2025 Goals Update

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.

Ride somewhere new with Owen

Earlier this week Owen and I rode the Lime Burner trail at Thetford Forest, which we have not ridden before, although we have previously ridden the blue graded trail there.

Do some bike trips just myself and Henry

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.

2025

Happy New Year!

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.

As in previous years, I have set myself some goals for the year ahead:

Spend more time with my friends

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.