It’s Alex Dowsett here, back with another column for Cyclingnews. In my first entry, I told you about winter training camps and the logic behind doing them (or not), but today I wanted to rewind a little bit.
Before I dive into discussing the other topics I’m hoping to write about this season, I thought I’d bring you into the frame on what happens when an athlete retires and why I now understand the phrase ‘an athlete dies twice.’
I’m a couple of years out of being a pro, and I’ve realised how quickly you are forgotten as the years pass – working with a junior squad for two years made it even more apparent!
So I’ll quickly bring you up to speed on some background credentials. I raced for four different WorldTour teams throughout my 12 years at the highest level of the sport, my career highlights were 15 professional wins including two Giro d’Italia stage wins, two UCI Hour Record attempts, one successful and one less so but a prouder achievement for me personally, and being the first and – currently – only elite sports person in the world with Severe Haemophilia A, a rare blood clotting disease. I raced nearly everything and was known as a TT specialist, but I could also do a mean lead-out. I didn’t have the most power in the world, but I seemed to be able to maximise what I did have.
She said opportunities would come my way, and I should spend a year or two working out what I liked and what I didn’t like, so that’s exactly what I’ve done and to an extent, what I am still doing.
I knew from my racing days that I enjoyed helping others get better and faster at cycling. My dad used to get frustrated when I’d help my teammates, and they’d subsequently beat me in time trials. Seeing their eyes light up when I’d do a TT bike fit and unlock an extra 20 to 40 watts of sustained power whilst making them more comfortable – that really gave me a kick. So if I think about it, that, in a nutshell and in different guises, is what I do now. I help bike riders and racers get better at it, and I absolutely love it.
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