I raced locally for a year, went to Europe the year after and went to the Olympics the year after that.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I raced in London in the 2012 Olympics, and it was incredible to be a part of, with half a million people watching and then later seeing kids going back to cycle.
My last real race was at the Olympics in Sydney in 2000.
The years I raced in were fantastic. There was so much change in the cars. We went from treaded tyres to no wings right through to slicks to enormous wings.
I've found that my athletes run their best races after about 10 weeks of intense training.
I don't remember my first race, but I do recall various school sports days where I became way too competitive. We were seven or eight years old, and I had a very stern conversation with my relay team-mates about how crucial it was for us to win.
In Athens I was 17 and I didn't have any expectations. I was just swimming fast and racing everybody. I didn't have the joy after my races in 2007. I didn't want to go to Beijing. I had to for sponsors.
I run year-round and then ramp up my training for a race a few months before.
I have run with the bulls in Pamplona. I have raced with Mario Andretti in Indianapolis. I have climbed the Great Wall of China. I have jumped out of airplanes over Kansas.
I have raced against the clock since I went into advertising at the age of eighteen.
I raced supremely well. I felt I was as well fitted to do it as I had ever been, and as perhaps I might ever be. I went climbing three weeks before, because I was feeling fed up with running.