It was eighty mile per hour winds and driving rain over the Wirral today. Hardly my favourite cycling weather. Why then did I feel like Grandad from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at eight O'Clock this evening? Well, as I walked through the house in my cycling gear clutching a water bottle the children asked me where I was going. Just like Grandad from the movie I told them I was off to sunny France to climb Alp D'Huez in glorious Sunny weather without wind or rain. I walked into my wooden box- the back of my garage and mounted my trusty steed. A carbon fiber giant racing bike hooked up to a virtual reality Tracx trainer. The screen is six feet wide and the views stunning. I then proceeded to climb 10 miles in an hour with the hill as steep as 12%. Thank goodness I picked the carbon its much lighter than a steel bike for climbing. (It works in my virtual world). Here's where it starts to gets strange. (just now you ask) I set the effort to 50% of the required effort and the machine did the rest. So at half the real effort I am climbing the most famous mountain in the Tour De France while outside the gales rip the branches from the trees. I found myself gloating as I passed other cyclists in the movie even chuckling at one poor cyclist reduced to walking and immortalised in Tacxs video footage.
The point of it all? I got to exercise on a sunny day in France rather than a miserable day in Northern England. There's nothing wrong in hiding in a virtual world to escape from reality. I climbed the Alps, didn't pay any travel fees and shut myself away from the world while keeping myself fit.
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| Clear skies and sunshine on demand |
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| Sorry not me |
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