The kids had their ‘school holidays’ last week, but given that they have been stuck at home for the last nine weeks, it didn’t quite go as I planned six months ago.
I had originally planned to spend a week with the kids visiting old relatives and a few adventures (jet boating and kayaking) while we were down south, but ended up spending the week at home with the kids instead. On top of this, my oldest daughters birthday was last week as well.
To give the kids something to look forward to, I managed to buy a clay pizza oven online, as well as a few skateboards. The pizza oven went down a treat after a bit of working out how to get the best out of it.
The skateboarding went well until I fell off and sprained my wrist. Luckily, I still had the notes from the physiotherapist from when I sprained it last time….
The birthday party went as good we could get under the circumstances, and I think my daughter (16yrs) understands we did the best we could. It was a low key affair as no friends or relatives could attend. She was quite delighted to just have everyone play monopoly as well other card games.
I’m a casual cyclist at best these days and I mostly ride to keep fit and stay at a healthy weight. I don’t go as fast as I used to ten years ago, because it takes weeks of physio to get my knee’s back to normal if I over do it (again).
Gone are the days of flying down a hill trying to break the landspeed record, and going hard out on a hill climb, I’ve finally learnt that I’m not as indestructible as I was 30 years ago.
I usually ride to another town for breakfast, which is up to 24km away (15 miles), then wonder back home, but these days it’s a bit complicated because you can’t sit at a cafe because of covid lockdown restrictions.
To get around this, I simply buy a takeaway meal, and sit on the ground with it. It may sound a bit uncomfortable for some, but I’ve gone for months without eggs benedict for breakfast, so needs must!
They don’t have a lot of customers these days and are always pleased to see a regular customer.
Todays ride was a windy one, so I was fast getting there and slow back.
My tactic for riding the bike these days is to keep a good cadence, and simply not put a lot of power thru my knee’s for any length of time. When it comes to hills, I change down pretty quick and just grind away, while admiring the scenery.
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them — that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” — Lao Tzu I have noticed how suffering occurs when we desire life to be perfect. Somehow, when we expect life to go according […]
In 1983 a 61 Year Old Farmer Won a 544 mile endurance race because he ran throughout the night while the younger ‘professional’ athletes slept
Every year, Australia hosts 543.7-mile (875km) endurance racing from Sydney to Melbourne. It is considered among the world’s most grueling ultra-marathons. The race takes five days to complete, athletes are typically less than 30 years old and backed by large companies.
In 1983, Cliff Young showed up at the start of this race. Cliff was 61 years old and wore overalls and work boots. To everyone’s shock, Cliff wasn’t a spectator. He picked up his race number and joined the other runners.
The press and other athletes became curious and questioned Cliff. They told him, “You’re crazy, there’s no way you can finish this race.” To which he replied,
“I believe I can run this race.”
When the race started, the pros quickly left Cliff behind. The crowds and television audience were entertained because Cliff didn’t even run properly; he appeared to shuffle. Many even feared for the old farmer’s safety.
The Tortoise and the Hare: All of the professional athletes knew that it took about 5 days to finish the race. In order to compete, one had to run about 18 hours a day and sleep the remaining 6 hours. The thing is, Cliff Young didn’t know that! When the morning of the second day came, everyone was in for another surprise. Not only was Cliff still in the race, he had continued jogging all night. Eventually Cliff was asked about his tactics for the rest of the race. To everyone’s disbelief, he claimed he would run straight through to the finish without sleeping.
Cliff kept running. Each night he came a little closer to the leading pack. By the final night, he had surpassed all of the young, world-class athletes. He was the first competitor to cross the finish line and he set a new course record.
When Cliff was awarded the winning prize of $10,000, he said he didn’t know there was a prize and insisted that he did not enter for the money. He ended up giving all of his winnings to several other runners, an act that endeared him to all of Australia.
Continued Inspiration: In the following year, Cliff entered the same race and took 7th place. Not even a displaced hip during the race stopped him.
Cliff came to prominence again in 1997, aged 76, when he attempted to raise money for homeless children by running around Australia’s border. He completed 6,520km of the 16,000km run before he had to pull out because his only crew member became ill. Cliff Young passed away in 2003 at age 81.
Today, the “Young-shuffle” has been adopted by ultra-marathon runners because it is considered more energy-efficient. At least three champions of the Sydney to Melbourne race have used the shuffle to win the race. Furthermore, during the Sydney to Melbourne race, modern competitors do not sleep. Winning the race requires runners to go all night as well as all day, just like Cliff Young.
Uncoffined 
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