Tout le monde est heureux  -  Everybody's happy

Regular, rigorous, challenging, recreational exercise, in the great outdoors, within a collegiate, social environment is equally beneficial for mental toughness as physical fitness. 

It is satisfying to fall back on the skills learnt during youthful exuberance as an inquisitive tear-away Nipper, coupled with committed training sessions with your mates, to achieve difficult challenges like -
(i)      cycling 165km Fitz's Classic in Canberra and/or 200km Audax Alpine Classic in Victorian Alps;
(ii)     swimming the annual 2.7km Palm Beach to Whale Beach swim; and/or
(iii)    hiking the Six Foot Track - Katoomba to Jenolan Caves and/or Kokoda Track; and/or

(iv)    paddling 111km Hawkesbury Canoe Classic from Windsor to Brooklyn Bridge.  

Accomplishing onerous physical goals is rendered easier by drawing on the energy of a common bond support group.  Turning up for training on a pristine-NOT morning, is easy Peasy when your pals are counting on you. 

Conquering daunting physical challenges that you and your mates set a goal to complete, teaches you how to survive in the hot kitchens of life.

The solar system is 4b years old.  Humans, starting with Homo Erectus, then Neanderthal Man and now Homo Sapiens, have coexisted on terra firma for over 3m years.  Homo Sapiens migrated from East Africa approx. 65,000 years ago to penetrate the planet.  However, in the pretext of progress and achieving a higher standard of living, recent generations of First World Countries have burnt copious fossil fuels in their obsession with Economic Materialism.  Those advertising gurus, paid by the multi-nationals, have done a first-rate job in indoctrinating us that greed is good (for the multi-nationals).  A fixation for new, big, fast, shiny, and powerful has wrought a high price on our planet; a phalanx of eminent scientists have presented compelling empirical evidence that unless humans materially change their lifestyle pronto, future generations will pay a dear price for our self-ingratiation.  You only have to read about the rapid melting of the glaciers, and the drought across central Australia to become a Believer.

Cycling with Muggaccinos is not only heaps of fun, but more importantly in setting and achieving challenging exercise goals with your mates in the Great Outdoors, where you have to call on your wits and guile, you are hardening your resolve to handle the hot kitchens of life which 'inter alia' will -
(i)      sharpen your cognitive skills; and
(ii)     render you more capable and productive. 

You will want to stay off the sauce to beat your buddies.  But downing a few Celebratory Sherbets the night after kicking a personal goal can be powerful pleasant.  

Your kids, who can relate to challenging exercise, will develop a new regard for their Olds which will narrow the Generation Gap. 

Ipso facto, a healthier, more self-confident you, with fewer family hassles, will have less sick days which will make your boss happy.  You'll achieve a better job with a higher marginal tax rate to contribute more to the fiscal purse to meet the burgeoning health and aged care budget for our beloved Baby Boomers who, due to statins, anti-coagulants and blood pressure drugs etc, are hanging in there a lot longer.  The Fed Treasurer will be happy, and so will the Baby Boomers. 

The Health Minister will be happy too, 'cause he won't have to factor you into his obesity/type 2 diabetes and Tough on Drugs budgets.  Fed Minister for Climate Change will also reckon you are U beaut, by leading a local healthy community lifestyle in the Great Outdoors.

By not being preoccupied with yearning for a bigger home, driving an SUV, running A/C, watching an electricity sucking plasma TV, our grand kids and their grand kids will be happy that the joint hasn't been trashed and the till ransacked by the previous tenants.  But don't expect a Christmas Card from Gerry Harvey.

Golly Gosh, you never realized how good you are!!!  And silly you had been harbouring pangs of guilt for having so much fun hanging out in the hills each weekend perched aboard a few ounces of steel, carbon or alloy, trying to beat your buddies up to the next King of the Mountain summit.  Isn't ego a marvelous motivator?