The year that was

The Diary of a mountain bike guide, route researcher and guidebook writer

A year ago today started wonderfully. I was up early, my bike was in the van, and I was on my way to Capel Curig to guide and instruct at Plas y Brenin – a legendary institution and somewhere I’d always aspired to work.

Life really couldn’t have been much better.

No way could  I have dreamt that just a few hours later, a momentary lapse of concentration would be so life changing.

Fortunately, I have been lucky, and the changes to my life that really matter aren’t the slightly stiff neck, the dimples in my forehead or my even healthier respect for wooden trails. The real change has been in perspective. I got up close and friendly with my own fragility and maybe even my own mortality, and it’s certainly made me view life in a different way.

So the point of this blog isn’t really to retell a story that’s already been told, but just to thank everybody that’s supported me during the last year. In particular Steph, who obviously took the lion’s share of the stress. But also to all my family and friends who gathered around and gave me something to smile about during the darker times.

And also to my customers. Both my guiding clients – a lot of whom I now call friends too – who supported the business and booked trips, which really gave me something to aim for. And the wonderful magazines I work for, who were happy to shift deadlines and change working patterns to keep me gainfully employed.

Thank you…