Mark Jeffrey stripped off his civvies to reveal a lycra-clad body and a stomach that appeared to recede like the tide.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
At age 53, the formidable road racer’s body has been chiselled by pain – and he likes pain.
He’s the type of rider who drools when he feels a strong head wind lick his face. It inspires him to go harder, to try and break those around him.
He did that at the recent 100 kilometre Gunnedah to Tamworth road race, when a crosswind made a flat course considerably harder for the high quality field. He won division four by more than two minutes.
“Very hard day. Very hard day,” he said. “And I love the cross winds. Love the hard elements in cycling.
“Fifty K to go, I hit ’em on the crosswinds and rode away from ’em.”
Jeffrey admitted that he would not have been able to do that a year earlier. Five years back in cycling after a 28-year break in which he became overweight and unhealthy, he attacked his preparation for 2017 with an elevated intensity and a gluten-free diet.
Consequently, he’s had his best year since he was a young man, when 19 years of competing included winning the Muswellbrook to Tamworth road race.
Forty kilograms lighter than he was five years ago, Jeffrey also finished third in the masters road race at the state championships, and third in division three of the Grafton to Inverell.
On Saturday, he will contest Tamworth Cycle Club’s rebooted John Dewhurst Memorial Handicap, which he has won.
The 60km race starts at Loomberah Hall and includes the Mineshaft climb, before looping around Dungowan and Nemingha and finishing back at the hall.
“It’s good to come back after a long stint off,” Jeffrey said, adding that he had to deal with “a lot of health issues” upon resuming cycling, including a bad back. He also had to wean himself off the “dangerous” medication he was taking for the back.
But now that he feasts on cyclists young enough to be his son, delighting in beating them, he wants to “take it to another level”, including at the nationals on the Gold Coast in October, where he will contest the road race and the criterium.
“If I can hold my form till then, I hope to do well up there,” he said.
