Watch a movie with the kids
Arthur Christmas is a beautiful tale that will warm your family’s collective heart. Sony teamed up with Aardman Animations so it’s unsurprising that the film was almost universally praised by critics.
Your wife might not even notice the subliminal message – that the most important present you can give is a bicycle!
Eat for tomorrow
You often hear Tour cyclists say they “eat for tomorrow” – such are the calories they burn on a stage of the tour. Christmas day is perfect preparation for your boxing day ride – there are plenty about, so see if you can find one as brutal as Coventry Road Club’s 63rd Boxing Day Cross.
Spend quality time with your other half
No, not your bike. Your loved one is tired of you spending all your time working on your bike, so this Christmas you will not:
- Fit your new wheels immediately.
- Overhaul your bottom bracket simply because you want to try out your new Shimano tool with pipe billet splined axles.
- Go out for a “quick ride” to see if the new tyres from Aunty Mavis make you go faster.
Instead you will focus on eating for your boxing day ride.
Play a game of charades with the family
As you’ll be eating plenty of food, you might want to get up and do some stretches – but you don’t want to make it too obvious that that’s what you’re doing.
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A game of charades is a clever way to disguise your boxing day ride warm up. You can pretend your “downward facing dog” was 101 Dalmatians and not a yoga position – or maybe you can pretend that your plank is The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Traditional board game
Who doesn’t love a board game on Christmas day? In between limbering up and refuelling for boxing day, don’t forget to keep your tactical instincts as sharp as your tan lines.
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Breaking Away aka Glory Gears is an early 90s board game that occasionally comes up for sale on Ebay. Well worth the money, it involves enough tactical treachery to properly emulate life in the peloton. You can eat a turkey sandwich while you play – you’ll burn it off on the boxing day ride.
