Middle aged is how others see you.

I’m 54 yet I still have the same 32″ waist, I have a resting HR of 48, can road cycle 100 miles, ride my MTB faster down a hill than a bloke on a full DH rig, ski any black or skin up any mountain and apart from a couple of aches and sprains have no illness that I’m aware of. I think of myself as about 25 mentally as I think I’m open, interested and keen to learn about new things. I see blokes my age and can’t believe how old they look and behave, it’s as if most people aged 54 have accepted that they will slow down and get ill.

Yet I’ve seen a bit of life so inevitably I have some ideas on how I think things should be done; when I express these ideas people (my family) deride me as old-fashioned and fuddy-duddy. But I simply don’t see myself as middle aged, for me that’s the ultimate term of derision.

There’s a bloke called Gaz on Cycle Chat who has lost a prodigious amount of weight; the man was seriously obese. Go and have a look at his web page.

Gaz Spends Friday Night In A&E (Or The E.R.)….

Psssst! Wanna see some REALLY sexy café racers?

Look here: http://www.deus.com.au/gallery/

If you are losing weight by exercising you will be replacing the fat with muscle, which weighs about five times what fat weighs. So in theory you could even put on weight as you get stronger and fitter. I know I did when I went over to road riding after 23 years of MTBing; my thighs and glutes are now bigger and I’ve put on over a kg yet still have the same 32″ waist.

You don’t need to keep opening the windows to let the air out! Just run the booster fan on 1 or 2 and it will push the air right through the car and out of the vents at the back. Take out the floor mats, keep them indoors for a couple of days to dry out and if possible this weekend park the car somewhere sunny or breezy with the doors or the windows open. Always have the fan running on 1, it’s amazing how many drivers still think the fan is for quick demisting jobs only; you see them peering through steamed up windows and wearing coats and hats in the car…. mostly the older drivers.

Oh and if your windows steam up easily, give them a really good clean inside. Most people don’t realise that the grey film on the insides of the windows is plasticiser that has migrated out of the trim; it’s the last problem the motor industry has never solved. The film attracts moisture and causes the windows to mist up much more readily than when they are clean.