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2025 Goals Update

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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.

A Brief Trip to Suffolk

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This summer has been busy with work on our house (various small jobs done and Jen’s office almost finished), but we managed to get away for a last minute trip away to Suffolk. The main reason we chose Suffolk was that the forecast was for an ex-hurricane come in from the west on the days we had available, so we figured we would be best going east to outrun it. And Jen had already taken the boys to Norfolk earlier in the summer, so we did not want to go back there.

Our chosen destination was Southwold, mainly based on my previous experiences of Mrs T’s Fish and Chips by the harbour. It was a long drive from Coventry, on the A14, a road I spent way too much time on in 2007/2008 when I commuted on it daily. But the last thirty miles were on a tourist route, with lots of pretty villages. The roads would have been fun in the MR2, but we were in the van. Mrs T’s was as I remembered, still just a shack in the ramshackle harbour on the banks of the River Blythe, but the fish and chips were excellent. Owen declared them “best he’d ever had”. With full bellies we walked down to the beach, the boys dig some holes and jumped in the rather ferocious waves, at least for the east coast. I had not noticed on previous visits, but Sizewll nuclear power station was visible on the horizon. As we were finishing up at the beach it started to rain. Fortunately it was only a short shower, so by the time we had driven to the north promenade, the sun was back out and we could walk into town for a look around the shops, and of course, an ice cream! Harris & James seemed to be the place to go for that.

After eating our ice creams overlooking the beach, we went back down onto the sand for the boys to play some more. I am sure they enjoy the beach more when they are in their normal clothes and without their beach toys, than when we go fully prepared. It was at this point, with shorts wet from splashing in the waves, that Henry declared that he had not packed any spare shorts. Maybe I should not have relied on a six year old to pack sensibly for himself. The strong wind on the pier seemed to dry him off though. And no visit to Southwold is complete without a pub trip for a pint of Adnams. Jen had heard of a shop selling their beers, but we did not find it, so had to settle for some takeaway cans from their tap room.

On the way to our overnight stop, the Premier Inn in Lowestoft, there was an amazing sunset as we passed over Lake Lothing. The boys, particularly Owen, were excited about staying at the Premier Inn, as it means unlimited breakfast, which Owen made the most of! After Owen had eaten his “infinite breakfast”, sampling everything except the blueberry muffins, from the breakfast buffet, we set of towards home, driving across the broads, another pretty area I have not previously visited.

We stopped at High Lodge, the Forestry England site in Thetford Forest, we had previously visited in 2021 and had a really good day, so wanted to pay a return visit. Last time Owen and I rode the blue graded “Beater” trail, but this time he was more than up to the red graded “Lime Burner” trail, the trail crew have done a great job; there is not much elevation, but the trail flowed really well and descents were maximised. It was a warm and humid day, so I was glad not to be slogging up big hills. Owen rode really well, and I found it good to be riding a new trail together for the first time. Owen is at a nice age where we is old enough that we can ride decent trails together, but not too old to be excited to see the Gruffly and want to give it a hug. Jen and Henry did a lap of the green graded trail, then checked out the playground, we met them at the new pedal and play area, which is better than the similar trails at Cannock Chase and Hicks Lodge. The playground was also better than other Forestry England sites – it had the tallest slide I have ever seen, even taller than they were in the 1980s… Owen absolutely loved it, and had to be lured away with the promise of ice cream. Jen and I had cakes from the cafe, which were particularly nice. On our way in to the site we had spotted the adventure golf, so that was our last stop. I think the boys always prefer the idea of mini golf to the reality, but everyone got at least one “hole in one” (with only minimal cheating by Henry). Then it was time for the long drive back to Coventry, around Cambridge we drove through the weather that we had been avoiding, but we got off lightly. As an end of holiday treat we stopped at Taco Bell on the outskirts of Coventry, as the boys had requested a visit, surprisingly Owen managed to put loads away, even after his “infinite breakfast”.

Goodbye Oldfield Road

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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. 

Bike Check – Orange Speedwork

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Today was a good day – I bought a new (to me) bike! I had not intended to buy another bike, but sometimes that is the way things go… The Mongoose Maurice I bought as a cheap commuter bike eighteen months ago aced the “cheap” aspect, at £60, I would not have had any second thoughts about leaving it at the station all day. But that was not how I ended up using it – by the time I locked up the bike/removed the lights etc, it would have taken longer than if I had just walked to the station. So I only really used the bike for running the odd errand, but it was so rubbish to ride that I stopped doing that too. Because it was such a cheap bike I resented spending any money on, even a new chain would have been a significant portion of the initial purchase cost. So it ended up taking up space in the garage – a plan was needed…

I decided that the obvious answer was to get a better “urban” bike, keeping the thin tyres of the Maurice, but adding gears, working brakes and better geometry. There are a few options on the market, but being an unashamed Orange Bikes fan, it had to be the Speedwork, their “perfect all-rounder”. It is a flat bar gravel bike, with a mountain bike drivetrain and brakes. Because this is meant to be a commuter bike, that I can use for running errands, and as such will be locked up away from home occasionally, I could not justify a new version, so this is the 2020 model – bought secondhand on eBay for a fraction of the cost of a new one.

I gave it a quick once over when I got it home, removed the mud guards, fitted my preferred saddle and grips, unceremoniously removed from the Maurice, pumped up the tyres and took it for a quick local shakedown ride. There were still a few more adjustments to make – mainly to handlebar and brake lever positions, but otherwise I was please with how it rode. The best way to sum it up is, “like a mountain bike, but faster”, which was exactly what I was aiming for! I even manage to get a PR on a Strava segment, despite not really trying, and still not feeling 100% with a lingering cold.

I do not have any plans lined up for the Speedwork, I do not want to spend a lot of money upgrading it, because then I will not be able to leave it anywhere. It could probably do with a deep clean, and a service, but it will have to get in the queue, behind my other bikes. So, for now, I will just ride it on the roads, whilst all the local trails are too wet to ride. If we get the chance Jen and I might do a few rides together – as she much prefers road/gravel type riding to mountain biking, and she now has a similar flat bar bike which she could do with riding a bit more.

2025

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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.

Little Rippers Halloween Ride at Bike Park Wales

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Owen and I had a great day riding at Bike Park Wales for the Little Rippers Halloween ride. It is an event that we have wanted to attend for a few years now, but holidays and hospital visits have got in the way. It was more than worth the wait, it was one of the best days on the bike this year!

We drove down the night before, after I finished work, stopping at McDonald’s enroute. Problems with their app led to me accidentally doubling Owen’s order, which he thought was the best thing ever, as he got to eat the extras. I have no idea where he puts all the food. The same could be said at the hotel the next morning, where he took full benefit of the breakfast buffet!

We got to the bike park in time to get signed on before the uplifts started, and to get the Little Rippers group photo! For our first run we decided to explore the far side of the hill, which we missed on our previous visit – Terry’s Belly top sections, back up to the new skills area, down Popty Ping, then the rest of Terry’s Belly back down to the uplift. Owen particularly liked the skills area, he rode the drips line a few times until he got it perfect – some of the drips were pretty big too.

On our second run, we rode Sixtapod then Willy Waver – both fast trails that finish at the uplift. I think the was my favourite run, Owen was looking really confident on his bike, especially considering he had not previously ridden these trails. Owen was getting hungry by this point (how?), so for our third run we aimed for the visitor centre, via Melted Welly, Fforest Bump, Roller Disco, Bluebell and Bushwhacker. Fforest Bump was the first of the “tech” trails we had ridden there, chosen because I had hoped it would bring us out after the climb on Melted Welly. It did not. The trail was different to the “flow” trails we had been riding, with a looser, more natural, surface and more drops than rollers. Owen coped well with it, I think sessioning the drops line in the skills area in the morning helped.

We ended up having a long lunch – hotdogs from the cafe, and catching up with some of the other Little Rippers, whilst Owen waited to get his face painted. He also got a Little Rippers Halloween goody bag, and a second to bring home for Henry. By the time we started our fourth run, my muscles had got cold, and judging by how slowly he was pedalling over to Terry’s Belly, Owen’s had too. Owen rode Popty Ping again, and I decided to ride the red graded Hot Stepper, which runs parallel. The red graded trail was a step up, with a lot of drops, I based my chainring on one and had to stop and bail out of another as it was too big and I was riding too slowly. In the end Owen had a bit of a wait for me where the trails rejoined eachother. My arms were feeling tired on the rest of the long Terry’s Belly trail, and I was not too surprised when Owen said he did not want to do another run when we got down to the bottom. The problem was that we were right at the bottom of the bike park and we needed to get back up to the visitor centre, so we had a small climb, which just about finished Owen off, and a short descent on Norkle.

We had had an excellent days riding – over 21km according to my Apple Watch, which makes it Owen’s longest ride! Do not be mistaken in thinking that because we were mainly riding downhill it was easy, riding long downhill trails fast is hard work, and muscle groups that we are not used to using on our normal rides. Owen certainly got a taste for this type of ride and is already asking when we will next be doing an uplift day!

It was a long drive back to Coventry, traffic was OK until we got past the M40, then it was very busy, even in Coventry, which meant I was too late to take Henry to his Cycle Speedway Halloween Spectacular, so Jen had to ride up with him, and Owen and I met them there to catch the last half of the session. Henry was riding fast, and even managed to ride a lap one handed. I had set him the challenge of learning to ride one handed before the 2025 cycle speedway seasons starts, but he managed it on the last session of the 2024 season!

Ten Years of Mountain Biking

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Ten years ago I bought a mountain bike, a Vitus Nucleus hardtail. After years of going to the gym multiple times a week, I wanted to switch up my training, and I thought that after buying the bike it would be cheaper than the gym membership. I was wrong on that count, but can definitely say that my fitness has improved! What enabled me to buy a mountain bike at the time was actually having somewhere to keep it, after the completing of my garage build. If I knew that ten years later I would be squeezing ten bikes into the garage alongside my MR2 Roadster I would have made the garage much bigger!

In addition to the family’s bike collection growing, I have also had to buy a van to transport the bikes around, as although I can ride from home, getting out an exploring new places on the bike is my favourite thing to do. Especially if I can ride with other people. I am lucky that Jen and the boys occasionally come out with me, Owen especially seems to enjoy riding, and I love being able to share a hobby with him.

I still have the frame of the Vitus hardtail, it is hanging from the garage ceiling, as although it was a good starter bike, and a good second bike when I got my Orange Four, I eventually replaced it with a better hardtail, my Orange Clockwork Evo. I did over 6,000km on that bike, albeit with a lot of upgrades over the five years I was riding it. I have also learned a heck of a lot about working on bikes – ten years ago I did not know anything, but these days I would not think twice about building a bike up from scratch, or building a wheel – I just wish I had more time to do it, and a bigger workshop of course!

Mountain bikes have also crept into my other hobby – photography. I love either going out on my bike with a camera in by bag, or shooting mountain bike races. To me, mountain biking feels more like a way of life than a sport, and I am glad that I found it, after buying that bike ten years ago.

2024 Goals Update

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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.

Photograph a rally

Yes! I actually photographed two – a single stage rally at Donington Park and the Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages in Wales.

Complete a 50km bike ride

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’s Eighth Birthday

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Owen turned eight earlier in the week, although his birthday party only happened today. His actual birthday started off fairly low key, opening his presents, then going to school. After school all his grandparents came to visit for tea and cake, and of course, more presents. Then we went to Hickory’s Smokehouse for dinner – it was not in our plan, but Owen had mentioned to a few people that it was his favourite birthday tradition, and Jen and I did not really take too much convincing!

Rather than a big party, like the last couple of years, we took Owen and a couple of his best friends to Laser Quest and then for lunch. I joined the boys for Laser Quest, and we had the place to ourselves! The boys decided that they were going to team up against me – I did not get off to a good start by starting in a dead end, but I did manage to get the highest score of the game, albeit lower than the boy’s combined score – probably because I had more targets to shoot at. After our games of laser tag we did a round of the space themed mini golf, which is the reason there is a photo of Astronaut Owen), it was only a small 9 hole course, but we enjoyed it. Finally we went on the VR experience, I went on a car race one, which made me feel a bit sick, and the boys went on an underwater adventure – which must have been very realistic judging by how loud Owen screamed when the shark swam up to him. After Laser Quest we joined Jen and Henry at Pizza Express. I think that the smaller party worked well, as Owen could spend more time with his closest friends, their only disappointment was that they could not carry on the celebrations into the afternoon.

Wales with Owen

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A few weeks ago Owen and I finally made it to Bike Park Wales, we have been wanting to go for ages, but various things had got in the way. We came close to going last year, we had passes and a hotel booked, but then Owen had to go to hospital. Earlier in the year we won a competition, on the Little Rippers Facebook group, for a “parent and child pass” at Bike Park Wales, which is a new offer which makes it cheaper to ride there with kids. One of the dates coincided with an Orange Bikes event, also in South Wales, so a plan was formed.

Owen and I drove down the afternoon before, taking a detour to Porthcawl for fish and chips, and some photophotography/playing on the beach. The fish and chips from Beales were good and we enjoyed exploring the seafront. I got a couple of good photos. Owen had play on the beach, but unfortunately he missed out on his favourite seaside activity, as the arcades did not take contactless and I had left my wallet in the van. We stayed at the Premier Inn at Caerphilly, ready to hit Mountain View Bike Park in the morning.

After a fairly restrained visit to the breakfast buffet, we drove the short distance to the Orange Gathering at Mountain View Bike Park. We got there early, before the event started, and hit the pumptrack after signing on. Owen managed about three laps before ending up on the floor. Not the start we wanted, especially as we still had the main event later in the day. We thought it best to leave the pumptrack and explore the trails, the short green loop went well, so we added on the “8 ball” blue trail, which was a bit rougher. Owen seemed to be struggling, he was not feeling 100%, but I could also tell that he had not been riding his bike much. He should have been fine on the trail, he has ridden worse, but his confidence was knocked. Fortunately, after a rest, and a look at the Orange bikes back at the event, a session on the skills area, practising drop offs, helped, and Owen rode really well on the “Twister” blue trail, which to me felt harder than “8 ball”. As we climbed back up to the start we noticed another trail, alongside the huge jump lines that looked fun. It was the “Jamming” red trail, and after another family told us that it was fun, we decided to give it a try. Owen loved it! We did another lap of “Twister” and “Jamming”, then went back to the event for pizza before the short drive to Bike Park Wales.

I was not sure what to expect at the Orange Gathering, but must admit that I came away slightly underwhelmed. I had hoped that they would have some merch on sale, but it just seemed like they had their demo fleet to test and I definitely do not need another Orange bike! The new, made in the UK, MsIsle hardtail looked great though. And seeing the bikes in different colours has made me rethink my plans for the Clockwork Evo, which I was going to get powder coated in “Norlando Grey” to match my Four. Now I think I will go for a brighter colour. There did not seem to need too many other Orange riders at the bike park, but maybe the afternoon was busier. However, I was really impressed with Mountain View Bike Park, the trails were compact, but well maintained and the cafe/bike shop were nice. If we were ever in South Wales again I would call in for an afternoon. I thought that it would be an ideal place to break the journey if we went to Bluestone again.

As good as Mountain View Bike Park was, we were both excited for our afternoon at Bike Park Wales. As we arrived we saw people parking on the approach road, but decided to risk driving up nearer to the car park, hoping to find a space, which we did. We also got checked in quickly, I guess most people had been there since the park opened at 10:00. The deck outside office/cafe/shop was buzzing with people, it reminded me of spring days at a European ski resort. The food looked good too, but we had already eaten and we were there to ride!

We took the green trail down to the uplift pick up point, which was further away from the cafe etc than I had expected. There was a push/climb to get to the uplift too, which was also unexpected. I was pleasantly surprised that despite it being a sunny, sold-out, day, we got straight onto an uplift bus without waiting. The system they have in place is very efficient. The uplift seemed to go on forever, much longer than at 417 Bike Park, which is my only previous experience. From the top of the uplift there was also a short, fairly flat, pedal to get to the trailhead.

We chose the green-graded “Kermit” trail for our first descent, as it is the easiest trail in the bike park, but also one of the longest. After dropping in we had the trail to ourselves. It started off twisting between lines, then there was a traverse out in the open, with scenic(?) views over Merthyr Tydfil. With a few more curves before a sneaky short uphill section which spat us out at the terrace. As unwelcome as the sudden climb was, it showed how much thought had gone into the park, as it slows the riders right down before joining a busy area.

We rode straight back to the uplift pickup for another lap, discussing which trails we would ride, settling on “Melted Welly” into “Roller Disco” into “Blue Belle”, all blue-graded flow trails. As we were about to drop in, Owen said that he was not feeling well and that he did not want to do another lap after this one, which as disappointing, but not surprising as he had not seemed himself all day. We enjoyed our second run down the hill, well maybe not the surprise climb on “Melted Welly”, but the downhill bits were great. It was a shame that we had to leave after only two runs, but Bike Park Wales was even better than I had expected, and I had very high expectations! I am sure that we will be back there later in the year to do some more runs!