it's finally happened full winter kit just on my way to newcastle to meet a guy called matt
matt you moved here two months ago welcome to the north i won't need a shower
um so we stayed there all day ordered that in february this year arrived this morning the joys
of covered seeking refuge because it's freezing cold my gloves are on the fence and they were on
the fire which is at the moment 220 degrees i might have melted my gloves only a little bit
just like rare put your hand on there as well it's not that hard
it's 220 degrees so what do you mean it's not that nice you don't like get as fast uphill
as me without eating properly you know i mean i feel i sought out the warmth out of the bike shop
but i burnt my glove by putting it on the fire who would have thought fires are hot so in an aid to
extend the dry miles a little bit longer clinging on to the good weather me and jimmy thought it
would be a good idea go bike packing somewhere fairly close thinking about flying to spain
next week there's direct flights from here newcastle over to barcelona and doing a ride
down the coast to either malaga or alicante two cities which also have direct flights back to
here it is gonna require a little bit of planning on my part and uh some jimmy friendly days because
he hasn't been on a bike very much recently he has about a week to get fit which isn't
going to happen so it's more just conditioning do rides every day and try and get his legs used to
it best case he gets into shape worst case it makes for some funny videos so it's a win-win
what is this i should have learned by now this happens all the time in the northeast
morning cloudy weather rain afternoon sunny and nice this is my route to the shops
and why i love living here not too bad really is it i was reading a couple of really nice
comments on yesterday's video one was saying really appreciate the effort on the daily uploads
one of the only cycling content creators to be doing that i'm actually not uploading daily but
i guess it's close to it i do take little breaks every now and then daily is doable but absolutely
life destroying and probably best saved for when something really interesting is
happening like a bike packing trip and you can just smash out 30 videos in a row that's where
it's best used another guy was saying he's come to the conclusion that i am an insomniac
in order to edit and produce this many videos how do i get any sleep i think i can actually
explain a few methods that i use in order to be able to do it firstly i've massively reduced the
amount of distractions that i have in my life this is hypocritical because i kind of work in
social media but i try and stay off it as much as possible to the point where
i've turned off all the notifications on my phone except for whatsapp and texts and all of my social
media apps are in a folder on the third page of my screen which reminds me when my brain goes oh
you should probably just press that instagram one it's not there anymore i made those changes about
a year ago and 100 they work i end up using social media less my efficiency has gone up and i've been
making more videos than ever but having way more energy to spend on other stuff in life which is
what it's about really the weird thing is though how mad is this my brain has turned youtube
and the comment section of these videos into a social media addiction it's like the human
brain or my brain at least is always searching for that kind of social group of people you can
look at and see what's going on and the comment section of these videos kind of starts becoming
that sometimes weird put those apps in a hard to get place your life will improve
the second thing is that i have all of my stuff whether it's bikes cameras kit meticulously
organized in here i know where absolutely everything is whenever i need it most commonly
used tools are all up there on the wall stuff that needs charging is always on charged and
ready to go tripods up on the wall easy to see and identify shoe dryer always ready for when i
come back from a nasty ride and my shoes are wet spare wheels and bike packing gear always out on
display ready so i don't have to rummage through drawers any type of bike grease lubricant and pva
glue that you could ever need and all the little bits that i would previously have lost inside a
drawer are out ready and easy to see inner tubes organized by type tyres organized by type right
next to my bike storage there is always a little tray of stuff with an octopussy looking charger
bike lights go in here get charged and then they're allowed in this box a collection of
items that you might need just before a ride is in this box along with sunglasses bar bags and shoes
different size bags for traveling carrying stuff in always on hooks ready to go camera gear always
on display categorized and most of it is labeled so i know where to put stuff back i haven't used
that in a while what i think all of this points to is how important organization and focus
really is i'm not the fastest at editing video i'm not the best at shooting it i'm
certainly not the best at talking to a camera i give myself loads more work than i have to
by stumbling over my words and having to re-film stuff and not getting the message across that i
want to but whatever line of work that you're in whatever you're trying to create whatever you're
trying to produce organizing stuff properly and avoiding distractions has been the most beneficial
thing for me personally so thank you for those lovely comments i really do appreciate it
but i'm not an insomniac my watch tells me that i sleep pretty well