🔗 October 7, 2024

This has been quite the year for me. As I mentioned in my previous post, my wife did indeed retire; however, we are still very much living in the same home and we are nowhere near ready to go with putting the house on the market and moving somewhere new. There's just been too much happening this year to really get to grips with everything that needs doing.

Earlier in the year, my wife and I drove to Vermont to see a solar eclipse, then later in the month I went on a group ride with some buddies that was tremendous fun. Unfortunately, something went wrong with my audio recorder and I was unable to turn my footage into a video. In the early summer, my wife and I drove from our home in Pennsylvania to California to see our grandchildren, and then took a long sightseeing route on the way back. While we were away, our car essentially lunched itself and we had to get a new car in August. The “new” car is a 2022 Ford Edge ST, and so far I rather like it.

In September, we flew to England to participate in my father's 80th birthday celebration. We both got sick as we came home, and have been coughing and spluttering ever since. Later this year, we will be driving back to California again. Like I said, it has been quite the year.

So there's been almost no content from me besides my weekly Raw Sound Sunday videos, and there probably won't be anything in the way of videoblogging from me for a while. I did pick up a new camera during the year, so I have been able to raise the quality of the videos. If you fancy getting a camera like mine, you can do me a solid and buy one through my Video Gear page so I can earn a little bit of pocket money!

TM

🔗 January 12, 2024

It's 2024 already? My goodness, time seems to whizz along like a fastboi on an R1! The last few months have been dominated by cold weather, and I haven't ridden my Speed Twin since November. I had a video come out earlier today that is part one of a group ride I did at the time, and part two is the only other material I have to release until the warmer weather comes and I can get out to ride again.

2024 will likely be a year of great upheaval for me. My wife is retiring, and we expect to be downsizing to a single-story home as soon as we are able to get our old place suitable for sale and find something new. I would like to stay in the same area, because I have a nice group of friends I like to ride with who all live in this region, but at the end of the day it will be money that dictates any final decision.

TM

🔗 October 23, 2023

When last I wrote, I talked about how I was reducing the amount of content I would be putting up on my channel. It turns out that my hoped-for monthly release schedule was a bit ambitious. I live and ride in Chester County, Pennsylvania (and nearby counties), and in the months since I last blogged we have had insanely bad weather. Almost every opportunity I have had to ride has been scuppered by rain and/or high wind. As I write this I don't even have any Raw Sound Sunday videos to put out after this coming weekend. To make matters worse, we are now coming to the end of what I would normally regard as the riding season. Already, average temperatures have fallen to the point where winter gear is normally necessary, and the roads are covered in (often wet) leaves. Riding in such conditions isn't as pleasurable, and can even be something of a chore.

But there is some hope. Later this very week, the temperature is supposed to go up a bit and the rain is meant to hold off. I will use any riding time I can get to bank some Raw Sound Sunday video material to see me through the winter. If I'm lucky, I may be able to get a vlog or two in as well. But with the way things have been going, I make no promises!

TM

🔗 June 9, 2023

It's been over two years since I started my YouTube Channel and I have yet to reach 200 subscribers. I had given myself two years to try to get to the magic 1,000 subscriber mark that means the channel can start earning revenue, and I failed. But that's okay, because I have had fun doing it. As I said in a recent video, it is time for me to throttle back my release schedule to once per month so that I can focus more on enjoying the riding, rather than devoting all my time to the creation of videos.

It is my intention to continue to release my Raw Sound Sunday videos every Sunday, so it is not like there will be a shortage of Speed Twin content. But with the motovlogs, I think the monthly release schedule will give me a bit more time to make the video quality a little bit better.

TM