Chris Hoy

My predictable stable routine completely changed once I retired. I went from a regimented and vigorous daily training program to a routine where every day was different.

As a sprinter, body weight was never an issue for me, not like the long distance riders who have to be so careful.

My advice is before a big ride, eat a meal 2 hours or so before, to allow you to digest and process it, and without being crude, try to get to the toilet before.

As the lead rider in the team you always have to keep your eyes on the team you're pursuing - it's called the pursuit for good reason.

The Manchester games in 2002 was the breakthrough for me because I won my first individual Gold medal and that gave me the confidence to maybe think I could be a world beater.

Kuala Lumpur was my first ever multi-sports games. I didn't do very well but the experience and enjoyment I had of those games really made me realize how much work I had to do and inspired me to work harder for the Sydney Olympics.

It is an important competition and I certainly rate my gold medals at the Commonwealth Games right up there with my world titles and my Olympic titles.

Certainly for me the Commonwealth Games were fantastic to compete in and I genuinely have so many great memories of the three I went to.

I've said numerous times how proud I am to be Scottish and how proud I have been to compete for Britain, too, and I don't think these two things necessarily have to be mutually exclusive.

My big travel bugbear is Manchester Airport because getting through Terminal Three, as I have to do quite a lot, is a nightmare.

I've been to Florida, Texas and California in the States, but New York is the place I really want to visit.

I was trying to break world records in cycling.

I loved going to our winter training camps in Perth, Western Australia, when I was competing as a cyclist.

Well, having a pint is not going to stop you from winning a gold medal, but for me the question was 'is this going to help me win a gold medal?' if the answer was no, I'd cut it.

I'm a bit rubbish at everything apart from cycling.

I've become Olympic champion six times and I've never taken a performance-enhancing drug in my life, but I was lucky in that I never even had the choice. I never had pressure and I never had a person come to me saying, 'You should do this.'

It sounds so innocuous but the difference between 99 percent and 100 percent is huge. You can finish at 99 percent and you'll be hurting but if you push a tiny bit more - and that's the bit that makes the difference to your training - your legs just grind to a halt. It's like your engine is seizing up.

Those lactate sessions were the worst. I'd be in a lab on a turbo trainer and I'd do four 30-second efforts at 100 percent effort.

In the 84 days after Beijing I had, on average, three things a day and one day off. I didn't sleep in the same bed for more than two nights in a row. It sounds a bit pathetic but it was exhausting - it was like really intensive training with no rest days.

Of course I don't expect people to call me Sir Chris. That'd be embarrassing.

I made a comment saying that it was 'mad' that I'm getting a knighthood for riding a bike but I meant mad as in unbelievable.

The P2 is the best car I have driven so far. Once you get your head round it, it's fun to drive, it's responsive, it does what you ask but you have to treat it with respect or it will bite you.

All the support and opportunity started and then Le Mans became the pipe dream, the thing to aim for, the end of the rainbow.

I'm still like that kid who loves being involved in bikes.

I've been involved in cycling all my life and at a high level for 20 years. It consumes your every waking minute whether you are aware of it or not: your last training session, your next session, what you are eating next. It is a passion.

If I don't do anything for two or three days in a row, I feel really grumpy. My mood changes.

I am sure in the long run cycling will continue to grow and flourish - not just in the U.K. but all around the world.

I have had an amazing life traveling the world and competing, doing what I love.

The Tour de France is a different kettle of fish to what I do, but it doesn't matter what you do - if you're on two wheels you do the best you can and do it clean.

As an elite athlete, I trained to win. Training was at times brutal - it has to be when you want to represent your country and to be the world's best.

If you stop and think about it before you compete, you would freeze. If you think about the millions of people watching, the expectation, the consequences of winning, of losing, it's a massive moment in your life.

Investment is crucial but it's just the start. You look at some of the nations that have massive budgets but don't perform, then there are smaller nations who don't have massive budgets and can still get a reasonable medal count.

You know how hard you work. You know what you put into it. You want to win more than anything else. So the disappointment at the end is not because of anything other than being frustrated with yourself.

The uptake of people getting involved in cycling is partly down to the big success the team has had in the Tour de France, the Olympics and the World Championships.

If you don't have a massage therapist on hand, then a foam roller can do the work instead.

Focusing on the long-term goal can be disheartening when you're so far away from it, so it's vital to have ongoing targets on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

It doesn't matter what your target is, write down your goal and then plan how you are going to achieve it.

For Le Mans, you still have to keep fit, it's endurance. It's a different type of fitness. You want to actually fit in the car - the seats are ridiculously small.

You are always pushing, pushing, pushing but it is when you do that that your body can break down.

I might only have half an hour when I get home after a long day, and the last thing I want to do is exercise. But you feel if you don't do that, tomorrow you're going to miss it again.

I'm writing kid's books, I'm doing endurance racing with Le Mans and designing bikes. I've also got my own range of cycling clothing.

I'm not saying having one pint will stop you from winning but you don't want to finish a race disappointed with your performance and then remember that beer you had one day.

I just hope I can inspire young people and get more people into cycling.

A lot of my training focused not just on the exercise but my diet.

As a sports person there is definitely a responsibility to be a good role model.

If you adapt your diet and exercise regime gradually you can keep it up long term. Often people begin with a big push and burn out quickly. Don't suddenly go mad a week before your holiday. Start early and build up slowly: you'll feel the benefits much more.

Getting fit and eating well doesn't always seem easy. But at the end of day when you start to see a difference, you will feel a sense of achievement and accomplishment.

Whether you are aware of it or not, if you eat right then you are giving yourself the best chance of defending against illness.

After the Olympics I was going to a lot of functions and found that if I was eating badly my energy levels dropped.

Thai food became one of my favorite types of food, it's so delicious, and when you finish a meal it's a double whammy; it tasted great and was pretty healthy.