I’ve written about the age thing before and I often wonder if it's only us simple men folk who have this feeling of not wanting to grow up. Is it more scary for men getting older? Is it a bad thing to want to stay youthful and annoy our spouses with our incessant need for new toys? 

My man shed consists of two things really; Bikes and Boards. Both activities have this intangible ability to keep me feeling young at heart, even though my body is telling me otherwise. A broken ankle, thirty something years ago, a broken wrist, a little closer than that, and a broken foot in 2016, all seem to have this physiological nagging system that worsens with age. That's not including the suspected torn Meniscus Ligament in my knee, the carpal tunnel in both my wrists (injections don’t work) and the pins and needles at night, both tennis and golf elbow, both of which I play neither, and as for the funny gone (gold elbow), there is nothing funny about it when you knock it. A shoulder impingement, a knot in my upper back the size of a golf ball, a dodgy lower back which has just yesterday taken me out of work for a couple of days, and finally if you put a level across my shoulders I’m about two inches out and drop a line down  my spine and I'm out of plum!! 

When I rarely see a Doctor and they ask ‘how can I help’? Now, I might have gone there for a specific reason, but I often feel like getting a list out and saying ‘well Doc, where shall we begin?’. But getting to see a Doctor also panders to the male ethos of ‘not to worry, it’ll be fine, scenario, and pride definately comes before a fall'. 

Like most blokes who refuse to give in to this male pride, we ignore the symptoms as long as possible until one day, no doubt, we’ll inconvenience our beloved spouses and they’ll hopefully be there for us in some futile attempt at empathy. I laugh when I write this, by the way. 

So we just crack on, refusing to give in, ignoring the painfully obvious fact that our bodies are telling us something as we get older. In fact more like a distant screaming at us to slow down. But we can’t. We refuse to just sit back and become part of the arm chair brigade. We’ll just keep taking the vitamins, and applying the ointments for the bones and joints. Continue the  pathetic excuse for stretching while our coffee brews in the morning, whilst arranging the next weekend at the bikepark, or surf trip, or the enduro race, or ridiculous attempt to stay young. We’ll get out on our bikes,  boards, skateboards, snowboards and surfboards and pretend we still rip.  Some of you still do by the way. Surfing is different for me personally because I’ve never imagined I was Kelly Slater, but because I love the old sixties and seventies surfers and the lines they draw on a wave. As a result, my surfing is a simpler, less radical approach than today's rippers, which means I don’t have to do much on my boards which is great for the knees, and the back. Apart from the cutback, rotation plays no part in my surfing, nor does leaving the face of the wave. 

For those of us older folk that are still riding bikes, the e-bike has come to the rescue for many and helped to  realise that life isn’t over after forty or fifty, you can still ride up and shred down. I’ve not given in yet. I’m just not ready,  but also and more to the point I can’t afford one! However, when I see kids in their early teens on an ebike, my soul leaves my body for a brief moment and I have to take a breath and count to ten. 

When family or older friends ask ‘if I’m still riding’? It's a question that always baffles me. The  same with surfing,  ‘are you still surfing’?. I’m not sure what the answer should be. ‘No, I gave that up a long time ago,  I came round to your thinking that it’s just for kids’. I’m not sure what I would do instead to be honest, both pursuits are very much a lifestyle or life choice, whichever way you look at it.  

I’ll always ride bikes as long as my legs work. I might not go jumping or tearing down hills as fast as I can,  but I'll certainly riding some form of bike. Maybe just some more adventure riding on my graveler, or just out in the lanes looking over hedges and taking in the views. I’ll always surf, because I’m a surfer. You don’t just stop surfing or imagining that you are that icon who inspires you to be better. As long as I can walk down to the water's edge, I’ll go surfing, because there are so many water craft to enjoy riding waves. I’m not talking SUP, or Foils (not for me, they don’t count). I’m talking, boogie boards, wooden belly boards, paipos, or handplanes. Hell, you don’t even need a board, just stick your arm out and body surf. 

I love seeing older people still doing the activities they love, whatever it may be, but If it's not obvious by now, I’m very much into the more action sports genre. To see older surfers, skaters, snowboarders, mountain bikers, BMX riders; it’s phenomenal and hugely inspiring. Kelly Slater still competes on the World Tour at fifty, Greg Minaar won a World Championship at Downhill at forty, Tony Hawk is still sending a halfpipe at fifty something and the legendary Tony Alva, well, he’s still skating bowls and he’s over sixty.  When I ride down here at Old Hill Bike Park or the Track at Portreath, there are loads of us Dads who should know better. Still pretending to be teenagers, and some pull it off better than others, most of us refusing to also change our fashion sense that we’ve had since early teens. Shorts, white socks, chequered Vans and a favourite t-shirt, is the go to outfit.  There is a 55+ division in the National BMX series now and it’s one of the largest categories for entries and probably will be at the World Champs this year. Hows that for kids not growing up,considering most of them started back in the early 80’s, they’re still tearing it up on kids bikes, with a smile on their face and the type of camaraderie you’ll never see at a Sunday Football match.  In Mountain Bike enduro events I’m now I think I’m a  Grand Master.  In surfing I believe I’d be a super veteran if I competed. I just love it. The grey haired, physically broken amongst us, still have the mental age of a  kid  who still wants to jump off a crate with a bit of plywood as a ramp, or at least chase that feeling of pulling a trick, learning a new one, or crash trying. . 

I suppose this post is a few words to remind those amongst us who continue to fight for our youth. Maybe it is the simple male that refuses to grow up but who cares. Despite what our own resistance or others tell us,  or our physical scars remind us, don't give in just yet. Maybe it’s time that we remind some of us older folk to get out of the arm chair, go to an exercise class and get back in shape, get back on a bike and go for a lap or two at the local pumptrack, and take your 85 year old Mum down to watch her son loving life, like I did. Don’t say ‘I used to race BMX’, go and do it, join a local club and do a few laps at your own pace, enter a club race and just see what an great community you may have left behind. Dust off and Fix that bike in the garage and go for a ride. Win back that love you had for two wheels when you were a spotty teenager, riding everywhere with your mates. 

For those who stopped surfing when it got too busy. Did you stop surfing because you couldn’t be bothered to compete for  waves anymore? Well, if you still have that love of the ocean, and that nagging feeling of FOMO, get a bodyboard and get hammered in the shorebreak with your kids, believe me it’s hilarious and crowds don’t come near you, because they all got out!!  

​Whatever way you look at it. It’s time to just get busy and never grow up. 




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Apologies for the lack of posts. I try to do at least one a week, but I’ve been enjoying summer, getting out in the evenings, riding bikes, surfing, and getting a new board in particular and I’ve also been to my first festival. 

Yep, at 54 years old I've never been to a festival. Well, now I have, I have broken the festival cherry.  The Great Estate Festival is no Glastonbury, but it's right here in Cornwall at the Scorrier Estate, and only thirty minutes from home.

​I’ve been to some big gigs over the years in stadiums and big concert arenas, but not being one for crowds, I think I’ve always avoided the festival environment. Even at the stadium gigs, like U2 way back in 1987 at Wembley, I remember how claustrophobic I felt, and soon found myself up in the seats, way above the stage and just watching the crowds, the and the fans surging forward. Maybe because I crave space, but I’ve never enjoyed being in the thick of it. 

The Great Estate Festival is a small scale event, still with plenty of people, but not mental. After our group rendezvous at Smokey Joe's Cafe, along with every other van in Cornwall, we convoyed in and were greeted to a weekend of scorching weather, beautiful grounds with plenty of shaded areas for the non-sun god people like me who burn at the slightest sign of any summer weather.  Our van pitch was extra but it did mean we could replenish the hip flasks when necessary, and have a quiet space away from the hoards of teenage campers who gain access on their parents ticket if under 18. 

The festival was super fun, but I did have this strange feeling of being slightly overwhelmed, or rather the question popped up, ‘what am I supposed to do’? 

Do I just wander from stage to stage, watching as many acts as possible? Is it OK to just pitch up in the main arena with your seats, beers, food and family and watch the world go by? Do I get drunk or not? Do I really want to go into a silent disco with five hundred teenagers? The answer to the latter was an immediate NO!! Although next time, I’ll give it a go. 

I did know that I was there to watch the headline acts. The Selecter on Friday night is a band I grew up with in the late seventies, early eighties. I was fully expecting my early ‘Rude Boy' to come out and have a ’moonstomp’ with some fellow old timers. That we did, and scattered around a crowd were the trilby hats, the grey hair and the unmistakable bobbing of heads of the old boys and girls amongst us who grew up listening to Ska music. The Selecter and lead singer Pauline Black did not disappoint. She has an amazing voice and once saw her sing acoustic back in Brighton.   Then we had Primal Scream on Saturday, a band who just embodied the nineties, taking weird drugs, and the fans turned out for them in the thousands. I’ll be honest like many, I was only familiar with their classic hits, but it was the other songs that caught my attention. They were epic, and even a power cut halfway through only made the fans want more, and a rising full moon over the estate only added to the emotions. 

I will add that out of everything we saw the band that stole the show for many were the truly amazing Elvana. Probably my favourite act over the weekend. A tribute band combining Elvis and Nirvana. They were pretty special and absolutely a crowd favourite, with a lead singer dressed in a cannabis leaf printed jumpsuit he was a true entertainer. Totally out of character I found myself, just off the front, and just behind the mosh pit and loving every second, watching my son and his friends get bundled around to tunes like ‘Feels like Teen Spirit’ and ‘Come as you are’, with and Elvis lookalike belting out the tracks. This was brilliant, as to were the young lads playing 60’s Rock n Roll, and although we missed it, the Hip Hop Karaoke was supposed to be all-time.  

There was also plenty to do for the kids of all ages. Plenty of woodland adventures, axe throwing, archery and fairground rides. One of my friends took his son to the Blacksmith stand and came back with a stunning piece of metal work, and this convinced me that I missed out on something special here, so I’ll be doing that next year for sure, and maybe spend a little money in the well-being arena. 

I did enjoy the Festival, I think I found my feet a little more on the second day. A good couple of hours watching people cruise by, ferrying kids in trolleys and wheel barrows, dressed in all manner of festival outfits and in all states of sobriety. Outfits either bought especially for the Great Estate, or just pulled off the dresser rails when the season started, they looked the part of Woodstock gone Glam, and middle aged parents with hippie kids in tow. Unlike myself, many seemed like veterans to this festival lifestyle, and as we sat next to the Jubel Beer stand, in a couple of deck chairs, with a couple of pints of Grapefruit Ale, we observed the beginnings of a stunning Saturday evening, with everyone carrying there festival beer mugs, full or empty, heading off to watch another act, at another stage, catching up with friends, or just taking it all in like us. The whole experience was pretty special, but I’ll be honest, I liked that we had our van to retreat to and take a breather, cook some food, regroup, and head back down for some more action. The van was my Great Escape when I needed it, and the Great Estate, 'the most rambunctious garden fete' is soon to be booked for 2024. ​

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been a busy old bugger. Festivals, Riding, Surfing (loads) and generally being out and about enjoying this glorious weather we've been having. Anyway, there are posts in the works, photos to accompany them, but for now, I'd like you to take a couple of minutes and watch this. The riding is great but the trail build is exceptional. I've been riding a few trails lately at both the Track in Portreath on a Wednesday evening and the Old Hill Bike Park, and having so much fun. Take a look and leave a comment, I think you'll enjoy if you like riding bikes, and if you'd to know moreabout James Pettitt who built this materpiece the check out the Fiftylicks podcast with Josh Bryceland and Josh Lewis. Enjoy

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