On yer bike across Galway Bay

The slinky socks might have to wait, but Pat McGlynn's shorts might just pass for silk next week, whether he gets soaked or not. Weather permitting, he intends to cross Galway's "Salisbury Plain" - the famous bay - on a cycle.

"In your shirt and your socks (the black silk with gold clocks), crossing Salisbury Plain on a bicycle." (WS Gilbert, The Mikado)

Yes, you read it right and his middle name is not Jesus. McGlynn, who runs a dry cleaning and launderette business with his wife, Deirbhile, in Barna, Co Galway, has no such pretensions. He just had a passion for sport and adventure, and a new machine called a Shuttle Bike to prove it.

Resembling nothing more than a bike mounted on a double hull, the Shuttle Bike is manufactured in Italy and he ordered it on the Internet. It is powered by the pedal, driving a small propeller which creates a momentum . Without a headwind, top speed is about four miles per hour.

That's very different to the speeds that Pat was achieving at the height of his sporting career, when he was competing regularly in triathlons. He was racing in the world championships in 1984 when he had a bad fall off a bike on the descent. "I broke the bike frame, and had hip problems afterwards," he says.

At first, the condition wasn't diagnosed. He even travelled to the US to seek medical advice. At the age of 36, with two small children, he had chronic pain and was unable to bend down to lift his children. Eventually it was diagnosed at osteo-arthritis. A year ago, he had a hip replacement operation in Merlin Park hospital in Galway. McGlynn says it has changed his life. The pain is gone, and he can now do all those things that he found so impossible 12 months before.

It was when he was attending talks given by the local branch of the Arthritis Foundation that McGlynn realised how prevalent arthritis is. He says he wanted to do something to help, and decided upon the bay crossing. He approached Mr Ray O'Connor, chairman of the Galway branch.

O'Connor thought it was crazy until he realised that McGlynn was determined. It is now expected that the project will raise over €12,000 for the work of the foundation, locally.

He is due to set off from the Martello tower just off Kinvara at 1 p.m. on Saturday week, and he hopes to make it to the Ladies Beach in Salthill in two to three hours. Ray O'Connor of the Arthritis Foundation says he will be delighted to hear from potential sponsors who can contact him at (087)