2025 - Part 1: A Malady

It's been emotional.

After coughing and spluttering my way into 2025, I've been pretty excited to crack on with this year. Last year was something else, so I've been so excited to think more positively, excited to carve out the year and create markers to look forward to. I close my eyes, see the Sa Calobra climb, Les Cingles, those smooth roads in Nice/Monaco... you get it.

It really hasn't been smooth sailing so far. Firstly, the weather. Just ghastly, impossibly windy, or impossibly cold, meaning when I (or we, the whole UK cycling scene lol) can ride, it's 2-3hrs & 4L of water on a stiff trainer to get by. Most Brits are built for the cold, but this is anti-cycling weather in all its glory.

Secondly, my first serious accident on the bike. Shot out the door after the first glimpse of good weather and... bang. Rear-ended 50+ mph by a motorcyclist - my bike a total write-off. Nothing I could've done. Two weeks off the bike, stiff and bruised and confidence shot, feeling slightly lucky I wasn't in hospital or worse. And obviously no road bike - a bike I really did/do love and have ridden thousands of miles on. Twat.

Still, things are looking up. The weather is perking, temps rising, and exciting things (one that's already arrived!) are around the corner...

1. Firstly, NEW BIKE DAY. One of the great perks of a permanent job (+ passing probation, yay) is the ability to afford a new bike (inadvertently now a replacement). And it's a good one. Never thought i'd own a 'super-bike', but I bought a Cervelo S5 on sale - a-frame cockpit, deep section wheels, electronic shifting, the works, only a marginal one grade down from bikes that Vinegaard has won a Tour de France on. It's not going to make me win anything, albeit joyous days and weeks out... (pics below).
   
   
2. A few big days out, inbound. UK for now, but the start of April is the first club ride out in the Cotswolds, a gorgeous part of the country to cycle in. Mid-April is the gravel event, traversing around Salisbury Plains, with a glimpse of Stonehenge on the bike - never ridden in Wiltshire, so excited to crunch some rocks there. 
   
   
3. June/July... More gravel events, some local (Norfolk Broads), Chase The Sun (South) & potentially the Dunwich Dynamo (if i can find a way home..). But the most exciting is - Ventoux. Originally planned trip for August (which fell through), i've deposit'd some cash to ride Les Cingles to coincide with Stage 16 of the Tour de France. Fucking. In my veins.

Lastly, photo dump of some of the better, brighter days so far in 2025. Onwards. Allez.