Breaking News ..... Farmers wear lycra

The news today ...... a late posting, I found it in the drafts

today your blogger discovered that a well known cornish farmer has got serious about swimming.

For years Pat had a distinguished badmington career, playing for Cornwall and always rescuing that shot that looked like dying in the back corner. Not that this is his only sport, golf is another sport he is known for. Playing with the same clubs for over 40 years he takes glee in whooping anyone with titanium mega clubs.

But the sports don't end there, squash maybe a natural alternative to badmington, and squash gave Pat the opportunity to thrash and beat and pulverise all young upstarts. Hogging the 'T' he would make the young 20 somethings run from corner to corner and back to front and then walk off without even breaking a sweat. 'If you want to marry my daugther you have to work for it my boy .....'.

But from his early surfing days in the cold, cold, cold cornish sea on that 4ft piece of plyboard, he got use to the cold, cold, cold sea and often swam from the beach, again leaving younger men quivering and shivering, so what would stop him from swimming in a swimming pool?

Well it seems lyrca might have held him back, but not now. This cornish farmer, out in the fields in all weathers for hours at a time. This boiler suit wearing, gumboot wearing 'Ironman' from Cornwall, has discovered his softer side and can now be found in Helston Swimming pool wearing a lycra speedo. 'I find they give much less drag', he told this blogger.

Bring on the swim cap

Now for a New Direction

When I was young I would take the bus from the village up the hill to school.  In my early school years the school had kids from the village and kids from the RAF camp.  I do not know if it was this RAF connection or simply a young boy thing but on the rainy lunchtime the dinner lady did a great line in drawing princesses for the girls and phantom jets for the boys for us to colour in with our little tins of wax crayons.  That is my earliest memory of wanting to fly.

Nothing ever came of my dream, I never thought it was a possibility.  This was an idea reinforced by the RAF recruitment officer that told me, I was unlikely to be a pilot, I might have a chance of being a flight engineer but it was not my fault it was all decided before I was born.

That was all a longtime ago, but now I am back, not on the bus going up the hill but 1000 feet above it in a glider, flying.  Flying and looking down at that little school half way up the hill, the little school where friends came and went, where I played centre forward for the school football team. High above the playground where the school dentist and I would do battle.  A 1000 feet above and 50 years on those early dreams are coming true.

Ride London

It has been a few years since I posted on this blog, the last time was my last Ironman.  After that I completed a Ride London, a 100 mile bike ride following the 2012 Olympic circuit.  This is another great event on closed roads for the riders it is fantastic.  For me it was some of the fastest cycling I have ever done, lots of trains to catch onto and a truly fantastic event.  I spent most of the ride imagining I was a professional rider.  A brilliant event