A gold medal in relaxation: Sir Chris Hoy celebrates his retirement in Antigua
By Chris Hoy from Daily Mail UK
I’ve been to the Caribbean before, to take part in bike races in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago about 15 years ago, but this trip to Antigua was my first time going just for pleasure.
A lot of sports people who travel abroad never really see much of the country they’re staying in – they go from the airport to the hotel to the sports stadium. At least if your sport is cycling, you’re doing some road bike training in between races, so you do get a chance to actually see the place you’re visiting – though you certainly don’t get much chance to enjoy it all as you zip past bent over your handlebars.
So on my first proper holiday in the Caribbean it was fantastic just to be able to relax and not have to think about competition or time trials. I’ve been racing bikes since I was seven, and I’ve been racing professionally for the 15 or so years since I left university at 23.
While I’ve travelled a lot for training and competitions, I’ve always made sure I have one real holiday each year – normally straight after the World Championships or the Olympic Games. Those would be pure relaxation time, literally just going and doing absolutely nothing. I would fly out to somewhere sunny, lie on a beach and just laze around. After hard training and intense competition, you need to be able to totally switch off. After a while I might get a bit bored of sitting on a beach, but you’d be surprised how long I could enjoy the novelty of having nothing at all to do.
I’ve travelled quite widely in search of the perfect ‘fly and flop’ sunshine holiday: we’ve been to Mauritius, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Australia and Dubai.
We really liked Thailand and we’ve been back a couple of times, to Koh Samui and Phuket. There are nice resorts in Thailand, but what we really enjoyed is the food – my wife Sarra and I are big fans of Thai cookery. The food there tastes amazing and is so healthy that I don’t have to worry too much about what or how much I eat.
At the beginning of the year we went to Australia and did a bit of a tour. We flew to Cairns and went up to Port Douglas, then from there drove all the way down the coast to Brisbane before going across to Melbourne for the F1 Grand Prix. It was a long holiday, a fabulous experience and it was while we were there that I finally decided I was going to retire from cycling.
This break to Galley Bay in Antigua came shortly after my retirement was announced – it was our first holiday knowing the pressure on me was well and truly off. And we went into it knowing it was going to be a different sort of experience.
Antigua was lovely in that Caribbean way: very relaxed with a nice, laid-back lifestyle and, of course, that beautiful Caribbean weather.
But what we really loved in Antigua was getting in the sea. The ocean was clear and blue, bordered by the softest of soft white sand. Just perfect. Everything was conducive to relaxation and chilling out.
Galley Bay is an adults-only, all-inclusive hotel and spa resort on an untouched stretch of beach. The accommodation is in thatch-roofed bungalows and ocean-front rooms. It is set in 40 acres of coconut-palm gardens and grounds that include a lagoon and a bird sanctuary.
The resort also has its own kitchen garden – and the fresh, organically grown fruit, vegetables and herbs grown there are used in the resort’s restaurants.
The hotel is great for relaxing. .. and fabulous for eating. We couldn’t have enjoyed the local food more. They’ve got a great choice of three restaurants in Galley Bay. Our lunchtime favourite was the barbecue where they offered grilled fish and chicken and burgers. I’m a big seafood fan and the local fish they served was great.
For the evenings, they have a gourmet restaurant named Ismay’s after Ismay Mason, one of their employees who has become rather a celebrity on the island – actually, she’s become a tourist ambassador – because she’s worked in the same hotel for 50 years. In all that time she’s never missed a day’s work from illness, and never even been late for work. Not a bad record!
We took a leaf from her book and spent our time at the resort. Our one adventure was to hire a canoe, or perhaps it was a kayak – I’m not really sure of the difference. We went out and had a little paddle round the coastline and, as far as sightseeing goes, that was about it.
I’m sorry we didn’t see much of the island – we’ll definitely have to go back another time and have a proper look around.
And one thing I definitely didn’t do while I was there was get in the saddle. I was having a clean break from my bicycle! Not that I’m planning to give up cycling altogether.
Back home, I’m riding my bike five or six times a week, and it’s all different because I’m riding for fun, not like before when I’d have to ride to a certain intensity or do a specific session. Now I’m just going out for a spin.
Record breaker: Sir Chris Hoy celebrates winning a gold medal at last year’s Olympic Games
Cycling in the Caribbean is a good way to see the islands, but I would say that you have to be careful when it rains. If it’s similar to Barbados and Trinidad, it’s great when the conditions are dry, but as soon as it gets wet the road becomes quite slippery. It’s a very different surface to what we’re used to in the UK.
Apart from that, it’s great – loads of nice things to see and you’re never far from the coastline. It’s somewhere I would certainly like to have a little tour on a bike.
One of the places overseas where I’ve cycled most is Majorca. I’ve trained there every year for the past 18 and I love it. The island is beautiful and really well suited to cycling.
We were based in Pollensa, which is itself a great little town. For us it was perfect because you have access to the hills but there are plenty of flat roads around too, so you can tailor the rides to whatever you’re looking for.
When I was growing up in Scotland, I remember we had a lot of family holidays in other parts of the country: Pitlochry was one of our regular favourites. Our first holiday abroad was to Malta, but I was a little too young to remember very much about it.
France became our usual foreign holiday destination. We used to drive down and get the ferry across the Channel. I remember holidays on the Ile de Re, which we visited three years in a row. And, of course, when we were in France we had to go and see the Tour.
On one holiday we saw a stage finish and on another we watched a time trial. That was a huge excitement for us. Watching the Tour de France is one of life’s great pleasures: it’s not just about the colourful mass of cyclists whizzing past, it’s about the cavalcade that goes through for about two or three hours before the main bunch of cyclists arrives. All the sponsors have floats and vans throwing out giveaways, and there’s all sorts of entertainment. It’s a really fun atmosphere before the race actually comes through.
But of everywhere I’ve been on my bike, the one I’d suggest to anyone looking for the ideal place to go cycling would be Melbourne. I adore Australia. I love hanging out on a beach holiday for a week or two – but when you want things to do and see, it’s hard to beat Melbourne for having pretty much everything.
It does have beaches and good weather in the summer, but it’s also got so much happening in and around it, with the bonus of really nice cafes (I’m a big fan of coffee, and it’s really good in Australia).
Melbourne has a massive number of cyclists. The famous stretch that everyone rides is Beach Road, which heads from the city out past the town of St Kilda and then along the coast. This is where they held the time trials for the Commonwealth Games and the World Championship.
I also cycled in the Barossa Valley near Adelaide, famous for its wine. The valley was stunning, absolutely beautiful, but I mistimed it – there was a strong wind and I was cycling into it almost all the way.
Nonetheless, Barossa is another perfect place to cycle – though it’s probably not a good idea to combine the cycling with the wine-tasting. Maybe cycle for a few days and then indulge in the local vintage – sounds like the ideal holiday, really.
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