“I travelled to Ghentnwdith no money and nowhere to stay”
1 YOU CAN’T BE WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE
I knew about Herne Hill, but I didn’t know how to get in. ere was no information for people like me; there were no Black people doing it. Unless you knew someone, you didn’t know. I was lucky: my school took me to Herne Hill. e VC Londres coach Bill Dodds told us how it worked. One thing stood out: he said, “From here, you can go to the Olympic Games.” I knew at that moment that that was where I wanted to be.
2
CERTAIN RIDERS ARE A CLASS APART
I was sprinting at Paddington in 1973 with Steve Heffernan; one of us was going to win. Suddenly, somebody ripped past us, and we both thought, who the hell was that? It was Danny Clark, Olympic silver medallist who became a six-day legend. I met a guy recently who was in the same race; he said Danny asked if he could get through but he didn’t hear him. e next thing he heard was Danny shout, “For f***’s sake, mate, will you get out of the f***ing way!” and he came past like a motorbike.
3
DETERMINATION IS EVERYTHING
When I stood on the podium in Leicester to receive my jersey as national champion in 1974, boos rang out around the velodrome.
ey didn’t like the colour of my skin. In 1975, I won gold in the team pursuit and silver in the Madison. I was 19 years old, winning my third title. I crashed out in the scratch, but then they disqualied me, claiming I pulled Heffernan off his bike, which I didn’t. It was typical of how I was treated and it kept happening. I won’t give up on anything. It’s determination, a desire to see it through. My experiences made me more determined to race in Belgium.
4 STARTING OUT ON THE CONTINENT IS HARD
I travelled to Ghent on Christmas Eve 1974 with no money and nowhere to stay. I went straight to the Christmas Day track meeting.
e bike shop Plum Vainqueur had a stall with Rosa Desnerck, the owner, who knew a butcher who took in foreign cyclists. I slept among piles of newspaper waiting to be collected. Later I stayed with Albert Beurick, who had supported Tommy Simpson back in the day. I was the only cyclist; the other lodgers were three drunkards who’d miss the toilet and urinate all over the oor and seat. It wasn’t the best set-up. ose early days were a struggle.
5
REMEMBER THE HARDEST ROAD
I was reliant on prizes and primes – money was tight and I had to win. In my rst race in Ghent I