Young At Heart

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Last October I suffered a significant birthday.  I suppose, clutching at straws, that at least I can now pass off my poor cycling performance as the inevitable result of old age rather than because I don't train hard enough and eat too many pies. As winter drags on, and the allure of the turbo trainer diminishes, I thought I should see what my poor decrepit old body can still manage.  After last year's drowning in the Townsville floods we thought we would give New Zealand another crack.  The prospect of 24 hours in a Coronavirus fermentation tank is taking the shine off the plan a bit, but I have purchased some snazzy surgical masks and am busy adapting them so I can still sip gin and tonic.

 

I have managed to lose some weight (you really know a diet is working when your SHOES start to feel loose) and have put in plenty of hours on the turbo trainer but I haven't done a proper full-day ride since last September.  Plum, by contrast, has gone into overdrive because he has signed up to ride the Tour de France route (the exact same daily regime, just 1 week ahead of the race timetable).  This is obviously silly....but that is Plum for you.  He is training hard and trying to disprove my argument that cycling post-60 is a genteel activity to be undertaken slowly and in small amounts.

 

We will start in Christchurch and work our way over Arthur's pass towards the west coast then cut back, via Murchison and Blenheim to Picton.  We then transfer to North Island and take a westerly route around the base of Mt Taranaki, ending up in Auckland after 14 days cycling.  There are some hard days to look forward to, including one of 95 miles and one with 7500 feet of climb, so Plum is going to be doing a LOT of waiting for me.  We start riding on Monday. 

 

 

 

 

 

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