7 minute read
FUN AND ADVENTURE CYCLING DOWN THE OPEN ROAD
Think back to when you were a kid and life was as simple as hopping on your bike and exploring. You had no destination, no goal, no exercise watch, and likely no helmet, either.
It wasn’t “exercise” per se and maybe you didn’t “commute,” although I did ride to elementary school for a while until my bike was stolen from the rack where I had locked it.
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This is a personal recollection of my lifelong cycling journey, from roughly ages six to 64 (and counting). I’m sharing it because it might reflect the experiences or observations of others. It also might serve as a snapshot of today’s typical active Baby Boomers and a look at how we have changed over the years.
People in their 50s through 70s are certainly not all active, but many of us are. We’re staying young longer and having fun through outdoor activities and athletic pursuits, some serious and many less so.
PERSONAL PASSIONS: CYCLING
Fun and adventure as a kid –young and old
By Allan Kunigis
Allan Kunigis is a Canadian-born freelance financial writer based in Shelburne, Vermont. He is the author of A Kid’s Activity Book on Money and Finance: Teach Children About Saving, Borrowing, and Planning for the Future, published in September 2020.
FUN AND ADVENTURE
The days seem like they’ve morphed into one now, decades later, but I recall aimlessly riding around my suburb of Montreal in the early to mid-1960s as a 6 to 12 year old. There were other neighbourhoods that I
was somewhat familiar with. Why not just ride over and discover?
I recall one day when my friend Scott and I cycled to a nature spot that no longer exists. (It’s now the Cavendish Mall parking lot!) But back then, there was a beautiful, untouched pond. We just rode there and skipped stones beautifully and blissfully. Oh, to have the peacefulness and innocence of that day back!
Years later, I’m not sure what possessed me, but I signed up for a ride from Montreal to Sutton in the Eastern Townships. I had never done anything like that 62-mile out on Saturday and 62-mile return on Sunday with a well-organized group.
I remember the fresh and wonderful feeling of drafting off of other cyclists in a group of 10 or more along the shoulder of the flat stretches of highway heading away from the city. I recall the crazy hills we pedalled once in the Townships, approaching Sutton, so hard on the ups and so incredibly fast on the downs. I also recall being drenched as it poured hard towards the end of that first day’s ride. I was so happy to warm up in a bath at the motel we stayed at. And the following day was sunburn city as it was bright and I was unprotected all the way back to Montreal. Fun adventure, for sure!
A HEALTHY AND SENSIBLE WAY TO GET TO WORK
It would be a good number of years until my next big cycling adventure as I tended to simply ride to work in downtown Montreal as a young adult, about four times a week for about half the year. What a fabulous way to get exercise and be efficient as I could pretty much get to work as fast as or faster than by public transit. I did develop a healthy respect for taxi drivers and bus drivers, along with a sixth sense as to when they would pull out and cut me off.
My most memorable mishap was swerving to avoid a squirrel that darted in front of me on Sherbrooke Street near Westmount Park. I jammed on my brakes, catapulted over the handlebars and bruised my ribs and tore my favourite work shirt. Of course, that rascal squirrel was so fast and skilful that I couldn’t have run him over had I tried. Lesson learned. To this day, I will holler, sing, or whistle loudly when approaching squirrels, chipmunks, wild turkeys, or any other varmints that come near the road.
A SMART OR NECESSARY REPLACEMENT FOR RUNNING
Many years later, and now in my late 40s and living in Vermont, I was unable to run for a good number of months because of a torn meniscus. As frustrated as I was, I bought a new bike, upgrading from an early 1980s vintage 10-speed to a whole near world of greater efficiency, easier shifting, and “clipless pedals,” which call for special cycling shoes.
That sudden shift from running to pedalling instantly put me in touch with much longer outings and venturing into new towns, and just exploring once again! It kept me fit and sane, and by the next year, I was balancing my running and cycling, without being too serious about either, but thankful to be active and fully enjoying the great outdoors in a beautiful area.
BIGGER CHALLENGES AND DEEPER FUN
Flash forward a bit more than a decade and I was now just over 60 years old and in a relationship with a very active woman. She would ride with me sometimes, appreciating how strong a cyclist I was – strong but casual. She would repeatedly say, “I don’t
know why you don’t push yourself.” I would respond, “Because I don’t feel like it.”
This exchange was repeated so often that I can’t even estimate how many times we had that same exchange. It became a joke, at least to me! But eventually, I guess she got to me. In 2018, I signed up for triathlon training but didn’t race. My running was slow and painful. My cycling was decent. My swimming was a slow and uncomfortable work in progress.
But when triathlon training ended, I focused on what I did best and enjoyed the most – pedalling. And pedalling… I set my sights on an event that I had previously thought only crazy people did: A century ride. Century as in 100. That’s miles, not kilometres. I knew people who had done them. I imagined that I was capable. I figured that I should just apply the methodology of marathon training, with which I was familiar, having done a bunch, primarily way back in the 1980s in Montreal.
I GUESS I’M CRAZY
I met a friend of a friend at a dinner party one evening, a guy who was a coach of many endurance sports. I asked him for training advice to build up for the century ride. His wise and succinct answer: “Spend time in the saddle.”
In other words; Just ride, longer and longer. I did. Going from 40 miles as a long ride to 51. Ouch! That 51st mile, partly up a slight hill, almost did me in. But the next week, 60 didn’t seem as hard, and then 70
and then 80 and then a fabulous experience at my first century ride. Success! It felt wonderful. I guess I was now a crazy person! And I wasn’t alone.
The next year, I did enter and complete a baby triathlon. They’re called “sprint” events, but I did nothing resembling a sprint. And then it was time to train for the Kelly Brush Century Ride again. This time I did it with a buddy, and we just blabbed and gabbed and laughed for seven hours-plus. It was like a long airplane ride next to another talkative person, and you were both happy to keep chatting and pedalling.
The following year (2020), there was no century ride, but I somehow created this magical group, the cycling posse as I called them – various cycling and spinning friends from over the years came together happily for regular Sunday morning rides. It kept us all sane and healthy during the COVID summer of 2020.
This year, there were fewer of those group rides, but I managed to do two century rides, one with another buddy and one solo. I recall how Tiki and I counted down the final 10 miles of the Bike for the Lake century ride on the Champlain Islands in June. I came up with a creative distraction that worked like a charm to take our minds off of our sore, fatigued legs.
MULTILINGUAL COUNTDOWN
We counted down those last 10 miles in English, French, Spanish, Yiddish, and German. His German was as good as my Yiddish. My French is now rusty, but I can still easily count my numbers, and en Espanol as well.
I don’t know what awaits me in 2022, but I do know that I love cycling and I live in a cycling paradise. Working from home, the commute doesn’t call for a bike, but I regularly do “ride around the block” (a favourite 20k+/13-mile route) with a neighbourhood buddy before work. It gets the blood flowing, is beautiful, enjoyable, and easy on the joints.
Cycling has changed over the years, for sure. But in a way it really hasn’t. Just get on the bike and pedal. And never stop!
