A career you want to keep your eye on. Matt Richardson is one of the brightest stars in track cycling. After winning gold at the last Commonwealth Games, Matt has his sights trained on the 2024 Paris Olympics and winning three gold medals. A BackChat favourite and a fascinating insight into what it takes to get to the top.
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Representing your country on the world stage and at the highest level with the Olympics as well it’s just no better feeling really is there any trash talk if you just really grasp on with two hands it can really take you a long way so what’s your buildup like
Into the 2024 Paras Olympics we’ve got fourth the last five Olympics so we’re looking to change that this time at that stage when you’re realizing okay I’m I’m pretty good at this I want to win three B battles okay back chat Power by Fleet Network a big year here um look there’s
A few things to get off the top uh Dan const there is no Dan const he’s vacant today but I’m a big boy I can handle this man by myself now you you may be tuning into the podcast Matthew Richardson you’ve already had Matthew Richardson on the podcast well I’m here
To tell you this is world champion Matt Matt Richardson and he is sitting right with me right now hello mate how are you I’m good thanks for having me oh we it is an absolute pleasure here on back chat um I know you’re well researched in
This one you were giving me a few pointers on how the setup was and youve just experienced this is actually round two we started again Jaden great pick up it could have been in big big trouble uh if we had have gone through without the
Video turned on but we are here we are live your greatest sporting achievement not on the cycling track I don’t want to hear about the Val Drome I don’t hear want to hear about your com games gold medals Your World Championships you’ve been on the podium at multiple World Championship I don’t
Want look look you’re good at cycling okay for right now I don’t want to hear about it I want to know your greatest sporting achievement not on the bik you got something for me I do have something for you actually I do I do I knew it was
Coming I watched a few you know a little bit of research see what I was in for what you got for me I have got under 13 now we’re talking state champs state champion yeah Flags surf life saving now you are talking my absolute language you are sitting opposite a
Fellow state champion under nine flag champion no way yeah right here welcome this is great I don’t even want to talk about cycling what was your Club tell me about it this is like the ultimate if you don’t know what flags is if you’re listening you’re like what are these
Play talking about it’s the ultimate manto man woman Toom contact competitive sport where did it happen who are you competing for I can really paint the PCT still like really in there so FL at S lifesaving Club great so I can go I can go a little bit back into why I was
Doing surf life saving please okay so moved to Australia when I was nine mom thought probably a good idea to kind of get the kids into some sort of surf life saving so that you know we’re going to absolutely charge down to the beach every opportunity we get so figured
Learn how to not die in that ocean that’s going to just suck us out and sharks and goodness knows what El um I suck at swimming so I really kind of uh grasped onto the flags and the beach Sprints and like that sort of thing yes
Um so that was sort of my forte yeah and then like I don’t want to kind of [ __ ] on the club but we kind of sucked at at a lot of state champs so that day was was uh was pretty cool it was yeah was
It a home home Beach Advantage oh no no not home Beach I think it was sento maybe okay some somewhere more North yeah more north um but yeah it was just a it was just a wild day again if you’ve never seen a flag competition like it is
A rogue sport you’re face down on the sand you got your hands under your chin there a bit of a like athletes ready that’s when you like your hands on your chin like but it’s an explosive sport right oh super you got to push off turn around and then leg it and then
Dive and grab it could we draw a long enough bow that uh the beginnings of a world champion cyclist started at Flor surf life saving Club as a beach Flagger probably probably I think I think I showed a lot of explosiveness that day she said it’s an explosive event so I
Think that were definitely the uh the early signs that uh I’d have that in me but um yeah it was a wild day and I remember I almost remember every single round like just knocking them off one by one and then it was the final me vers
One other guy and we Dove for it sand everywhere yes no one knew where the flag was rolled over it was in your hand wasn’t it in my hand lifted it up and I remember after the podium like the whole club had had me like on their shoulders
And honestly I was like main character out of a movie that day it was wild that’s had like a Awards night like presting me with like gift voucher and all right so we’re in proper good areas here very good mate now um like I want to I’m really looking forward to having
A chat with you today because I think uh people might watch cycling watch the racing on TV and never really had a big conversation with someone in the sport so I’m going to pick your brain I want you to treat me like an idiot as if I
Know nothing whether or not that’s true we’ll find out um but before then you you stole a little bit of my thunder you weren’t born in Australia born tell the people where you born how you know how that all came about moving from from
England yeah so I was born in the UK uh a small town called Maidstone it’s like southeast of London I think two hours maybe yeah um so yeah I was born there and raised there till I was nine moved to Australia for my dad’s work he was uh
Relocated he worked for Ikea still does actually but um shout out Ikea shout out Ikea out um but yeah so we moved over for that and it was it was pretty sick to be honest like um yeah it was all new and it’s tough when you’re a kid cuz you
Have all your friends at school and that sort of thing but I think it was almost easier being that young you know you just a bit more brutal at school and you just make friends and it’s a lot more chill I think rather than moving over when I don’t know maybe you’ve already
Graduated and you’re trying to find work and friends and I think that kind of thing would be a bit harder but you’re a kid and you just mix in it sounds like sport you know given the flag story played a fair chunk of your childhood like were you a sporty kid with sporting
Family yeah so I did gymnastics well not a sporty family but um yeah I did gymnastics since I was two so Mom dropped me off the local gymnastics Club it was more sort of maybe like preschool sort of Vibes at that sort of time yeah yeah just too much energy like get him
Out of the house kind of thing drop them off there burn burn some energy off but um yeah so I was doing gymnastics till I was 14 started competing when I was four state championships there uh yeah States Nationals I I put Flags in cuz I thought
It was I thought it was more sick than just being like I’m National gymnastic Champion it’s like are you that yeah yeah but it’s like that’s still like an Elite Sport so like I don’t know it doesn’t really count too far too far uh right so like
The gymnastics played a big part in in your growth like um again you I keep jumping forward but you know cyclist now world champion what’s what’s that like for do you think that played a big part in your development like physically 100% like I think gymnastics is good to learn
A lot of key things like body coordination General strength it teaches a lot of discipline as well like it’s a pretty brutal sport um quite strict a lot of hours like I was doing 36 hours a week when I was 10 yeah wow so it’s just
Brutal um but I guess if you come out of it injuryf free you can be obviously really successful I got injured which is why I stopped right um what sort of injury uh medical term that I don’t really understand but basically the the bone was getting damaged in my elbow it was
Like an overuse injury so I basically had to have 18 months out of the sport to let it recover which is just such a long time like you take two weeks out and you come back and you feel sluggish and uncoordinated and and all sorts so
It’s um 18 months was a bit bit too long and was already doing a bit of cycling on the side just by chance are you in are you in the gym as a young kid then like and I don’t mean like weight’s gym yeah uh I that started Ed to come in
When I was about 12 13 I reckon we started doing a bit more targeted work in the gym uh just for core a bit of bench that sort of stuff um because there’s only so much you can do actually in the gym doing all your skills and
Stuff it’s sort of just a bit more targeted work but nothing for the legs like no squats nothing like that legs were were small back then yeah so so yeah I was about to ask that so like Jim is like you know traditionally would have like a pretty strong upper body
Yeah so is it when you get injured that you start transitioning to s or like you said there was was there a crossover yeah so I went to go watch a race at the at the Midland speed doome and there was that sounds amazing the speed Dome Move
Yourself um and yeah there was a lady going around kind of scouting people in uh to the sport and their club night shout out Midland cycle club was Wednesday night and that was the only night I had off gymnastics so I don’t know how I did it but like now there’s
No way but I had was training 36 hours a week and I thought you know what the one night I have off a week I’ll feel charging around a Vel Drome as well um so yeah I did that and that was probably I’m going to say about 6 months before I
Stopped gymnastics so I was doing that bit of talent ID here and there on a couple of other nights and then gymnastics stopped on a Friday afternoon in the doctor’s office and I was cycling Monday morning full time well full time but full Focus because yeah I was going
To ask like how cycling comes about how you get into the sport I know like there’s it seems like a sport that there’s a lot of different pathway it’s like it’s very different to an AFL or a cricket or a soccer where it’s like you these kids are bred from 2 years old
Like everyone rides a bike when they’re you know a couple years old but not many take the professional cycling route so like the gym to cycling works for you but like how do you think like where do you think the interest side of things came like was the competition
Element yeah yeah I’m a super competitive person with anything it’s a ball game or we go bowling or I don’t know backyard Cricket whatever it is like full gas so think that’s always kind of been in my blood and um it was a fun sport like when when you start like
It’s just 45 degree banking corners and it just is exhilarating like it’s yes it feels pretty crazy to just have the space that’s literally a circle to just ride your bike as fast as you can you know there’s no there’s no traffic there’s no nothing in your way yeah um
And I think that’s kind of where it where the draw was was just the speed what was the like what were you I’m just not trying to think is it my put my parents hat on like Mom and Dad happy with your racing like it looks like a
Dangerous sport yeah it’s it’s pretty sketchy at times um and so as a kid or as a you know 14y old is that is that go MADD like like off please don’t hurt yourself yeah bit of both bit of both like Dad Dad frosts it but Mom struggles
To watch I think even now like Elite Kier final we’re all going like 80k an hour touching shoulders and stuff so it’s a bit a bit narly you know we’re wearing Lyra so it’s there’s nothing there’s nothing between you and and the wood um so yeah Mom struggles to watch a
Little bit but full support but also nervous that uh something bad might happen what’s that pathway like then from uh Midland uh I was going to say power Dome what was it power doome is sick actually if I ever have a v Dr I’m calling it The Power Dome so what’s the
What’s the pathway from Midland Wednesday nights in between gymnastics to a pretty pretty reasonable standard of cycling perhaps like your scholarships or yeah what’s that how do you do that so if I remember correctly it was Wednesday night like you said and then there was this sort of tid program that
Was run on Tuesdays and Thursdays that still runs like that’s still a thing that they do every year is try and bring more people into sport through TI right um by Talent identification Talent identification yeah that’s it so um I got I don’t know if we applied or I got
Picked up through the club or or the uh coach of the clubs kind of put Riders forward or or how it actually worked out but I did that and then once cycling uh sorry gymnastics stopped it was obviously full focus on cycling and then somewhere along the lines I ended up
Making like a State team to go to Nationals and that sort of thing and then you start putting like times on the board selection times for like a way scholarship or things like that so that’s kind of how it came about like I went to Nationals in
201 16 I think it was 2015 maybe how old are you I was was 16 yeah so it was under 17 Nationals that was my first national champs right was under 17s um and then kind of did some times that were pretty good and then the following year we’re kind of stepping up
Into the under 19 ranks which is where you can go to like Junior worlds and that sort of thing so that’s when they start to put athletes in waste um which is obviously the West Australian insute of sports so um that’s kind of where it takes off once you get in waste it’s
Like sky the limit at what point did you know you were good probably when I got into ways right I think that was it like once once I started to kind of get an opportunity where I was going to be able to train at an Institute and get things given to me
And flights paid for and things like that like that’s when you kind of have the realization that like this is going pretty good obviously you’re still at school at that time so it’s like you’re like you’re not just like this is what I want to do for the rest of my life but
You’re you’re going to give it a fair crack and I think like I said like that’s when the door is just wide open yeah and if you just really grasp on with two hands it can really take you a long way do you think it’s at that stage
When you’re realizing okay I’m I’m pretty good at this uh do do you think you spoke about your development as as a gymnast and your physical side but how much is it Talent is it is it physical is it mental like can you break down like what makes a good cyclist
Especially at an early age oh at an early age I think at an early age it’s like almost 100% Talent really yeah I think so like I kind of sucked like I got into waste but I wasn’t that good like I was good at um my role in in the team Sprint and
We can get into all the races later um like in the individual stuff like I was pretty bad like at that under 17 Nationals like I finished nowhere in anything right like it I wasn’t that good I was just kind of all right um and
There was a lot of other guys that were super talented like we all kind of work hard we all enjoy riding a bike but you’re not at you know at 16 years old you’re not like yeah like an absolute man of a mind you know what I mean like
You’re still a kid and you’re going to school like I said and you’re kind of just charging around yes so I think at the beginning it’s almost all Talent it’s pretty cool that you still just riding your bike like at Nationals like if you break it right down it’s sort of
Like again other sports where he kicking your footy with your mats or I mean even now I just ride bikes and circles like it’s just it’s nothing really much more than that to be honest selling a little bit there okay so so when does the transition happen between okay Talent to
I’m assuming hard work mentality like how do you when does that happen when you start getting that waste scholarship and you start competing at higher levels I think it happens at a different point for most people or for everyone like for me I was always quite underdeveloped
Like I don’t if it was because of gymnastics and that sort of thing yeah physically like I’m not a massive person so um everything I’ve got I’ve had to work really hard for like when I got into was as a 16-year-old I was only
Like 48 kilos like I was I was tiny like I’m I’m like almost double that now I think I actually am double that now so um it’s for me it was really hard like and I for me it was under 19s basically so I came through as a first year and
Started to get pretty good right once I started to kind of develop you know go through solid stages of of puberty and that sort of thing that’s when it really started to accelerate for me that’s when the kilos went on in the gym and kilos
Went on on the body as well and and that’s sort of where it really started to take off and like and that’s when that’s when the hard work started so talk to me about cycling um let’s break some events down so you’re into racing you’re doing all that understand all
That tell me about some of the events so you’re a sprinter yeah you’re not you’re not riding in the tour to France classic question people ask I know you’re not I know you’re not but you’re a sprinter right so tell us about the events that you know you really specializing and
What what you’re good at um maybe Kieran Sprint team Sprint let’s go with those another little bit that’s pretty good so tell us about what those races are how they’re different I know it’s a bit of an extended chat but I think it’s important okay yeah so uh in sprint
Cycling you have uh or sprint track cycling you have four main events um the team Sprint which will start with so that’s that’s three Riders uh you all start together and you do one lap each so the first person is going to do one lap the second person will overall do
Two laps and the third person will do three laps so like a set rule or do they yeah you have there’s like a specific point you have to change over swing out the way let the other Rider through yeah yeah yeah you can’t do any more or less
Everyone’s changing the exact same spot you can’t be ahead of that person by What’s called the P line which is the red line in in the home and back straight um so yeah we all start together it’s kind of hard to imagine until you actually watch it but we all
Start together someone’s in the blocks yeah someone’s in the in the gate yeah and the other two people are just handheld so yeah the position one just is the fastest well each lap is 250 M as well I say that so on a standard RAC
Track it’s 250 M I didn’t know that yeah so yeah uh there’s other tracks 333s and stuff like that but 250 is the standard right um so yeah position one does 250 M position two will do 500 uh so one lap on the front um for them and then
Position three will do 750 m and it’s the fastest time at the end of the three laps there’s number three in that race I’m assuming you’re not cruising for the first two laps that depends who you are right right how easy it is to get on but there there’d be a certain like
Discrepancy and I’m assuming the number one guy has like really good acceleration correct heavy Sprint whereas the number three more endurance yeah lasts a little longer but still needs to be able to like bring it home yeah so here’s here’s where all the different there’s like lots of different
Ways to kind of fill together a team Sprint and you do it with obviously the riders that You’ got but ideally you have the most explosive person in position one with the least amount of endurance and you have a bit of a hybrid in between right where they’ve got a lot of
Explosive capability because they need to get on to to the wheel of position one you need to be in that slipstream and position three also needs to do that but needs to do a whole another lap yes on what position two is doing so you get sort of a natural spread
Which is what we’ve got we’ve basically got the most explosive guy in one me and two and we’ve got two people for the position three spot because it’s so hard you kind of sub in and out of competition and you a world champion in this in 22 yeah uh yeah 2022 correct
Yeah last year yeah silver medalist this year it’s a big GM but was a bit better than third bit better than fourth bit better than last mate that is the event world champion in you get the rainbow yeah the rainbow jersey yeah so you get you’re the world
Chance for that year yeah and you get to wear in training and just Flex it all year basically it’s very Niche thing to cycling but it goes across all all disciplines so if that’s BMX or mountain bike or gravel or the road race or whatever it’s just like the recognized
You are the world champion that year so you’ve started with team spring I gave you a few options but You’ started there is that your your favorite is that you that’s what is the best bang for buck if you’ve got the guys that’s the best bang
For buck it’s like going into an exam that you know all the answers for there’s no tactics there’s no decision- making there’s none of that it’s just go as fast as you can as a team right right against the clock like there’s obviously we’re going to sprin and Kieran but then
A lot of outside factors can happen that are completely out of your control that can just ruin the race even if you are the fastest guy so um eight teams qualify for the Olympics in the team Sprint so you basically have a one in eight chance of winning it whereas the
Sprint in Kieran is 32 like so there’s 32 people and it’s an individual obviously individual race is cycling a team sport it is in a team Sprint but it’s I I see it as like we’re all teammates yes and we all get along so good like it’s we actually have a really
Good culture at the moment like it’s absolutely th got great depth right and great depth for sure um but I see it as three individuals that sort of come together yes to work as a team yeah because then you go away and you separate and you do end up racing each
Other in the Sprint and the Kieran so it’s um you’re not going to have a good team Sprint team if you’re not a team yes but you have to accept the fact that you are going to try and rip each other’s heads off the next day in the Sprint
Tournament or that sort of thing so it’s a very interesting dynamic because right so it’s an IND idual sport right and so like I do like that you started with the team Sprint though and and again little bit of knowledge like uh does it does it
Feel just as good winning a team Sprint as it does a Sprint like having other people around you to high five and give a hug too like that must be pretty that must feel good yeah the cader is a pretty good feeling like when you achieve something together it’s a pretty
Special feeling like you all see how much effort we all put in all year yes you know you’re watching the guy next to you try and as much as you can and the other guy as well and you train together and you try and build each other up and
When it comes off as a team it’s yeah it’s sick like what’s that moment like like a world champions that’s that’s incredible you’re best in the world yeah what’s that well yeah if you watched the replay back I was an absolute bits so I was just struggling to like even walk
But what were you w two or three I was position two right the hybrid yeah the hybrid um yeah because we end up doing three team sprints in like an hour and a half wow which is like the equivalent of doing like a maybe like a 400 meter
Runner y doing three of them in an hour and a half wow like you just absolutely destroyed um which I was so it felt amazing like you celebrate like both hands off the bars the crowd’s cheering you’re like yes and then you come in and
Then it’s just wow it hits you la oh bad both legs cramps feels like both my femur are like snapped in half wow it’s it hits me real hard I don’t know what it is like I don’t know like I used to be position one so I used
To be the explosive guy which I still obviously have but I think the hybrid comes from just like grit yeah so it just like I can push myself into like this another dimension and it just is bad so it felt incredible but then also felt horrendous at the same time but um
Yeah like I barely made the podium after that like I was just on the floor in Pieces Just chucking water on my head and bit of a let’s get to the Sprint then so the Sprint would it be fair to say like in athletics terms like the 100
Met is kind of like the the blue ribbon event is this the blue is is this like the this the one right this is the Holy Grail y I think because the kieran’s good but because there’s more people there’s a lot more that can go on
Whereas Sprint is that’s the 1 V one y so the Sprint starts off by doing a flying 200 meter qualifying so it’s basically you try and do 200 met of the track in as fast amount of time as possible which means you end up using a
Lot of the track you go up high you dive down late and try and maximize the speed of the banking that’s why we call it the flying one you get basically three laps to set the time and it’s the last 200 M that are clocked so it’s basically do
That last 200 meters as fast as you can corre that creates a seating so fastest through the slowest or the slowest qualifier which is normally about 32 top 32 qu then what happens is it goes into rounds so the fastest will verse the slowest second yada yada yada all the
Way through when it gets to quarterfinals so there’s there eight people left yeah yeah it’ll be best of three so and so the actual Sprint race is three laps as well but it’s just a 1 V one like that’s the ones where it’s all real slow and everyone’s c m pushing
People up and looking around and cat and mouse that sort of thing I want to talk about this one yeah this is good yeah this is that a lot of tactics in this um and then yeah it goes all the way through so one once it gets to quarters
It’s best of three so obviously you have to win two out of three um and then it goes into and then the winners go through so the if you get knocked out in the quarters you’re out basically there’s no racing for anything under fourth yes basically if you get knocked out you’re then
Seated on how fast you were in qualifying yes so then once you get into the top four it’s semi-finals and finals so one will verse four two will verse three and the winners go through the gold ride off and the losers are fighting for bronze and fourth so you
Are reigning Commonwealth Games champion in this event yeah you are uh 2022 silver medal yeah uh I don’t know what happened last year last last year was 20 last year I came second sorry this year I kind of cooked it okay kind of cooked let’s stay away from that uh we can go
Into it but no I’m not hiding from it we can no exactly so we can but just making the point to our listeners you can do this event quite well yeah so I got a few questions the tactic side of things how much ises that versus like Talent
Speed strength like um this this has more obviously more tactics than the team Sprint oh yeah team Sprint has none basically so um I think it was a pretty clear answer to that question at comm’s where the guy who I qualified or the guy who was versing in the final qualified a
10th and a half quicker than me which sounds like nothing how okay how much is that well so a blink a blink is.3 of a second and it was 0.15 quicker than me however two10 in a flying 200 so still less than a blink of an eye is like
Almost a guaranteed W right like it’s just like I think it’s about a k an hour extra length yeah it’s about yeah it’s about a bike length yeah which is hard to come hard to come back from in a Sprint race had an argument with our resident cyclist in here Indie before
This uh chat we had Maddie and I think I said three was a bite length she was trying to tell me 0.1 so it’s something yeah yeah it’s it’s about that it’s about depends how fast you right so if someone’s beating you in in a you know
By B that’s a big distance in a Sprint R it’s a that’s a lot of extra horsepower that they’ve got like it doesn’t sound like a lot but it is so the guy you’re versing in the com games has that on you basically yeah yeah so how’d you
Been sh Shar tactics like I just absolutely hustled the bloke like it was what’s tell me what that is what is it what’s [ __ ] tactics involved so basically like he left the door open which is where I’ve gone Underneath Him late in the race and then it’s basically
Too late for him to come back once I’ve absolutely dumped it right like he just like I said I’ve was an explosive athlete still am but um that’s my greatest strength is my acceleration so once I got under him within it was about a lap to go and I’ve just absolutely
Booted it right um and then he just wasn’t able to get back on terms so you’re always are you always trying to hold front position or is it change between who you’re racing a lot right yeah there’s a lot going on like it depends who you’re racing and what their strengths are like
Ultimately you always try to ride to your strengths and then on top of that try ride against their strengths at the same time um so his strength is not acceleration he’s he’s a rider from trinad Tobago so they don’t have a lot of depth he’s incredible incredible
Athlete but they don’t have a team Sprint team so he doesn’t need to really train his Excel the same to the same level as what I can or do um so I knew that was his probably biggest weakness so I left the race pretty slow um forced
Him into a mistake which was leaving the door open basically he’s looking left he’s looking right I’m all over the place behind him uh how do you make the race slow you don’t push him if you’re on the back you just don’t inject any speed right they can look they can go
They can go as hard as can but then I’m just going to follow him being as draft and then pass him so you waste a lot of energy just doing that I love watching this this without ever speaking to you I love watching this um through Olympic
Games and com games and any c i watch because it looks like it’s just like ultimate Mind Games yeah oh yeah is there is there any Trash Talk it’s like is there any talk no not really not really I’ve kind of wanted to get into a
Little bit of it at some point yeah yeah a little bit I like that like me and a guy called Harold of rayon have a pretty big rivalry at the moment he’s the guy who I raced at track Champions League last year which another race but what
Nationality is he he’s Dutch he’s Dutch yeah big bigy nation yeah yeah yeah and like almost want to like get into a bit of like bit of trash talk just kind of hype it up a little bit a bit of fun look I I don’t know what it’s like to do
What you do but like rock rock paper scissors right if you’re like head to-head with someone and you’re like I’m going rock and you look him in the eye and then you can either go rock and you [ __ ] with their mind and then the next time around so I’m just thinking like
You walk into the you you’re next to each other when you start this race you’re not on other sides of the track yeah little whisper out the side of the mouth hey I’m coming under you big fell this one’s going to be a slow one I
Would see you it would always be good to learn a little bit of Dutch have a couple words to him in in Dutch and bit spooked I don’t know why just came online it’s like Germans coming breeny dick dere I’m Sor you should do that yeah yeah um
Right so team spring okay and this is something that you’ve mastered has it been something that you felt like time in the gym and and training has helped or have you got better with like race day like there’s a big difference between training and and and racing what
What’s made you better at this I think it’s mainly been training like we race a lot and I think I’ve got it pretty nailed like I just need as much horsepower as possible like like that day at commies like I just overcame him with tactics so I think as long as I’ve
Got the horsepower then I think I can can take it to to almost anybody um so yeah I think the year after the Olympics is when I kind of moved into position two for team Sprint which is slightly different training uh as I do have to Sprint longer and that sort of thing
Which does help in the individual stuff in races and doing like I think at commies I did like 13 races that day like it was full on that’s crazy yeah it was so much um too much that or that’s just it’s it’s just part of it you just
Got to do the qualifying get through all the rounds like there’s just there’s that amount of competition like you just to be the best you have to beat everybody else so I think it’s um it’s just part of it at the Olympics the Sprints actually spread out over 3 days
Which is really nice but at events like Conor games or maybe like World Cups it’s it’s all jammed into one just because of a tight schedule it um you know visually watching you guys race like you’re massive athletes like big quties big like big guys right um I
Think like the the perception would be well it’s just all power but it’s sounding like you need endurance like to an extent to be back it up to be able to recover to is is it is that would be fair yeah 100% like we do a lot of work
In the gym just trying to get as big as possible like to create the maximum amount of power on the bike you basically just need to be as or have the most amount of lean mass in your legs as possible upper body is a bit controversial if if you get too big in
Your upper body it limits your PO weight um so you obviously end up just being heavier so you obviously need a bit to be able to hold the bike stable while you’re trying to produce yes that that maximum amount of power um but you don’t
Want too much of it cuz like I said it’s it’s weight and it’s also extra drag as well the bigger you are the the bigger Hole In The Wind you’re pushing which also slows you down so it sounds like there’s a lot of like if you do this
Then this happens if you know like a lot of levers that if you pull one L something else is happening you can’t just go okay I’m just G to get the biggest possible well that and that’s it like we need to get as big as possible but then we’re also trying to train
Endurance to be actually a to ride bikes fast now we don’t need a lot of it the maximum amount we ride is is about three laps yes so you don’t but again you need to be able to do 13 in a day kind of things so you can’t just be a gym junkie
Like you you need to be somewhat athletic yes as well like um it’s it’s it’s a balance it’s a balance of doing if you do too much track it kind of ruins your gym gains and if you do too much gym and not off track then you’re
Kind of just slow so what do you like what do you like race day are you confident are you nervous um I’m pretty good I’m pretty good I strugg would eat breakfast that day but other than that I’m pretty good pretty good yeah I was telling Indie about it the other day
What happened oh just smoothie I’m a big smoothie man big smoothie man just good amount of calories good amount of carbs get it down quick it’s a liquid yes um until it decides to come back up right as soon as it gets down which is it’s Grim I don’t
Know what it is just like wake up on race day and it’s just like nah you’re not going to eat today mate right but I’m getting better at it I’m getting better at it but it’s weird I don’t feel nervous so it’s it’s weird right so
You’re like a you’re just a spew oh big time when I race it’s game over yeah I really yeah is that common like the sprinters just yeah because it’s we can push so far past what we should be able to cuz we have to like if we have to
Cover a short amount of distance in the shortest amount of time possible you have to extract absolutely everything right which is all we do on a daily basis yes so we can kind of push past that ceiling and just go above and beyond into kind of what our bodies
Tolerate um and then I I Yak a lot yeah a lot a lot put that as the tile of the YouTube that just said I Yak a lot uh now okay so the so we got team Sprint Sprint Kieran yeah now tell our listeners our audience our viewers what
Is the Kier because I think it’s a beautiful thing the Kieran is fantastic I I look it looks it looks like it’s somewhat fun but like aggressive dangerous all of that yeah and the same thing what is it so the Kieran is a six laap race you’ll start like side by side
To basically pick a name out pick a number out of a hat that’s your starting order then the dery or it’s basically a motorcycle comes through underneath you there’s a guy on a motorbike guy on a motorbike yeah yeah Gana motorbike the traditional is like this little pedal
Bike with like a little two-stroke engine that sounds quite fun now Elric bik and he picks you up the gun goes you go off you sit behind him for laps it’s like the pressure is building like you’re just sitting there going about 50k an hour fighting position no not allowed to do that
Anymore you used to be able to just fight off the line but they’re just like nah so you come off your where you’ve picked the numbers out and you kind of go into that position yeah so so you pick numbers before you go up onto the
Track y roll up onto the track one start at the bottom 2 3 4 5 6 all the way up to the top what do you want midle front so we actually we actually worked it out like we’ve got like every Kieran ever done and basically have like spreadsheet
Run through AI basically like what’s the best position basically and it’s generally closer to the front like you don’t get as much success from the back but we’ll get into that okay good so you’re following this guy around on motorbike he got the best job ever he just cruising around yeah they just
Cruising around work up to about 50k an hour from 30 so three laps you kind of increased about 15 20K an hour and then he drops you off and it’s just three laps to go every man for themselves so yeah six guys you get up to about 80 plus an hour
Wow um sometimes you’re passing people like four wide cuz obviously it’s Bank corner so you end up obviously stacking up and so the higher the more dangerous It is Well the higher you get the further distance you ride okay so more dangerous you feel like you’re just dismiss oh it’s just dangerous anywhere
To be honest like it’s just a dangerous sport um but yeah definitely being sandwiched in between people is is not a fantastic spot to be in for safety yeah um so yeah it’s just uh the bike goes here you go here’s 50k an hour and then
Everyone else uh good luck so you were you were silver medalist in the world champs this year yeah correct in this one and like you said this is redemption from the Sprint yeah correct right so you angry with this one this has got the most variance so if we got te Sprint no
Variance Sprint there’s some tactics this one Anything Can Happen yeah cuz like you have a plan like you know who’s in the race you know who’s qualified for say it’s it’s similar where Sprint where it kind of the start of the day isn’t done by a qualification or anything like
That you’re kind of put into curin based off maybe like your UCI ranking which is like your basically your cycling ranking yes uh and then you go through like top two go through and then it kind of whittel down to a six-man final right um
And then yeah you know who’s going to be in it what their sort of capabilities are are they sort of that explosive athlete are they someone who can go longer Sprint earlier more insurance that sort of thing so you kind of come into it with a plan of what you’d like
To execute what you think they’re poor at executing see if you can expose them but anything can happen none of that can happen the guy who you think’s going to go long might not go so it’s just racing it’s just it’s just put yourself in the best position possible but basically A
Good rule of thumb is with one lap to go be first or second wheel yeah you want to be able to win if if you’re Sixth and everyone’s going full gas you can’t come around five people going 80k an hour like it’s just too much distance to make
Up it’s physically impossible but every wants to do that which makes you know what mean like yeah well everyone’s trying to do similar sort of [ __ ] so yeah yeah I think it’s a great one to watch so so you were you know silver World Champs how’s that how’s that race
Go it was good yeah it was actually really good it was actually really good so I’m behind ah who was I behind maybe come where I was I’ve ended up being behind Harry so he’s the Dutch fell 13 time World Champ or something like that ridiculous ridiculous so behind Harry yeah he’s
Behind Harry he’s gone pretty hard like two laps to go I’m in like box seat right so I’m basically little St slip stream yeah yeah I’ve got a bit of a slip stream I’m letting him go a little bit to get myself a bit of breathing
Room behind him to kind of run out his wheel in case a rush comes from behind so I’m basically managing him he’s kind of looking at me I’m looking at all the people behind me um they’re trying to come around I’m kind of starting to like
Fight with them a little bit to kind of like you can get your elbows out a bit a yeah L on a few people it’s not like in the rules like you’re allowed to do not yeah it just happens it’s just racing you know racing so have a bit of a
Tussle with someone coming behind and then I actually am looking pretty good one laps gu in second whe the guy in front of me is dying Harry’s dying so I start booting it around him through that first corner and then out of nowhere Colombian comes from the sky so he
Actually did come from the back wow started started moving like a lap and a half to go and just created like so much momentum and the rest of us were almost Sitting Duck so I come around Harry but he ends up rolling around me so he wins
I get second and then I think a Japanese fell also got around Harry Harry’s off the podum suck in har so Harry got Harry got fourth that race but um yeah it was it was just a bit of redemption from uh from the Sprint tournament and it was a
Good way to finish worlds it’s uh that’s a good synopsis of what we’re doing there so Sprint team Sprint Kieran is that what so if we look ahead now so World chance were in August um 2024 Olympics is that the next big event or have you got some stuff in between here
Yeah so I fly to Europe on Saturday to race the event called UCI track Champions League we give a little shout out the back chat might be making oh back make an appearance holy [ __ ] I’m actually pretty excited about it I’m thinking about it it’s going to be on my
Quad is it yeah it’s going to be on the side of my quad it’s a big spot it’s a big spot love that so keep an eye out on socials for back chat making an appearance on fat Richardson’s quad right so that’s over in Europe some
Of that stuff yeah so race that last year actually won that last year that was the one that Harry and I were kind of going head-to-head um it’s it’s One race every weekend and it’s each like a different place in Europe so it starts of Mya on a Saturday and then
Berlin uh Paris and then a double header in London for a Friday and Saturday so is that Paris uh the same track Olympics track yeah same track as the Olympics yeah so you get through this stuff I want to talk about the Olympic preview because I do like you know whether it’s
You know too honest or not like I think a lot of people tune into cycling for the Olympics right because for sure it’s when people eyes on that aren’t cycling fans so what’s your buildup like into the 2024 Paris Olympics so after [ __ ] Champions League um I’ve actually got a
World Cup here in or not here but in Australia in Adelaide good um so that’s sick we don’t have to fly anywhere normally we’re always cutting over to Europe to try and race you’re based out of Adelaide yeah we’re based out the whole cycling programs based out of
There a lot of the insurance Riders train in Europe and stuff like that on the road but the Sprint team is is pretty much there all year round um so yeah World Cup there which is sick kickoff the year and then national championships few weeks after that
That’s just kind of go and just polish up on some tactics against against the Aussie guys uh and then after that we’ve got another World Cup in Hong Kong so basically the World Cups used for obviously race experience that sort of thing but qualification points so you
Can’t race the Olympics if you haven’t actually qualified if you haven’t actually got enough points so you qualifi so uh we’re looking very good good so I’m ranked one in the Kieran ranked two in the Sprint in the world yeah and ranks the same’s quite good
Yeah and it’s yeah just it’s pretty good could be better but not too bad right so um right so one in the Sprint one in the Kieran it’s actually switched last year I was actually no that’s incorrect last year I was one in Sprint and one in Kieran and then Harry’s managed to
Snatch the Sprint away from me so Harry’s One in Sprint he’s Lu he’s but he’s like sixth in kierin so it’s all right that’s good yeah um right yeah so World Cups and then after that it’s basically just a 20we build into the Olympics so just a lot of time to train
Make sure you’re doing everything right a lot of consistency yeah and just build in we’ll do a pre- Olympic camp in Portugal get over to Europe kind of get a climatized a little bit as it will be summer there and winter here and that sort of thing jet lag and then um and
Then just Olympics so this will be your second Olympics at Tokyo 2020 um do you look back on that experience and and forward Focus for this upcoming one and what can you do better what can I don’t know what could go wrong I don’t know last year went pretty wrong right so
Last year I came into it and just basically cooked my back like right bad like similar to you after the return from uh back back into the one of the great SP moments we just want to take our focus of world champions playing in the
W we getting done by 100 points uh yeah right so you broke your back I broke my back right bad right so it was kind of just a little niggle that came in and then just built like Olympic pressure you want to keep training you want to
Keep pushing trying to do the maximum but it just ended up getting worse and worse and worse few quarters Zone injections later and I was just full rest mode so I just didn’t have the base coming in um I did race all events so I race team Sprint Sprint and Kieran but
Sucked pretty bad the Kieran was okay but um the team Sprint we got fourth bit bit Grim we’ve got fourth the last five Olympics is that right yeah so we’re looking to change that this time yeah is that on is that like a top of priorities
For you yeah well team Sprints like I said cuz only eight teams qualify and there’s like 32 in the individual stuff and there’s no tactics it’s like the main event as long as you’re like good like if we were eighth fastest team Sprint team then I’d probably be like
More focused on Sprint and Kieran yes just for a solo Mission but the team Sprint for us is obviously like we’re top one two with the Dutch and the other teams aren’t super close at the moment so that’s what we’re coming into win competing for your country um like the
Olympics obviously World Champs is that is that special for you because not not many people get to do that yeah it’s pretty crazy like like it really set in last time when I’d obviously gotten injured and it basically went up all the way until like the day before like my back was still
Playing up and whether or not i’ race or not was still kind of up in the air and I think that was really like a wow moment of like how badly I want to represent my country at the Olympics like if I get if I got this far and
Missed out like the day before would have been Grim right it’s it’s sick like like you say just representing your country on the world stage and at the highest level at the Olympics as well was just no better feeling really is there like and you can just be like no don’t
Ask me that but like you were born in England yeah like how does that work a lot of people ask me this yeah like it’s interesting like yeah well tracks liking actually first came into my life when I watched Chris Hoy at the Beijing Olympics so I watch yeah yeah watched
Him live when the Kieran in Beijing mom was like do you know who that is I was like nah that’s Chris Hoy I was like sick so parents have actually really liked track sling for a while I think um so that was sort of my first touch in
Track sling but it’s just been all lazy you know what I mean like track L for me didn’t start until I was in Australia I didn’t start competing internationally until I was in Australia for a while so like I’m Australian did you have a Cho
Like was there a choice to make um after Junior worlds it was a bit up in the air like cuz I hadn’t competed at at an international level as an elite Rider I could just swap so I was waiting to see if I did get picked up by the national team and how
Long the process was going to look and if kind of the doors were shut for whatever reason then I may have looked elsewhere but they didn’t they opened up straight away basically as soon as Junior worlds finished I think it’s pretty cool it’s Unique right yeah it
Wouldn’t be a lot lot of no well and it’s not like the Brits suck you know what I mean it’s not as if like I’m I don’t know going to a country that kind of doesn’t really have a good cycling base or something like that like um it’s an interesting
Dynamic where both kind of options are like really competitive environments and why are the why are the countries are the good at cycling good at cycling so Australia’s good Great Britain’s good Netherlands are good like USA is good like they’re like like yeah they have
Been good maybe I don’t know so what why why are those countries good it’s a very um how do I say this like technologically advanced sport right so if you got a decent amount of money DEC of funding you’ll do pretty good you need you need riders coming through like
You can’t just have an amazing bike and then have someone’s dad on it like it has to be SC run the village like it has to be an elite athlete but if you have the talent ID and if you have the Motions in place to kind of bring people
Through and then the money to put them on good equipment you’re going to have a pretty good pretty good time at it I think there’s a few Nations that that has actually been brought up recently like um the Trinidad and Tobago fell another guy from Sanam um are actually
Really good as well so they train in Switzerland at a UCI Center so that place does it for them basically they go stay there train there and they put their countries on on exactly so that’s pretty much where it is like if you’ve got a decent amount of coin and a good
Amount of grassroot sport in in in cycling then you’re going to be pretty well set off what’s the goal for the 2024 Olympics what do you what what do you want to do there I want to win three gold medals there you go yeah there yeah that ever been done yes by
Aie no oh no I mean I I hope not I I’m pretty sure it hasn’t I’m pretty sure it hasn’t right it has by Jason Kenny British rer yeah um I don’t know if Chris did it thing is is back when Chris was riding like he obviously raced 2012 Olympics which is
Very similar layout to this Olympics but few years pre previous had the kilo as well which is a different Sprint event at the the Olympics and stuff like that so like the team Sprint Sprint and Kieran I think Jason Kenny maybe Ryan B’s done it but I don’t
Think so right I don’t think we won team Sprint right so yeah so it’s it’s it’s on the cards it’s lofty though oh it’s lofty it’s lofty like I think it will end up being seven days of racing in a row right to try and win all three so
Team Sprints obviously the priority that’s what we come in that’s what we stand like the highest chance of winning but I think um over the last couple years I’ve demonstrated that I can contest the sprinting K Kieran on a on a serious level talk to me about the
Mindset and mentality around being the best in the world at something uh I can see that you’re a big guy I can see you work hard I Can See You Got Talent you talk about the technology yeah but what about the mind um do you have do you
Have do you have an advantage do you have things that you do that you think others don’t like talk to me about the mentality ah like on race day or in dayto day or big question right yeah um I think probably day to day yeah like like you
Are the best at the world at something yeah um there has to be a big mental aspect to that I yeah I think like I love what I do so it doesn’t feel very hard to do it day in day out like as a track Sprinter we we do have a lot of
What we call rest days so most of the time I’m I’m having about four of them a week like today’s one of them it’s pretty good it’s a honestly it’s a pretty cruisy sport it’s a pretty cruisy sport when we train though it’s like
Full on yes like I’ll be in gym for 3 hours and like all of that is like maximum same with the track so it’s challenging but not really like it’s I don’t know I enjoy it so much that it it it’s what I do for my for a
Living but it almost feels like a hobby like I don’t know it just feels like I’m just doing what I love and it’s fun you know what I mean like obviously I’m getting paid to do it but I almost don’t need to you know you know what I mean
Like it’s just it’s just a fun sport to do like I don’t find it a challenge to go train all day and then like switch off like I’m happy thinking about cycling all the time if I want to think about cycling all the time or not like it’s just life’s fun like
It’s it’s good what about race day then all right race day is race day is a bit of different story good yeah race day is a bit of different story it’s it’s challenging it’s how do you get an edge then mentally depends who you are for me I
Think staying calm is is big part of it which I think I’ve got pretty much down to a tea like like I said I struggled eating my breakfast but once once once I’ve got the breakfast down I’m away I’m good um but you’re constantly switched on like like commies for example it’s 13
Races in a day so you start with the qualifying so you you come in prepared you don’t know how it’s going to go but you’re trying to put your best foot forward in that obviously and when I get nervous my legs actually go like lactic a bit which obviously does not help
Performance at all right so that’s challenging trying to stay calm in my flying 200 how do you stay calm just breathe really just relax just chill I don’t know you can’t just tell yourself to chill though and again like I’m no cyclist but I’ve performed on a late
Level like just saying oh let’s just relax that doesn’t work that doesn’t work so don’t tell me that is it is it music is it do you have do you use mindfulness techniques do you have focal points are you like reciting poetry like are you like completely off grid like
Where where are you mentally before us well the only thing I’ve really worked on because it seems to be the only thing they have an actual problem with is the breakfast so I do like a Rubik’s Cube I I can’t really do a Rubik’s Cube but I
Will try and do a Rubik’s Cube as I’m trying to eat my breakfast so my mind is on nothing else other than let’s do this Rubik’s Cube you genuinely have a Rubik’s Cube yeah I like a little mini one I one from like time zone once W so
It travels well bit stiff it’s obviously not a competitive one it’s pretty pretty stiff but it it moves so yeah and then I’m not on my phone I’m not looking at race results from the day before I’m not seeing some [ __ ] comment in in my in my
DMs or something like that it’s it’s just um just Cube huh yeah that’s good that’s what I’ve been working on recently because throwing up my breakfast has been a bit of an issue as you can imagine so um but then once I get racing it’s like we do it so much
That for me the cue if it’s not chill is like you know what you’re doing right you know what I mean like you know what you’re doing just back yourself and there’s a lot of times like in a spring qu it’s hard because all the Riders are
Kind of going before you someone might have done a really quick time like I remember last year at Worlds Matt glater my teammate he went out and set a national record like he went 9.4 seconds in the fly 200 100 right I needed to do
Like a 10th and a half PB and set a new National Record to out quall the guy who just went before me so I’m like rolling around like [ __ ] like this is going to be a big one you know what I mean like we really need to pull it out of the bag
Here yeah and delivered so and you did it yeah yeah but it’s just just roll yeah I also did that right so you you pocketed it yeah right yeah so then in between the rounds then it’s different because you’re thinking about who you’re versing next what they’re going to
Do how they might race the race and that sort of thing so it’s it’s full on all day like you’re not Switched Off are you in the middle of the track the entire time yeah racing going on and like I remember how you get in there serious how do get into the
Track yeah because the it goes under like yeah okay fair enough it goes under yeah a slippery side down the like over the fence people were racing no underneath yeah like you’ll walk in KN and then there’ll be like a tunnel that goes under and Pops back out in field
Cuz you watch like like hundred of people yeah you just like sitting around in there so that’s like are you are you warming you what are you doing there what do I’m a race what do you mean I know but like like it looks like there’s just people in there the entire time
Yeah we’re all racing I don’t know like you’re there all day you’re just going back in the mid track and sitting around and sit around wait for the next race yeah so it’s an intense environment to be you’re going there to warm I mean like I know what you’re doing but it
Seems crazy like I remember at commies I’ve gone to three with a guy from Malaysia so when I say gone to three it was it was the quarters it’s best out of three won the First lost the second absolutely cooked it but anyway went to yes there’s a scratch race on before me
Which is an endurance event so that’s just like I think it was 60 laps first they’re like firing guns and stuff all the time in that one when yeah people crash anyway and then there’s like this sixth person crash they go over the fence hit some Spectators like it’s
Chaos wow and I’m like sitting there like trying to focus on my race I’m not important here like the crash is definitely important obviously those people are getting hurt but like just the environment is just insane you know what I mean someone might do something sick yes you know what I mean like
There’s a guy called fipo Gana might set some new IP world record or something crazy and you’ll just send there or I might watch my partner race or something like that you know what I mean so it’s you got the added yeah so it’s just an
Intense environment to be in and I think it seems quite wild but I’ve done it so many times that it just it’s just that’s just race day you know I mean that’s just where I am how it is um music is good music is good obviously you got the
Commentators and the crowd and everything’s going on all the time and it’s just a lot of head noise so music is definitely key part of my routine especially in warm up yes get some good bangers on is that is that what we’re talking oh yeah some like good [ __ ] like
I saw like like like grunting a little bit it’s getting fired up it’s getting real fired up Southern riverband type areas or we talking like um some big drops like some sort of house type are no I like a bit of like old school rock oh Southern River Band the guys I don’t
Know Southern riverband local boys I’ll I’ll send you some after this we’ll get you sorted have you have you had many big Stacks like there’s a lot of you know you’re a casual cool calm guy you’re talking yourself down all this but it’s a dangerous sport yeah have you
Had any big pranks or I actually we have to touch wood for yeah touch wood sure um yeah I haven’t actually had a really big one I’ve come down I was actually thinking about this last night I was watching your your um good I was watching your hilarious video by the way
But I was watching your um review on Grand Final right only full game of footy I’ve ever watched oh not live as well is that right yeah so that’s kind of wild but you’ve never watched any other games of football other than that game not apart from live apart from
Obviously I’m not going to leave halfway through so I’ll I’ll finish it you know what I mean but not live I was in the pub down at inoo right watched you phenomenal enjoyed that what’s the segue here um you doing the review all we’ll
Get to it we’ll get to it you doing the review on your game and you were like selling people the dummy and stuff like that so I did that actually with Nicholas po the guy from trinbago a World Cup last year so I’ve sold him the dummy underneath right broken his ankles
On the bike he stacked it and I’ve just gone over him so I’ve just I’ve had nowhere to go so I’ve just hit him and then crashed as well landed on him luckily but yeah so that was my last time I crashed wow yeah so it’s never happened before breaking someone’s
Ankles on the track yes until that moment he’s looking left looking right I’ve gone up gone down and he’s just stacked it and does everyone know like does everyone is that like a bit of a poster moment in basketball or like a SC moment left and right it never happens
Oh you [ __ ] that guy up a lot of my teammates were like that’s kind of funny but yeah just Bamboozled the bloke but um yeah so that was the last time I crashed but nothing wrong but a lot of bad crashes happen like you slide a long
Way like if you come off 80k an hour you’re sliding all the way down the home straight or or one of the straights picking up a lot of splinters you then obviously go to the concrete which then Burns as well and you lose a lot of skin
And I crashed um my worst crash is probably racing Outdoors it’s like a concrete track oh like a bitchman yeah it’s Grim it shredded me there’s a photo on my gram of me as I like hit the deck and you can see it’s like my shoulders
Gone and I’m like already in pain and like my bike’s flying everywhere and that was a Kieran wow yeah so that was Grim but you just lose a lot of skin luckily I’ve never broken any bones like I said before but is is everyone on the
Same box no n this is where the technology comes into it so bikes make a decent amount of difference in speed aerodynamics stiffness weight all that sort of thing so there are like legal requirements on how what sort of shape it can be and that sort of thing how how
Heavy or light it can be is there like um you know is there like heavy scrutiny and potential like controversy around like B equipment yeah a lot of the time a lot of the Olympic Cycles that’s when all the equipment comes out cuz obviously the Olympics is like the peak of
Uh for everyy here’s our Olympic oh [ __ ] like yeah and now it actually happens at the World Championships before the Olympics start cuz what was happening is the Brits would rock up the Olympics with rocket ship bikes and it didn’t really give anyone else the opportunity
To kind of get on terms with it so you have to release all your equipment the year before Oh there’s rules there’s rules now yeah and then you can buy it it has to be for sale and all this sort of stuff obviously they put it up for
150 Grand but it’s still for how much they cost uh some of them I think one of the Malaysian bikes is about 150k for the frame yeah really something like that it’s nuts holy [ __ ] yeah mate Fleet Network shout out if you you could buy three or four five cars with
That yeah yeah wow I did not realize that at all yeah so no One Rides the same bike pretty much I like I like us and the Canadians ride the same bike and a few other nations have bought our bikes which is the Aron 18 um is that
Just a race day bike like you rolling around that yeah I’ll get i’ll get brand new one for the Olympics like brand new l as possible like freshy good paint um wow back logo yeah yeah back logo on the frame for the Olympics yeah bit sketchy on that one um
But yeah so like I said before the technology that goes into the sport the the a big thing like it might not seem that obvious but a big thing is actually your skin suit right so the biggest thing slowing you down is you like you’re punching the hole in the wind
Like the bike is only worth 10% of the drag that makesense so then if you change 1% on the bike if you get a 1% gain on the bike or sorry a 10% gain on the bike which seems like a lot it’s actually a 1% gain in the overall drag
Which is like nothing so you guys do heavy testing like testing suits a lot of Arrow testing a lot of wind tunnel testing suits material like all that sort of stuff so um the first thing you try and optimize is your position so getting as low as narrow as possible on
The bike we’re not riding all up here wide high and stuff like that we we’re getting all tucked in nice and low um and then second to that is is what you’re actually wearing the helmet you’ve got on all that sort of stuff yes the shoes you’ve got the socks you’ve
Got shave legs like all that sort of stuff yeah I thought the shave legs was to like the crash like aftermath that that’s a bit of it but it’s actually worth a lot really yeah a lot of people are like like can’t be worth anything look
At that bloke no it’s worth like 40 seconds over like quite a few K yeah really yeah they yeah they tested in the tunnel and it’s it’s legit something cyclist are rolling out or is legit no it’s legit obviously cyclist are rolling it out but it’s
Legit yeah see like that’s crazy I think like um to have that sort of Advantage with like little things like that but it’s expensive like skin suits can cost north of five grand so is it is it Financial the sport like we SP to a lot of people doing Olympic sport like you
Making money being like a full-time cyclist yeah yeah yeah I get paid heaps of cash BR no it’s not like that I get paid to ride obviously like enough to comfortably live off and is there uh is that through sponsorship is that through winning comps like how do you make money riding yeah
So um until recently it’s just been um we get a bit from like cycling Australia or cycling as they’re called now but um we get a bit from them and then a lot of it is dependent on how you how how good you are basically so there’ll be one
Target event each year so if it’s uh commor year it’s that if it’s the Olympics year it’s that and if it’s not then it’s the World Championships that year so depending on how good you do there’s different tiers of funding basically so if you’re the best you get
Paid the maximum and if you’re kind of further down then you don’t get paid as much and if you’re to be fast so yeah it’s it’s it’s really how good you are yeah and then now with the UCI track Champions League there’s um extra extra pool of funding for that like winning it
Last year basically doubled my yearly salary and it was just four weekends so that’s why I like to race that quite often but um the IPL Cricket and then with the Kieran as well there’s it’s quite traditional in Japan not quiet it’s very traditional in plan and it’s a
It’s a betting sport over there so there’s a lot of money like I think the G1 Kieran which is like the top top tier boys Grand Final they get like a million us yeah for winning that like all the Japanese guys like would you do that
Like is that something yeah so you can actually get invited they they take they haven’t been recently because of Co and they’re trying to restart they have international invites six guys and they race like Cade I think it is so that’s something that’s definitely on The Bucket List it’ll be sick and you
All race the same bike and it’s like standardized equipment and you you look like jockeys basically you’ve got like different colors on with a number and a weird looking helmet and that sort of thing they’d be like guys that um specialize in Kier and racy in Japan yes
There’s guys that do it for like their job like they’re just like yeah this is my 95 like they’re having a [ __ ] Before the Race and you know what I mean like yeah they’re just just rock up and have a cigarette and then go race their bike
They’re like 45 years old 50 years old like they’re lower down but they’re just treating this like 9 to5 it’s awesome get me to Japan I know it’s sick wow such a Japanese thing as well just real Niche so even when you’re done and dusted here you’re off to Tokyo wherever
They raceing well I’ll do it even when I’m not done and dusted like if I get an invite I’m there great it’s like you spend like six months there just living in Japan racing kierin couple of month earning some coin right I reckon we’ve had a good 10 one with cycling with your
Career um I’m excited to sort of follow your journey especially over the next 12 months but um I think we got a bit of a long-term relationship building here mate I think we should definitely revisit this a little close to some big events um again get some more back chat
Logos across your quties across your chest but uh I appreciate the chat you had a bit of fun yeah it’s been good not not too intimidating n we didn’t have to do the history of the AFL said you’re a bit worried about going through some AFL stats just like
Name dropping I’m just like all right so what’s what’s this um what’s this finished no who is it Harry yeah is that Harry RAC okay [ __ ] you Harry uh Matthew Richardson of the cycling variety that’s back chat done and dusted I usually hand over to Dan here for scal media but it
Kind of makes more sense that I’m reading this out not social schoal you’ve heard enough from me it’s time to hear from the people we got questions from the crowd for you here we got some I saw it oh we got we got plenty of everyone got some wait we at there
Stories as well I saw you on there replying to some of them yeah I rep to one of them it’s a big it’s a big no no CU now I can’t ask you cuz I have the answer I only replied to one I it was uh
What sort of hood Burger was your was your order right I’m going there tonight so that’s yeah right okay do you get free hood burger no okay did you get free anything shout out P Mafia uh propx asks how did you get such big quads gym squads right yeah lots of gym
Like lots so much yeah like like think about a lot of gy and then double it right yeah at least like what are you how much do you squat I can squ 240 right it’s quite a lot of weight yeah so I weigh 110 at the moment uh a little
Bit more than my playing weight uh you can do me two and a bit times yeah oh boy yeah oh yeah right uh are you are you squatting the most out of I don’t know like I mean like you fun fact world champion squatter no like uh your cycling crew like the
Yeah yeah okay which yeah I’m also the lightest so it’s it’s good for the power to wait it’s it’s good for power on the bike yeah okay you want big quads start squatting yeah Loy J hin is your ultimate goal in life to become more famous than the AFL Matthew
Richardson does this come up a bit he’s my gym coach oh it came up so much like when I first came to Australia obviously no idea what AFL was or anything and he might have still been 2010 2009 he would have still been y yeah he was playing
And playing well yeah and then TV was on in the background they’re like Matthew richen and we were just like what it wasn’t me obviously 9-year-old me was like what that’s me Matthew richon moves to Australia incredible no like I mean you’ve got the ultimate like you know
Like how many world Champs he got M richon like you could put that in front of him he’s never one he never want to mhip either so you’ve got some medallions fighting around I I may get him I may get him you never know he’s got you on the fame stage like you
Google Matthew richon he comes up you got to write Cy you got to r ah no it’s Grim I reckon we should we I go to the Post Office collect a parel they’re like like the footy player I’m just like yeah man have you had have like I want I
Want Matthew richon the football player to go into the post office and they go like the cyclist that would be go that would be absolute life goals because it sounds like people have been disappointed to see it like Matthew coming in they see the packages like what so our producer on
The show here nick uh for those listening the guy didn’t press record for the hello sport uh interview Nick I I just said MD Richardson confirmed uh Thursday so he only joined us this year we interviewed the the PO of Matt Richardson last year and he’s a massive
Old school footy fan and he was like [ __ ] wrote this big list of all these questions I said Matthew Richardson the cyclist and he was like no he was actually excited he was okay I was excited too and have been thoroughly um fulfilled Loy Allen how many deadlift
Back flips can you do zero no I can I can do them what’s a deadlift you could haven’t been on the gram it’s like video down Indie did show me you jumping onto like a seven story building what’s a deadlift back flip so
I I do a back flip like I I deadlift the bar up like a deadlift yep and then I do a back flip with it with the bar in my hands yeah so like yeah Power with yeah how much weights on it it was 20 kilos
So the bar well it was a 15 kilo bar with 25 a lot of people were like oh that wasn’t 70 kilos cuz it looks like 70 and I’m just like that’s so impossible K how many well I did about 10 that day about
15 in my life would you be able to do two in a row yeah Cal any chance of a weightlifting career when you’re done little white nah my body will be done so many so much weight has gone through the spine that I think it will it will have
Had enough yes by the time I’m I don’t know how you do it I it’s kind of grim um NES asked do you have any uh bad food habits apart from throwing up for race um what’s your bad habit I don’t know probably eating burgers say for dinner tonight that’s probably not a
Good habit it doesn’t sound like you’ve got to be like on a salad lean diet here coming into comp I do cuz powered away got to lean up right but at the moment I’m trying to gain as much mass as possible so so large chip so hbers right
Yeah great well this is a great way to finish then the way we finish every episode tappy how do you like your eggs the Eggman how do you like your eggs poached poached on AO toast is that right yeah a bit of salt and pepper okay very good bit of lme delicious
Socials back chatore you know where to find us hello backchat podcast.com is our email all of the good stuff is over at backchat studios.com today you a big thank you to our sponsors Fleet Network powering the podcast this year swimly whipper snappa whiskey Margaret River roasting Co blue bet shelter Brewing Co
Leal cameras M digital little shout out pipe pedal Mafia you anyone else you want to shout out you can shout some of your sponsors out if you like shout out valik there you go what’s up valik uh that is US done and dusted Matthew Richardson good luck mate cheers thanks for me
4 Comments
Great Pod, can’t wait for more Matthew Richardson the Cyclist 😂
What a legend! Amazing chat 🤙🏼
Did Anna Mears win them all ???
Great chat again be watching I’m in the Olympics now