A lot of the bikes are carbon wheels now, and you don't have as good a braking surface on a carbon wheel in the wet weather as you do on the old aluminium rims.

I know the freedom that cycling gives you in terms of being able to just jump on and go.

They do say now in cycling that there's no such thing as bad weather - it's bad clothing.

If you didn't go out every time it was raining, you wouldn't get anything done. So it's a case of making the right clothing choice in terms of waterproof, breathable, warm clothing.

I've been in a lot of pressure situations; I know what I can do.

My mum put herself in £50,000 of debt to service my sporting career. She did everything for me to pursue my dream.

I wanted to put a really good kids' racing bike out there for kids under 14: 10-year-olds, eight-year-olds, right down to balance bikes for kids.

Cycling is a part of my life; it always has been, and I will always continue to cycle. I won't be doing it on the world stage, doing it competitively, but I'll still be out on the weekend with the masses riding around Richmond Park in my Team Sky jersey or whatever. I just love it.

I've always said the Olympics are special to me.

Part of me worries about upsetting people, because we all have perceptions about Olympic champions.

People come up to me in the street and use words like 'legend.'

When I won gold in Athens, I said to my wife Cath, who was pregnant, 'This baby of ours will never want for anything.' There was real pride in that - but it just didn't happen.

I drank because I enjoyed it. I was happy sitting at the end of the bar on my own, reading the paper. I've always enjoyed my own company, and that stems from riding alone. I never trained with anyone - and I still don't. I've always been happy with my own thoughts, and that sums me up as an individual-pursuit rider.

Success is easy to take for granted.

That's the great thing about the Tour. There's always next year and the chance to rectify everything.

I wanted to give an honest insight into a consuming Tour. It's turned out pretty interesting because there aren't many books out there documenting someone's failure.

I ended up in Hampstead for two weeks after the Tour, visiting a hospital every day before my granddad died. But he was more than my granddad. He was like my father.

The changing of the goals helps keep the motivation fresh.

I wish I hadn't said I'm going to retire.

You have got Team Sky leading the way on a professional front. They are quite open and have done everything possible on an anti-doping level.

People always push the boundaries, especially when the rewards are so high financially.

Tom Simpson is like the Bobby Moore of British cycling.

My attitude is that, if you have nothing to hide, why not show it?

In my eyes, I will never be up there with the Sir Steve Redgraves and the Sir Chris Hoys of this world. It's not something that drives me; I just enjoy going to the Olympic Games. Just to be mentioned in the same breath as those people is an honour for me. I don't ever think about those kind of things.

It's an Olympic Games, at the end of the day, and to represent your country at the Olympics is about as good as it gets. Put a gold medal on top of that, and it doesn't ever get any better.

It's still the height of every four years for me, regardless of Tours de France and everything: it's all about the Olympics.

I've seen people fall over and get fouls. I don't do that.

In my career I haven't been suspended much.

I want to win and a lot of things frustrate me.

It's all fun and games when you're scoring goals but there will be a time when I'm not and I just have to try and keep doing the same things. Hit the target and, you know, see what happens at the end of the game.

A loss feels like a loss.

If you don't win the MLS Cup it doesn't matter, so we know that the big one is the MLS Cup and we'll give our all to win it.

I'm lucky enough to play with great players.

There's players around the world that get assists from number 10s or wingers.

I wasn't happy with how I left England. I didn't like where my mind was football wise. I felt like football was coming second.

I know if I look back there's a lot of things I look back on and feel proud of in England. My time in MLS has just been better.

Making my debut at Man City, playing with my brother, that was a high point and was amazing. Going to Charlton and winning the League One championship. Even when I was at Southampton, my first year there I really enjoyed it.

There's been a few great moments, I don't hate my career in England.

I never used to watch MLS before so I had negative views. I thought it wasn't a good standard. When I got here I was very shocked. It's hard and it's a good level, and they look after you here. I love it.

Every day I train with him I try to learn so even if it don't work out I can take something somewhere else because it's Thierry Henry. I grew up watching that guy scoring goals for Arsenal. I'm very lucky to have played with him. I just try to listen to him on the pitch, and stay close.

I think England has got some great players.

We strikers, when we're scoring, we're confident, and we'll try and hit anything.

Sean Davis is one of the best youngsters I've been around. He's got an old head on his shoulders and he's a very good player.

For me, it's just a decision I made at home with my wife that I'm not eating meat.

I get my protein, I get everything I need, I don't feel like I'm missing on anything.

From the bottom of my heart, I've always found compliments hard to take. It makes me feel awkward.

I got a lot of unwanted attention when I was young. I'd be at a tournament at age 9 and there'd be loads of people around me. It always made me feel funny.

A big part of my game is movement. The players that I play with understand that and took the time to see where I like to run, and it's worked out.

I'm not Giovinco. I don't get the ball and dribble past three players.

I don't like to go through games not doing anything and then getting a goal. Obviously that's my job as a striker, but I feel almost wasted. I want to do more.