On the way home, we visited Granada and Malaga in Andalucia, Spain.

Grenada was beautiful! We toured Alhambra and found an amazing Syrian place to eat. We ate there twice; it was so good. I also did one bike ride, but it was way too much city riding, and I finally found some gravel at the end of the ride.

Malaga was bigger, sunnier, and had a beautiful beach.

We really liked it, and I got to have a fantastic lunch with Serita. Serita is the freelance editor who takes care of many things at Shepherd. It was really great to meet her, and she brought some of this Tequila she has crafted (I am looking forward to trying it)!

I also managed a long bike ride; the Malaga trails were amazing. I hope to go back and explore more of the gravel routes one day.

We are home now, and I am catching up on a lot of work and random family things we’ve put off. I am feeling more rested which is good.

This is how I feel about 2023.

I am excited about my life and the progress I’ve made as a human. There are so many amazing things going on, and I am excited to see them shake out. 2023 is going to be fun :)

As a family, we are figuring out where we will live for the next stage of our lives. That is exciting, asI doesn’t enjoy the current limbo state.

My big 3 for the year?

1. Get Shepherd to a break-even point on costs and exit beta 🥳. I am having so much fun with this project! So many cool features coming this year…
2. Live a life full of adventure! I am hoping to do another big bike tour this year, but I am waiting to see where we land as a family first. I am also hoping that Lindsey can do a solo vacation soon. And I am planning some camping trips for Calico and me (and maybe a bike trip).
3. Let it go. Short hand for the continued work to keep my energy and health in a good place. I redlined in 2022 multiple times and I aim to do better this year.

Onward to 2023!

2022 was a hard year… but we also had a lot of fun.

The year had a rough start.

We found out Lindsey was pregnant in January, but a few weeks later, we found out it was not viable (followed by a miscarriage ~6 weeks later). We’ve been trying to get pregnant for a while, and this was emotionally hard. It took me a while to process it as we were so busy. Lindsey’s health hasn’t been great since the miscarriage, which has been stressful for us. We are making progress there and are hopeful she will be back at 100% soon.

We spent the first six months of the year on the road with an epic road trip around Europe. We wanted to look at places that might make a more permanent home as Calico gets closer to starting school. Road trips are great as we spend so much time with each other. We had a lot of fun adventures. But it also wore me down since I worked insanely hard to get Shepherd.com to a good place. We haven’t reached a conclusion to this search for a home yet, but we hope to make a decision soon.

The Amazing

Lindsey and I have been married for eight wonderful years! She is a great PIC🙃. Calico turned six this year, and we had so much fun this year. I am thankful that I have a flexible schedule so I can get a lot of time with him. 

I did an epic 999km bike tour along the Via Francigena route in Italy. It was a mind-blowing experience, and these rides make my soul sing. I am looking forward to my next one…

What fun stuff did we do this year?

• We started the year with a massive road trip to explore places we might want to make a more permanent home (pictures here). We started in Montpellier, France, and then headed to Karlsruhe, Germany, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, and finally, Graz, Austria. After that, we were exhausted and took a long stay in Istria, Croatia (we love Croatia). Then we spent some time in France in Aix-en-Provence, and some short stays in Lyon and Bordeaux. It was good to get home after all that.
• While we were in Croatia, I did a 3-day ride over an old rail trail. Lindsey and Calico tagged along in the car, and it was a really fun experience. We also did our first tasting menu at an amazing hotel/restaurant in Slovenia.
• We took Calico on his first camping trip! Calico and I slept in a tent while Lindsey got a wonderful little cabin. We had a blast, and I am planning another one soon.
• I did an epic 999km bike tour along Italy’s Via Francigena pilgrimage route in October. It started in the foothills of the alps and ended in Rome. Here is a summary, and here are a ton of pictures. I did a much better job training for this one (which I am proud of as I wasn’t prepared for the previous one). The food was amazing, and I had a lot of treats.
• We visited dear friends in Dublin for Thanksgiving. It was so good to see Rose, Steve, and their new family member Evie. I got a cold that got in my sinuses which wasn’t fun, but I managed to rally for the second half of the trip. We hadn’t seen them since 2017, and I’ve missed them.
• My mom and stepdad visited us for Christmas! I wish they could have stayed longer as it went by too quickly. Calico loved having them here. I was frustrated as I hit some health bumps, which took time away from everything (trying to be kind to myself as it happens).
• I turned 41 years old with my lovely family!

The Challenges!

Health
As mentioned above, Lindsey has struggled for most of 2022 with post-miscarriage health issues. We think we are on a good path now and will know more soon (stress is lower). I was doing well health-wise, but December has been a mess. I think I am just exhausted at this point. I finally went to the hospital last week to get checked out (I was worried it might be Chron’s). They said everything looked good, and I most likely had really bad food poisoning and need to rest. I hope to be back at 100% soon.

Calico knocked a tooth out…
Calico started 2022 by knocking out a tooth at the playground. He handled it well, as it was pretty intense. He fell on a climbing structure, and it perfectly knocked out one tooth. Luckily the root and everything else were fine.

Energy
I ran into a wall several times this year. Between the miscarriage, travel, and work intensity, my energy management didn’t go well. It was a good learning experience; and I am sure I will do better in 2023. Running your own business is always hard, and the starting phase 100x harder than any other.

How did I do on my goals for 2022?

Fantastic on two out of three!

1. Shepherd is doing fantastic and growing like a weed. I’ll do a separate post with more details. We didn’t quite exit beta, but that is coming toward Feb/Mar. I am having so much fun with it 🙂.
2. We had a ton of adventures in Europe! And I managed one short bike tour and one long one.
3. I didn’t do well on energy, and I am paying for that now (and during the year). Lindsey and I probably need a real vacation where we go to a beach or mountain cabin and do nothing but rest (I’d love to find one with childcare/activities).

2023…

I am super excited about 2023! I have big plans for Shepherd! I am most excited about shipping genres and age groups soon. I’ve wanted that since the start, and we are finally in a place to do that (starting work next week and should have it ready to show by late March).

We will figure out where our more permanent home will be. Calico starts schooling in September, and we want to find a home for our family. We are feeling some stress over this decision (I especially don’t like being in limbo).

Longer 2023 post coming soon…

For 2022:

• I did a total of 370+ hours of tracked workouts.
• I worked out 227 days in some form.

How do I feel about this year?

I think this year was a minor miracle.

We went on a slightly insane journey in the first six months of the year, and I managed to keep my workout routine. I am proud of that, as that shit isn’t easy. I am much better at maintaining workout routines than I was ten years ago.

On the less proud front, I will start with this quote…

“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, “Wow what a ride!” – Hunter S. Thompson

This describes my December as I didn’t end the year well.

It has been a rough month. I got hit with a weird depression (super unlike me), followed by exhaustion and brain fog. Then I got nasty food poisoning and immense fatigue. I ended up at the hospital last week (I wanted to make sure it wasn’t Chron’s). The doctors think it was a nasty bacterial food infection, which is “good” news. I am feeling better now, but my energy is still low. I am hoping it recovers after some more rest.

As the chief mechanic of Ben, I probably need a vacation where I do nothing for a few weeks. I need adventure in my life and bike trips to deliver that. But they are also intense, and when combined with work, there isn’t much “rest” happening. And eventually, my body says, “fuck you,” and my motorcycle tips over, and I slide through a wall… then all the king’s men have to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

I work best when I can balance intense creative work, adventures (biking trips), and vacations (resting on a beach or mountain cabin). But when you add life to the mix, that is hard to achieve. I’ve seen similar patterns with my wife, family, and friends. I am going to get better at this…

Biking

• I rode 259+ hours on my bike.
• I biked on 116 days.
• I covered 4,936km (the second-highest year on record).

I am most proud of the training I did for my big bike tour this year. Unlike previous years I was prepared for the ride. I hope to keep that up for the next one. I also did well, considering how busy Shepherd and life were.

Sick / Not 100%
I was sick, injured, or not at a hundred percent for ~11% of the year. That is about the same as last year. The main impact was this December mess, a cold/sinus thing in November in Dublin, and some flu thing in Croatia in May (I never tested positive for Covid). The interesting thing is those all came after feelings of being overwhelmed and exhausted. I need to listen better.

Sleep
This year 75% of my sleep was rated as good sleep and 60% as “enough” sleep (7.5+ hours). That is similar to last year.

Strength / Rehab / Back
My back felt great 93% of the time this year. That is awesome!

Fun stats:

• I set a new ride ascent record with a 1,249m gain one day.
• My longest ride was 94km (per Garmin)
• I ascended a total of 34,759 meters this year.
• I biked 57+ hours in October on my big bike tour.
• I did 122 strength training sessions this year for 92 hours. That hits my goal of 3 a week, but my average session was 45 minutes when I aim for 60.

What are my health/workout goals for 2023?

1. Maintain a good base on my bike so I can do long bike tours.
2. Do ST 3x a week for 60 minutes to keep my back happy.
3. Continue to improve energy management so that I don’t red line. This is hugely important as I want to do a better job with health/stress in 2023.
4. I want to shift some food habits by about 20 degrees. Specifically I want to shed some extra weight I am carrying, eat less meat, and change some bad habits around screens + food.

I am also adding in speed workouts, but still playing with that.

Past years: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 workout summary.

Since 2010 I’ve participated in a yearly challenge to read 100 books. For 2022 I barely made it with 101 books. It has been an intense year, and combined with working so hard on Shepherd; I didn’t have as much time for reading.

92% of the books I read were fun, and 8% were serious. I am not reading as much non-fiction, and I am curious if that changes anytime soon.

I do a big book summary each year; if you want to take a look at past years for some reading ideas, check them out here: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022.

If you only read 3 books this year, I recommend the following…

1. The entire Tom Swan series by Christian Cameron
   Christian Cameron is one of my all-time favorite authors, and this adventure historical fiction series was amazing. I love the characters he creates and how much they grow over the course of a series. I can’t help but fall in love with them (so hard to say goodbye). This is based in the 15th century and follows someone who is a bit like Indiana Jones. I read these while I was biking through Italy for 3 weeks, and they made the perfect companion.
2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
   This is hard science fiction from the author of the Martian. Earth is under threat, and an emergency program is started to try to find a solution. This stumbles into a first-contact scenario that is truly unique. With the current state of the world, I need some engineering/competence porn, and this book delivers. If you need to read about someone solving incredible problems with a gungho attitude, this book is for you!
3. The Agent Cormac Series by Neal Asher
   I love this character and the science fiction world it imagines. This is some of the best science fiction I’ve read over the last few years. It made me think about AI and what the world would look like if AI ran it. What would a world look like that is filled with super intelligent AI programs that can come into conflict with each other and operate at a speed humans can’t even fathom?

3 honorable mentions?

• Love fantasy? The Blacktongue Thief by Chrstiopher Buehlman is the best fantasy book I read this year. The characters are hilarious, and I was laughing loudly often. I eagerly await book #2.
• Like to canoe? Adam Shoalts canoes upriver across all of Canada’s arctic. The book is called Beyond the Trees, and this book left me utterly silent inside. The way he describes what he sees is mesmerizing, and the scope of his trip is astounding.
• I’ve been thinking a lot about the rise of fascism in the 19th century. I highly recommend My Name Was Five by Heinz Kohler for a unique view of the rise of Nazism in Germany. It is the story of a young boy growing up before, during, and after WW2 in Berlin. I couldn’t put it down.

Enjoy your next book :)