One track mind

Jason Kenny has ‘retired’ but he can’t be torn from the velodrome

I didn’t make a conscious decision to quit competitive cycling as such. I could have carried on riding for a few more years, but when a great opportunity comes your way, you really have to grab it.

I was offered a chance to become the sprint coach for British Cycling and I’ve been around long enough to know that it’s a job that doesn’t come around too often. I’d had an eye on coaching one day anyway and so the decision to quit when the chance arose sort of made itself. Actually, that’s not quite right. I did chat to Laura [Kenny, his wife] about it. She was dead keen for me to go for it and, since she’s the boss, I had to give it a shot!

Contrary to what I thought, though, ‘retirement’ is a heck of a lot busier, and the days are a lot longer than working as a professional competitive cyclist. How does that work? Suddenly, as a coach, I’m at the training centre before all the lads get there and I’m often leaving after they’ve all gone home. Travelling as a team coach also means I’m more involved in the packing-up and un-packing and the logistics so that’s taking up more time too.

On the plus side I’ve learnt through changing jobs to make the time I have with Laura and our son Albie quality time. I can see how, when you’re an athlete, you never really switch off. It’s 24/7 and you’re always thinking about the next training session or race, or recovering, or fuelling – it’s not just the training time, it’s all the bits in between that are just as intense.

Now, when I come home, I can completely switch off. So, while we have a little bit less time, it’s much better quality with the focus on the family. Also, I can eat what I like, whenever I want. I don’t miss that slight anxiety I used to get around ensuring I was eating for fuelling properly.

Of course, I don’t get to do the training rides I used to, but now I’m a commuter cyclist, riding from home into Manchester, I’m learning to absolutely love the headspace a ride to work can give someone. My commute is about an hour each way, so I effectively get two hours of training in every day, without having to do anything extra or going to the gym. I know that going by car wouldn’t be that much quicker because of the traffic, so I cycle whenever I can. When I’ve had to drive, I found that sitting in a car just makes me miserable.

And when I’m not cycling, I’m running. I couldn’t have done that when I was a professional rider. I was really only good at one thing as an athlete and quite finely tuned; running would have knackered me, injuries would have quickly followed. I was also relatively heavy from building and maintaining muscle. But now we fly off to training camps taking 13 bike boxes for the lads, and a pair of running shoes for me. I’ll head out for a run first thing to keep my fitness levels up and clear my head. It’s a lot more time-efficient than going for a bike training session too.

In the short time I’ve been a coach I’ve been reaffirming things that I already knew – specifically that I’m forgetful and a bit clumsy! I’m massively upskilling too – like learning how to use the laptop. It’s quite a steep learning curve.

There’s still the room to have fun in the sport, though. I’ve just appeared in a special HUUB Thunderbirds comic strip offering tips for staying safe on your bike, but at the same time, I’m conscious that my main job is to look after the riders. I’m putting that first whilst also trying to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing.

There are two things I’d really like to do once I’ve found my feet as a coach. First off, I want to be able to share my thoughts and experiences with riders. I’d like to emulate those coaches who took the time to talk through stuff with me. I benefited massively from those coaches who explained their mindset and thoughts. Those who would detail why we were training or racing the way we were. That kind of attention to giving reasons and sharing thought processes was really good for me through my whole career. As things come more naturally to me as a coach, I’d like to do that too.

I also need to find a bike discipline where I can carry on racing, and satisfy that love of competition – when the time is right, of course. That’s a part of my make-up and no matter what level you ride at, we all love to race.