Chris Hoy (MBE) looks to retain Kilo title in Los Angeles

 

Interview by British Cycling's Larry Hickmott

 

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 Leaving for Los Angeles on Friday is Great Britain's Chris Hoy, defending World Champion for the Kilometre. The Scotsman has come a long way from those early days in 1996 when he started out for Great Britain in the Team Sprint at Manchester where he and the team are now based. Chris has steadily developed into one of the best ever Kilometre riders with two World Titles as well as Gold medals from the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.

Chris is expecting to compete in two events in the 2005 World Championships in LA, the Kilometre and the Team Sprint, events he won medals in at the World Championships last year, Gold and Bronze respectively. I caught up with Chris during a busy training session at the Manchester Velodrome where he was putting in a series of efforts whilst wearing his rainbow skinsuit that he earned the right to wear in Melbourne last year.

There were none of the intervals which left him 'out for the count' that I saw him do in Newport last year prior to the Olympics but he did admit, smiling as he did so, that he would be doing them the next day just so I wouldn't have to witness it again as he probably realises how uneasy it made me feel seeing a rider put himself through such an ordeal. Its one thing to do it yourself, another to see someone else do it -- not that I ever did intervals to that degree I might add!

Chris however was busy for the four hours the team had the track booked for that afternoon and in between watching him chasing a motorbike around the track and putting in some 500 metre standing start efforts, I sat down to have a chat and started by asking did he feel any pressure going into a competition as defending champion?

"I don't really feel any pressure, no. It's not like the Olympics when it's the be all and end all. It's important to me and I really do want to retain my title, but again, I am just approaching it with the same attitude I did for Athens and that its not really about anyone else. Its about me and what I can do. I just want to make sure that I am in the best shape I can be and step up and hopefully produce a winning ride."

Asked is he into a tapering period yet, Chris replied, "not really, we're still working pretty hard. We won't start backing off yet which is tough because you can see we're getting pretty close but at this point its important to push harder even though you feel tired. So I'm looking forward to getting to LA, backing off a bit and feel the form come on".

Over the last few years, since the introduction of World Track Cups and the World Championships have been steadily brought forward, its been a constant roller coaster for these riders. Asked if he found it hard to lift himself mentally for an event that comes so soon after the biggest competition in the world, the Olympics, Chris replied. "I don't find it difficult because I see it as a steeping stone towards Beijing. Athens has been and gone and you have to move on. You can't dwell on successes just like you can't dwell on defeats. Winning a World Championship is very important, and to wear the rainbow jersey is right up there in an athlete's wish list. For me, its still as an exciting goal just as it was five or six years ago."

"I still enjoy training and competing, so its not a chore and one I have to force myself to do. And as long as you enjoy it, you'll keep doing it as long as you're healthy and fit."



Above: Iain Dyer gives the pace bike some gas and Chris Hoy does his best to stay with the bike at speeds of up to 80kph around the banked track.

Team Sprint
One of the key things about Chris is his ability to switch positions in the Team Sprint. At the Olympics in Sydney it was Man 1 but Craig MacLean made that his own with some of the fastest opening laps ever seen. Chris moved to man 3 and has also been in Man 2, a place that Jamie Staff has had since he came into the team a few years ago. In an event where the coaches can never be certain that all three of these athletes will be at peak fitness for a major championship, having a rider as versatile as that is very useful but Chris admits his favourite position initially was man 1.

"It was the least painful because you don't have to worry about going lactic on the last lap but then I trained for the first lap for so long, I did get a bit sick of doing that. It was such a specific part of an event that I wanted to do something a little more interesting. So I branched out into the kilo and now I enjoy being third man in Team Sprint because you get to finish the race off. It's quite exciting being able to be part of the team, sit at the back and get a 'ride' to the last lap and then get it all out in that last 250."

Asked if he's aware of whether he's ahead or behind in an effort being run off at speeds of 45mph (70kph) plus, Chris answered, "not in the Team Sprint. You're just hanging on for grim death, trying to follow the wheel as well as trying to be as relaxed as you can about it. You break the event down into components just like you do in the kilo. You begin by thinking about the start, and getting onto the wheel cleanly without wasting any energy, and then once you're on the wheel its about conserving energy and then before you start your effort, you're lining the guy up in front and trying to get the timing perfect so you cross the line at the same time. So you're not aware of anything that is going on at the other side of the track."

For most people watching the Team Sprint, it may appear to be just a straight forward drag race between two teams around an oval track but there is a technical aspect to it as Chris has just explained. It's something Chris says the Germans brought forward in the last few years. "I would say most teams in the past were just getting up there with their two sprinters and kilo rider and because they were talented riders, they would just turn it on. I remember when the Australians broke the World record here in 1996, they had never raced together apparently. Which shows if you have talented sprinters they can do it on the day but when it starts to get as close as it is now, you start to look at every single area that can be improved and the Germans have done that. Watching them in Stuttgart (Worlds 2003) they did a technically perfect ride. So we have had to work on that, and when it goes well, it does make a difference."

I then asked Chris how his luck was holding out. There have been a number of times before major championships when Chris has crashed, like before Athens last year, and in a curious sort of way, Chris has then gone on to win his events despite the crashes and so on. So I asked what 'bad luck' has he got out of the way leading up to this years championships?

"I had a bit of a scare on the Saturday before the last Revolution meeting in the gym when I was doing a one repetition maximum lift. I didn't quite get under the bar and my arm got trapped between my thigh and the bar and with a 140 kilo's landing on your forearm, it wasn't particularly pleasant. I thought I had broken my arm the way my wrist had been bent back and it was pretty grim at the time. Thankfully, it was a soft tissue injury so that is now out of the way".

And just when you think it couldn't have got any worse for Chris? 'the next day, I was out on the road just pottering along and minding my own business, on a piece of road that was being retarmaced and I just hit a rut and hit the deck. What with no-one riding around me and riding in a straight line, that was quite embarrassing but thankfully that was just superficial injuries."

"Its never a smooth journey to the Worlds for me"?

Far from the atmosphere at the Revolution meetings with a packed venue cheering him on, the stands are empty as Chris prepares for a 500 metre standing start effort days before heading to LA and the 2005 Track Worlds.

Post Worlds - Holiday?
Once the World Track Championships is out of the way, Chris heads to Japan for the Keirin series, something many of his Great Britain teammates have done in the past including Ross Edgar, Craig MacLean, and the trend setter himself, superstar Jason Queally. I asked Chris if these riders have helped him prepare mentally and physically for this trip?

"Its been good for me because its coming at the end of the season so I should be coming out of the Worlds hopefully in excellent shape whereas in previous years, its been at the start of the year and the guys have had to try and get themselves up ready to go out there with a view to also training for the Worlds or Olympics later that year. So for me, it comes at a great time and with the tips I have had from the other guys, I feel quite fortunate I won't be going in there blind."

Once the Keirin series is done and dusted, Chris then has a summer free of World Track Cups and Championships. I asked if that period will be useful to recover from the roller coaster of the last few years. "Yes" he answered quickly. "I really haven't had a proper break. OK, I had six weeks after Athens but it wasn't a proper break or holiday because I was so busy doing other stuff related to my Olympic title. I'm actually looking to the period after Japan as being my first proper holiday since Athens. It feels like its been an extended season so after I get back, I'll have a month off the bike, and it would nice to get back home for the summer, to Edinburgh, and the festivals, because that's something I haven't been able to do for years."

Not that having a track season in Winter is something he relishes either. "It's the first UK winter I have had to endure since 1998 or 1999 but we're hopefully going to be in Australia before the Commonwealth Games so we may be back to normal again" he said with some relief.

Commonwealth Games
Finally, having mentioned the Commonwealth Games, Chris admits that it will be a major goal for him and the rest of guys. "It seems weird that we're already talking about the Commonwealth Games as it seems like it was only a few months ago. That was the real break through event for me because that was the first individual title I had won. It was also the first time I had broken 62 seconds in the kilo. Plus the fact I'll be riding for Scotland, my home nation makes it's a very special event for me. It has its own unique way of motivating me in the same way the Olympics does".

I then left Chris to get on with his training as he piled on the pressure leading up to the 11 hour flight to Los Angeles on Friday. My thanks to Chris as always and the best of luck for both the Kilometre and Team Sprint. With the line up for the Team Sprint still to be decided due to injury and illness, it's the Kilometre that Chris is sure to be riding and that's an event that will be one of the big highlights of the Worlds. The competition appears to be even more fierce than it was in Athens with riders like Ben Kersten from Australia and Dutch World Sprint champion, posting quick times already this year, as has Chris of course. After a fourth place in 2003 when he was again, the defending champion, a win is by no means certain but Chris is sure to be one of the favourites and we wish him and all the team lots of luck in the US.

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