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I have always loved animals and groomed friends' horses as a child. I think I may have even ridden the odd seaside donkey in my early years.
I love sport and will do just about anything. Someone said they'd had a go at skiing off a mountain with a parachute, and that sounds great!
I think women are by nature competitive - secretly, privately within their own selves, on lots of different levels, on the way they look, perform.
The men couldn't understand how I could be so successful and so insecure at the same time - because it doesn't really exist in the same way in the male psyche.
As a teenager, I wanted to look like the early '90s curvy supermodels. Even in my early 20s, I always said as soon as I retired from cycling, I'd get a boob job.
We are all totally committed as elite athletes. To think that pushing people around and bullying them is the best way to get results out of them is just ludicrous.
I really love routine and so I've never found it a problem. I really enjoy it. I don't mind somebody organising what I have to do. I'm a creature of habit in some ways.
I'm not one for going out on the town on Friday night, as I've never been a big drinker, so I like getting the rubbish jobs out of the way so we can enjoy our free time.
Even though I've won numerous titles and an Olympic gold medal, there are still so many faults in my performance that I can honestly hardly bear to watch the videos back.
I'm very passionate about my two Dobermans, Stella and Mr Jonty. I go on and on and on about them, and people have to tell me to shut up before I get out pictures of them.
There's footage of me bouncing around, all uncoordinated, trying to work out how on earth you're supposed to do a rising trot on a really extravagant moving eventing horse.
We've all said, 'No, no, I couldn't do that... ' But actually, you could if you just went, 'You know what? I will... and I shall.' Once you realise that, it's quite wonderful.
As you ride in a steeplechase, and you're on the horse, going quite fast, you think, 'That's quite a big fence...' But trust the horse, and don't give him any reason to doubt you.
I genuinely enjoy the process of making colourful, delicious food. But I do allow myself an occasional piece of chocolate - today I had a pastry. If I fancy something, I'll have it.
As a kid growing up - I can see now - it didn't matter what I did, as long as it was something I could be really good at. Cycling just happened to be the opportunity that came along.
Oddly enough you'd think, now that I wasn't training professionally, I'd be able to enjoy a lie-in at the weekend, but I actually slept more when I was competing because I was so tired.
I like to eat healthily anyway and I think I've become more disciplined now I've retired - because I'm such a creature of habit, I don't find it hard to do. I quite enjoy the challenge.
In tennis, you can have a bad set and still win. The part of track cycling that is difficult to find in other sports is that it's so final; there's no second chance if you make a mistake.
A lot of women in sport tend to take on a very masculine, aggressive look. They want to be perceived as being strong and powerful. I never lost that sense of wanting to retain my femininity.
What the event will be like, being part of the Olympics and being in London, is too much to think about. You've no control over those things, so in a way, it's wasted energy to think of them.
People will put restrictions on your ability, on your aptitude, on your talent, on your character, and to be honest, it's just opinion. Don't let anyone put you in a box or draw your path for you.
People say, 'Wow, you've achieved it all this year: two world championship wins and an Olympic gold medal.' And I think, 'Yeah, but how come I feel so unsatisfied and under pressure all over again?'
I've been taught by some of the best strength and conditioning coaches in the country, and I've learnt that technique for weight training and cycling is very much more strength and less conditioning.
I often felt that I didn't train and race enough team sprint to get it right. You need to know that you've got a place to have that continuity of results. Am I in? Am I out of this one? That's tough.
I've always been like this - insecure - because I'm striving for something that can't be attained. I don't just want to be OK at this: I want to be the best at it, and I've never achieved that in my mind.
People may think I'm crazy, but one of the ways I like to wind down my Friday is to get some of our household chores done, whether it's cleaning or doing a big food shop, so the house is all nice for the weekend.
I was constantly being told I shouldn't talk so much about how I was feeling. They seemed to think I was giving too much away to my competitors. Showing signs of weakness. But I've always thought that was rubbish.
You have to be realistic. I'd love to be more famous, have lots of people supporting me, people knowing my name, but I need a tennis racket or a golf club or to play football. Being a female, I don't stand a chance.
Anyone that has been lucky enough to go to the races and witness the magnificent spectacle of a competitive race will know how people like me can instantly fall in love with the power and beauty of race horses in full gallop.
I come from a cycling background. I happened to be good at it; the opportunities came my way. It wasn't something I necessarily searched to be involved in; it wasn't a dream. I just had an opportunity which you couldn't refuse.
It's a risky business being a cyclist in the UK, there are a lot of people who really dislike us. It's the Jeremy Clarkson influence - we're hated on the roads. We just hope people realise we are just flesh and bones on two wheels.
Apparently, I have such a serious race face, even when I'm doing a bit of work, at first everybody wasn't sure if I was enjoying it or not. But it's absolutely exhilarating. It feels like you're one with your horse and you're flying.
I just want to prove that I am really good at something. And I haven't quite done that yet - at least not to myself. I know I could ride so much better, with more ease, with more finesse. I feel I'm nowhere near as good as I should be.
To be honest, after you've crossed the line at the Olympic Games, it is bedlam for the next, about, five or six hours. Media, press conference, dope control - you might get some food if you're lucky. You might see family if you're lucky.
My best hair care tip would be, choose a range that is right for your hair structure. Working with Pantene has made me realize the importance of this, and it really does make a difference. I have quite thick hair, so I use the Smooth & Sleek range.
Don't get me wrong: there are some fantastic people who work at British Cycling who kept me together, who were there when I was struggling with it all. They were walking the same tightrope in many ways, because if you do speak up, your days are numbered.
I was always cycling for my dad. Then the coaches got bigger, and my results got better. Suddenly, the responsibility grows, and I'm doing it for somebody else, I'm doing it for a programme; I'm doing it for the country. I'm doing it for, like, everybody.
I beat myself up the whole time because I'm striving for something I'll basically never achieve. I portray this image of confidence, of arrogance, and it's not really me. I'm never satisfied, and I'm never content. It means I'm a bit of a mess some of the time.
You have to make the mistakes and have those failures in order to learn from them and grow and improve... But for me, the best way to combat any of that beating yourself up or overanalysing, the most important part is always to be prepared to the best of your ability.
Eating vegetarian in the past would have been a really bad choice as an athlete. Impossible. Just being able to get the amount of protein in was a mission. You couldn't be picky. I feel quite liberated by the fact that I can now quite recklessly choose vegetarian food.
I never really felt I had the same respect as my male team-mates. My opinion wasn't worth as much. I used to sit quietly in meetings and not say anything, as I knew my opinions would be disregarded. And that's after I had become Olympic champion and multiple world champion.
In competition, everything is very well planned in advance and very well detailed. You just stick to the plan, keep your head down and be as disciplined as possible in every aspect, whether sleep, recovery or the intensity of your training. And it's all recorded; the data is analysed.
Winning the gold medal should have been the happiest day of my entire life, and it just wasn't. It felt like the saddest day of my life. Everyone was so angry with us, that Scott and I had fallen in love, because it was so unprofessional, and we were a disgrace and had betrayed everybody.
One of the first coaches I worked with on the national team told me that I was too skinny, too puny, and had no natural acceleration. He said I'd be better off looking for another facet of sport to follow. That was a really, really bad moment. For a long time, I felt as if my dad was the only one who had faith in me.
I don't think I really knew how fit I was when I was a kid. I rode with my dad quite long distances and I've been racing since the age of nine, so we did a lot of sport growing up. My earliest memories of my dad are watching him race, so it was inevitable when we were old enough that my brother and I would get on bikes.
I think just drinking juice is too extreme for a diet. Your body needs more than juice, so I think it's a very hard thing to do - very challenging and probably very unhealthy for your body. You can't get everything you need from a juice. I love juice because it can provide you with nutrients - but drink it alongside your diet!
If you start lifting weights, you will expect to put weight on, as muscle is heavier than fat. But you have to look more at your body shape - you will get heavier - but you might get smaller and heavier at the same time, which is fine. And it doesn't really matter what you weigh as long as you are happy with your shape and size!
You look at a horse, and he's such a majestic, beautiful, powerful creature that you can't not be impressed. I love scraping the water off them when I wash them down because you go all round the contours, and its muscle and body, and you just think, 'Ooh, isn't this a magnificent creature.' You're touching it, and it's just solid, carved muscle.