My annual health check
Do you have a yearly event or physical activity which can benchmark your health and fitness level? It could be a ride, a run or workout which takes a significant effort to achieve.
For John Myers it’s an annual 210km bike ride, which just so happens to be Australia’s largest one-day bike ride.
Around the Bay is a challenge ride around Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay. With a pre-dawn start and a one to two hour break in the middle for a ferry crossing, it’s a long day in the saddle.
Held each year in spring, the event ensures John stays active during the colder months. Committing to an event meant he has regular early morning training rides, which gets him out of bed earlier on weekends than during the working week.
My return to Around the Bay in 2003 coincided with the wettest ride in its history, but I was hooked. It was not necessarily the easiest ride but all the early morning training had paid off and since then I’ve only missed one year.
The biggest benefit of taking part in Around the Bay is a feeling of health and vitality leading into summer when there is always much more to do. It’s also set John up for some bigger bike riding challenges in summer and autumn. And in a sense it is these new challenges that have become a better benchmark of his fitness level.
After all these years maybe Around the Bay is no longer an annual health check, just a terrific way to spend a long day in the saddle with some bike riding mates. And at the end of a long ride the coffee makes way for beer!
