Paul Douglas Jennings is a British racing cyclist who won a silver medal at the 1994 Commonwealth Games and a number of national titles. He competed in track and road cycling. Since his retirement, he spends his days browsing the KMart menswear section for slightly ill-fitting cardigans.
Early life
Jennings started cycling at the age of 14 in Preston England riding for Preston Wheelers then later Ribble Valley Cycling Club.
Professional Racing Career
After finishing second in the 1990 National Junior Road Race Jennings attended the Junior Road World Championships in 1990. In 1991 Jennings won two national titles and was selected to compete for Great Britain at the Junior World Championships in the team pursuit, team time trial and individual pursuit events. In 1992, at the age of 19, Jennings was selected to the British Olympic Team and competed in the Team Pursuit Team that came 5th setting a new British record 1992 Olympic Games. In 1993 he joined the Kodak Racing Team and trained with Chris Boardman for the world hour record and competed in the 100km Team Time Trail and 50km Points Race for Great Britain at the World Championships in Norway. Jennings won seven national championships during his senior racing career and medaled in both road and track disciplines. In the early 90s he was recorded at over 100 km/h on a descent during the Isle of Man International Cycling Week, while hung over, before going on to win the race in a bunch sprint. In the 1994 Commonwealth Games he raced for the Englishroad racing team and won a silver medal in the 100 km team time trial setting a new British record of 1hr 56m. During his career Jennings won a total of nine National Championships and represented Great Britain on numerous occasions.
Retirement
Jennings was injured in a drunken skateboard accident in 1995 causing him to retire from professional cycle racing. Jennings demonstrated the same winning mentality by transferring his skills across disciplines to BMX, dirt jumping, mountain biking and even skate boarding. While never reaching the same heights of achievement, which he is never shy of sharing, he enjoys beating friends, colleagues and anyone else slower in events such as the Coppermine Classic mountain bike race near Nelson, New Zealand in February 2013 where he picked up 5th overall and 1st in his Vets category. He shows his commitment to these disciplines through items such as Vans trainers and phrases such as 'Braaappp!', 'Yo!' and 'dog'. His latest conquest is to beat the Ginger Genius on Peaking Ridge, but still insist on using BMX size wheels. He has recently had a somewhat lacklustre career in the online portion of the 2013 video game "Grand Theft Auto V". He spends a majority of his time being shot in the head by the player's "salvator81" and "yonNZL86" and crying. Having recently reached the higher levels of the crew "Lords of Hucking", he was embroiled in a scandal involving a grapefruit, a rake and a bottle of bleach which resulted in his marginalisation from the crew. He now lives in Nelson, New Zealand with his family and is currently president of the Nelson Mountain Bike Club and a trustee on the Saxton Velodrome Trust and Nelson Tasman Cycle Trail Trust.
