Do What Makes You Feel Young
In a blog after a trip to the Isle of Man motorbiking I talked about how riding my motorbike had made me feel old, I think primarily because I could not do it as well as I used to, and I did not feel fully confident on the bike. That feeling led me to conclude that my biking days are over. I suspect there are some other factors in that decision. The romance I once had with the internal combustion engine is over. You can read in my book that I now consider the car a scourge, and although the motorbike is a little different , and riding one has some of the qualities of the past, the fact is the roads are overcrowded, and full of people rushing to do what they want to do with little regard for the well-being of others.
In many ways I feel guilty for not selling all my motorised vehicles and managing the inconvenience that would clearly entail, but I must try to reduce the use of my car more. Perhaps we should have some kind of micro-vehicle for our short trips. There would need to be enough room for the shopping, or Charlie the Dalmatian of course, if it were to work. If only public transport was better and I do not really mean more of the under-filled, smelly old buses that plough round Barnsley. Mind you my friend Jim has no car and seems to manage fine. Like many things I suspect it is a state of mind.
Getting back to the subject of "doing what makes one feel young" as you know cycling does it for me, although I must admit I have felt a little tired lately. No doubt over-doing it a bit. On a bicycle I am content. Of course it is physically demanding, but I do not feel disadvantaged. My bones do not seem to creek and I keep up (and beat!) many a younger man. Low impact really does seem to be the key as you get older. The only negative is that it heightens my dislike of motorised vehicles and particular those occupants, who treat cyclists like second class citizens, and put them in danger by the way they drive. It is interesting that certain makes and models of vehicles are more likely to try to run you off the road than others. I suppose that personality must dictate car choice like anything else, and if you feel the need, as an example, to buy an unnecessarily, oversized, tank-like car it may well reflect in the way you drive!
I have entered the London to Paris in 24 hours cycle sportive for next April. I am very excited about it. It feels like a really good challenge to do at sixty and one that will give me a huge amount of pleasure to (hopefully) complete. I am doing it with my friend Mike James. He is quite a bit younger than me. In fact I am easily old enough to be his Dad. His Mum is younger than me and he is the same age as my elder daughter! We have a good laugh together and have a similar outlook on life. We are doing the shorter route to Paris using the Newhaven-Dieppe ferry, which although the ferry crossing is longer (4 hours) than Dover-Calais, the cycle in France is shorter and there is 4 hours to put your feel up on the ship.
Perhaps that will be my last physical challenge, although I somehow doubt that. I was running in a park in London in 1977, feeling not so good (probably a hang-over) and said to myself I will give this "exercise lark" up when I am thirty and here I am now.! Driven to the last I expect!
