Monday 11 January 2016

We Can Be Heroes

It seemed only fitting on the day Bowie passed away to do what so many have done and steal one of his most potent lines as my theme for a blog I've not so much neglected as abandoned.


Anyway, I'm still here, and heroes or not, we can all do something bigger or better than we've done so far, at least until our bodies start to fail us. So far so good for me, so I have some plans for this year.

Firstly (although it won't come first it is the first big one), I'll be doing the round island walk again this year. At 48.1 miles, it's a long walk in one day and a genuine achievement for most of us who do it. I'm hoping to have a companion or two this year, too. That's in June. There's another much shorter walk in August that I also hope to do.

Second, and more in keeping with the theme of this blog, a few of us are planning to attack the Alps again, if only for a few days. With luck we'll conquer two of the biggest TdF cols. I would love to be crossing the Alps or the Pyrenees on my 60th birthday this year, but as it's in October, getting something done a little earlier in the year will be a good backup for the memory store.

On our Paris to Venice ride we crossed the Timmelsjoch in mid September, with overnight snow persisting beside the road near the top, so a few weeks later might be tricky.

 

You can guess I've already started boring my grandchildren (and anyone who'll listen) with tales of the Pyrenees (coming up for six years ago now).

If I'm going to do the walks and the rides, I will need to get on with some training! I'll get there, though, using the tried and tested methods described in my book :-)

http://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Touring-Beginners-prepare-adventure-ebook/dp/B00J5LY30S


So, while I wasn't completely idle in 2015, I do plan to do quite a bit more in 2016. What will you be doing?

Roy