Ron Barassi gets on his Mongolian bike
Melbourne football legend, Ron Barassi, at 71 is living proof that exercise is increasingly important as people get older, by starting his training for a 450km ride in Mongolia next year.
After taking on the Kokoda Track last year, Barassi is now riding a bike 10-15 km a day and will work up to 40km sessions.
“Mongolia will be mostly riding off-road. In comparison Australia’s off-roads are like Mongolia’s actual roads so you can only imagine what their off-roads are like,” Mr Barassi said.
In the past the footy legend has refused to let age or bad weather stop him from exercising. He walks 5km daily along the St Kilda foreshore and plans to add either swimming or a yoga class to his routine one day a week, apart from the bike riding.
Ron Barassi has a motto he uses to maintain motivation.
“It’s only a 10-word sentence and every word has only two letters, but for me it sums up everything perfectly – if it is to be it is up to me.”