"Eat, train, eat, train, eat, bed. Repeat six days a week. That was my life for 20 years." And then, almost two years ago, Sir Chris Hoy, 38, called it a day.
So what happens when a ruthless winning machine and proud owner of seven Olympic medals decides to retire? Britain would surely forgive its greatest ever Olympian a post-career life of lounging on the sofa, polishing his medals. But that would be to misunderstand his drive.
"I'm doing all sorts of projects now," he tells Square Mile. He's not lying: As well as fulfilling sponsor obligations, Sir Chris Hoy has launched his own brand of bikes, completed a season of sports-car racing, become a father, and is set to release his own bikewear range.
"The nice thing is I've got more balance in my life now, it's not just one dimensional. The key thing was having something I could really focus on, because athletes that retire and then don't have an outlet tend to struggle," he says.
Hoy's at his most passionate when he talks about his bike brand, HOY, created in partnership with Evans cycles and launched in June 2013. "It's a great feeling when you've been involved in the process and looked at every single detail, and you can explain why you've done things in a particular way."
But then, as anyone who followed Hoy's career in the velodrome will tell you, dedication and attention to detail were the bedrock on which he built his success, so why should things be any different now he’s in business? "You've got to be willing and committed to push yourself so hard, when there's no-one else there to tell you to do it. You've got to have that motivation from within," he says.
Sir Chris Hoy may have hung up his aero helmet for good, but he's still pushing himself harder than most.
Read the full interview in this month's issue of Square Mile here. Chris Hoy is an elite consultant for sports nutrition company Science in Sport; scienceinsport.com.
