Rugby Jackpot

That video of the guy hitting the crossbar at the rugby match at the weekend for £250k is magic. Fantastic!

Recovering today from an epic 80 mile ride - Truro, Launceston and back - quite windy on the Moor! Janey's given me the all clear to do the John O'Groats to Land's End in January - I've got 8 days to do it in, hope the weather's okay. Just going to get a backpack together, train up to Thurso and start the journey back. Should be a great adventure. Might be a tad cold in the Scottish Mountains, and of course the days are short, but you've got to give these things a go.

Centre Parcs this weekend with the kids - they love Centre Parcs - I think this must be visit number 8? Very unsurfy I know, but we always have such a good time. Can't wait - and neither can they. They're frothing for it!

Boardriders kick a..e!

Gabi ripping it up on the Surf's Up! / Quiksilver Team rider training weekend

What a stunning weekend for the Surf's Up! Boardriders - here's the update from our on the scene reporter, JP -

"Three of the Boardriders put in great performances this weekend at the
Newquay Open Pro Tour surf finale, in epic conditions. An event made all the
more special as every category was packed with the best available talent in
the UK competing for final ranking positions in the Open, Womens, Under 18
and Under 16 events.

On Sunday Gabi won the Womens Open. An amazingly strong performance, with
none of the other girls able to cope with the huge wave size. This means she
finished second overall in the rankings for both the under 16 Girls and
Womens UK Pro Tours for 2009.

Toby gave it everything, reaching the Quarters of the Mens Open, knocking
out Tour favourite Reubyn Ash, and the Final of the under 18s, where fatigue
took over after contesting both events in double overhead heavy Fistral
surf, finishing fourth.

Max (aged 11), facing 60mph winds and a rain lashed 24ft swell on Saturday
morning, reached the Semis of the under 16 boys. A stunning effort that sent
shock waves around the beach as, in the Quarters, he knocked out two of the
British team fresh back from squad training in France - Quiksilvers Luke
Dillon and West team rider Jobe Harris." Thanks JP

It's been an amazing year for the Surf's Up! Boardriders Elite squad. In fact when I went down to the BSA meeting the other day, a lot of the surf schools were asking how they could get their top riders on the elite training programme. I still believe that despite some amazing results, 2010 will be our year!

Education, education, education

In the absence of one of the teachers I offered to step in to help at the local primary school. Originally this was for PE, but developed into a supporting role of Mr Howard with the Year 6's. I ended up doing the whole week and enjoyed every minute of it. It's where Billy and Fin are so no big deal.

Say what you like about education in this country, but unless the school decided to put on a special show for me, I cannot fault what was on offer. The variety throughout the day was not what I had expected and the care, quite heart warming. I ended up doing some maths and literature, building bird boxes, reading the school play, football, some one-on-one tuition, drums, piano - there was so much going on. And I really liked the fluid nature, the relaxed style of the day. So a big up to St. Minver school - top marks from me, an 'A' star.

Weather in this country, you've just got to love it! Storms all day yesterday - today great surf and blue skies!