Highway to health

After a lazy Level 4, Little Manly’s Jack Mead decided that it was time to lose those Covid kilos and get back on his bike.

The bike in question is a mountain bike with road tyres which Jack rode almost 30 years ago, when he had a student job as a cycle courier in Auckland.

Every now and then he has taken it out for a ride, but he says the last time that happened was around five years ago.

“It’s been in the garage gathering dust, but it was easy enough to clean it up and get things moving,” he says.

At first the web designer had to make himself cycle at least twice a week, getting off and pushing the bike up steep hills.

“I want to make it a new habit, so I committed to a couple of times a week and did some quite long rides,” he says.

“I had to walk up all the hills at the start, but it’s crazy how quickly that changes. I quite enjoy being back on the bike. There’s something youthful about it.”

In a few weeks he was riding four or five times a week to Army Bay, or Silverdale, and around Ōrewa Estuary cycleway with a stop on the way for a long black.

“I’m feeling a lot better – getting fitter impacts all other aspects of your life,” Jack says.

“It’s easier to get out of bed in the morning and start the day feeling positive.”

He recently joined the Hibiscus Coast Mountain Bike Club and is doing up and selling another bike so he can put the money towards a new one.

“What got me started was the goal of getting fitter and improving my health,” he says.

“But now I’m enjoying it so I want to do it often, as a hobby.”