LAWRENCE DALLAGLIO

England’s rugby World Cup winner is still getting bruised by sport. These days, it’s on a bike rather than a rugby field

So many ex-rugby players have taken up cycling. Getting your head smashed in for a living has a unique appeal but it has a lifespan. Once I retired from rugby in 2008 I wasn’t all that excited about playing it again, at any level. I was happy to coach, teach and talk about it, but play? No. What I did have was a desire to keep exercising. It’s always been a huge part of my life and it’s probably dangerous to just stop. I wanted something that’s challenging but low impact. Cycling fit the bill perfectly. [Former Tour de France yellow jersey wearer] David Millar taught me a lot about how much cyclists suffer for their sport. When I started (in 2010) I spent a few days with him riding near his house in Girona. He took me up the big climb, Rocacorba, near the city. I was panting up it and he barely broke sweat. Rugby players are brave guys with high pain thresholds but cyclists are the same. It’s a different type of toughness but you have to be prepared to suffer, pushing the body and mind through incredible barriers. Cycling has come through a huge boom to the mainstream in Britain. What our cyclists have achieved in the last decade is similar to what rugby went through. It was a small, relatively unknown sport in the late ’80s, until it went professional, and that wonderful World Cup victory in 2003 was the culmination of a period where it was put on the map. I know my limits on climbs but I’m a handy accomplice on the flat. I had to accept that at 115kg I was never going to win anything on a bike, particularly when the road points upwards. But I’m pretty good into the wind. As a forward who played rugby union I’m not afraid to do my time on the front if it helps other people. There are similarities to rugby in that sense - none of us are as good as all of us. In cycling, like rugby, if one person doesn’t do their job, it’s hard for the team to win. I have a bike for all seasons. The Great British weather is harsh and I’m precious about certain bikes. I could spend all the money in the world on a bike but weighing what I do I need to buy something that suits my frame. All the delicate models are wasted on me - they’d spend more time in the workshop getting repaired. My event, the Dallaglio Cycle Slam, returns for a fifth edition this summer. It’s always been a multistage, European-spanning event, but we play with the route each time. In 2012, for example, we rode from the Olympic stadium in Athens to the stadium in London (raising £2m). This time we’re heading from Evian, France to Split, Croatia - three stages over 15 days of riding.

Delicate bikes are wasted on a guy my size – they’d spend more time in the workshop getting repaired

All the money we raise through it goes back into the charity programme I run, Dallaglio RugbyWorks. It helps young people, aged 14-17, who, for whatever reason, have found themselves outside traditional schooling. Using the values of rugby we’ve put a programme together to get them into full-time education or employment. The first Cycle Slam in 2010 was one of the first major events we organised through RugbyWorks. I went on one of the big walks Ian Botham does for charity and was inspired by what he did in getting people together. I’d never been on a bike, besides tortuous sessions we’d do in training on a static bike and a short stint in the ’80s during the BMX craze. Training is well underway. I did a mix of spinning and road rides through winter. Richmond Park is on my doorstep, which is a sanctuary - during the week anyway. It’s hell on earth at the weekends. I’ll be in better shape than when I first rode in the mountains in the Pyrenees in 2010. I underestimated what it takes for an 18-stone guy to ride up a mountain. To enter or support the Dallaglio Cycle Slam, 27 May to 14 June, visit dallagliocycleslam.com