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A friend recently told me they were thinking about replacing their current car with a hybrid. When I asked which type of hybrid they were considering, they realised they didn’t actually know that there are several different types. I gave them a quick explanation, and it occurred to me that many people browsing hybrids in the UK may not realise the differences either. So here’s my simple guide to the three main types of hybrid you’re likely to encounter....

Time for an update now we’re four months in! In the month of April I completed 5 rides totalling 113 miles with my longest ride being 41 miles. I am happy to remain on track by increasing the max ride by 10 miles each month and made a point of increasing elevation this month also, instead of building fitness on flat routes I’ve been doing some local hillier routes and feel like I’m making progress....

Okay it’s time to look back on how my cycling went in March! Unfortunately due to business travel and some other priorities I wasn’t able to get out as often as I’d planned, despite being a longer month I covered less distance than in February. In March I completed 5 rides totalling 87 miles, with my longest ride being 32 miles. I was pleased to be able to increase the longest ride to 30 miles as planned, even if I didn’t get out as much as I wanted....

Okay, as promised, the first month has passed and here I am with an update. I feel like I’ve been able to establish the discipline of getting out for a ride regularly. If I can get through these first couple of months - with the short days and poor weather - the rest should be much more manageable. I often work into the early evening, so where possible I’ve been getting rides in during my lunch hour, which has helped a lot....

I’ve never been one for setting New Year’s resolutions and sticking to them. This January, I spent time figuring out what I can do to improve my health. I’m in my early forties, and according to the NHS BMI calculator, I fall in the “obese” category. It sounds cheesy, but I’ve always been inspired by people who achieve their greatest fitness later in life - and I’d like to try the same....

Quite often people will ask me “What is the first thing you do when setting up a new computer?” so I’ve decided to write a blog post for this as I frequently forget to mention things - this way nothing is forgotten and it’ll actually serve as a checklist for me in the future! The post reads “New Mac” but it really applies to a fresh install of macOS. The same can be applied to used equipment that has been factory reset....

We’ve had a spell of outstanding weather here for over a week, seemed like a great opportunity to dig out my radio and walking gear to activate my first summit of 2025. Club members Douglas MM7DCD and Kris MM7OAI were equally keen, we decided to climb Beinn a’Mhanaich which sits just next to Beinn Chaorach that we completed in May 2024. As forecasted the weather was sunny, mostly cloud free and cool....

I purchased my Logitech MX Master 3 back in 2019 shortly after it was released and use it for many hours every day, it’s an outstanding mouse. I know that these days it’s known as an MX Master 3S - I’m sure the content on this post will still apply. When using this with any of my Windows systems, it’s perfect. I don’t install the Logitech software for it as it just works....

Having gone through a phase of using gaming laptops, I’ve become put off with increased pricing and poor cooling for a system that offers benefits I don’t really require - specifically portability. I’d say around 90% of my usage is at my desk at home therefore a new desktop build made sense where I can get more value for money and no compromises on performance or cooling. The priority for this one was good cooling and low noise, I’ve really enjoyed the lack of noise offered by a laptop....

This morning Kris MM7OAI and I met to walk up and activate Ben Venue. We started the walk at the car park facing Loch Achray which has a charge of £5 for the day. This car park is on the Duke’s Pass which is an outstanding road for those who enjoy a spirited drive. The walk was tracked by GPS and uploaded here to Strava for those interested. The forecast for the day wasn’t great, we anticipated poor visibility as we gained altitude and expected rain for the walk up, luckily we avoided the rain which certainly made things better....