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A bicycle has transformed my experience of London.

If I can bicycle, I bicycle.

I'm happy that the sacrificing, the hard training, the travel, the time being away from the family, is going to stop. So I'm happy; I'm glad about that. But I'm also terrified. Frightened. Because, I mean, in my whole adult life, cycling was the most consistent thing I ever did.

I'm more optimistic about cycling right now than I've ever been.

I don't think of myself as a gearhead or a motorcyclist. I'm not that young, and this is like another life of mine. But the people I know from that era think of me that way.

Perhaps people, and kids especially, are spoiled today, because all the kids today have cars, it seems. When I was young you were lucky to have a bike.

In the second part of my life, away from cycling, I hope I will be able to benefit fully from my family and children in the same way that cycling gave me such joy.

Riding a bicycle is the summit of human endeavour - an almost neutral environmental effect coupled with the ability to travel substantial distances without disturbing anybody. The bike is the perfect marriage of technology and human energy.

I'm definitely capable of just enjoying riding my bike these days.

As a kid growing up - I can see now - it didn't matter what I did, as long as it was something I could be really good at. Cycling just happened to be the opportunity that came along.