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Steve Cummings is one of the legends of modern cycling. An impressive CV which includes stage wins in the Tour de France & Vuleta, National Titles and Olympic Medals.
What's more impressive than his list of results is Steve's mindset. A romantic with a rebellious cycling philosophy.
He may be the very last Maverick of the Peleton.
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Even in my career where I tried to get as skinny and lean as possible and we experimented a lot with not even too much carb I RJ really. Yeah, I learned a lot from and definitely got pretty efficient. And we just you just have to tweak that system to fit myself because I bite ride it. The idea basically, you know, like the caveman and all like, what he used to sort of run on was just meeting berries. But obviously the caveman didn't ride a bike, so we just had to put a few carbs in there to tweak. That's just a minute, I don't know, it worked very well for me. The big question is this. How do we use cycling as a tool to improve our health, our happiness and our long chances? That is the question. this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Anthony Walsh and welcome to the Roadman Podcast. Welcome back Roadman to another Roadman Podcast. Yeah, glad we got a formal intro done and you don't have to listen to me improv and those anymore. I'm a giddy fan girl again today, one of my favorite Reuters over the last decade in the Peloton. I couldn't believe it when he agreed to come on the podcast. It's Steve Cummings. It'd probably be easier to tell you what Steve Cummings hasn't won than what he has won, but that might make for a very boring next five or six minutes. So instead, I'm going to give you some career highlights Olympic medal two-time Tour de France stage winner, Tour de Britain winner, National Champion Vuelta stage winner, maverick at a peloton and all around good guy. Steve Cummins is a lad who I would say has never conformed to the mould. He had a time at Team Sky which was maybe characterized by a clash of cultures, comings to maverick outlaw on the one hand against the formal rigidity of the team's guy's structure and factory and that clash was never going to end, you know, brilliantly. and Steve talks to us about that, Steve talks us about Doyus, he talks us about mindset, he gives us training tips, tells us the best place in the world in his view to roid your bike. It's a really fascinating podcast and I'm proud and delighted to bring it to you. The main reason I'm able to bring you this podcast is because of everyone that has bought me a coffee over on Patreon so far. What I've done is set up a Patreon account and it's your way if we were in the pub together and we were sitting down and you said you know what, you facilitated this chat with Steve Cummins, that's pretty cool. How did you get Steve Cummins to come through Pub to have a point with us? I listened to his stories there for an hour. Can I get you a drink lads? Patreon is your chance to get me that drink. And you know what, you can get Steve the drink as well and I'll pass it on to him. It's just a nice little way to tip your heart and say tanks for the content and on your end it might feel like a small gesture just buying someone a point. I'm sure you do it all the time. I'm sure you're even intoxicated by random strangers points every now and then but on my end all those little gestures start adding up and the hope is to get this podcast to a level of sustainability very very soon so I do appreciate your kind gestures So it's patreon.com forward slash Anthony underscore Walsh. Sorry, I had to double check that one for a second. It's patreon.com forward slash Anthony underscore Walsh. Avoid that confusion. I'm just going to put the link in the description. I'm going to jump in now and let's listen to the wise wisdom filled words of double Tour de France stage winner, Steve Cummins. Take it away. So welcome to the roadman podcast, Steve Cummings. Hello, thank you. Good to have you, Steve. No, I pleasure. Thank you, Rob. Nice to have it, Jeff. Where are you at the moment? I'm just in the UK, so I came back. I was in Andorra. I had to stay in Andorra till the 6th of April coming to the tax year and I'd used up my UK days when I broke my back. So I got to fade out and then I came back to the UK and I'd been away for 40 days. So now I'm back in the UK with my family and we moved out. So it went a bit crazy. So I've been at home just doing DIY and stuff like that. It's quite nice actually. You're back home in the UK full time? We got, we still got ours initially and there we go. We were supposed to go at each other obviously, your situation, we got in trouble. So we were just doing the house in the UK really.
I hadn't been on my bike for like 10 days just because I've been busy and just nice to be with the family and then I went out today, I just made time and went out with small ones, quite nice. I seen an interview which I can't remember which interview was. might have been the one Michael Hutchinson and you just dropped the quote in and you said you always ride an anger. Has that changed now since you're retired? Oh yeah it's completely different like my motivation's completely changed like my motivation now is just to be fit and healthy and to enjoy it and that's how I kind of started cycling just like banter but you know when it's when it's your job I was I don't know I was so driven I was in in a bubble like really, I just always wanted to just maximize myself and motivation to me was never an issue. I just, I don't know, I wouldn't even think about it. I'd be down the road before, you know what I mean? And it's just like, gone. But now, like I said, it's different. I kind of, if I'm not riding with someone, it's, I haven't got that motive either. I kind of feel a little bit guilty as well sometimes, I'm leaving the house. I feel like I should be with a family because I'm not, I don't know, I guess it's just, I obviously understand the fitness benefit and the health benefit and all that but I just yeah there's a fine line between what's fit and healthy and then what's a bit too much so I'm trying to make that transition because it still feels like nothing to do four or five hours and that's probably a bit on the excessive side to be away from the family so just for fun you know. But it's just that change in relationship with the boy. I know from me like I started out and the boy was like a commuting tool to get me off the both and into college and then it turned into, you know, a tool that I tried to make my living with. And now it's turned into, you know, an instrument of fun and joy and happiness. And I guess you're kind of going through that same journey now. Yeah, exactly. I just going back to our start. It's really without, you know, without power might without power me to without any. I'm lying a bit here because it's still got part on the other side. He's still downloading your data. All right, it does. It's all set up for me in a pro like the others. As soon as you walk in the door, you know, it's like Garmin Connects with downloads also. I'll be lying if I said I didn't look, but it's not like I don't really care. I just go out and enjoy the bike. I think as I get fitted and get more time, my priorities are changed. So my priorities now, like I say, I've been doing a lot of stuff on the house and other things like studying and stuff like that. And then it's just fitting the biking around those things, whereas it used to be the opposite, it used to do me training and fit the other things in. So, yeah, it's like taking mental release as well just to go out and chat with your mates and ride along without any specific work or any stressing about anything, just enjoying being outside really. Could you see yourself coming back? You'd never see any world or a roiter's going back and riding like the local tents. I know I think Wigan's done it for a little bit after you're at Taurus but could you see yourself going back? Yeah, yeah, because I don't know, it's funny, like when I brought my back, I was coming back and there was just a few local time trials that I did like into the few 25s and stuff like that and I actually really enjoyed it it's like enjoy going to those places those village walls and all that and then I kind of just like back to back to your roots and then yeah I don't know I've never seen never but I entered the load of stuff like gravel kind of stuff like I was gonna do that battle on the beach and you were there other stuff but like I say it's just costs time and on my time I'm putting my time into other things I just feel a bit selfish putting too much time on the bike roller. But it's also one of those things I know for me that the period I had off the bike I figured out like you know what the bike makes me happy and it's like that saying like if with the airplanes crashing you need to put on your own oxygen mask forced do you feel like if you weren't riding, you wouldn't be as good a forwarder or wouldn't be as nice a person to be around.
Yeah, I think that's it. I think it's just finding the balance and I'm probably not, I haven't quite found it yet. I tried to run a bit but my body's just, it just keeps breaking down when I run. Hopefully that'll get better. But I think, I think, because my daughter's off school, I think when I'm just back to school I'll probably find a bit better routine where I sort of do half of the writing I used to do. What's, yeah, I think you can knock a lot of damage out of 10 hours a week, eight hours a week, that sort of thing. Yeah, no, I did it in October, then sorry November, because I was still hoping I'd race again and I was doing around half the work and I was really going really well. So here I think it's just that consistency. Like I say probably half the work I used to do, I'd still go pretty good. It'd just be those repeated efforts. I'd lack a bit for like the five, six hours you wouldn't be able to continue to do those efforts. It was a chance to eat in Boswell on the podcast last week and in Boswell has obviously tried as world tour for gravel now and I was just saying to him like gravel seems like declines I'm working with most of the guys they're never going to go on ride the Tour de France. It's not their aspiration. It's like watching adventures or X-Men on the TV or like it's a different world but there's something accessible about gravel. There's something like you know what maybe I could go on ride a gravel race with Steve comics, maybe I'll call it on this way after a while. Yeah, no, I think it gets you to those places as well, like for an ex-broed stuff. You go to those places that you never go to, like there's one across Finland. And just different stuff and gets you really off the beaten track. And I think that's appealing for everyone, just to go out and enjoy cycling and not be super competitive if you don't want it, because there's probably all kinds of levels and people are just doing it because to enjoy it in a bit of camaraderie, I guess rather than being so super serious where if you're not fit you're just out of the back door and it's no fun. It almost seems like the public appetite is, you know, we've gone from being intrigued by Skye and I know you had a period of Skye and it's just so rigid, it's so formulaic. I don't know, are people just getting a little bit bored of that? We've seen the last couple of years the likes of Nibali and stuff calling for power meters to be banned on coins. It's gravel nearly seems a protest from the public on. You know what? We're a little bit sick of this just structured formulaic nature. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I guess it is quite regiment and quite sometimes the pattern is so, it's quite difficult to break that pattern. You know, it's so structured really, so organized world tour racing, it's really difficult to break them old and do something different. So everyone kind of just does the same thing. And yeah, I guess it's exciting, but it's the same. Was it a problem for you? Because I suppose, you know, as a cycling fan for us and foremost, I would have seen you as, you know, you, and there's not many left. The Mavericks I'd call them, like Thomas again to steal there, but someone who is just gonna knock a bit of crack out of breakaway and throw up a surprise. Yeah, I just, well, for me, I would just try to identify a niche, you know? I was really motivating, empowered to get the best out of myself and to do that, it was always, I was motivated by winning. I tried to be like this kind of super dumbest-decent. It wasn't, as I now wasn't, it was like in conflict with myself. It wasn't the best role for me. So I chased my dreams, which in order to fulfill those dreams, it meant doing something different because I couldn't win a sprint or I couldn't win the hilltop finish with a heart. So I had to do something different. and that's what I loved about cycling. Getting contracts for yourself. Clashing with DS's. Was it a problem? They're sort of maverick style. Yeah, well it is isn't it? Because you're not, yeah, I've had sort of, I don't know I guess, you do, it's emotional in it, it's emotional sport and people are passionate about what they do so it's not that you're always going to agree with everyone. But at the same time, once you've had a disagreement, you often, you know, you just move on and and that's it, you just get on with it and yeah, that's disagreements but it's like a marriage in it, I guess.
So always good at the end, at the end, you know, you shake hands and you just get on with it. It's nearly one of the paradoxes when I look at your career where I'm taking And you strike me as like a slightly romantic almost, that you're, it's living in Italy, it's the passion. But then you come through the British track system and you're with teams going. And when I think about the opposite of passion, they just both seem such sterile, you know, clinical environments, obviously brilliant at your own results, but nearly like a factory. Yeah, no, it's definitely, I was very, very passionate and I wanted to do it in a certain you know was Italy, I don't know that's I don't know for me it was just I just had these pitches of like all these Italian riders in the 90s and they just were flying you know and good and and I don't know I guess I wanted to be a bit like that really. Go on for a line chip, or any on it? Well I don't know there's it wasn't really like obviously chip or any you just a great character but so many of them like Michaeli Bartoli and Panatani these, there's so many characters and then yeah it wasn't like one particular ride, if I could pick one particular ride it'd be Micheli Bartle but there's just a whole group of them you know that, that era and they just do it, that's a good one. The Bartle, you read Bartle a book, yeah it's fucking brilliant, like it must be on National Kingdom books. It's like a row to Valer and it's just talking about you know he used this celebrity status during the war. He was allowed trying freely during the war when other everything else was locked down, which we are now. But on the top tube of his boy, he had a little compartment for smuggling documents, for its documents for the Jews. And they don't know how many lives he saved smuggling these documents across enemy lines. It's brilliant. This is her little collective exhalation in the middle of the podcast that we're getting so used to. It's the time we can just, ah, stretch, have a little bit of a groan, have a little bit of a groan. Stick the kettle on, jump on over to patreon.com forward slash antony underscore waltz and buy me an old coffee, buy me a point of beer. Because that coffee, at that point of beer, although it's a small gesture and it might feel like a small gesture on your behalf, what it does is it enables us to keep bringing this content week after week. It enables me to keep reaching out to the stars of world cycling and get them on this podcast so you can benefit from their pearls and decades of wisdom. You know, it's a tough time for everyone and if you can't afford to blame me at the moment, you know what? No hard feelings. As they say in Ireland, you can get me again down the road. Okay, now we've had our little stretch, now we've had our cup of tea, let's get back. I missed a little bit more, off stage. Yeah, yeah. You've lived and raced and trained all over the world. A question we always get all the time. As soon as I said, you're coming on the podcast today. Everyone's like, where's the best place to go? Did he's ridden this bike? Yeah, I don't know. I'm biased. I like Italy a lot. I think it's great. I mean, there's a bit of traffic there and stuff, but when you know where you're going, it's just so many roads. And you never really that far away from like a good town or a good bar. So for me, that was always something I really liked as well. You based out neatly with BMC? I lived in Italy from... I lived in Italy from I think 2006 onwards I think 2007. I think we actually have a mutual friend that helps out on doing some nutrition stuff for anyone coach and Barry Murray. I think he was over with you as BMC. Yeah, he was a, so he became a state of my house for a bit. And yeah, he was a nutrition, he got a little nutrition man. Yeah, good guy. Good guy. Do you still do any of the sort of car back load and stuff that Barry would be an advocate of? I did a lot of that. Yeah, it was just appearing in my career where I tried to get as skinny, you know, lean as as possible and we experimented a lot with like not even too much carb I RJ really and yeah I learned a lot from and definitely got pretty efficient and we just you just have to tweak that to tweak that system to fit myself because I bike ride it. The idea basically you know like the caveman and all I what I used to sort of run on was just meeting berries but obviously the caveman didn't ride a bike so we just had to put a few carbs in there to tweak that system and I don't know it worked very well for me.
Has the Everdo Fasterroids now or is there too much in association with being a pro and faster droids? Not right at the moment but I'm sure once I get back into a routine I will do that yeah because it's just about being like feeling good and being healthy and you know I've got a few kilos on but I think that's healthy and just trying to maintain health and happiness and I don't know, fasting is pretty good evidence that it's benefit for health as well as performance. So I just feel better when I'm fasting. I've been, you know, during the lockdown, especially during the sort of 16-8 protocol fast and for 16 hours and it sounds extreme but it's actually just getting up and having your breakfast later. Like it's not too crazy. Yeah, no, I think that's it. I think I like it as well some days. It's just different. It gives you appreciation for your breakfast as well some days and then also you can just free your kit on and I can go out the door which is nice because you get out early. You almost need less discipline with it because no matter how much you woke up your diet during those eight hours you only have eight hours to do your damage in. It's hard to eat a shit ton of calories in the eight hours. Yeah exactly Exactly. Yeah. No, definitely. When I was racing and training and stuff like that, I would fast. I don't know. I tried to limit it actually because at one point I was doing it a lot. I basically wouldn't be breakfast ever. But we limited it because ultimately when you get to a race and you do have to have breakfast, our stance is like sort of, it was too much of a shot to the body so we had to change it around a bit. on a tour stage or a stage race, would you ever go with the no-care breakfast or are we always plowing the carbs in a breakfast? I probably have carbs all the time really at work, during the tour, maybe like a rest there wouldn't have carbs, maybe. It just depends, depends on like, depends on so many things, like the stages before and how you are, As I got older, I could recognize the signs of when I need it more and when I need it less. I think that's probably why I got to work better. That's fun as I'll do as well. What were those signs? Do you look talking power figures or just feelings? I think it's feelings and then the power was more like confirmation. I did most things on feeling and then used the numbers as sort of confirmation really. Isn't it amazing how little you talk about how we feel now? how we feel now and I chatted toilour Hamilton yesterday and he was talking back about the best advice he got through his career and he said it was only just skier and it was just the coach saying listen to how you feel and he said like he obviously went through the crazy dope and stuff in advance the power meter and all coming in and he said we're all that pharmaceutical and technical stuff that came in he said it was that simple advice that was the most powerful for him. Yeah, I found out where it best when I had specific work, so that was your bread and butter almost, that was what you had to do. And then there was always a window at the end of every session where you'd just see what you felt, so I don't know, maybe 30% of the session was on sensation, which is quite a big percentage, because if you feel good you can do a bit more, and if you feel tired you can do a bit less and it gives you that, I don't know, it gives you a chance to be human. It's a great idea actually just to miss. Yeah, yeah. And you know what, I think it's especially a great idea now because you know what I'm saying is everybody's trying indoors and everyone's using its width to be tried to whiffed, yeah. Yeah, I've rode over quite a few years. I've rode switched a lot, mostly coming back from injuries, but I was riding it when I was up in Andor the other week. I was riding it a lot because you you can run the road but yeah I like Swift it's a good tool. So many parameters are just hammering themselves on Swift now because they're flat out you on this Swift workouts, Swift races and you know and if you've put your ways in honestly in Swift you're gonna struggle. Yeah I know I couldn't finish a race I don't know what was that. But I couldn't finish a race. They're unreal. They're unreal. I think I'm going to read you a book. Tell me just when you were on those real good years, when you were honest, and you were heading into the big races.
Did you have like a test climb on all the lads out in Gerona? They have Roca Coba, down south of France, they've called them a dome. Did you have a test climb or anything like that? I used to use Montecero, which is around Luca area. You can kind of see it when you fly into Pisa. It's got like pretty iconic. It's got like aerials on the top and I used to use that and a lot of ride is tested on there. So I test against myself but also you had reference of other riders, older riders, like all Rick would test there. And like, you know, it's kind of everyone knows everyone's time. and all like Casa Grande and Micheli Bartoli and Shandri and Sorenson and Pataki And yeah, I guess in the end It's just about me and my time not about the other one But if you got within a percentage of them then you knew that you know, you you were the chance. So what's all the left line? Sorry what sort of lent a climb was it? The climb was I think is a 6k And it used to take, if I was really good, 16 minutes. I think it was about 7%. Can you remember what sort of power you're doing for that type of climb? I think the most I did was about 473, what was it? Oh, God. Oh. Yeah, I do it. I do it. Some winters I was doing it once a week, and it was part of a training effort, for training sessions. When I backed off and sort of freshened up, then I'd do it again, and often I'd be 20 watts more. So I'd do it in the middle of an endurance session, and I don't know, it'd be like 4.50. That was also another good way to test because if you were doing like sort of 17 or anything around 17, I was really good at shape. So you cultivate that kind of idea of being a maverick quite well. I'm not sure if it's deliberate or if it was accidental, but I'm guessing the stages you won are performed well in. Did you identify them beforehand or how much was advanced planning versus opportunistic? It's just understanding, again, going back to what we were saying earlier, I wasn't going to win an out-and-out mountain stage, so that left those stages in between, let's say, medium mountains. And yeah, normally in the tour, there's around about five. So they were all at an X in the book and they were all, yeah, definitely targets. So when you're in a white, yeah, sorry, going. Yeah, when you're not on a target day, and are you sort of looking at what days you've work to do on and the rest of the day is you seem to be just chilling down the back of the bunch. Where did that sit down the back? Come from. Yeah it's interesting actually. I don't know I just found it. I think that's the thing I think depends what you're in the race to do. You know if you're in the race for only those stages then it kind of makes sense that all you want to do is get from me to be on the other stages but I was pretty confident that if I got in a I would be quite difficult to beat in those those my best years, you know And there's not many rises it goes to the tour thinking but if they don't make a mistake they can win a stage, you know, that's that's quite rare I think So that's our sort of confident I was but the confidence come from like numbers confirmation and good preparation How special was Mandela Day when in the stage in the tour with MTN Quebec and their kind of mission? Yeah, I guess it was a dream. At that point in my career it made everything worthwhile and for the team it was huge. Wildcat team in the tour, African team on Mandela Day, I think it doesn't get much bigger than that really for the team. There's nearly a confidence or an arrogance about the way you want it. Obviously it was you, Pino and Bardet, was it if I remember coming into the finish? Yeah, yeah. Like you railed one of the corners, Pino cornering like a 50p piece and you just got that two, three boig lengths and it was just the kind of, you could just see the, you know, I think this is a four-in-line 10 confidence and arrogance but you could see it in your pedal stroke that, no, I have two boig lengths here. He's gonna pull off and look at Bardet to close this down. He's gonna look at him to close it down. I only need to your bike lense Yeah now it's very good being calm and I don't know I think I was very like I Watched a lot of bike racing and I knew every rider and what they were good at and what they were bad at and I was also very aware of my I'm strength some weaknesses and Yeah, if I knew if I had two meters, it couldn't catch me.
It's just mathematics really, because there's way more aerodynamic. And I had, like you said, two meters and that was enough really. Also, I could see under my arm as well. So if they had a comeback, I could have sprinted again, but it was okay. As someone who's never gone on the tour stage, what's it like to win a tour de France stage? stage. Like I'm assuming when you started out this wasn't even a harsh, I went into the front stage, it was getting my first pro contract and you know trying to be accepted. Yeah, I think it was always a dream and I'm the land dream. So when I always had that dream but yeah like you say when you realise how hard it is when you start and then I've got, I was doing the track and stuff like that and it just seems a million miles away. It remains a dream but it's just right in the back of the air and then you're just sort of picking out goals to get towards that dream. I probably was in 2015 when I was probably thinking, well, it might never happen. Now, there's some times before that where I was close to retiring just because I couldn't get a contract. So, certainly, yeah, I thought I maybe thought my chance was gone. I was 35, you know, so it's quite late for it to happen. So, but it seems amazing for me watching to think that you were struggling for contracts. Like you had won the Vuelta stage of 2012, 2012, 2012 that you won? Yeah, I think it's possibly maybe because of that Maverick style, you know, like the Maverick style is great. If you win, if you don't win, you're a bit screwed, you know, because I was like, well, what did you do? And that's a bit short-sighted by team managers and that's just the way it is. But you know, I almost wonder were you a generation early that if you were in the generation, just starting out your career now, like the Instagram generation that's coming along, like the Maverick style had the potential to build just this huge social media cult following. And do you think that's something that gone forward? Team directors and sponsors are going to increasingly value? Like how many bikes can this guy sell me? How many helmets can this guy sell? Because you know the romance of the domestic, I don't know where that sits with return on investment for a sponsor? Yeah, yeah, that's a good question. It's definitely, I've definitely seen riders who have X amount of Instagram followers who are stronger, let's say they're stronger on Instagram than they are on the bike. I don't know, it was pretty, yeah, I don't know how to struggle with that. I always wanted to speak with my legs and not on social media, but I think you're right that definitely it's not really about that, about what can be sold and how someone can be marketed and stuff like that. So companies want to sell products. So if someone's really good on Instagram and not so good on the bike, it makes sense to me. really cool that we didn't see years ago is the little behind the scenes now, orchagreenedge done it backstage and then EF education in the last couple of years, more so with Lachlan Morton and Alex Elle's going through the alternatives of stuff. But you get to see a bit of their personalities and because I think since helmets came in, we used to have the Pantamo in villains, you know, we'd Pantani with the bandana like how fucking easy is the height of man where the bandana looks like a pirate and there was these characters, then we brought in helmets and glasses and it's you know whatever about the safety end where everyone just looks emotionless like robot. Yeah no yeah I get you have all the same, everyone's the same glasses the same helmet. Yeah and it's nice to see like what lock you in most people have done something a bit different. I'm all called out here. What was the last win you had safe? My last win. I don't remember was it I think it's Tor, Tuscany, maybe one stage of Tor, Tuscany. I think I think I was with Niebali, Benal and one of them and I won the sprint. Nice, that's a good group to be in and out of. Yeah, race wasn't the biggest race, but it was a good company then. And if you knew that was your last win, at the time, is right? And you would have done different, would you save it a bit more? Not really, I still felt like, I don't know, at the end of the career, I was really a mess, you know, I broke my back and actually when I fell, I was in probably the best shape I'd been in. I don't know, potentially ever. I was super, super good and very motivated.
I don't know, I guess those things, you can't control it because crashes happen, but I do, sometimes you do wonder about what if, you know what happens if I hadn't crashed, what would have done. like I was in sometimes used to get these feelings but it's like it's only a matter of time now before I went and I was in one of those moods and right at the end. But is it just real short-soid from directors of other teams and sponsors because you've had an amazing career you know Olympic silver medal all the way from Barlow World Discovery to Tour Stage, just of well to stage like to think that was it the tour of Britain you had the bad crash in at the end? Yeah it's funny it's okay from home yeah. Yeah. Like, do you know what I mean? It goes toward Britain and you've got a contract, a bad toward Britain, and you end up retiring. But you've had a decade long career. It's not like you're a 17-year-old kid trying to prove yourself. How are they putting so much emphasis on the short term? Yeah, I think there's a few things. I think one potentially an older rider costs more than a younger rider, and maybe a look over results and I was like I was very much hit or miss so I'd win or it'd be last. You know but that was the name of the game really and that was that kind of strategy or maybe the team just wanted to go down a different strategy and that's just the way it is isn't it? I guess as well when you're 38 and you're gonna be 39 people start questioning can you do it can you do it but if you looked at the numbers and all that then it's like the answer is well yes you can still do it but ultimately it's about it's not about numbers it was about performing and I didn't really perform so I'm not big too I'm not sad it's just that's just a lead sport you know it's bloody hard I was just grateful like I was able to perform when it is yeah isn't it funny that like you're still what are you turning on now like you're still a young man and put your careers over It's chatting to Ian Boswell, he obviously finished at 28th and he's an offer of a world horror contract for the following year and he walked away because he was just too worried about his health, about crashing again. But for the two he is like you've missed the bulk of your 20s and 30s, you've given it up to Sowiklan. You're nearly starting with a turkey nine year old body, but as a 20 year old again, trying to figure out what to do next in life. Yeah, sorry my daughter is here home school and she's taking photos of me. I don't know. Yeah, it's really hard to be honest. I don't know. I'm pretty in a good place. I'm happy and enjoy new challenges but I'm not really sure what I want to do. I know I like to be helping young varieties, I really enjoy that. So if I can do something around that, that would be really good. And I still like riding my bike. Working quite hard to try and find out what it is I want to do. It's not easy. What are you studying at the University of Monmouth? Business and sport management. How are you finding that? Yeah, it's quite good. I did the module on race intelligence, which is really good. I I did a module team culture. It's all kind of linked to SACN. I did something on broadcast journalism, so commentary and stuff like that. So it's all like useful stuff. And just being open and just trying to learn, you know, my left school when I was 17. So we've got our going back when it's day seven. But you know what I love? Like all the high performers that I've got to chat to and wanted a common trait, you see, across a lot of them. It's almost this, I call it a white belt mentality that they're willing to go back and go from being world-class and wanting to being an absolute beginner in something else and just not caring about public perception, peer perception, it's just like, yeah, I'm a beginner again and I'm owning it. And it's the only way to grow. I think so many people are just afraid to take that leap and look foolish. Yeah, no, I think that's what I really enjoy. Yeah, I've really enjoyed this study and at times it's really probably kept me sane a bit. Yeah, I really enjoy it and I want to do martial arts and stuff like that but it's just not the moment at the moment so after we're waiting little people. Yeah, I like doing a lot of learning new stuff. Eventually, I've definitely enjoyed running it first because you've got a blank sheet paper and you've got no preconceptions of how fast you need to run or anything like that.
You've just got to go through running it. It's a bit the same with university. Just try me best and go through, follow a good system and make best and the mark is the mark. I have a question that I would like to ask people to come on. Do you have a morning routine? Yeah, I guess I do. Just off coffee. I get up, I have coffee at the moment. My daughter wakes me up. She pulls my arm and she says, come on, you're wasting time. We came downstairs. And yeah, I sort her out for breakfast, put the TV on for her to watch some TV. And then at the moment I've been reading. so I read like half an hour or she's having a breakfast. And then I have another coffee, I have my own breakfast, whatever that is. And then I've been doing DIY, and that's a bit it, wow, it's been crazy. If we were to have a coffee now, or do another podcast interview, 12 months from now, and you say to me, you know what, it's been a fucking cracking year, unbelievable year. What has to happen in that 12 months? She's not happier on the podcast. Home schooling for you. The joys of home. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I guess just to be happy, you know, just for me and my family to be happy And to do that, I guess I need to find what it is I want to do. So yeah, just carry on the way I am, I'm doing a good year, all right, everyone's happy, we're all healthy, that'd be a good year if we can carry on the other half. Steve, if anyone wants to catch up with you, where's the best place to follow you? You said you're not a massive social media man, but if anyone wants to follow the journey and see what you're up to next. Um, yeah, I don't know. I do go on Instagram. That's about it, but I'm not on there a lot. So, um, I don't know. Maybe I'm getting to a bit more, but I'm just quite low key. I guess. Sorry. I link up, I link up your Instagram in the description for the podcast and give them a follow, ladies and gentlemen. Steve, come on. It's been a pleasure. Yeah. Thanks. You know, thank you, mate. Thanks for your time. going to. And a little one. Yeah, yeah, she's all right. She's on the limit. That's a wrap. That's a wrap on Steve Commons podcast. I hope you're enjoying listening to these podcasts as much as I'm enjoying bringing you these podcasts. They're literally like their childhood dreams of mine to chat to some of these guys. I'm learning so much every week about what makes elite athletes think and the lessons that we're learning here are applicable to sport but they're definitely applicable to wider life as well. There's a mentality it is a mentality that you need to get to the very top of anything and we're lucky that we're getting a little glimpse into the world as some of the very very very elite performers on this planet So I'm absolutely loving that and I hope you guys are too. Like I said at our brief little ocarina pause in the middle, our brief little interlude, the way to help me keep these podcasts coming. It's patreon, it's patreon.com forward slash Anthony underscore watch. And if you really wanted to do me a favor, get onto Instagram and screen capture the podcast as you're listening to, share onto your Instagram stories, tag us at A1coachin and that really helps us to spread awareness and awareness at the point in the last look. We're in this together because this is a community that I really want to build, a community of you, roadmen and I'm going to keep working my little socks off. I'm going to keep working my little cotton socks off to bring you this quality content. I'm going to bring you another one next week and it's epic again. Stay tuned and I'm going to see you during the week. Thanks for listening, Rodman.
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