Fresh Air Work Out

It is a time of year when memberships of Health Clubs and Gyms spike.

It may be difficult to get a session on the latest muscle torture equipment or a place in the fashion conscious aerobics studio such is the motivation amongst the financially enabled , albeit, potentially short lived to sweat out the excess weight accumulated over the last few weeks.

It can be a soulless and frankly, pointless task to try, in later life in particular to strive to achieve the body shape and level of fitness that in younger years just happened naturally.

What can be guaranteed for certain is a lightening of the contents of your wallet or purse and a collection of items of clothing that, after this bold initiative may never see the outside of a drawer or cupboard ever again, unless required for a Fancy Dress Party depiction of an athlete.

Me and The Boy have come into the New Year determined to get back to our respective peak performance weights and state of healthy well-being enjoyed from last summer. We are equally determined not to have to pay a penny to a third party to attain this.

Our bikes are paid for and apart from minor expenditure on general consumables, chain lubricants and refreshments we can look forward to a virtual freebie whenever we feel like it.

This is however, subject to our criteria of an air temperature above 4 degrees, dry, windless and with at least 60% of the sky being clear of cloud cover. To date, in 2013, this challenging set of requirements has been satisfied only twice.

I admit we did make one concession on the wind speed as this ramped up quite significantly between having the idea to going out for a ride and actually exiting the driveway.

We have not been alone on our excursions on two wheels.

We have rubbed shoulders with the 'newbies', the obvious recipients of brand spanking shiny bikes and a range of clothing to match. These are usually a husband and wife team, matching in everything including physical appearance and wearing Lycra items as a bit of a boost to their libidos. A quick totting up of the investment in the ensemble as we streak past the cautious and wobbling (in all parts and senses of the word) pair can easily exceed a few thousand pounds. Give it a few more weeks of struggling to enjoy a winter regime of cycling and the initial attraction of a revitalised relationship into the more sensual summer months may falter. The second hand market for quality 'his and hers' machines benefits from the impending matrimonials.

In addition there are the reluctant parents on their ancient shopper bikes  accompanying a young child on their brightly coloured small wheeled leisure cycles. A nice idea for a gift but now very much regretted.

Other family groups can be seen with full sized bikes towing an infant in an enclosed lightweight pod or with a larger child hanging on to a one wheeled attachment from the seat post. I have seen an attempt by the trailing child, out of frustration or bedevilment to overtake the lead adult with frightening consequences for those embroiled in it but not a little amusement for the onlookers.

The reverence and admiration in which anyone on a bike was held amongst the wider public during and following the Olympic Games successes of Hoy, Pendleton, Kenny, Wiggins and so on has evidently vanished in favour of the normal disregard for safety and road presence.

In the space of twenty minutes during the most recent bike ride I had a football booted at me , albeit accidentally as part of a Dad and Lad kick-about in the street and a large bloke jump down in my path in his determination to check his fishing rod, trailed over the embankment railings, for a potential bite. The Boy, following me, was bemused by these attempted assaults on my persona but impressed, I believe, by my bike handling skills which kept me upright and in linear motion on both occasions. I was too startled to even attempt a sarcastic remark or make eye contact with my attackers.

We do have a contingency plan in the event of our riding criteria not materialising. We go walkabout. Over this last weekend we have covered 12 miles over two short 2 hour sessions. It does involve a different range of muscles to cycling, yes it does. Of course we are carrying our own respective body weights. We can now , from this activity, appreciate the position of walkers when approached silently from behind by fast moving cyclists . Perhaps we may refrain from this gleeful pursuit, of which we have previously been guilty and I am sure that we will be more understanding.

Above all, there is an overwhelming feeling of vitality and satisfaction upon return from such a strenuous activity in the fast fading light of an afternoon in deepest winter.  Given the choice, however, we would infinitely rather be on our own two wheels than our own two feet.