2018 in review

Life

2018 was a big year for me and my family. Lots of exciting news and bucket list items

A lot of things happened personally this year which meant I wasn't able to put out as many blog posts as I would have liked. I also haven't produced any more videos (something which was starting to pick up pace at the end of 2017). I hope to get back to these in 2019, along with writing more blog posts again. Despite my content output lacking, my personal achievements in 2018 shot through the roof!

The Job

Professionally, I'm still working for Liquid Light and celebrated my 4th year there in July. I also received a big boost in 2018 by being promoted to director and asked to step up to run the company, along with a couple of other colleagues. The "take over" is an ongoing process, but it's an exciting time and great to be recognised.

The house

At the beginning of the year, my wife and I bought our first house. Moving from a rented 1 bedroom flat in Hove to a 3 bedroom house in Lancing was certainly a big change. I needs a lot of work and we are getting there slowly but surely. We have some big plans for this year in the kitchen, which I'm excited about but it already feels likes our home and we're settling in nicely. It's amazing how much room we have now - just the other day I was painting a door in the kitchen and hosted a Christmas eve party with friends.

The bike

During the move, I had placed my lovely carbon fibre Cannondale bike on the roof of our car. However, my wife forgot it was there and drove under a solid metal car park barrier. Ripping the roof rack and bike from the car and bringing it crashing to the ground. The frame was shattered and the roof of the car ruined.

Fortunately, insurance came to the rescue. The bike was a write off and so my cycle insurance paid out. The car insurance paid for the roof to be repaired. Needing a new bike, I took it upon myself to build a new one.

Lots of lessons, swearing, blood sweat and tears later (you can see the process on twitter) the beast is complete. I've never loved a bike more.

It rides and handles beautifully, and I think it looks pretty awesome too. 2018 also saw my first serious bike accident in a very long time.

The tattoo

I went and got a tattoo. Something I've been thinking about for a year or so and it was a bit of a shock to family and friends (as I've never really externally been a tattoo person). It's based on a bike cog, featuring some geometric patterns, to disguise the cog (and not be so obviously a bike tattoo).

The child

If changing where we lived, getting a new job and permanently marking my skin wasn't enough, we went and made a small person. Born in November, this little bundle of joy has occupied our lives for the tail end of last year. Life changing.

Side note: how did I manage to write more about a bike than my own son?

Stats

This is the real reason we're all here. How did my 2018 compare to 2017 factually?

Blog posts

In 2018 I wrote just 7 blog posts (not including the "2017 in review" post from the beginning of the year. Compared to the whooping 23 posts (which includes the 4 video tutorials I created) I wrote in 2017, 2018 was somewhat bleak. I've got a list of blog post ideas that I'm going to crack on with, but would welcome any suggestions!

Below I've pulled out my top 10 most popular posts from 2018. The chart rating is the position compared to 2017. Despite all the new content last year, there are still some classics hanging in the top 10!

Cycling

With the move farther afield, my commutes increased from 3 miles each way to 10. Although doing less rides, they are all significantly longer. The commutes are, however, flatter - hence the drop in total ascent over the years. I've not allocated a winner to the total number of rides, as although 2018 had fewer, they were longer. Who is to judge which one wins?

Walking

Once again, some of my bike rides count as steps and floors, so it's no surprise that I have done more steps in 2018 than 2017.

2018 was a good year, here's to a cracking 2019!