Cyclist shows hes the Wheel McCoy despite open-heart op
Chris Boulton, aged 50, who lives in Highclere, has returned to his lifelong passion and resumed his active lifestyle, despite having had open heart surgery in 1998.
A heart murmur had been detected by an army medical examination in 1982, but he said that he was told then that it might cause problems in later life, but “I was passed fit and thought nothing of it”.
A chartered surveyor, Mr Boulton became hooked on cycling as a boy, taking part in races and leading an active lifestyle, unaware that the exercise was causing damage to his heart.
After giving up cycling in 1981, he pursued many other sports including running marathons. He is also a passionate skier and mountaineer having skied the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt and has climbed a number of Alpine peaks.
However, in 1997, when he wanted to become a pilot, the condition came to light as being serious and he underwent his operation.
Nevertheless, he once owned a Tiger Moth biplane and for three years owned and ran his own flying school in Oxford, before returning to the property sector.
“All the strenuous things I had done in my younger life had damaged my mitral valve so it had to be replaced with a prosthetic one. I didn’t know what to expect and just thought that was it, life had changed. I was nervous about pushing it at first.
“It took a few years, but gradually I got back into active things, I just couldn’t keep away in the end. Flying had replaced the sports, but even that was restricted owing to my prosthetic heart valve.”
After leading a more sedentary life for a few years, he gradually returned to active sports, running the London marathon for the third time, before a chance comment in a pub about taking part in the Magnificat sportive at High-clere Castle led to him taking up cycling again.
“After that I was hooked again, renewing my love of cycling, and I regret missing out on nearly 30 years,” he said.
Mr Boulton’s book, A 30-Year Cycle, which took him three years to write on his daily commute to his office in London, details his journey to getting back on the road, combining a story of human triumph with the perils of wearing white lycra.
“One of the very positive things about riding a bike for me was that the weight I had put on over years of inactivity almost literally dropped off. Eventually I had to give in and buy some new suits – my waist had reduced from 36ins down to 33ins.
“I could also fit into suits I hadn't worn for years, including my first-ever dinner suit, bought when I was 21. I still keep all my old suits, in anticipation of a time when the wheels may be hung up in favour of a more sedentary life again.”
A member of the Newbury Road Club and a founder shareholder of Newbury-based bike hire business, Totally Bikes, his love of cycling is so strong that he will be pedalling to his office in London on September 12, the day the book is released, which coincides with national cycle to work day.
“I’m looking forward to it as I regularly cover that distance in training rides. It’s just the traffic as I get nearer to London I’m not looking forward to,” he said.
