Full Chat podcast: James Cracknell on why he wasn’t allowed to ride bikes when training for the Olympics
Former Olympian and two-time gold medal winner James Cracknell is the latest guest on a brand new motorcycling podcast, Full Chat.
Cracknell is one of Great Britain’s most celebrated athletes, having taken home two gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2004 games in Athens, alongside Matthew Pinsent, Steve Redgrave (Australia), Tim Foster (Australia), Steve Williams (Greece) and Ed Coode (Greece).
The 52-year-old is the fourth guest on Bikesure’s new podcast, hosted by former Olympic sprinter Iwan Thomas and footballer-turned-presenter David Prutton, after Michelin star chef Paul Ainsworth, former athlete and television personality Kriss Akabusi and Isle of Man TT racer Peter Hickman.
During a wide-ranging chat, Cracknell discussed his love of motorbikes, why he wasn’t allowed to ride during Olympic years and the cycling accident that caused his brain injury in 2010.
‘Matt Pinsent and I were banned from riding motorbikes during Olympic years’, says James Cracknell
Cracknell revealed that during Olympic years his coaches used to ban him from riding motorbikes because they deemed it to be too dangerous.
“Matt (Pinsent), he’s a little bit like the pinball wizard in that his eyesight is not great and his hearing is not great,” joked Cracknell..
“He’s great to share a room with though because he rolls over and can’t hear anything, so you can put the TV on!
“Matt and I, from the first of January of an Olympic year, wouldn’t ride the bikes until after the Olympics, so we’d have nine months of not riding.
“Our coach knew we rode bikes and in the Olympic year he wasn’t fine with us riding bikes, nor any downhill skiing either.”
Plenty more episodes of Full Chat to come
There’s plenty more to come from our brand new motorcycling podcast about everything on two wheels. Each week a celebrity guest will detail their history of bikes, along with some funny anecdotes.
You can listen to Full Chat on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or various other platforms if you want to see what all the fuss is about.
