Christmas: a time for family, fairy lights and fluffy blankets. ‘Tis the season to be jolly, so the song goes. Which is a lovely sentiment, even if it means battling against the apps on my phone, for whom, it appears, ‘tis the season to take it in turns to humble me.
First there was Spotify, whose Wrapped review reminded me my music tastes haven’t matured since I was 15. LinkedIn tried to send me my “personal snapshot” of the year, which was too dull to open. In the past, I remember one supermarket prodding me with an annual summary of my grocery habits – a friend of mine was the number-one buyer of chickpeas in Woking.
Each cutesy, branded graphic is a reminder of the bank of data different companies hold about us. I'm not paranoid about that, though. Should I be? Maybe. But there’s one annual review I’m always excited to see: my Strava Year in Sport.
For the uninitiated, the Year in Sport is a personalised slideshow compiling the stats of how much – or in my case, how little – exercise Strava subscribers did over the year. Mine was released to me last week, and the amount of cycling I’ve done floored me.
In 2025, the number of kilometres I rode dropped almost 50% year on year, from around 2,600 to 1,300. To put that into context, that’s the same distance as the first nine days of the Tour de France. I wouldn’t even have gotten to the first rest day.
I'll be honest, the numbers didn’t come as a surprise. But they still stared back at me with the disappointed look your mum gives you when you forget to put the turkey out to defrost – a task you promised you’d do. “Maybe it’s not too late to fix it,” I frantically thought to myself. Sadly, no panicked, mid-December bike ride is going to thaw a disappointing year.
So what's my excuse? I've had no injuries. I can't even blame the weather; the Met Office revealed today that 2025 has been the sunniest year on record in the UK. Life, as it so often does, just got in the way.
It’s tempting now to set myself targets for 2026. I thought about trying to restore my two-wheeled halcyon days, get myself back to that yearly distance of 3,000km (yes, I know some of you hit that in a few months), and show Strava that I do ride my bike, actually, thank you very much.
That said, life can be too unpredictable for rigid goals, and it can be difficult to find the time. Once, when I told someone I was a cycling journalist, they thought it meant I saddled up and rode between crime scenes, skidding to a halt in front of the police tape. As cool as that sounds, it’s not the case, and while I’m very privileged to get to follow bike races abroad, the sunny month of July – when I’m out reporting on the Tour de France – always brings my lowest riding volume.
I’m also discovering new joys elsewhere. I ran 300% further in 2025, setting new PBs over 5k, 10k and the half-marathon (admittedly, it’s always a PB when it’s your first half-marathon). Cycling has been bumped from top spot on my Strava; however, it's still number one in my heart.
Will I do anything differently next year? Almost certainly not. I plan to stick to my usual mantra: ride my bike when I feel like it, and never let it become a chore. That way, even if my Strava stats are underwhelming, I can always say I’ve enjoyed every kilometre pedalled – a fact that's true of this year, from the cold winter mornings, to the post-work shake-outs and the summer cycling holiday in Brittany.
Yes, I wish I'd cycled more in 2025, but if 2026 brings more of the same, I won't flog myself about it. Besides, I’ve signed up for another half-marathon in the spring.
