Wow, 2025, huh? What a year! Let’s take a look back:
It all started in January, and by June we were nearly halfway through. Then came July, and August–to say nothing of September, October, and November–and before you knew it December had arrived, and here we are.
Whew!
Obviously after a whirlwind like that I could sure use a break, so after today I’m officially taking leave of this blog until Monday, January 5th, 2026, at which point there’s at least a 75% chance that I will resume regular updates. So you’ll want to make note of that on your calendar of choice:
I do my very best to avoid introspection, especially the contrived kind that people indulge in at the end of the year, but I can’t help contemplating the fact that I’ve been entering words into this blog since 2007. That’s a long time! But I regret nothing, even though if I’d spent all that time doing something productive instead I might actually have become successful by now.
Oh well, too late now.
Still, it’s worth it for the adulation, even if that adulation is buried under a lot of weird crap:
See that? I’m still a great writer! It’s like that Far Side cartoon about what dogs hear, only for me it’s “still funny” instead of “Ginger.” Plus, if you’re my age and “Bike Reddit” doesn’t find you “problematic” you should be very concerned.
I also remain deeply grateful for your readership, as well as for your contributions. As always, I expect nothing from you but your readership, and after all these years I still offer the blog for free–mostly because I know if I tried to erect (heh heh) a paywall everybody would just shrug and stop reading. But still, my pragmatic magnanimity (pragnanimity?) should count for something. All of this is to say you’re more than welcome to read this blog gratis, but a contribution–one-time or ongoing, as you see fit–is a big help. While I don’t rely entirely on this blog for my livelihood, it does still need to be at least somewhat remunerative in order for me to sustain it at a level that will keep it even mildly entertaining, which I like to think it is. So if you’re inclined to contribute you can do so in various ways here, and that’s three links now, so I think you get the point.
And with that I’ll take my leave, but not before wishing you a delightful holiday season, and thanking you once again for your readership. Hopefully your local climate allows you to get some riding in, and if it doesn’t, hopefully you are able to sublimate that impulse into some other form of behavior that isn’t too destructive. I’ll see you back here in 2026.
Love,
–Tan Tenovo
