Archibald holds up one finger: “Advice Number One. Find a club. I can’t believe the amount of advice and support and just… kindness…. that I’ve found in the cycling community. Not always traditional kindness – but what I realise now was kindness. I started at Meadowbank [the outdoor velodrome also a training ground for Sir Chris Hoy], and the guys there were amazing, I’m just constantly in their debt. You’d be amazed at the kind of help you get in the sporting world.”

Read More: Advice For Your First Club Ride

“You make one mistake and you’re like ‘ugh, balls, I wish I hadn’t done that!’ but there’s another race in 10 minutes, you can try it again!”

She pauses, and holds up finger number two – this one does apply mostly to track riders:  “Do track league. Most velodromes host a league, it’s [usually] once a week that you can race, and just learn! You make one mistake and you’re like ‘ugh, balls, I wish I hadn’t done that!’ but there’s another race in 10 minutes, you can try it again! And once a week, 4 races in a night, it’s just fantastic. I found with some of the road racing stuff you’d maybe get a race every other weekend, it wouldn’t go well, and you’d be like ‘ah how am I going to fix this?’. It doesn’t have to be that way with track.” [If you’re interested in this, get to your local velodrome, get accredited, and ask about the league!]

Number three is excellent advice for cyclists of any discipline, but particularly track riders where efforts are short. As a bit of a turbo addict, I was pleased to hear the words: “If you’re time limited, or actually just anybody who wants to get faster, I find you can get so much out of a turbo trainer.

“You can get so strong doing interval training on a turbo trainer. I’d say that’s where I got my first big surge to be competitive in races and to have that motivation to get better.”

“Track is a winter sport really, and you can get so strong doing interval training on a turbo trainer. I’d say that’s where I got my first big surge to be competitive in races and to have that motivation to get better. These days, I’ll maybe only have one turbo session a week, mixed in with gym and road and track – but if you’re working 9-5 and you want to get home and get some seriously hard training in – and no I’m not sponsored by a turbo brand or anything – I totally recommend turbo!”

Though she can’t share too many secrets, she tells me that they do follow a traditional periodised approach – riding base miles last summer, with events such as the Women’s Tour, then hitting the gym and eventually completing those super hard high intensity interval sessions.

“For me personally I feel a lot more motivated with racing than training – probably not something I should admit to but if it works, you’ve sometimes got to do it!”

The road season is still uncertain, and she says: “I think [my road racing will be] fairly limited, but there will be times in the early summer where it will be useful to get that training through racing. I think that’s how our coach would see it – you’re only going to race if it will serve a physiological need for that one big event. For me personally I feel a lot more motivated with racing than training – probably not something I should admit to but if it works, you’ve sometimes got to do it!”

And how is the overall picture on the road to Rio? It’s looking good, Archibald confirms: “We all feel pretty positive about it, it’s tricky to always have the international performances that reflect how it’s going to go in six months time, but you’ll just have to take our word for it! It’s all on track. I can’t give away too many secrets, but it’s going well!”

Want to try the track? Check out our velodrome guide. We’ll have more news on the Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club soon – but in the mean check out the page, where you can sign up as a member, here.