Things I Learned Along the Way — Huck’s Fiftieth Anniversary Special collects lessons learned and creative advice from fifty of the most inspiring people we know. Each day we’ll be sharing a new excerpt from the magazine. Today, we hear from Olympic cyclist Laura Trott on how she keeps grounded amidst ever-growing career pressure.

#25 – Laura Trott

Double Olympic gold medalist Laura Trott was born in Essex, a month prematurely with a collapsed lung and asthma. To keep on top of her condition, doctors recommended sport, but it was her mum who encouraged her to take cycling seriously. Her family supported her throughout her long and tough journey to London 2012, where she picked up two gold medals at her first Olympics. Trott set a world record in the women’s pursuit team, alongside Joanna Rowsell and Dani King, and dominated the omnium, a technically challenging multi-discipline event – track cycling’s answer to the decathlon. At just twenty-two, Laura has become an ambassador for cycling, carrying a huge weight of expectation and the responsibility of inspiring the next generation. Support from team-mates and coaches helps, but for Laura, her family have always kept her riding at her stunning best.

“People start expecting you to win. With me, that’s when I sort of had to get control of it because it does start ruining races. If you go on the start-line feeling like the whole world is on your back, all that pressure on you, it’s only ever going to go one way.

“The most important thing is the people around me. My parents are always there. I’m with my dad throughout the competition. My mum gets cycling in a way, but she doesn’t get the tactics and stuff, so it’s nice to have her there because it’s almost like an outsider. She sees it for what it is. They just make you feel normal, they make me realise that losing the Worlds or losing a race isn’t the end of the world. There’s always another race.”

This is just a short excerpt from Huck’s Fiftieth Special, a collection of fifty personal stories from fifty inspiring lives.

Grab a copy now to read all fifty stories in full. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss another issue.

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