was a freebie from a friend, but is taking a bit of time to rebuild, as I am not used to a lot of the road bike/SRAM components and everything needs a thorough clean.
Refresh my photography portfolio website
Not yet, but this is a good project for when the weather is rubbish.
Photograph more bike races
Another goal that I have achieved – I photographed the Cannock Chase Winter Classic cross country race in February, which I did not get around to blogging about, and the Racer’s Guild Downhill at Stile Cop in May. I hope to shoot a couple more races in the autumn too. Henry has joined the local cycle speedway club, so I expect that I will also shoot some cycle speedway races.
Take a wildlife photo I am happy with
I am not sure that this photo of a bee on a sunflower in our garden really counts… I have got better at spotting wildlife, both small ones in the garden, like the bee, or bigger ones when out and about, including a couple of herons and a buzzard.
Complete at least three 50km bike rides
This one is going to be a big fail – I have not even done one, nor am I sure when I will do one. I feel like I have been riding more often though, fitting shorter rides into my week. My longest ride of the year so far did not even reach 30km and that was on the 8th January. The Clockwork Evo is a better bet for long rides than the Four, so really should get that back on the trails again and see what I can do before the trails get too muddy again.
Ride 20km with Owen
Another fail, we have done a couple of 17km rides, at Llandegla and Sherwood Pines, but the full 20km has eluded us. It is getting increasingly difficult to get Owen out on the bike, although he enjoys it when we do get out. I am sure that he could do a 20km ride if he wanted to though.
Ride at Bike Park Wales with Owen
The plan was to go to Bike Park Wales in the summer holidays, but by the time I should have booked it, Owen had only done 2 MTB rides and I was not sure that he would have been able to safely ride downhill trails, so I had to give up on that idea. He has asked to go to 417 Bike Park though, which we may do between Christmas and the new year, as he will have a new bike to try out.
Ride at Bwlch Nant yr Arian
Not yet, but still on my radar. Partho and I had a trip planned earlier this month, but the planned full day trip turned into a brief trip to Cannock Chase, then we cancelled as the weather was rubbish
Ride some more of the “10 of the best XC trails in the UK” with Partho
At the start of the year Partho we doing well at getting out for monthly rides together, but life has started to get in the way. The closest I can claim to riding any of the “10 best XC trails in the UK” are riding some of the Glentress Blue trail earlier this week, and a few rides at Cannock Chase, including a full lap myself, and most of a full lap with Partho.
Tidy my office
Well it must have been tidy at some point, as I treated myself to a new keyboard and desk mat. It has got messy again though.
Tidy my garage
With all the ongoing projects this has not happened, nor have the 3 extra bikes to squeeze in to the garage. Although a tidy garage may help with the projects, so I should probably crack on with this…
MR2 jobs
The poor MR2 has been a bit neglected this year, at the bear minimum it needs a good wash.
Van upgrades
The van interior was insulated and carpeted earlier in the year. I also fitted a Loaded Bikes rail with fork mounts in the back, which makes transporting bikes easier. I also bought an awning. We have had some good roat trips, but other than testing the awning with the boys at Mallory Park, we have not had any day trips to set up the van and have a barbeque or picnic.
Monthly blog posts
Given that my blog was officle of the best part of two months, this is obviously a big fail!
Flagged emails
I had been making good progress on getting through my flagged emails, but currently I am on 595 (up from 536 at the start of the year), but my excuse for that is that I am on holiday from work and have recently been flagging a lot of emails to deal with on my return to work.
Get my weight down to 85kg
I think this is going to be a tough ask, I think I will be happy to get under 90kg by the end of the year! The trend of the year is downwards, but my last weigh in was before setting off on holiday and eating out a lot…
Life just generally seems to be busier this year, especially as the boys are getting more into their own things. Later bed times for the boys, and often having to work/study in the evenings after collecting the boys from school are reducing available free time, so next year I may need to slim down my goals accordingly.
