Happy New Year for 2026

by Matt | January 5, 2026 | Filed under Bike talk | 1 reply so far

A cold day on Pitch Hill
Clear skies and chilly weather

Well, here we are again, a New Year. Welcome to 2026 and all that.

Someone pointed out we are now as far away from the millenium as we were in 1974. Which is quite sobering, that means the millenium is just under half a lifetime ago for me.

How does that affect things? Well perspective is a wonderful thing but I don’t know what to make of it all. Let’s just stick to bikes, eh?

What’s certain is bikes are significantly different to what we had available to us in the year 2000. Yet their fundamentals remain.

It remains fun to ride a bike. Simply pushing off – be it for an errand, a commute, a social MTB ride or a lengthy road ride still makes me smile. There’s nothing like it for feeling like you are cheating the system.

Bikes continue to reward use with health, fitness, environmental and wealth benefits. Yes wealth – even our collective revolving bike stable is cheaper than owning and running a car (I think?!).

Here’s to more riding in 2026. In a world that appears crazy, let’s try and stick to at least one sane activity.

Meanwhile, look out for my 2025 riding year round up and a Christmas 2025 ride report soon.

Thanks for reading,
Matt

There is 1 reply so far

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  1. April 6, 2026 at 8:25 am

    Paul Cooper says:

    Hi Matt

    I’ve owned a Bird Aether 9C since Dec 2022 and looking around on line I found Muddy Moles and noticed it had more Bird related content than I could find elsewhere – some great stuff on the site btw…

    Getting to the point – I had my Bird built and have genuinely loved the bike (it’s still in brilliant condition and rides like a dream..) However, after suffering some serious back issues, it’s now simply too much bike for me and I’m finding I can’t get anything like the best out of it – effectively, I’m now limited to riding loose trails locally and all mountain territory is no longer doable for me..

    Basically, I’m looking to sell the bike and as you appear to have a decent audience that appreciates the value and virtues of a British developed and built MTB, thought I’d ask if you maybe knew of anyone who might be interested?

    Obviously I can stick it on eBay but I thought I’d email you guys first and ask the question…

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