I like to be straightforward with whatever I'm doing, whether it's basketball, whether it's meeting someone, whatever it is.

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

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.

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.

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

Tom Simpson is like the Bobby Moore of British cycling.

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

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.

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

The changing of the goals helps keep the motivation fresh.

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.

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.

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

Success is easy to take for granted.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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.