Late to the party

Reigning Gran Fondo World Champion Linda Dewhurst on reaching her prime in her seventh decade

Linda Dewhurst

I started riding in 2013 in my early 50s. My eldest daughter was doing a charity coast-to-coast ride and I thought ‘what a fantastic thing to do’, so she put my name down. I’d run very competitively between the ages of 12 and 40 (I was third in nationals aged 14 at 800m and ran for England twice in cross country) but stopped due to Achilles and bone spur surgery. My brother is a cyclist and for years he’d said I should get a bike but I said ‘I haven’t got time to ride, it’s too time-consuming’. I felt so unfit and saw the coast-to-coast as a chance to get fitter. The following autumn, I joined my local club – Team Milton Keynes. I still thought 10 miles was a…

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Cycling Plus (Digital) - 1 Issue, September 2024

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