Thomas Ivor's Triathlon Triumph - #7kFor700k

On Friday, I did a 3x7km triathlon to raise money for the National Autistic Society's '7k for 700k' appeal, to highlight the 700,000 people in the UK who have Autism, like me.

I had a few difficulties to overcome. The day before the event, we had to survey a new route because someone decided that I wouldn't be able to use the gym for the cycle and run as we'd hoped. They also said they thought the challenge was too much at my age, and that they wouldn't have let their own children do it. This made me a bit cross, but actually it spurred me on and I was even more determined to prove that I could do it! We decided that I would do the cycle and run on a traffic free path by the A45. My NAS collecting tin had also got delayed in the post, but luckily that was waiting on our doorstep when we got home. Later, I got my first pair of running shoes, because Daddy said my trainers were looking a bit tired. I collected up all the things I was going to need, and put my batteries on charge.

Next morning, I woke up and had tons of butterflies in my stomach, so I filled it with porridge. After breakfast I started to get my stuff together; I needed so much kit! I packed one bag for each discipline to help with the transitions.

As soon as I said that I was starting at 10 o’clock that day, people started retweeting me and donating online, which motivated me even more.

Good luck to the mighty @thomas_ivor this weekend! https://t.co/XW3XeDsyOu

— Dave Cornthwaite (@DaveCorn) January 17, 2018

Before you know it I was ready in the water to start my first ever triathlon.

Daddy set the watch going it went “Three, Two”, I felt like Kevin McAllister: "This is it - don’t get scared now" "one, GO!".

The first stint was 1¼ hours, which was quite easy, so then I went for a brief break while AQUA ZUMBA was happening, because ¾ of an hour of loud cheesy pop music often offends, and they make the water very choppy. I had done 100 lengths, or so I thought. We swapped my Swimtag for another one so I didn't get a flat battery and lose my data.

I had a break in the changing room before going back in the water. The second 'third' was incredibly hard, but my swimming teacher Glenn came to swim with me. Also, to spur me on, Daddy kept me posted on the kind people who were donating to the NAS on my fundraising page. One lady had been swimming in the next lane to me! People were also donating using the collecting tin, which I had put on reception. I had a sign next to me in the pool telling people what I was doing, and why.

After another 90 lengths, I got out for some lunch. I had a tuna sandwich, some blue 'super juice' and more bananas. We swapped my Swimtag again but it was taking ages to appear on the app, which meant that I didn't know for certain how many lengths I had left to do.

The last leg was very dull and boring just looking at the same things over and over again (mostly tiles) and the sun was in my eyes, going one way up the pool. I was also getting tired. It got worse when Daddy came and told me that the Swimtag had uploaded 7 lengths less than I thought I'd done, so I was going to have to do some extra to make sure I did 7km. Daddy then made me do 20 more lengths, just to make sure that I had definitely done it!

It was a good job he did because when we got the final download I'd only gone four lengths over!

I touched the wall for the last time and I was out. My legs were like trifle. Time for the cycle!

I was soon changed and Daddy put some air in my tyres. I tried start Strava but I’d already put my gloves on and could not work the screen! Unfortunately, there was a problem with the bluetooth and my sensors wouldn't work, which always seems to happen on important days!

The path was not the best surfaced of all the paths I’ve ever been on but it was very flat. I went past a lot of geese, swans, blackbirds and squirrels. On the way back though I went the wrong way and had to cross all the roads on the retail park again, which took a long time.

Soon in the distance I saw a man who looked like a man from ‘Ikea’ up by McDonalds, it was Daddy in his blue coat and yellow trousers, who had come to watch me across the roundabout safely. “You’ve gone the wrong way son, that's further!” He laughed.  I had a quick chat with him and got on my way again.

I got to the end of the path and waited for the team to arrive. My sister Rhoda was asleep in the back of the car by now! Daddy gave me a banana in exchange for my bike.

The cycle was my recovery for the triathlon. Now it was time for the pain!

Phone - check

Shoes - check

Gloves - check

Let's go!

The first few strides were awful but I found my rhythm. I felt soon very grumpy and tired, though.

It was dark and all the nice things that I saw on the bike were nowhere to be seen. Eventually, at the end of the path, I saw Daddy’s bright yellow trousers in the distance; I made my way towards him feeling tired.

I told him about what had happened on the run so far, ran towards him again for a bit of filming, then said farewell once more, turned round and went back on my way.

Some autistic people need music to help them concentrate on the task at hand and on the run back to the gym, I tried to listen to some music on the phone, but to my disgust the only piece of music I had was the Second movement of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto number 2, which I think is too sad to run to; it sounds like funeral music!

I needed some encouragement but the path was empty; all you could hear was the ‘zoom zoom’ of the cars, so I tried to cheer myself on but I seemed to go slower than I was before. Eventually I came down the hill for the very last time of the triathlon, going the right way this time!

Daddy and Rhoda were waiting for me with my NAS banner for the finish; soon I was crashing through the banner and reached the end of my triathlon. It had taken me seven hours and twenty three minutes including breaks, made up of:

• Swimming  -7.1km, 3 hours, 8 minutes, 30 seconds
• Bike - 9.57km, 32 minutes, 33 seconds
• Run - 8.45km, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 53 seconds

My total time spent moving was 4 hours, 44 minutes and 56 seconds.

Afterwards I felt very tired, happy and thankful that I could now rest but not for long as I have more adventures planned! I raised more than double my original target of £210 on my JustGiving page, which was incredible.

The next day I felt quite achey and tired. Oh, and hungry! I was back in the pool for my swimming lesson tonight, though.

I would like to say thank you to my family @FamilyByCycle, and also to all my supporters who have put their time and money into supporting me and other people with autism. I even want to thank the people who said I couldn’t do it, because then I was determined to show them that it is possible, for a 9 year old to take on something big and succeed!

Read more posts by Thomas Ivor

My day at Islabikes - by Thomas Ivor

My day at Islabikes was amazing thanks to Isla Rowntree, Rob Burns and the rest of the team at Islabikes.

Firstly I had a tour of the factory and met all the sales and social media people and had a quick look at some #Imagine project frames ready for testing to see how strong they were. Next we moved on to the customer service team who you will speak to if you need anything from them. After your call they will find the spares and send them within two days. That room also is where the Luaths, Creigs, Pro series and adult bikes are built; there is a conveyor belt to take those bikes down for the 4pm lorry to arrive and take the bikes all over the world.

We went downstairs and met all the people who build the Beinns, Cnocs and Rothans. I also met RJ who was going to help service King Louis with me. The people who build the bikes take a box with a bike in it and build it to RJ's exacting standards. All the standards and rules are in a big folder for all the bikes.

Rob B took us for a drink upstairs and then we went back to RJ to strip King Louis. I learnt about lots of parts and looked inside them. We then swapped bits over like the gear cables and bar tape. Once we had finished it was time for lunch. We had to get out more chairs because not all of us could fit round the table!

After lunch Steve, Rob and I got changed to go for a mountain bike ride; they had lent me one of their Pro series Creig 24s to ride and kindly put my pedals on it. Our route was very hilly. There was one enormous hill where Daddy had to start walking half way up!

We were about to enter a long boggy section where the ride really was going to begin. I had never been mountain biking before, and it was a good job I had watched some GMBN videos or would have had no idea of what to do.


We finally got to the end and went back to the factory where I watched the team test their puncture repair kits for a big ride they were preparing for. Afterwards Rob took me into the showroom, where there lay a new bike for me to have new adventures with - I loved it. I named it 'King Louis II'. I said so many 'thank you's and said goodbye. It had been a grand day out in Shropshire and I hope that we can do some more things together again.

Coming soon: Islabikes - A parent's perspective!

Book Review by Thomas Ivor - 'Land's End to John o'Groats - The ride that started it all' by Sean Conway

Sean Conway is an adventurer. He used to be a photographer in London. He has cycled around the world and done the longest triathlon around Britain amongst many more big adventures. I was lucky enough to meet Sean at Yestival so that’s why I have read his book. He has written many books but I have just read his first, ”Land’s End to John o’Groats - the ride that started it all”. It was great. 

Sean used to fly to hot beaches in other countries for his holidays. He was then forced to go to places closer to home because he remembered that he wasn’t related to Richard Branson and didn’t have enough money. He was looking for something adventurous, fun and challenging. He looked at doing an adventure somewhere far away, dangerous and big but it’s expensive to do those kinds of adventures, so and he looked if he could do one in the UK. He made a list of all the places he had been to in the UK and most of them he hadn’t been to.Sean decided that he would do something in Britain, so he decided to try cycling from Land’s End to John o’Groats. For his trip he raised money for charity to save hedgehogs that were ill. 

Sean started his epic voyage in 2008, he had given himself 4 weeks to do around 1300 miles. I liked his idea of adding on extra adventures to make an even bigger adventure, like when he climbed Ben Nevis and added the Orkney Isles on to the trip. 

 Sean’s journey took him through Cornwall and Devon, which was tough, going down small country lanes and sleeping in a hostel in Exeter where lots of people snored and talked in the night. The Lake District he battled hills in, the Lake District, where he is living in his dream home for the winter this year. 

On the way, he received kind offers of food, money (a guy in a pub even gave him £84 for charity) and free things; Sean also stayed with family and friends. 

Sean took his mascot ‘little flying cow’ for company. He was quite funny. He called Sean an idiot and Sean said “Shut up or I will leave you in that ditch”! At other times Sean just liked the sound of nothing. 

On my #CycloClimbGB adventure I will be cycling some of the route that Sean cycled, like around Windermere, the road to Fort William and climbing Ben Nevis. 

I think that this book is suitable for adventurers that are just getting started and need to come up with an idea, or other children that want to find adventure by reading about it so that they are ready to have their own ideas for the future. 

I have now started Sean’s other book "World cycling stripped bare", because I loved the first book and I want to cycle around the world one day, too. 

"Land’s End to John O’Groats - the ride that started it all" by Sean Conway is published by Mortimer Lion Publishing. 

Kindle price: £5.99 

Paperback: £7.99

Review: The New Alpkit Wombat / Small Koala (by Thomas Ivor Jones, Aged 8)

The new Alpkit 'Wombat'

Panniers - old school!

I do long distance cycling trips and I’ve been trying to find a way of carrying my luggage without a rack and panniers on my Islabikes Luath 24. I used to use panniers on my Beinn 20 Large, but now I am riding a road bike I wanted to do something a bit different and have a setup like Mark Beaumont used on his ‘Africa Solo’ trip. That's how I ended up buying the new Alpkit 'Wombat'.

Before I had been told about these new Wombats, I was using an Alpkit Airlock Xtra 5 litre dry bag with dual straps and a custom built Stingray which I got for my birthday. My Stingray fits really well and I have not experienced any problems with it so far, but I needed some more storage space.

I couldn’t get a full size Koala because the space between my saddle and back wheel was too small. My solutions would have been to have a custom seat pack made or to just have a rear rack and panniers.

I went to Alpkit with my bike, King Louis, and met Connie, who showed and told me all about this brand new product called a Wombat which is a 7 litre expedition seat pack. Connie said that the new product might solve my problem but it was so new that it wasn't for sale yet!

When Connie brought out the Wombat I thought it looked like someone had taken a Koala and put it through a shrink ray! I put on my Stingray and the dry bag on my handlebars and Connie let me have a ride around the car park with the Wombat and some other products to try.

I ended up with only one of the saddle straps on the seat post but apart from that it  fitted nicely. I did not feel the seat pack at all when I was riding. I only noticed it only when getting on and off the bike because I have to make sure that my leg goes over the bag.

I went for the colour ‘steel’ which is grey in real colours but it is also sold in yellow, ‘chilli’ (red), black and ‘flo orange’.

The price is £70 which is the same price as the Koala. You can now find it for sale on the Alpkit website.

I love the Wombat; it’s just what I had been looking for. I am hoping to put a lightweight sleeping bag or some clothes in mine. I wish it could be waterproof but there is nothing stopping you putting a dry bag inside it if you need to. I also have had a small fuel pod (top tube bag) and a stem cell (for my water bottle).

I would highly recommend the Wombat to children with a 20 inch wheel or larger (depending on the actual bike) who want to carry things without needing panniers, or grown-ups who haven't got so much to carry. If adults have more to put in their bag, they could either use a Koala or the new Big Papa.

Thank you so much Connie and others at Alpkit for helping me to make my dream come true of having my own mini bike packing setup.

PS: The Wombat has been renamed and is now called the 'Small Koala' - my sister Ruth has got one now, as well!

Coming soon... Tom's perspective on creating a bikepacking setup for adventurous children. For now, why not read about Thomas Ivor's speaking trip to Yestival?

Yestival 2016 in retrospect - A post by Thomas Ivor

I love Yestival, this year was my first time there and it was amazing. It was all held in a field near Pulborough in Sussex last weekend.

Yestival is all about meeting up with fellow adventurers and talking about your adventures in a big way which is what helped me come up with my own ideas. 

I met extraordinary adventurers like The Simonsen family, Jo Pickard, Dan Keely, Will Copestake, the Meek family, the Coxless Crew, Adam Conlon, Danny Bent, Dave Cornthwaite and TV adventurer Sean Conway. I had been invited to speak along with these amazing people.

There were tents that would be for the speakers to talk in, and the tents were called: Amazon, Mississippi, Nile, The Big Yes and Dreamcamp, which was the children’s area.

To prepare for the weekend, Daddy and I wrote a new talk. It was my first time speaking without slides, so I had to get my cue cards written and printed out so I could then rehearse them.

The day before, I got out all of the things that I would need to sleep in and my other things that I would need for my talk. (Bike, stand, luggage etc).

Finally we got in the car at 6:30 on Saturday morning and set off to go to Yestival. On the way there I practised my cards.

After a long journey round the M25 we arrived and were welcomed with open arms.

First, I listened to the first pitches of the day to see what it is like because I would need to do a pitch for my talk. You needed to wait your turn, and then tell everyone what your talk would be about - but you only got 20 seconds to speak! The audience then decided who they wanted to go and listen to.

Next, I had a look in the tent that I would be speaking in at lunchtime, which was the Amazon tent.

I had a small stage to stand on, a table, and my audience sat on hay bales. I also had my bike King Louis stood in front of me.

I set up quite early so that when my audience arrived I was ready to go.

Soon the time came. I was up against Dan Keely, The Coxless Crew and Tim and Kerry Meek, who all had very exciting adventures to talk about, too! I had rehearsed my pitch so I fired away and told everybody that was talking at 12:00 in the Amazon tent, about how to have adventures even if you have to work or go to school.

The crowd clapped and cheered!

I ended up with about 50 people coming to my talk called “Notes from a small cyclist”.

The main idea I was sharing is to get yourself a dry-wipe map and stick it on the wall of any room in your house where you will see it every day. You can plan adventures on the map every day, and pick the best ones to break up into chunks so you can actually do them. I explained how I am doing this myself, and about my #CycloClimbGB challenge to climb the ‘Three Peaks’ and cycle between them.

I had some maps with me, for the audience to try planning an adventure on, and I got them to share their ideas.

At the end, I got nearly a full standing ovation for my effort! I felt very proud of myself.

Dave Cornthwaite (the organiser of Yestival) came up to me at lunch break and asked me if I was up for doing a shortened version of my first talk in front of a crowd of 400 people at 7:00pm.

He asked me in particular because the people that came to my talk had given him good reports about my talk so he said “we can’t give you 30 mins but just come up for 5 - 10 minutes and just show the world what you are made of”.

My talk had been written to last nearly half an hour, so Daddy and I laid my original cue cards out on the floor of the car boot and shuffled them to make a shorter version.

Next I put my own tent up in a field next to Daddy and Katie’s tent.

I laid out my sleeping bag and mat and got everything ready, because I thought I might have a late finish!

Soon it was time for my second talk. Adam Conlon gave me lots of advice for the talk and introduced me to Sean Conway while I was waiting to go on.

I had joke in my talk about Sean eating dog food when he was running around the coast, so I asked him about it. Sean said that he did eat the dog food on the run and it took him two solid days before he finished all of the packets because it was revolting! I had a picture with Sean and he kindly promised that he would ride with me somewhere in the Lake District. I got a wave from Sean in the audience when I mentioned him in my talk.

I felt very nervous at first because I was speaking in front of so many people this time, but in the end I just thought ‘how did I get here?’ - it was amazing. I talked for 10 minutes and afterwards I got another standing ovation! Katie said she heard the roar from the audience, and she was in the next field getting my sisters to sleep!

My jokes worked fine and King Louis got a very warm welcome from everyone. I hope people will take away what I have told them in my talks and try it.

The lady after me, Jo Pickard said firstly “Well thanks a bundle Thomas Ivor!”. Daddy said this was because I was a tough act to follow!

I was very tired after my talk but I tried to hold on until Sean Conway spoke. I was extremely tired now; it was 9:30 at night so I couldn’t take in as much as I could earlier in the day.

The weather forecast had said that it would be 7 degrees overnight but when I got back to my tent at 10:00 there was frost on my tent! It was a cold night in the tent but I was so tired it was very easy to get to sleep!

I really enjoyed speaking but I also had a great time enjoying the rest of the event and meeting some exceptional people. A man called Will Copestake offered to climb Ben Nevis with Daddy and me.

He’s climbed all the ‘Munros’ and kayaked around the top of Scotland.

My favourite talk during the day was the Simonsen family because they had Hobie kayaked from Denmark to Istanbul!

There is just one thing that I was not very happy about which is that I had to miss out some talks that were going on at the same time as mine or others.

My little sister Ruth’s favourite thing at Yestival was catching dreams. Rhoda’s favourite thing was the food. I loved the food, I think it was well served and it all went with adventure. Thank you for supplying us all with something to eat!

At Dreamcamp the girls enjoyed having their faces painted just like scary lions!

I would like to say a big thank you to Dave Cornthwaite for inviting me and to his team for encouraging me throughout the weekend. I hope we will be able to go again next year!


You can watch my evening talk on YouTube, here:

Book Review - The boy who biked the world

Thomas Ivor has written this book review for us:

The boy who biked the world - Riding the Americas

Written by Alastair Humphreys

Illustrated by Tom-Morgan-Jones

Published by Eye Books

The book is about a little boy called ‘Tom’ who rides round the world on a bike.

In book two Tom sails from Cape Town across the Atlantic Ocean to get to Argentina. Then he rides all the way to Alaska.

I think this book would be enjoyed by people that have adventures.

Tom felt sad and happy during his journey. At times Tom missed his family and at other times he was happy because he liked being outside all the time.

Since I read the book, I have learnt more about the Panama canal which joins the Pacific and Atlantic oceans together.

I found it interesting because I’m into cycling and having adventures just like Tom. In the next book he cycles home to England from Siberia.

Thomas Ivor read 'The boy who biked the world' on his Kindle, but you can also buy signed copies from the author's website.