WHERE IT ALL STARTED

That photo up there? It takes me right back to 1987—lycra-clad glory at Hengrove Park, fists pumping after nabbing another local race win.

 

Back then, I was all about flat-out sprints; hills? Let’s just say they were my “character-building friends.” But racing in France in 1990 became my brutally honest mirror: I loved the grind, but the true champions had a spark I couldn’t match. So, I swapped racing bibs for textbooks, obsessing over one question: How do humans actually become faster?

 

Turns out, I wasn’t half bad at answering it. By 1995, I’d landed my dream gig as the GB cycling team’s sports scientist—think sweat, data, and a dash of madness. Two years later, I threw myself into building the National Program in Manchester (yes, that velodrome). Then came the big fork in the road: 1998, choosing between coaching mountain bikers or the track endurance squad. I picked the track. Why? Because stopwatches don’t lie—and I geeked out on the idea of blending science, coaching, and pure hustle to shave milliseconds, and created what many of us know as marginal gains.

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Fast-forward 25+ years: I'm a former UK Coach of the year winner, been to 4 Olympic Games, 3 Commonwealth Games, and enough World Championships (road, track, mountain bike, BMX, Para…) to fill a passport. I’ve laughed with Tour de France stage winners, cried with Olympic medalists, and spent more hours in team cars than I have on my couch.

 

But here’s the thing—whether I’m working with a novice or a rainbow jersey, it’s never just about watts and podium plans. It’s about people. The kid terrified of their first National title race. The master chasing one last shot at glory. This is the stuff no spreadsheet can measure.

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Do you want your Best Season Ever? Then you'll need the best coach.

Ambition is the starter — but we will need to dig under those goals with relentless curiosity, and check-ins that mean something (not just box-ticking).