Growing up in Malta, I used to drink Nescafe instant coffee, which is pretty low-quality stuff, but that’s what was popular at the time. I used to add milk to it and probably go through a whole pack of sugar-loaded Italian biscuits. Not the healthiest point in my life for sure.

Up until my twenties, coffee wasn’t a really big thing for me. I believe it was when I went to live in Chiang Mai that I really got hooked on it. Thailand and Chiang Mai in particular has a very strong coffee culture, and they have amazing coffee and baristas.

I started to educate myself about coffee, and eventually learned that many Italians carry a Moka pot wherever they go for their morning coffee fix. I adopted the habit and the Moka pot became my brewing method of choice for my daily coffees. I also bought a french press around that time, and I use that one when I want a bigger cup of coffee that I can sip on slowly while working.

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I’m a big fan of Brompton bikes and own several of them. On this page, I’ll be listing a few of my favorite resources and products.

Youtube Channels

• Brilliantbikes
• 781 Brompton Premium Parts
• Brompton Traveler
• I Bike unfolded
• Brompton Collector
• Javier Brommie Pimp
• Brompton official channel – some maintenance videos
• Path Less Pedaled
• Chris by Bike
• 2Bikes4Adventure
• BIKE Gang
• Susanna Thornton

Blogs

• Bromptoning
• My Orange Brompton
• The Brompton Traveler
• Brompton Bumble B
• Melbourne Brompton Club (some very useful guides here)

Maintenance

• Quick Visual Guide to Brompton Maintenance
• Brompton Dealer Manual
• Basic Brompton Maintenance
• Brompton docs on maintenance
• Tips on Cleaning your bike
• Brompton user manual
• Brompton Data schematics
• Brompton Reddit

Books

• Brompton Bicycle
• Unfolding Travels
• Just Ride
• It’s all about the bike

Modding Shops

• Dinokiddo
• Bike Gang
• B-Spokes
• Novdesign
• Valeria’s Bikes
• Aceoffix
• Bike48
• Tiparts
• 781 Brompton Premium Parts
• Colorplus
• Speddial

Touring

Top Articles

• Comparison of Brompton Tyre Options
• Chainring switching

My Favorite Mods

• H&H Titanium Rear Q Mini-Rack – Stylish and makes rolling easier.
• JK Ultrafirm suspension block – improves performance by minimizing energy loss
• Matsumura shock absorber – a more attractive alternative to the JK block
• EZ Suspension Block
• JK Carbon Wheelset
• JK Brompton Easy Wheel
• JK Lite Knob Set
• Tyres
  • JK Strozzapreti
  • Schwalbe Tan Wall
  • Schwalbe Kojak
• MKS Solution Ezy Superior pedals with SPD clips
• H&H Front Carrier Block
• H&H Seatpost / H&H Carbon seatpost / Titanium Seatpost / Brompfication post
• MiniMods Brompton X-Roller Easy wheel extender
• H&H Clamp set
• Borough roll top bag
• Mini O Bag
• Swissstop Brake pads
• Pere kid seat / Maza r-pipe
• Bryan support for Bobike Mini (kids)
• Brompton Complete rear rack kit / H&H rack (nicer looking but less usable)
• Quadlock mount for phones
• H&H front axle hook
• EZ Clamp spring
• Ergon GP 1 Grips
• Brompton toolkit
• Cateye Micro Wireless cycle computer
• Brooks Cambium C17 saddle – also check out the C15 or C13 and the carved versions
• Brooks B17
• Ergon ST Core Prime
• Monkii cage and clip (V version of the cage is better, also read this) / Fidlock
• Brompton Transport Bag / Backpack Transport bag / KGear Backpack
• B&W Brompton foldon suitcase
• Cateye Volt400
• Rockbros rear light / Enfitnix Cubelite II / Xlite / Indicator lights
• GoPro camera support
• Carbon fibre stop
• Aceoffix seatpost clamp hook
• Carbon chain protector / Tiparts protector
• Metal badge
• Expedition saddle bag
• Leather mud guards
• Cateye cycling computer
• Abus folding lock with alarm / Abus 6100/75
• Muc-off cleaning products
• ParkTool Chain scrubber
• ParkTool repair stand

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Over the past 25 years or so, I’ve been practicing sports on a very regular basis. I’ve tried several different sports, with football and cycling being the main ones in my twenties.

Then, in my thirties, padel became my main focus, with other racket sports (beach tennis, tennis, frescobol) complementing it. Cycling was still present, although mainly as a means of transport.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in gyms too, although never on a consistent and serious basis over a number of years. Over the last 3-4 years, however, I’ve learned a lot about anatomy and proper technique while working with personal trainers during my padel preparation training.

All these activities, together with pretty good genetics, have enabled me to stay in the “above average” section of the population when it comes to fitness.

However, I recently came to the realisation that I have never been fully happy with my body, always missing that extra bit of optimisation and strength.

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I was born with hypermobile joints, especially in my knees, ankles, elbows and shoulders.

Hypermobility is a connective tissue condition (usually inherited) in which the body’s collagen is more elastic than the ‘norm’, leading to increased flexibility. For some people, notably musicians, gymnasts, dancers and sports people, this natural flexibility gives a very useful advantage, though it leaves them more prone to injuries such as sprains and dislocations. In others, it can cause clumsiness, lack of spatial awareness and joint pain.

If I’m not making any conscious effort to stand differently, my knees will hyperextend backward and my ankles will cave inwards.

It’s very easy for me to twist my ankles outwards if I’m walking on uneven terrains or during certain sports like football, where the grass provides a cushioned and slightly unstable landing pad for the feet. I’ve been aware of this condition for many years, but during the last year or so I’ve been struggling with pain around the right ankle especially. The pain intensifies after I play padel or tennis, and can linger for months unless I stop playing for a month or two.

I’ve decided to see what I can do to deal with this condition, and in this post, I’ll be documenting my journey. The start date is November 2020.

Note that if you have just injured your ankle, the best thing to do is to follow the RICE methodology and apply heat or ice as necessary, and see a specialist. You might eventually also use EMS to treat the injury.

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Before we had children, we used to cook at home a lot and also eat out very frequently. We lived in Barcelona, where you can find lots of great options for lunch since most restaurants have a menu del dia, which means a set menu for a fixed price that is usually excellent value for money.

Given that we both worked from home, it was a nice break from work to go out and have a nice lunch somewhere before getting back to work.

However, once we had children, our free time was much more constrained and we preferred to outsource our diets to the experts and thus eat healthier and better.

In 2020, the COVID crisis accelerated the trend of healthy food meal plan deliveries in Barcelona.

Basically, many kitchens opened up, and they cook dishes and concentrate on selling them via delivery apps or by customers picking up their orders at the kitchen. This minimizes the costs of having tables and staff serving those tables, not to mention not being troubled by the COVID restrictions.

As a customer, I love the idea. It’s a trend that has been picking up steam in the United States as well. What we’re seeing is essentially the nascent era of cooking as a service. In much the same way as we have outsourced a lot of our daily chores to specialized services, cooking seems to be the next chore that is going to be outsourced in developed nations.

Cooking has traditionally been the role of the woman, and it takes up quite a lot of time to shop for the ingredients, cook and then clean up after. If you have a family with a few kids, it takes even more time. If you calculate it, it could easily take 4-5 hours a day once you factor in everything. Since more women are heading back to the workplace, it makes sense for them to outsource this chore.

In my opinion, leaving the cooking to a specialized chef will also most likely result in you eating a healthier and more varied diet. A kitchen with a good chef will be churning out many different dishes, while if you cook at home you will most likely eventually stick to a small variety of tried and tested dishes. Unfortunately, we are also living in a period in history where food has become very processed, and good raw materials are not easy to come by. A chef who buys raw material in bulk has the expertise of being able to distinguish between poor and great quality fish, poultry etc, and he can even buy it at a cheaper price due to his contacts and the amounts he is buying.

Even without calculating the monetary value of time spent on cooking, food is easily the biggest monthly expense for my family after rental payments. Since switching to purchasing most of our food from one of the kitchens, our costs have remained equal, but we have gained a lot of extra time and eat way better since we have a professional chef with years of experience cooking for us.

Here are some reasons for giving up cooking your own food:

• Gaining extra time
• Spending more time with your partner and kids
• Letting the pros do the work
• Better control your portions
• Protecting yourself from injuries (burns, cuts etc)
• Less cleaning up
• No grocery shopping

Another benefit for me specifically as I pursue athletic excellence for the various sports I practice is that I can have my dietician coordinate with my fitness coach and chef to make sure I am getting exactly the right fuel for my workouts and upcoming tournaments. If I had to do this myself I would definitely get it wrong and it would be too time-consuming.

Cooking at home on occasion is of course still a nice idea, especially when it involves all family members and serves as a relationship-building activity. It’s also great to go out for a nice meal at a restaurant every once in a while.