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 do not usually post on my birthday, but my blog has been a bit quiet these last few months, as I have been either working or DIYing… But as today was my birthday I had the day off! After dropping the boys off at school, Jen and I went out for breakfast, to a local Irish cafe. I must be getting sensible in my old age, as I only had a small breakfast. As Jen had to work when we got home, my plan had been to ride my bike, but the weather was grim. So I built a wheel for a secret bike project I am working on.
The weather improved at lunchtime, so I dug out my waterproofs and headed to Newbold Comyn – localish trails which I know run well in the wet. The first time I have ridden there since racing at the opening event earlier in the year. I only had time for a few laps, but it was good to get out, even if it was cold and rainy. The bike/kit cleanup has been ignored for now…
I got home just in time for a quick shower before tea and cake when the boys got back from school. Jen had made one of her special chocolate cakes for me! We then took the boys to their swimming lesson and met my parents for dinner at Ye Olde Saracen’s Head in Balsall Common.
After a busy day it was nice to get home and watch the Deathgrip 2 MTB movie with a wee dram of single malt.
After a summer holiday that flew by, Owen and Henry started back at school today. As you can see from the photo, Henry was not as keen to go back as Owen. A rainy school run did not help. I am pleased to say that when I picked them up in the afternoon, both said that they had had brilliant days at school.
Owen’s First Day of Year Five
After a busy summer holiday, I think Owen is glad to get back to school for a break away from Henry. Owen’s homework for the summer holidays was to read “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, which was no problem for him, but also to design and present a sweet machine. His “Lemon Sherbert Bomb” machine was well designed.
In addition to the mandatory photo by the front door, I asked Owen some questions, to record how he changes over the years:
Height: 143cm
Shoe size: 3.5
Bike(s): Vitus Nucleus 24 for mountain biking, Frog 69 for commuting and United Recruit 16 BMX for riding to school and at the skatepark. He also borrows a cycle speedway bike from the Cycle Speedway club.
Favourite book: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Favourite thing to watch on TV: Beyblade X
Best thing we did over the summer holiday: Going to the Wave waterpark in Coventry (same as last year)
What do you want to be when you grow up? Lego designer
Henry’s First Day of Year Two
Henry less was keen to go back to school, or more accurately to wear school uniform. Henry’s homework was to take some photos in front of the summer holidays – an easy one for me to help with.
Henry also answered the back to school questions, at least he has a more realistic career aspiration than last year…
Height: 124cm
Shoe size: 13.5
Bike(s): Orbea MX20 (Owen’s old bike) for mountain biking, Frog 52 which still has not been converted to a cycle speedway bike and Frog 55 for riding to school. Henry also borrows a bike from the cycle speedway club.
Favourite colour: Blue
Favourite food: Pizza
Favourite book: Enchanted Wood
Favourite thing to watch on TV: Sam and Cat
Best thing we did over the summer holiday: Playdate with Gwen
What do you want to be when you grow up? A scientist
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.
It has been a few months since we moved out of our old house on Oldfield Road, but life has been too busy to post about where we have moved to. The answer is that we have moved a couple of miles west to an estate on the edge of Coventry called Allesley Green. As the name implies, there is a lot of greenery here, which was what really attracted us to this house – the view out the front of the house is over a park/floodplain. Yet we are still less than five minutes walk to a shop/bus stop. The house also has a large double garage which was also a big pull for me! Getting bikes out, or working on them will no longer be a combination of limbo and Tetris! Having tools near the cars, rather than at the end of the back garden will also be handy.
We bought the house knowing that it was going to be a(nother) full renovation project, when we initially viewed the house, back in the winter, we were put off by the layout and decor. Nothing else we looked at could come close to the location, so we booked a second viewing, and went in looking at the potential knowing it would need some work, and decided to buy it.
The house was originally the show home for the development, so is right at the front of the estate – hence the good views. It started off as a three bedroom house with a single garage on the side, but at some point it had a full height side extension, adding a bedroom, a bathroom and extending the kitchen. The garage was turned into a room (Jen’s office), and a detached double garage built to replace it. There were also some internal layout changes: the front bedrooms were joined together to make a larger room and the original bathroom was turned into a small bedroom (my office). Although this layout may change.
In the months before we were able to move in we had all sorts of ideas flying around about how we could alter the layout and how each room would be used. However, now that we are somewhat settled, we are switching up our priorities slightly.
Every room still needs something doing, but we are no longer looking to change the downstairs layout, but upstairs may change. Our priority for the remainder of 2025 is to get the upstairs sorted – so that the boys can move into their own bedrooms. We have enough bedrooms, but are currently keeping one free so we can shuffle around as work gets done, so for now the boys are still sharing. Jen’s office will also get a mini makeover, as we were a bit too eager picking at loose wallpaper and have pretty much stripped the room.
We have more outside space, than at our old house, but it is configured differently – one bonus of being a detached house is that we can have an out of site area for storage down the side of the house, and the view out of the kitchen/conservatory is of the pretty part of the garden, no storage/garage etc. The previous owner was a keen gardener, so the garden is in a decent state, we just need to keep on top of it. We even have a hedgehog that passes through the garden occasionally. There’s also a patio between the kitchen and garage, which will be great for entertaining, and a “secret” garden on the other side of the garage with a greenhouse. In front of the house there is parking for four cars, and a lawn. Coming from our old terraced house it is nice to have some greenery at the front of the house. We have added a flower bed and put up some hanging baskets to improve the kerb appeal – not that it can be seen from the road.
There is a lot of work to do, but we have the vision and can tell that the house will be great once it is done. Work on the house is going to be a priority over the next few years, so my blog might end up being quiet for a while, as I will got be going on as many trips.
This is our last night at our house on Oldfield Road. Most of our belongings are already packed up, so it feels like we are camping in our own home. The sunny weather today could not have been any more different to when we moved in twelve years ago – it was snowing! The house is also very different to when we moved in – every room has been plastered and painted. Some have even been painted twice. The garden has been redone, and the leaky wooden garage replaced with a bigger brick built one. As documented on this blog.
There is a tinge of sadness leaving this house, not only because we put a lot of effort into the renovation, but this is where the boys grew up, so we have a lot of happy memories here. The house has also been in Jen’s family for a long time – her mum grew up here too, and even packing up today we kept getting reminders of Jen’s grandad. However, the boys keep on growing and we need more space…
Other than the memories, so things that I am going to miss:
The neighbours – we have been really lucky with our neighbours, on both sides. Being in a mid terrace you need understanding neighbours, but more than that it has always been nice chatting over the fence. I know the boys will miss this the most, although I am looking forward to being in a detached house.
The wood burning stove – we had this installed in 2013, in place of the old back boiler (we also had gas combi boiler in the coal house). It is great to sit by the fire in the winter, even if we do not really need it for heat. I’ll also miss the ritual of stacking the wood and preparing the fire.
The veranda – having sheltered outside space is so underrated, not just for a nice place to sit outside, but for storage and drying washing all year, whatever the weather. We liked the veranda so much that we replaced it with a virtually identical one as part of the renovations.
The outside toilet – I like that in the 21st century we still have an outside toilet. Especially as the toilet was liberated from the old Alvis tank factory before it was torn down and replaced with a retail park. It will be nice to have multiple indoor toilets though. Especially in the winter.
The location – Aside from the great community on Oldfield Road, it is very well located, close enough to walk to the city centre, but far enough away to be quiet. It is only a few minutes walk to the woods and Hearsall Common. The downside is that all the houses in the area are practically identical, not ideal if you need something bigger.
This weekend Owen turned nine! It has been a really busy weekend (more on that in my next post), so I am only just getting around to writing this post. Friday, the day of his birthday, was very low key; he opened his presents before school, then went to his usual karate session after school and we got a McDonalds on the way home. We are going to got karting with a few of his friends later in the month when things have calmed down a bit.
Saturday would have been the day for a party, but Owen was already double booked, with a regional karate competition in Walsall and a regional cycle speedway race in Coventry. Fortunately Owen chose speedway. He had an excellent race, the way the numbers worked out, Owen ended up riding with the under 14s, rather than with the under 10s – this means four lap races, rather than the three that Owen is used to. That did not stop Owen from doing some of the best speedway riding I have ever seen him do, not only was he keeping up with competitor three or four years older than him he kept going right until the chequered flag. He came second, out of three, in the “B” final, on paper a worse result than his last race, but considering he was riding up a category it is a great result. I think riding with the bigger kids forced Owen to bring his A-game – if he was still riding with the younger kids he would have easily beaten them, most are only six or seven, but I do not think he would have needed to ride flat out to achieve it. This just shows how far he has come on after only three months of riding cycle speedway. Not only was his riding good, his attitude was great too, usually he would not react well to a set back, like racing old children, but he handled it well.
I also notice that Owen is getting a bit too big for the speedway bike that he is borrowing from the club – it fitted him perfectly at the start of the season and I had been looking to buy him that model of bike, but I will have to restart my search, looking at models with 26″ wheels.
My parents had come up to watch Owen racing, but after the speedway most of Jen’s family came round for birthday cake and a general catch up. As ever with Jen’s family there was a lot of cake, but it was good to see everyone and Owen enjoyed the fuss.
I cannot believe that next year Owen will be in to double digits, it does not seem that long ago that he was a tiny baby!
This post is a bit late – but life has been busy recently! At the start of March, Henry turned six! Unfortunately of him it was on a school day, so after his favourite breakfast – pancakes, he had to go to school. However, after school we had some family round for tea and cake. It was good to catch up with everyone, and, as usual, Jen made a great birthday cake.
The celebrations continued into the weekend, as we took the boys to London for the day. The plan had been to take Henry to see a show, but in the end we went on a bus tour, because Henry wanted to see the sights. I think he would have struggled to sit still for a whole show anyway. It was a special “kids tour”, and despite his reservations on sitting upstairs on the double decker bus Henry enjoyed it. It was the day of the protestor climbing Big Ben, the tour had to be diverted slightly, but we still got to see Big Ben, with the protestor on the side.
After the bus tour we walked through St James’ park, eating ice creams as it was such a warm day, up to Buckingham Palace. The Union Jack was flying, which meant that the King was not there, so we carried to to the tube station and got the tube to the Natural History Museum, where we met my sister-in-law Sophie, and baby Isabella. We spent a while walking around the museum, but it was so busy, so we retreated to the cafe for more cake.
The rest of March has flown by, but Henry (and Owen) will be keeping busy with a karate tournament and a cycle speedway race on the coming weekends…
One of my goals for 2025 was to update my photography portfolio and this is one goal that I can check off before the end of January! There has not been much of a change in format – the platform I use, Adobe Portfolio, has not added any new features, nor does it support too many customisations, so I left it the same, just tweaking the albums. I have included more of my recent work and made it easier to update in future.
