I was looking back at some old photos and videos with fond memories. I can’t believe how time has flown by so quickly. I thought I’d pull together some of the great biking I managed to get done.

2018 was a great year of mountain biking for me. With one of the hottest and sunniest summers in ages it was hard not to take advantage and go biking. I took loads of amazing film and have put it together in a short montage. Check it out, the first is a video I love to watch.

In total I cycled 1,467 miles according to my Garmin records. That totalled 137 hours and 28 minutes. I know there are people who cycle a lot more than that and people who cycle a lot less. It doesn't really matter, but for me, I'm very impressed with those stats. Day by day you never really realise you are clocking that many miles. It’s a case of just getting out and riding.

January – I remember wanting to plan some regular routes that are a little further than the 10 milers I was doing. I planned a route around Thieves wood, the wood between Mansfield and Notts. It was very muddy at the time but a cracking route to do in the summer and not too far away for a lunch time trip.

I also started the year doing lots of the short sharp loops of 10 miles around Mansfield and the Felly. Turns out these built-up lots of miles overall.

February – Was the month I put together my favourite video, the felly loop video. It took me a number of rides through the felly to get enough footage to put together a diverse winter looking video. Along the way I got some amazing pictures which I still use now. In fact the website header is was taken at this time. 

March – I was a good dad in March and did lots of biking with kids. As the Easter holidays encroach into March, I took them on a number of different rides. A favourite of my daughter at this age was Mansfield’s reservoir as it is a loop of about a mile that she can do loads of times and when she is tired it isn’t too far before you are back at the van. Another favourite of my kids is a 5-mile loop near Teversal on the teversal trail. It starts at Skegby and heads in the direction of Hardwick Hall before swinging back towards Silverhill and the Teversal trail. 

April – Was a mirror of January as I continued with some route planning. This time I wanted a longer route in the opposite direction going beyond the Felly. So, I had a number of exploration rides to put together the Moorgreen loop. It passed straight through the Felly, skirts the edge of the Moorgreen Reservoir, swings back along the lanes towards Hucknall before cutting through some farms and emerging at the Annesley cutting wood. A lovely 15-mile loop.

May – As I’d planned the Moorgreen loop the next thing was to obviously film it. So, May was the month I did the Moorgreen loop filming. I didn’t stop there as I also squeezed in some filming in and around Newstead. Then the best bit and most memorable part of the Month was a family ride at Monsal trail for my birthday. I love going to do the Monsal trail with the kids, as it’s a perfect ride, a smooth trail, relatively flat, 11 miles in total and the train tunnels to enjoy. It also has a cracking café to enjoy once you’ve completed the ride.

June - Certainly, my biggest trip in 2018 was Route 68 from Berwick to Matlock. A very challenging ride only because we over planned the number of miles we could do in a day, and a couple of wrong turns impacted our ability to do the distance each day. I logged my longest ride in a day ever at 82 miles. Honestly the views were amazing, but we had a lot of pain over 5 days. We planned to ride for the day and then enjoy the evening with a couple of beers and a nice meal, but it didn’t quite work out as some nights we didn’t get in our digs until 10pm. Definitely a lesson learnt, and I now say on a multi-day recreational adventure I will not do more than 50 miles in a day, to give time for enjoying it.



July – After the gruelling trip at the end of June, July was a recovery month, just having one bike ride in the whole month.

August – I got back into the swing of things nice and easily. August contained our holiday in Norfolk so included a day’s biking at Holkham Hall and through to Wells. A light and really enjoyable family day. In August I completed my MIAS 2-day course and the final assessment around Chatsworth. I wanted to be a mountain bike leader for ages, and I achieved the qualification to go off and do it. The rest of 2018 was taken cycling in and around Robin Hood country. There are some really great local routes from 10-mile short loops up to whatever mileage you fancy.

September – Was a busy month for the number of rides completed. Most consisted of short sharp loops from 9.8 miles derby road loop to 12.82 miles Newstead loop. Lots of lunch times out on the bike clocking up the miles.

October – I was back to planning another longer route. I headed in a different direction and put together the Pig Hill loop. So called because of the hill right in the centre of the route that has pigs grazing on the land on both sides as you trudge up and over the hill. It’s a nice challenging route, more for the weekend rather than a nip out on a workday lunch time.

November – Very similar to September, a month consisting of short sharp loops from 9.8 miles derby road loop to 12.82 miles Newstead loop.

December - The most memorable mornings mountain biking for me was a route I did just before Christmas. Around Moorgreen reservoir through Newstead Abbey for lunch and back through Thieves wood. It totalled around 35 miles but was a really chilled out ride. I often do a Christmas ride when I break up from work and this was a perfect one. 

Some great memories for me. What did you get up to in 2018? I hope you enjoyed the summer as much as I did…

Check out some of my other articles:

Clumber to Newstead Abbey

Clumber Park loop

Carsington Water

Newstead Abbey Route

Hardwick Hall Route