Having written previously about the tendency of young people to like challenges, it now looks like I’m saying that I’m young. I must be - I tend to set cycling targets for myself, I just can’t help it. I never intend to, but my love of round numbers gets me doing it every time.
But challenges are one thing and personal challenges are another. Let me explain.
I was born without the competetiveness gene. I was never any good at sport - set me the challenge of beating someone else at something and I’ll give up without trying. Sport at school was for me a living hell, I was always left on the sidelines - the message my PE teacher hammered into me was that I was useless. Britain’s phenomenal success at the Olympics could never have inspired me at all - I always knew I’d never, and could never, be the best at anything, and only the best are praised in sport.
So now we have an Olympic legacy on which we must capitalise in order to get people active, and it starts with the youngest members of society. But how do we inspire those children at school whose lack of sporting prowess leaves them on the sidelines?
Personal challenges are for everyone, even me. You don’t have to run or cycle as fast as Usain Bolt or Sir Chris Hoy, you just have to run or cycle faster or further than you have before. As I stated above, I can’t help but set cycling challenges for myself, and though they are quite humble, they motivate me throughout the year. They can motivate non-sporty kids at school too - I really hope that modern PE teachers appreciate this.
I used to set myself the challenge of cycling more miles in a year than I drove, but I never achieved it - I relocated away from my home town and found myself driving back regularly to see relatives. So then I set myself the challenge of riding 40 miles per week for the rest of my life - that was because it equated to the well-publicised recommendation of the BMA, who in 1992 published a report urging people to incorporate exercise into their lives. They have recently published another report, strengthening their own argument, and I’m pleased to say that I have been meeting that particular challenge since I set it for myself.
Then I set myself the challenge of riding 3,000 miles a year - and promptly moved to an area so hilly that my regular riding distances shrunk by half. That’s not been so easy, but I’m still trying.
So my point is this - I’m not really young, and nor am I old. I carry a minor disability. But whether you’re young, older, or somewhere in between, setting a physical challenge, whether humble or ambitious, can help motivate you to exercise and to be active, whether you’re sporty or not sporty at all.
Everyone can be a winner, and feel good for it too.
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| Me at Claerwen reservoir - demonstrating my little podge! |
