Len Collingwood, a clinical nurse specialist, retired on his 65th birthday. He told his wife, Sally, he would" start out as an adventure cyclist. "
Four months later, he set off on a 13, 000 km cycle ride from Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia to Edinburgh, much of it roughly shadowing Marco Polo's Silk Road. No sooner had he started out than a snowstorm hit. He hid in his tent, wearing every item of clothing he had packed. At -18C it was too cold to go outside to cook. He survived the next 48 hours by eating a massive bag of chocolates.
So it is a surprise to hear Collingwood say that he has never feared for his life. "Never. There's always something to be curious about," he says.
In 2018, he rode from Edinburgh to Istanbul to earn a place in Guinness World Records. "There are very few records a man over 60 can break," he says. During the trip, he got a dozen flat tyres. But he fixed each one. "I've always been serious about purpose. If something is to be done, it is to be done properly. People go forwards and people go backwards. The difficult bit is managing the times when people go backwards," he says. "Don't let the moment ruin the whole thing. "
He turns 71 this year. He is about to begin the 1, 407 km trip to John O' Groats. It sounds tough but he insists "it's just a matter of spinning(转)the wheels." Still, they don't spin on their own. His daughter --a yoga teacher-- has suggested weights to maintain muscle mass. His son, a cyclist, keeps him up to speed on the latest technology.
Collingwood is planning new rides in France next year, and beyond that hopes "to spread my wings further. There is peace on a bicycle," he says. "The joy is the actual doing of the activity. Going further means you're just doing more of something you enjoy."
