Page 34 - GC, July, Newsletter

32
LMC GENERALCOMMUNITY
JUSTA SHORT .
RUN, ITFELTLIKE
A MILLION MILES!
.
I have been cycling for three and a half years now. It's a sport which, like many, I took up later in life. So why did I do it?
Radical measures were needed, I changed my diet and started exercising again, and surprise, surprise, the weight came off. However, by the summer of 2016, I was losing momentum. Stewart Harris and Kevin Lynch, two of the resort's keenest cyclists, persuaded me to try cycling. Up until then, like most non-cyclists, I thought they were nuts and just loved lycra!
Off I went to see Geoff Cox at Biking La Manga and asalwayshe wasaccommodating. Geoff isa super guy and bends over backwards to help the cycling community in La Manga Club. I rented a bike from him and wasallset.
I turned up at the crossroads meeting point and off we went. "How far were we going," I asked. "Just a short run to Los Alcazares," was the answer. That's milesaway, I thought. It felt like a million miles!
I have always
been a sports
enthusiast. I
played club
rugby and cricket to a reasonable standard and enjoyed running and circuit training. Injury and age caught up with my rugby and cricket careers, and suspect kneesstopped me from running.
At 40, I took up golf and with this, plus family and work commitments I pretty much stopped my other sporting pursuits. Gradually
even golf started to take a
back seat to work, and asthe years rolled by my weight ballooned and by mid-2015, I was16 and a half stone.
Like many men of my age, I didn't think much of it until I spent a week in Whiston hospital with a suspected heart attack! Fortunately, aftervarioustests,the doctors decided that I hadn't had a heart attack. Nonetheless, it wasa massive wake up call.
Andy Pealing