He has been a competitive cyclist for 60 years and retirement is the last thing on his mind.
Duffy (77) proved his fitness last October when he was runner-up at the World Masters Games in Sydney in the points race and the pursuit in the 75-plus grade.
"I'm well enough to compete and as long as I stay fit I will continue to race at the world championships," he said.
His target for 2010 is to compete in the World Masters Championships in Portugal in October.
Duffy has the energy of a 40-year-old and likes to live life at a hectic pace.
"I don't have any secret. I eat anything and everything, but I drink very little alcohol. Before the Masters Games in Sydney I had no alcohol for six months."
He has a simple philosophy about training.
"I ride every fine day. I never train on my bike when it is raining," Duffy said.
"I usually ride between one and three hours."
Duffy has been lifting weights in training since 1951 and believes this has given him the upper-body strength he needs for cycling.
He enjoys racing on the world masters circuit.
"But I only push myself to the limit once a year."
Duffy grew up on the West Coast and became a professional rider in 1949 when he won 25 pounds in a handicap mile at Greymouth.
"It was six weeks' wages," he said.
"I rode professionally for 15 years after that.
"I once earned 150 pounds in three weeks of professional racing. It was half a year's wages at that time."
There was an intense rivalry between the professional cyclists and the amateurs in the 1950s and 1960s.
Only the amateurs could represent New Zealand at Commonwealth and Olympic Games.
Wages were low in those days.
Duffy shifted to Christchurch in 1949 to become an apprentice engineer.
"My wages were less than my board," Duffy said.
"For six months I kept myself on the prize money I won on the English Park track in Christchurch."
Duffy still has his first Union of Cyclist International (UCI) licence, gained in 1956.
In January that year he won a professional race in Melbourne that had 10 heats and 140 starters.
It earned him 35 pounds (Australian).
At Bendigo that season he raced against Olympic champion Russell Mockridge.
One of the highlights of his youthful career was a series of duels with the "Godfather" of British cycling, Reg Harris, whom Duffy rated as the greatest professional sprinter of all time.
The pair raced on tracks around the country in 1956. Duffy beat the master under lights in Christchurch.
Duffy gained a new lease of life for cycling when he contested the World Masters UCI road championships in 1996.
He has competed at the World Masters track championships in Manchester four times.
He was second in the 500m time trial in 1998 to Norman Shields (England), who won the world amateur pursuit title three times.
Two years later he won the bronze medal in the 500m time trial behind Richard Simmons (United States) and Brian Hawkeridge (England).
