My 2022 on the bike

2022 has been the biggest year ever for me in terms of riding—by a long way. Here's what Strava has to say:

• 235 rides
• 10,767 km travelled
• 203,965 meters height gain
• 597 hours in the saddle

To put it in perspective, that's nearly double what I did in 2021 on all counts. Pretty happy with that.

Here's a few highlights of the year...

January: New Bike Day

Always a special day. I had ordered a Scott Addict Gravel 20 in the autumn, it arrived at my local bike shop in mid January. Love it.

May: Mont Ventoux

We had a week in an Airbnb about 20km from the base of Ventoux in May, so I thought it'd be rude not to ride up it. I took the regular route up from Bedoin via Chalet Reynard and past the Tommy Simpson memorial. The descent off the back was still closed for cars after the winter, so I had the freedom to really pin it on the way down. I logged a top 20,000 Strava time for the climb, but a top 1,000 for the descent ;)

June: The Hope 1000

My first bikepacking race: 1000km across Switzerland in June. I've written all about my race elsewhere, an amazing experience that has left me wanting more.

August: Gravelman Mont Blanc

After the Hope 1000, I wanted to do something else with my new found fitness and love of riding long distances. This was just around the corner from home and ticked all the boxes. 8,000m of climbing over 250km in 22 hours. It was a beast.

September: The GR65

Sara and I set off from home to ride to Condom in the south west of France along the GR65 (mostly). An 850km trip to see family and celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary.

October: Erratico Gravel

A 200km gravel race in the flat-ish bit of land between Turin and Aosta. It took us a solid 10 hours with a Roubaix-esc velodrome finish (though I was totally spent by the time we got there: Double leg cramps for the last 20k meant I was certainly not getting above the black line!)

October: Tuscan Enduro

A boys trip to Tuscany. Having missed out on the May trip due to some unfortunate double booking with a work adventure (Kayaking in Norway—terrible life), I wasn't going to miss this one with Ridgeline MTB.