1) Favourite outing (not necessarily by bike)
July BaM with daughter.

2) Favourite piece of kit of 2024.
Mini pump for sleeping mat

3) Favourite media piece.
https://www.iconbooks.com/ib-title/the-life-cycle/
The Life Cycle by Kate Rawles. Not actually finished it yet mind.

4) Open category for chat!
Pass.

I gotta say this has been a hell of a thread. So much openness, interesting thoughts and inspirational travels, in equal measure.

There's no shortage of bad mental health (myself included) and for all of those affected, I can only wish you better times ahead.

1) Favourite outing (not necessarily by bike)
Chablais 300 was a hoot - fun trails and stunning scenery and a nice pint waiting at the end. HT550 was great, as always, but I had a strange feeling like I'd sleepwalked around most of it. Getting pretty ill on day 4 was not a highlight but at least I finished.

2) Favourite piece of kit of 2024
Putting a dropper seatpost on the gravel bike. Only 80mm travel but it transforms it into a much more versatile machine.

3) Favourite media piece
I really liked "Ephemeral" about scottish winter climbing

4) Open category for chat!
Sorry to hear many others have had a rough year - hope it improves rapidly for you all.
I think many have had a rough time since the pandemic - we had our share with daughter's leukemia + relapse, sister-in-law's death from brain cancer but things might have turned a corner now and 2024 was a lot better.
Getting excited about the Hope 1000 in June - need to make sure I get some hills in the legs before then!

Looks a decent job for someone though James - why not you?

Hard to answer without it reading like a job interview answer : ) but I'm more a creative than a formal operations + process type. I can do the ops stuff, everything needs it to a point but it does little for job satisfaction vs creating something. I also don't have much time for the typical meeting culture in workplaces. I can imagine some workplaces do it well but generally I find they tend to replace true collaborative work or encourage a permission culture and certain personalities to dominate. If I had my career over again I'd be aiming at craft skill and spending my time in a workshop not an office. I think it's a shame schools of the 80s saw wood and metalwork and working with your hands as somehow inferior to trad academic subjects, like design and manufacturing didn't have the same scope for using your brain, it's nuts.

I agree with your schools point James. I tried to do A level woodwork at sixth form but our comprehensive school couldn’t run it with only 3 pupils interested. So I binned off a craft I loved at the age of 16

I think most prefer the "doing" to the "managing the doing" - from twenty years in software development in companies up to 400 strong I can think of only one person who preferred documentation to writing code and TBH he was a bit <cough>odd</cough>.

Chatting to a neighbour yesterday (he's pretty right wing by his own admission) and he was on about people taking early retirement. I countered that I have a significant number of friends who gave up a well paid career because they were fed up with "working for the man" and either retired as soon as they could or started doing something tangible: plasterer; gardner; horse treatment; outdoor ed.

I still do software but it's more for personal use than financial gain (and it keeps the grey cells active).

1) Favourite outing (not necessarily by bike)

I don't know which was better - my bucket-list canoe trip in May, across the Great Glen from Aberdeen to Fort William or the Slate 2 trip with RIP in July.

2) Favourite piece of kit of 2024

My Ding-Dong bicycle bell (think the Avon telly adverts from many years ago). It makes me smile every time I bing it but it also makes the bingees smile too, often with a few friendly words exchanged.

3) Favourite media piece

This place. Love to read bivvy and ride reports.
Youtube videos of bikepacking trips. I'm thinking of you, Summittoppler and Johnallen and many others

4) Open category for chat!

RIP. I'll say no more.

whitestone wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 1:52 pm Chatting to a neighbour yesterday (he's pretty right wing by his own admission) and he was on about people taking early retirement.

Was he of the opinion it's a good thing? Or did he wish he had retired sooner?

MuddyPete wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 10:51 pm

whitestone wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 1:52 pm Chatting to a neighbour yesterday (he's pretty right wing by his own admission) and he was on about people taking early retirement.

Was he of the opinion it's a good thing? Or did he wish he had retired sooner?

No - he thinks they should still be working. He's about a year older than me and runs his own company.

I massively agree with you there James & Dave, I've spent the last nearly 20 years teaching engineering in as practical and CAD based as possible, and am currently taking a career break to write a textbook for T-levels engineering and develop vocational engineering.

The enthusiasm and excitement from students who suddenly "get" a practical task, or someone who finds their niche and suddenly becomes an entirely different student made my day!

CAD based

cardboard aided design? I'm a big fan

Genuinely hope all those who had a poor year or are currently struggling have a better outcome this year

cardboard aided design

Accurately describes my welding/fabrication abilities