This song should be sung at every event around the world! I was crying my eyes out when I visited strawberry fields in Central Park in NYC.
āOhā¦ Monsieurā¦
The boys took a beating on that oneā 
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Iām sad itās over. I glanced at what was on instead and was confronted by University Challenge. Quiz shows are really not my thing.
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Look at it this way, itās fun because it lasts for a limited amount of time. Youād probably feel the same way about it that you feel about questions if it continued on.
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Winter Olympics doesnāt receive the same amount of attention as the Summer version, and athletics etc generally receives most of the year round, presumably because itās more specialised and requires certain conditions.
Anyway, each time itās on Iām amazed once again at the sheer bravery of so many of the competitors, and the high levels of skill and commitment throughout.
Head first down an icy tunnel at 80mph, anyone? 
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Can I build up to that speed? I bet itās one hell of a rush.
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There is still the Winter Paralymics to follow.
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The top Downhill skiers will hit 90mph. Last time we went we were spitballing how fast we think we go. The best zippiest skiier from our group bought some high end sensors to measure herself. She got one absolutely clear run down a long straight and so gunned it and still only hit about 40
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The simple fact of the matter is that most downhill skiers wonāt take the lines that a downhill racer does, and end up doing something more like a giant slalom. To hit those high speeds, you need to keep a really aggressive line through the entire run, one long straight wonāt be enough.
One of my nieces was a high level downhill racer through juniors, and was clocking speeds approaching 100 km/h, which is just shockingly fast to see in a person - in the space of 4 seconds, someone goes from 50 meters away, past you, and 50 meters past. One of her coaches noted that at the top level, they are going half again as fast. She decided to retire for a bunch of reasons, but that was one of the most basic - she felt like she was already right at the edge of her control.
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Yeah its genuinely astonishing. The feeling of speed you have even as a middling skier ambling down a blue run is amazing. But then you have this woman in our group who just absolutely blows by us when she decides to go āfastā, and at the fastest we measured she is still not even at 50% of what these top skiers hit.
As Iāve gotten older and our access to sports statistics has improved Iāve become increasingly aware of how utterly shit I am.
Cycling power data - a rude awakening and embarrassing
Kitesurfing jump height - simply feeble
And so on. Anything where we look at pros to be honest.
I did hit just shy if 50kph on a snowboard 3 weeks ago. That was hairy. The pros do that then jump several metres in the air.
I take my hat off to these athletes. Wrong thread I know but some of the power and speed data being released by pro cyclists at the moment seems to defy physics.
Although one thing I have tried to keep an eye out for this olympics is the ski jump as I heard in a podcast (the one about illegally inflating penis size to get away with a bigger suit that provides more lift) the week before it started the idea that it is largely an optical illusion on high they fly. This guy claimed that once they launch they are never more than about 10 feet off the group. Nar, it still looks absolutely terrifying to me
Thatās true but that slope of the landing area is so steep you probably feel miles up. I would also be properly bricking it. Even little baby park jumps feel nuts when you have a go on them.
My kitesurfing pb last Summer was 6m in height. That felt and looked pretty high. The world record last time I looked was 36m. Lord knows what the distance travelled was. And it was blowing over 50 knots.
Crazy
wait till we release your online posting analyticsā¦
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I bet Iām still not getting very high.
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This is the part they didnāt tell us about