GO GOLD Athlete of the Week: Alex Haines

Alex has already matured throughout his early hood as an athlete, having ridden on some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. He knows how to balance life with ways to wind down while detailing tactically into how he can continuously become a better athlete towards what appears to be a golden journey.

Describe my typical day

Although not my typical day, a Wednesday is probably the most interesting day that I have in a typical week. After starting the day with 4 Weetabix, Ill either head off to the gym for a weights and core session or set off on a 3 hour ride, normally consisting of starts and a block of 'pushing on' afterwards.

After this I'll go to school where I'm lucky to only have an hour of lessons starting at 2pm. After returning home and relaxing for a bit, often on my Xbox, I might do another session in the evening. This will depend on what phase of training I am in.

If not a Pro, what would I be

I'm still very unsure of what I'd want to do if professional cycling does not work out. My A-levels are Maths, Physics, and PE and so I can see myself becoming an engineer. I'd especially love to do some engineering in the cycling world such as designing bikes.

Sport science is also a really interesting topic to me and I'm fascinated about what I can do to make me a better athlete and so I could use this passion to become a coach or a directeur sportif (DS) for a team.

Biggest challenge

Throughout my career so far, I've always been small and had to improve other factors of my cycling skillset to keep up and eventually start competing at a national and international level, this has meant having strong skills, tactics and much more to close the gap between me and some riders that were much more physically developed than me.

They say you learn more from losing than you do from winning, and now I've got a lot of knowledge that's now helping me really excel in my sport.

Best thing sport enabled me to do

The places that I get to go to are breath-taking. Seeing a country by a bike, whether it's on a training camp abroad or racing through a small town in Belgium, it's an amazing way to explore a place! I've learnt a lot about the Belgian culture of bike racing and how they shut down whole towns to celebrate bike racing and everyone comes along to watch.

I've also been fortunate enough to ride in beautiful places like the French Alps and Mallorca. This year I've already been abroad multiple times and there are many opportunities coming up to travel to new places.

Proudest accomplishment

My proudest accomplishment is the win in the National Madison championships. I knew in the build up to the race that I had a good chance at winning but in the lead up to the race I was ill. Two weeks before I barely touched my bike and I pulled out of the points race the day before. It was really touch and go whether I would even race, let alone be in good enough form to win.

The joy I got from winning really makes me push myself even harder in training to get more days like that.

Hobbies outside of sport

Sport and school take up almost all of my time but outside of sport I enjoy spending time on my Xbox, I love games like Fifa and Fortnite. After a hard session on the bike I definitely enjoy winding down and recovering with a few friends on Xbox.