Happy n Sad!

It’s been some journey…..starting 7 years or so ago and ending today. I’ve left British Cycling, after being part of its glory years.
 
I’ll never forget my first day at the velodrome. I don't think it was called the National Cycling Centre then. We had a small office in its darkest depths, no windows! There were relatively few staff and I knew most people’s names by the end of the 1st week.
 
Opposite the office  was the rider and staff changing rooms.on day two after riding in I was having a shower and a chap walked in, appropriately starkers. “Morning” he said. It was my early cycling hero Chris Boardman. These changing rooms were great…..Shane Sutton would come in, a highly personable and friendly chap, who wore his emotions on his sleeve. I’ll never forget the pep talk he gave Jason Kenny after a crap session…..not far out from the Olympics. What was remarkable was that Shane knew lap split times, not only from that session but from sessions years in the past. Shane inspired through a balance between fear, respect, love and technical accuracy.There was Sir Dave B, Sir Chris and even my mate Cav that I met in those changing rooms.
 
Shortly afterwards we moved off to temporary offices whilst the new NCC was being built. It took longer than expected but it was great to come back, with the new Indoor BMX track and all. There was a greater disconnect with the team but the organisation was growing at such a rate of knots and we were no longer a village industry.
 
The biggest part of the journey for me is an intellectual one…..my entire mindset on sports performance has changed. I was the typical sports physiologist when I started, focusing on physical components of performance. Now I would call myself a pragmatic generalist who knows shit loads about loads.. The best compliment I was ever given was to be called The Oracle! I’m proud of this title.
 
Rosemary will tease me for name dropping but in reality having met many of my cycling heroes, I am typically underwhelmed when I do. The most remarkable people I’ve met are the ones who do great stuff without recognition. Coaches and other volunteers who work tirelessly in clubs, mates like Joe, a Go-Ride coach who continually inspires riders with great coaching and a big smile. My boss Vin’, an intellectual giant who deals with shit that I wouldn't want to know about.
 
The best thing about working at British Cycling is my colleagues, many who have become close friends. There’s plenty of challenges in working for an NGB, many of them avoidable and pointless. However, I suppose that's the reality of the world we live in. I’m going to miss people so much.
 
Today was a tough one. I felt I was in a weird bubble. Every time I thought about leaving my friends I welled up in tears. I dealt with a final few emails, tidied my desk and chatted loads to various people. We had a team lunch at Bruno’s a great wee Italian across the road and I ate too much. Then it was a quick visit to buy chocolates for the team.  Julia was at the entrance having been trying to hunt me down to say bye. Eek….that was a tough one!   When  I got backroad my desk  I checked my Calendar and saw I was late for my exit interview! Gah…..Vikki was cool about it though.
 
After that, I headed down to see my wee friend Tony, the SRM power meter mechanic and we chatted about geeky things as we do! Tony started on the same day as Sir Dave B 14 years ago!  I then bumped into Phil the physio, Jo Rowsell and a few others. Then it happened, right in the middle of the concourse. I burst into tears. It hit home that I was leaving a very special place where dreams are made.
 
Andy A saved me and pulled me into his office. It took ages to regain composure. The hunting party of Tricia had been sent out to find me though for my presentation. Ohhh my! Beforehand, I nipped into the velodrome for one last time. Jan the sprint coach was shouting in his normal way as a rider flew off the banking at 60km.h.
 
The next hour was surreal. John the big boss gave a wee speech…..I gave a slightly longer one which got some laughs, and was later described as epic. I do like an audience…..a good thing as I’m gonna be lecturing. My buds Kelly and Steph were interviewing so missed the speech and I’m pleased. One look at them and I’d have cried! I got some lovely pressies including a Rapha cap, coffee, chocolate and a voucher. My cards were great too. Poor Suzanne got hugged to death and then I had to go a walk to hold it together.
 
A quick chat with the boss, more goodbyes, then I saw Kelly and lost it! More goodbyes, hugs and a few tears. I’ve never felt so overwhelmed…..everything was a blur.  Ade was waiting patiently and then we took everything down to the car and that was that. We had a nice chat on the way home, decanted my stuff into the house. I got a hug from Ade which was special….his OCD means he doesn’t do touchy feely in case he gets a bug!
 

I’m feeling a little empty now, quite lost. I’ve left my extended surrogate family and it's really tough.   Next week is the start of a new journey though and I'm so excited..Well I will be when I stop bubbling!