This will be the year of the extension, almost certainly.
Cycling
Maintain A-Group Fitness - all year
I was bullied/forced into riding in the Nova A-Group this summer, which was a real step-up in pace and intensity. I'm surviving so far, and I need to keep the fitness levels up to maintain that. This will require consistency throughout the year....volume, structure and frequency as an overall. When I started, I was wrecked on the following day (Sunday)...now I can get a second longer ride in, so need to maintain that, and make sure I've got the resilience built up.
Time Trials - Q2 and Q3
We go again, with the aim of winning a trophy (something I managed to just avoid in every category this year). I'm now in the Coffin Dodgers 50+ age group, though honestly the competition is just as hard.
Bike-packing - Prep Q1, ride Q2
In April I'll be doing my first bike-packing trip, riding from Harrogate to Belgium via the Hull-Rotterdam ferry, and doing the Tour of Flanders sportive. I need to re-spec the gravel bike into a road-tourer (I have a pile of vouchers for Restrap), and need to change various things (tyres, gearing, handlebars etc). I have a slowly expanding document for planning. I set off on 1st April, and goal is full completion (approx. 750-800km), but I've got various options in case the distance gets too tough, or weather doesn't play ball.
If it all goes well, I might try an overnight trip to the west coast in Q3 (stretch goal).
Retire the PlanetX Commuter - Q1
I've not used it since I moved here, and it's been partially disassembled to cannibalize parts for other bikes. Strip off all parts, and bin the frame (clearing up space). I've drilled the frame to run cables internally, so it's unsellable. Should be done alongside the gravel-bike re-work.
Retire Wattbike - Q3/Q4
I'm not 100% on this yet. I bought my Wattbike second-hand from British Cycling in 2013, and it's done a lot, and is showing it. The CMOS battery in the head-unit is gone, so no longer remembers settings. I'm unable to get spares, and the cranks are rusted to all hell. It's noisy, and the bodywork has cracked (taped up). I have an option to retire it, buy a modern direct-drive turbo-trainer, and attach my old Canyon (the one I broke my pelvis on) as a trainer. This would effectively clear a second bike from the rack that is not being used (and is also partially disassembled). The Wattbike is, however, bullet-proof. It's been incredibly reliable, and still performs it's prime function.
Beekeeping - Q2 onwards
We should be getting one or two colonies this year. I need to;
- Build hive stands
- Complete the course (theory stage 2 in Q1)
- Get 1 or 2 colonies installed in the hives
- Harvest honey in ~September
Extension - Q1 and Q2
We have a provisional start date of mid-February. We need to complete requirements (kitchen design, electrical layout, floor spec).
We need to survive the 14-16 weeks of the house being torn apart while we work inside (and with no kitchen/washing machine)
We'll need to sort out the garden once complete (assuming lawn will be wrecked)
As a stretch goal I'd like to get the driveway redone (currently gravel, I want block-paving)
As a stretch goal sort out the dogs room (remove shelving, plaster wall, move radiator to opposite wall and fit dog crates under desk. Wall mount TV on opposite wall)
The solar panels and heat pump have had to be delayed, probably until I retire and have access to a lump sum.
Finances - all year
The "big" stuff is done, so now this is about finessing, as well as a bit of rationalisation.
- No big bike purchases - I've spent a lot on bikes in the last couple of years, getting the fleet adapted to Yorkshire. No big purchases this year
- I did a complete tech refresh in 2025. No big tech purchases this year
- Do a full review of 2025 spending in Q1, and identify areas where savings can be made. This is much easier than when I last did it, as 99% of spending is now on card/app
- From Q2 onwards implement a savings schedule for 9 months
Project-55 remains on-target.
Tech - all year
- Complete the migration to a FLAC music library. As a reward, once done get some LDAC compatible headphones (currently using SBC)
- Get Immich up and running on the in-house servers. THis is the last major self-hosting of media that I need to do.
- Look into basic PETG printing. This will mostly be looking into a moisture-proof spool system.
Health
A new category. In November I had a bit of a scare when a molar exploded, and then got infected. I ended up in A&E on a drip for a few hours, and for a week I was only able to eat via a straw...it all culminated in a weekend out of my face on Tramadol to keep me sane while the antibiotics did their thing. It's been fixed now (nerve killed, abscess drained, root canal done and filled...still need to get it crowned), but it's made me aware that many of my systems are reaching end-of-life. My teeth are atrocious...the period from uni to my 30's of abusing them and living off Red Bull has come back to bite me. My eyesight has gone...from perfect vision in 2020 to +2.5 now. My hearing is going (the partial cause of the tinnitus I got when I got taken of the bike). We are not evolved to live this long, and it's clear a lot of the organs that we rely on are starting to age and fail.
- Teeth still need a lot of work. Start getting it done
- Investigate what supplements work for me
To clarify that second one, I'm not talking about vitamins, or stuff you should be getting day-to-day in your diet. This is more about performance, and keeping systems running.
I've already started this, with Magnesium at night (to assist with sleep), Nitrates before exercise, and also Creatine (muscle repair, and some unproven stuff around cognitive performance).
Generally, a good diet will help the various systems work well, however I shall investigate (and navigate the snake-oil nonsense) where I can gain definitive benefits.
Comments
What a read! Thoroughly impressed by it all. Mine will appear much more - errrrr... ragged!
I've spent thousands on my teeth and there's thousands more to go. My right canine is actually a baby tooth that's holding on for dear life.
I desperately want to do some low key bikepacking (will also be shopping at restrap, I have savings!) but more on that in my own post shortly.
I've also cashed in my crimble Restrap vouchers, and got;
I decided against front fork bags and a frame bag. These worked out expensive per litre in terms of storage. The front fork bags would have had a big impact on speed, and the frame bag would have meant I'd also need to change my bottle cages to side-entry (which I'm not a fan of, as well as increasing costs even more). 34-35 litres should be more than enough for a week of staying in hotels and ferries.
The plan is to do a test ride to Grassington next Sunday. It's about a 100km loop, with sigificantly more climbing than I'll be facing in Belgium. I'll pootle up Wharfdale, stop for a tea/pastry, then tackle the prolonged climb upto Greenhow (which includes a couple of cheeky ramps to make sure that I can deal with the weight and gearing.
Excellent setup! I am going a similar way with my Restrap purchases. The only one I might add is a cockpit pouch for snacks.
Are you a fan of Redshift generally? I was wondering whether to get a stem with a bit of rise or go the whole hog and get the topshelf handle bars. A riser stem might be a better start.
I think Redshift spend a lot on advertising. I got the ShockStop stem as it was a solution to a problem (a crutch to help my lack of off-road arm and wrist strength). It's not a new idea, there were Softride stems in the 90's, before suspension forks were introduced. The other option I had for a gravel bike was a Lauf fork, however the cost was 8x more, and I'd had mixed feedback from them, mostly around how they impact cornering. The ShockStem is/was OK, but far more of a faff to install than they claim (down to counting exact numbers of rotations of a long threaded bolt)
I don't think much of their other products. The suspension seat post is not really viable for anything ridden on tarmac, as it will impact pedal-to-saddle distances, which can in turn fuck up yer knees (same reason you don't have a cushioned saddle). The TopShelf bar is incredibly heavy, and way too wide for me (41cm being the narrowest). Canyon tried something a few years ago, and it was universally unpopular, so they discontinued it after one product cycle. I generally have my handebars clear of gubbins...an outfront Garmin mount, and if absolutely required a light mounted underneath that. Handlebars are for hands.
Personally, if you are finding the handlebars a bit low, going for a stem with a bit of rise is the easiest and cheapest way of adjusting reach. Swapping handlebars also means moving shifters, re-cabling and re-doing bar tape. If the handlebars have internal routing (as mine do) then you're also disconnnecting/reconnecting to shifters (biggest win of the past week for me was getting the hydraulics disconnected and reconncted without having to re-bleed the system). Swapping a stem is 5 minutes with hex wrenches, and if/when you improve flexibility, it's easily reversible. Looking at pictures of your bike on Strava, I can see you already have probably the maximum number of spacers under the stem. Tricky to say with flared handlebars, but they might be pointing down slightly? Loostening the faceplate bolts and rotating the bars so the hoods are slightly higher may help? (the end of the drops should be parallel to the floor...again, it might be angles and the handlebar flare, but it all looks slightly upward pointing). Generally, the drop (height the saddle is above the handlebars) is fairly conservative from what I can see. Otherwise, your stem should say somewhere on it it's length (in mm) and the current rise/drop (in degrees). I'd guess at 80mm +6'. You can find stems with an angle of upto 30', though with a shorter stem, the overall height gain will be a bit limted.
More generally, basic core strength and flexibility helps no end. You're younger than me, and have all the bits of your spine. Do some basic stretches with the aim of touching your toes, and this will definitely assist with comfort on the bike.
LOL you're younger than me - posted exactly one week before your birthday!
Riser is the way to go - nice and cheap. I have adjusted the tilt of the bars up and down but couldn't get comfy. I think an angled riser is the way to go. I can get a cheap one to check the angle and then splash out if need be.
A mini-digger, mini-dumper truck and a portaloo have appeared outside the house. I think that means we are about to start losing the back of the house. Extension is Go!!!
Reminds me of this
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/14-years-in-man-still-digging-basemen...
No plan survives first contact with the enemy.
Cycling
Bikepack Trip - Done - huge success, no fatalities
Retire the Planet-X Commuter - not yet. It's been partially disassembled, and some parts have been donated to a U14 racer who needed a race bike. I still need to strip off the tyres and gear internals.
Maintain A-Group fitness - on target. I've done my yearly training camp, and (mostly) kept on schedule. Now the clocks have changed we are transitioning into peak cycling season, with chaingang and time trials kicking off soon. I'll be out of the garage, and mostly outdoors for the next 6 months.
Beekeeping
We've completed the course. The work on the house means we might have to delay getting colonies until June (Q3) (the building work is 100% not conducive to beehives in the garden), and this could impact honey potential this year, as the prime focus will be getting the colony strength and stores up to survive winter.
Extension
This has absolutely taken over the household. We really didn't get the level of impact that it would have....which is sorta dumb, as we've paid to chop the back of the house off. Work started on the 10th of February, and we've had the following "challenges" (which basically means additional costs);
So it's all been a little chaotic, and we've spent a lot of time with spreadsheets managing budget. On top of this, we've slowly had to move the utility room, dining room and kitchen into the living room. In the last week we have hit peak disruption...no washing machine, no oven or hob, no sink (we're jury-rigged a washing up area in the downstairs tolet with it's tiny, tiny sink), and for the next 2 months we have a kettle, air fryer and microwave in the living room. We can't access the garden from the back of the house, so dogs are let out the front, and have to walk round (fortunately they are pretty good at this). The noise has been, at time, spectacular (I've had petrol circular saws and angle grinders being wielded about 50cm from my feet while I work, as the kitchen is directly under me).
On the plus side, we've been able to spec out a really good kitchen, and in the last week we've been able to see the new rooms opened up (external walls are in place, roof is on, and old walls have been violently removed). We've got timelines for the place being put back together (plastering in a weeks time, which means next week plasterboard will be going up...kitchen due to be delivered first week in May, and that should be the beginning of the end). The dining room/library is going to be a spectacular space, with big sliding doors into the garden, and a high ceiling. We are really excited to see it all come together in the next few weeks. Work is scheduled to be complete in early June. I suspect we'll spend summer doing recovery work on the lawn and garden.
Our builders have been excellent. We've caused havoc with our neighbours, but the team have been really good at keeping them on-side. When we've hit the challenges, they have come up with good solutions. They absolutely refuse to do bodge jobs (and have been horrified at some of the stuff they have found from the previous extension. Our neighbours on one side have lived here since the estate was built, remember the builders of the old extension, and said they were really sketchy). They are incredibly hard working. Thy get on-site at 7:30am, work solidly through to 4pm, and clearly take pride in work well done. Whenever we've had to deviate from plan (more often than you think), they've explained the situation well, and come up with solutions. For example, the roof angle was coming up very slightly too shallow (apparently roof tiles have minimum pitches), and this meant that they may have had to move an upstiars window. They sourced some lower pitch tiles, and they are doing a tweak to the roof design to add a slight dip around the window, rather than remove it and shrink it. Where the old dining room was un-insulated, they are now going to add 50mm of insulated plasterboard to the old part os the wall that will remain, meaning the room will be significantly warmer than it was.
We've been very surprised with how the dogs have handled the upheaval. We were worried that they (and especially Reaver) would get very stressed with the changes to the house, but they have adapted remarkably well. The builders love them both, and apart from a couple of times when the house has been literally shaking, they have dealt with it all pretty calmly.
Finances
The main focus has been re-working the house budget as me manage the various challenges. I'll move the review to Q3, once stuff has calmed down.
Tech
The FLAC library formation continues, though work has kicked off, reducing my spare time.
I've not had time to look at Immich
I have a (half-arsed) plan to get a better printer, and use it to make kitchen drawer inserts. These cost a small fortune to buy, and printing them on a larger bed printer would be fairly easy. I think this will be looked at later on in Q2, once the kitchen is in place, and other finances are sorted out.
Health
In January/February I had a lot of dental work done. 4 serious fillings (3 on molars, one on an incisor) to cover teeth that could fail at any minute, and I now have to sleep with a grind guard. I have another series of work provisionally planned in for July/August (the less critical, but will probably fail in 1-2 years).
I've continued to trial supplements. BCCA's are now on the menu, as I'm mostly looking at recovery-based aids (as this quarter has been very much high volume training. As we move into peak training season, it'll be higher intensity, shorter efforts, so I'll focus on power-based supplements.