2026 is booked

It’s a time of year where people reflect and come up with resolutions or aspirations for the year ahead. I’m no different. I like to look back at the previous year. What was good or bad and come up with a plan for the year ahead, however a lot of 2026 is already booked for me

First up I’ve got a bumper calendar of Gravel Events to get through. I only missed one last year, due to illness, and I’d love to complete the set this year. That’s 12 events. 2025 was a pivotal year for my Gravelton Events project which saw a massive surge in followers and subscribers but more importantly riders. Just last month, what I thought would be a pretty innocuous social ride for Christmas was a real hit. 50+ riders rocked up and made it a really great day out despite some sloppy conditions. It’s been the theme the whole year. Great turn outs on the whole with a lot of new riders at each event. 2026 looks set to be another great year for the format with 4 new events to enjoy en-route too.

I’m also pretty much booked up for holidays too. My personal travel consultant (Sally :-)) has been busy and the fun starts this month not long after a first for us, a week of Xmas sun, last month in Fuerteventura. The last couple of years we’ve done long weekend’s in Malaga and it’s Christmas Markets in December (highly recommended) however the cost had ballooned so we decided to go to the Canary Islands for a week instead for the same money. It’s not stopped us going though, we go again in a couple of weeks for a long weekend. It’s much cheaper in January for obvious reasons. Churro’s incoming!

In March we fly to Villamoura, Portugal for a few days. This was a prize Sally won through her travel work. We just needed to get flights so it’s another relatively cheap Spring escape to keep us tied over to the BIG one later this year.

But before that, in June I’ve booked my week of cycling. This year I’ve bolted on a week in the New Forest after the Gravel Weekender I’ve devised in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley. I haven’t been to the New Forest or New Milton since I was a kid on family holidays, so I’m looking forward to the cycling and the memories it may evoke.

Then in August, it’s the BIG one. When Sally hit’s one of her business milestones she treats us both to a big holiday. So for hitting £2m of business she’s booked us on an Alaskan cruise. We depart from Vancouver and sail up the Canadian coast for a week to Anchorage. From there we spend a few days on the road to Fairbanks and then fly back to Calgary to spend the last few days with friends before flying home. I’ve never ever wanted to do a cruise. The thought of having to share a closed or restricted space with thousands of other people fills me with dread to be honest but slowly through seeing and hearing feedback from Sally’s customers and friends, I’ve come round to the idea and decided to scratch the itch. Everyone tells me I’ll love it. I’m being open-minded about it and pretty sure it will be fine. Sally knows me well enough and even if I didn’t enjoy it myself I’d never let it overshadow the holiday so I’m focussing on the off ship stuff instead.

If I was to make any resolutions for 2026 I think I’d just keep it simple. Initially, I need to lose some post-Christmas weight. Less drinking, more cycling. December was pretty full on for food and drink having been away a week of it and the other one is double-down on my Darts. 2025 was a great year. I’ve loved it. I joined a team, progressed to the A Team. I’ve also love the banter we have, I really do it for that. Competing is secondary. My goal is to improve further, be more consistent and cement my place in the team as one of the best players as we have a strong line-up and competition for a place is strong which is good. For now it’s seeing out the Winter League and getting ready for the Summer League in March.

From a work-perspective, it could be a big year for one of the projects I’ve been working on since it’s inception mid-2024. We saw massive growth last year and we’re predicting 300-400% more this year. So that’ll keep me busy.

Happy New Year!

Adios