In my 30s, 3 to 4 days a week after work, I would do a 30 mile loop. It would involve 5 significant climbs and one long rolling ‘flat’. It was my personal TT course, and I would endeavor to go flat out the whole way. By the time I finished, I didn’t have much left. I must have done that route 60 times each summer improving my time incrementally. Feeling my heart beating out of my chest and gasping for every breath as I pushed the climbs was a total rush.

One day each weekend I would do a club ride with people of like fitness. It was a gas pace-lining at even a greater pace. The other day I would go hike in the mountains. Rinse and repeat.