Catch up with Chris Lillywhite
“Gareth.”
“Chris, how you doing? Getting the miles in?”
CL: "I try to ride every Sunday. We have a little group."
"You know, I probably do exercise three times a week. It's hard when you work and, you know, you haven't got the days."
"So, yeah, I mean, it's difficult for me, you know, to keep my fitness up."
GW: "I don't know. You look pretty handy to me."
"Still as sharp as 'Chris Lillywhite - winner of the 93 Milk Race'."
CL: "Haha, he's all grown up now."
GW: "Yep, wiser and leaner than ever. Cycling is the secret to eternal youth, eh?“
CL: “Maybe if you filter out my wrinkles. Haha.”
GW: “No way, they are the evidence of a great cycling career.”
CL: "I would say for a domestic rider, it was relatively successful."
GW: “You’re being modest, I am aware of your palmarès.”
CL: "You know, I won lots of international races. I won pretty much everything there was to win domestically, apart from the national road race. I was runner up a couple of times. I was national criterium champion, umm, a couple of things on the track as well."
"Internationally, I sort of look back on my career and think I never really fulfilled my potential. Back in the late 80s and 90s, it wasn't like it is now."
"There was no British Cycling Academy, no pathway to a successful international career. It was pioneers like Sean Yates going to France, you know, living out of a suitcase on the outskirts of Paris."
"Back in those days, you know, there was no 'nipping over on the tunnel' for the day or things like that.”
"You really had to throw yourself in it. And, you know, in a foreign land where there was relatively few English speaking writers and staff in the peloton, whereas nowadays, English is the language of cycling."
"And so, yeah, I guess those guys got to the top and, you know, I didn't really have the stomach for it, personally.”
"And that's why I felt, well, I didn't feel at the time, but looking back on my career, I sort of underachieved."
"I'm not bitter about that - at all. It is what it is, and it still gave me a great opportunity to see the world. If you enjoy something and you earn a living out of it, it's a dream."
GW: "Does the fact that you've helped so many people through the British Cycling Academy and Team Wiggins, etc. give you a sense of pride and achievement? That you could take your own experience as a way to help others?”
CL: "Yeah, it does. I started working for Team Wiggins five years ago, and, you know, I sort of got more and more involved."
"And when you see guys like, I mean, there's loads of them who have come through to fill the pro ranks from our development team, like Owain Doull, Chris Lawless, John Dibben. More recently, there's Tom Pidcock, James Knox. You know, many of these riders progressed through team Wiggins."
Recently ‘retired’ Jon Dibben - racing the Madison in Team Sky colours with Adam Blythe at the 2018 London Six Day.
"I feel the team never really got the accolade, you know, for getting these guys into the next stage.”
"Team Wiggins wasn't necessarily about winning races and having success on the road. It was to give these young riders a stepping stone to enter into the cycling world. I think we achieved that."
GW: "Yeah, young British riders are stepping up to the plate. We have some current and future superstars - you mentioned Tom Pidcock."
"What about 2012? Everyone has a story with 2012 - how Team GB and Team Sky's achievements inspired them."
CL: "After the Linda McCartney team folded in 2000, I left the sport for a long time. I didn't get involved with any teams or anything - until my friend rang me and just wanted some errands, do some driving jobs, take the bikes down to the Track World Cups. And that's how I got back into cycling.
“2012 for me, I mean, I was lucky enough to work with the women's team. And yeah, I used to go out training with the team around our Olympic base in Foxhills."
"With Lizzie Deignan coming second, she was so, so, so close to winning as well. It felt like a success to me."
"But just to be part of the Team GB, you know, was fantastic. Even the menial job that I had, you know, which was basically just driving around and doing errands."
"I drove Brad right up to the opening ceremony so he could ring the bell, you know, on the eve of the Olympics. Yeah, just to be a part of that, was yeah..."
"I was very proud. I never got to see the Olympic Games as a cyclist back in my days. There were distinct amateur and professional ranks in cycling."
GW: "Yeah, for me, 2012 changed everything. I grew up in a cycling family, so my bike has always been a part of me, but 2012 inspired me to take it to another level. It also shaped my career at Sky - working with all the teams and riders under our sponsorship."
"That's how we met - through Team Wiggins. You were Adjunct Directeur Sportif. We came to film the team during the 2015 Tour of Britain."
"Anyway, 2012 helped me make changes in my life and built me into who I am today."
CL: "Yeah, it transformed cycling here in the UK."
GW: "After I read Brad's book 'Icons', I understood why he picked you to DS for his team. He named you one of the people who helped shape his career. A British rider he could relate to and draw inspiration from."
CL: "I was very, very, you know, really honoured and a little bit embarrassed. You know, when you look at that particular book, there are names like Museeuw, Merckx, you know, those guys."
"Brad says the book is about people who influenced him at the time. And yeah, as a 14-year-old boy, you're going to look up to the domestic riders who were winning races and on the cover of the magazines."
GW: "At the end of April, we're heading to the Isle of Wight for LeBlanq: 01 (a cycling and gastronomy event like no other), I bet you're looking forward to 'bringing the band back together' with Sean Yates, Brad Wiggins, Matt Stephens, Adam Blythe, Joanna Rowsell-Shand, Orla Chennaoui, etc."
CL: "Yeah, I'm am for sure, because those names you mentioned there - we've all been involved in cycling, you know, and this is not necessarily cycling 'sport'. It's just keeping fit and having a good social get-together with fantastic people, and getting a chance to meet other people, our guests, from all walks of life."
"And obviously, you know I like a bit of cooking myself. To see those guys, Raymond Blanc, Ashley Palmer-Watts, you know, the stuff they do in the kitchen, 'the real stuff' - will be incredible."
GW: "Yeah, we both love cooking. For me, that's the exciting thing about the event."
CL: "I don't let my wife near the kitchen. I like to cook with fresh, healthy ingredients from scratch, you know, stay away from processed food as much as possible. It's good for your wellbeing, and it just tastes better, doesn't it?"
GW: "Absolutely."
"I Like on the process of making something with your hands."
CL: "Yeah. Exactly. It takes you back to actually making something. Yeah, on the TV, there's so many good cooking programs and personalities. It's good entertainment."
GW: "With cooking and cycling, there are so many parallels, right? The pursuit of excellence."
"And interestingly, Italy, France and Spain produce some of the best food, cyclists and races in the world, (Giro, Tour, Vuelta). I think it's the land from where they are born. The mountains, fields, climate, rivers and oceans.”
CL: "Yeah, it's probably more than coincidence."
"Way back when I was a boy, the staple food was just beige. From me having had the opportunity to travel, especially in Europe, and find cuisines and the way people look at food - in France and Italy in particular, it's just a different world to when I was growing up as a boy."
GW: "Yeah. Travelling opens your mind."
CL: "Yeah. Definitely. You know, just simple things like a nice loaf of bread, with a bit of olive oil and salt. You wouldn't have heard of that in the 70s.
GW: "Yeah, exactly. What's going on in your world now."
CL: "Oh well, I've got my own business. I'm a heating engineer. It's been hectic during these times."
"I mean, I look at all the people and the situation, you know, people's mental health. I have sympathy. It isn't easy."
"We all have to do what's best for folks. We've got a light at the end of the tunnel. So we just have to look forward."
GW: "Yeah, I agree. Look after each other and keep dreaming about our cycling adventures to come."
CL: "Yep. You've got to have something to look forward to."
GW: "See you in the new year, we'll get some base miles in?"
CL: "Yeah."
GW: "Enjoy a nice quiet Christmas with the family.”
“Ciao."
CL: "And you. See you soon."
To become a successful leader, you must first learn how to follow. Chris ‘Cel’ Littywhite is a prime example. Throughout different stages of his career, he has followed with respect and lead without ego. Humble and modest.
Keep being you, Cel.
Gareth.
