I caught up with Murray after a recent Cycle Salisbury ride. I asked him what made him decide to start cycling at the age of 68.
“I first noticed something was wrong when I couldn’t lift my legs in and out of the car. I had to put my hands under my knee to pull my leg into the car and I’d walk a couple of hundred metres and I was pretty well exhausted.
“I was thinking about buying a gopher, but they were pretty limited. You could only do about 30 to 40 kilometres in them and then you had to recharge the battery. So I thought about a bike.
“I saw a knee specialist. He said I was on the shortlist for a knee replacement, but if I tried cycling I would strengthen my leg muscles and probably overcome the problem.
“I seem to be walking a lot better now. I can get in and out of the car without any trouble. I don’t have to lift my leg in any more and the more I ride the better my knees are getting. I still haven’t had that knee replacement.”
Weight loss
I asked Murray about the weight he had obviously lost.
“I probably weighed around 114 to 115 kilos before I started riding and I’m down to around 98 kilos now. That’s just from cycling. I haven’t changed my diet.”
Murray has recently celebrated his 70th birthday and is thinking about getting an electric bike. Although he rides well on the flat he finds it harder on the hills. He says he is having trouble keeping up with some of the other cyclists that he rides with. (Some of those are 70 too.)
I asked Murray about his cycling goals for the future.
“I just want to keep having fun. I’d like to keep the weight off as well.”
Some other cyclists aged over 65 recently had a lot of fun competing in Velogaine.
