I’m on the clock again, but as an athlete, not a patient

need a good year-and-a-half to get back to that shape.

Option C was to medically leave the programme altogether

But I didn’t want to do that. If I am here I am going to give it a crack. There’s probably people I was in radiation with who are not even alive now.

So the track it is – and those two chances I’ve got to convince the selectorsthatIamworthyofaworldchampionship spot.

I know my chances are slim, actually more like one in a million. None of my team-mates or rivals took the winter off to have two neck surgeries and they are all in formidable shape. If making a Games was easy then everyone would do it.

I also know in my heart that this would be totally achievable if I had been able to train all winter. So it’s a hard pill to swallow as I read my medical notes thinking why Oxford didn’t treat me with radiation in 2016 or 2017. If they had done, I might not have needed surgery last year and missed a full year of training. But I can’t change all that now, the only thing I can do is try my hardest.

So it is cool. If this chapter ends in Glasgow, then I still get to ride in Chris Hoy’s velodrome at pretty much a home World Cup. There will be as many people there as at a home Games.

I’ll take that. If I ride an amazing time I get to go to the worlds. If I don’t, I won’t. And if I don’t make it in November and I exit the programme, then my next goal is to race as an independent. I don’t have to retire – and I don’t plan to. I know that if I am tumour free and I can have a couple of years training I know I can win medals.

So I am going to enjoy the next three months and go out and ride in Glasgow. To me getting the chance to race in Glasgow might just be bigger than going to the Games. I’ve never competed there, I did my level 4 accreditation in there, but that was it.

I’ve sourced a track bike that I can use which is suited to my build and height, and jumped on a train back to London with a list of things to do and a plan which will unfold over the next few months, which will end on the track in Glasgow in November. There’s no time to waste.

Read David’s columns as he goes about his recovery in Sport every Saturday