When 80-year-old Geoff Cooke left clinic overdue remaining summer time, the medical doctors advised him he’d want to do just a little of workout to dance again from his remedy. “It was quite funny really,” he starts to snigger. “I think they were talking about walking. I said, ‘Listen, you can’t imagine what I actually do. I do 200 miles a week on the bike. I’m an Olympian. I’m a Commonwealth Games gold medallist. I’ve been doing it for years. I was national coach for 10 years. Cycling’s been my life’,” he pauses. “I don’t think they quite believed me.”
Each phrase Cooke spoke was once, in fact, true. A monitor sprinter for Nice Britain on the 1972 Munich Olympics, he have been admitted to clinic for a gallbladder process, having been struck down via a gallstone that was once inflicting him monumental ache. The timing couldn’t were worse. In six weeks, he was once all the way down to compete on the UCI Masters Observe Global Championships, a very powerful date in his calendar. He had most effective overlooked one version because the festival was once first held in 1995. Rapidly, his 80-year-old frame threatened to finish his close to 30-year streak.
Cooke’s first signs got here 5 months earlier than the Worlds on a biking vacation along with his pals at the Greek island of Zakynthos. “I said, ‘Lads, you’ll have to go on, I have to stop’,” he recalls. “It had me on my knees. They thought I was dying, I’m sure they did.” The ache quickly eased off, but if Cooke returned house, he spotted that he was once dropping pounds, so he took himself to the clinic. “When I went, they put a camera down, and they blew up my stomach,” he says. “The doctor pulled the camera out, and I said, ‘What is it? Is it cancer?’ And she said, ‘No, you’ve not got cancer. But your gallbladder’s in a mess’.”
(Symbol credit score: Andy Jones)
The medical doctors attempted to empty Cooke’s gallbladder, however the stone was once too tightly lodged. As a substitute, they fitted a stent, and after two days in clinic, Cooke was once despatched on his method with the stone nonetheless within. He returned to coaching right away. “I worked my socks off before I went into hospital, and when I came out, I just sat on the rollers and watched my wife’s disapproval,” he says. “She was saying, ‘Take your time, for goodness sake. Take your time.’” Did he observe her recommendation? “It took me a little while before I actually sprinted, but I was rolling around. Then I went out and just did 50 miles, and I thought, ‘There ain’t much wrong here, Cookie. Let’s go for it.’ And that’s what I did, I just went for it.”
(Symbol credit score: Andy Jones)
When Cooke travelled to Roubaix remaining October for the Masters Observe Global Championships, he already had 60 gold medals to his title. This time, on the other hand, there was once a brand new impediment: he must compete with a gallstone nonetheless within him. “I thought, ‘If it kicks off while I’m away, am I going to cope?’” he recollects. His first match was once the scratch race, a first-over-the-line sprint after 20 laps. He covered up as the one Brit within the race, and completed 3rd, however earned himself a rainbow jersey because the best-placed rider within the 80-plus class. The next day to come, he doubled his haul, atmosphere a brand new international very best time in his age bracket within the 500m time trial, clocking 40.199 seconds over the 2 laps. Then got here the issues race, which he received, too.
The gallstone was once fortunately stored at bay. In reality, Cooke had educated so neatly for the contest that he discovered himself within the type of his lifestyles – “I felt terrific,” he says. His subsequent bid for gold would come within the fit dash, an match he rode on the 1972 Olympics, and the overall one on his festival programme. With 3 new titles already banked, he sat in his lodge and rested his legs forward of qualifying. However then his telephone rang. The agenda had modified, he was once advised, and he had overlooked his warmth. “I blame myself because I should have checked,” Cooke says. “It was one of those things that I was setting myself up to win. So I thought, ‘Right, I’m going to ride the pursuit.’”
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Of Cooke’s 63 earlier masters international titles, none had come within the particular person pursuit. It was once a self-discipline he had brazenly mocked over time. “I used to say it’s not racing, pursuiting – how can you race someone on the other side of the track?” he says disdainfully. “Of course, now I know it’s proper racing. I can promise you that – I was breathing through everywhere.”
Pursuiting, it grew to become out, could be but some other feather he may just upload to his cap. Cooke stunned himself and the ones trackside in qualifying when he set some other international very best time, crossing the road on 2:46.597 after the two,000m. He then confronted an Australian opponent within the ultimate, and stuck him with a lap to move. “He said, ‘I was waiting for you to come! Why did it take you so long?’” Cooke recollects proudly. It could now not were what the medical doctors had in thoughts, however at 80 years outdated, and simply six weeks out of clinic, he had received 4 new international titles.
(Symbol credit score: Andy Jones)
Teammate’s view: Martin Bush
Sir Chris Hoy, a rider Cooke used to train, as soon as stated of the now 80-year-old: “You will never meet a person more enthusiastic and passionate about his sport. He’s always smiling and always keen to encourage people to enjoy riding their bikes.” Cooke’s teammate and travelling significant other these days, Martin Bush, couldn’t believe the sentiment extra. “I know lots of stories about him that you wouldn’t want to print,” Bush, 72, laughs. “I’ve been all over the world with Geoff. I’ve shared a room with him in Australia, America, New Zealand. I was with him in Roubaix when he won the four world titles last year.”
What can other folks be informed from Cooke’s mentality? “Oh, a million things,” Bush says. “There’s an old saying that training is 80% physical, 20% mental. Racing is 80% mental, 20% physical. You win races with your head, not your legs, and Cookie is so, so focused. If you’re sitting next to him in the track, and he’s going up for his heat, you can’t talk to him because he’s so focused.”
Bush stresses that even though Cooke is “ruthless” at the forums, clear of them it’s his kind-heartedness and generosity that shine thru. “He’s always very appreciative of what he has health-wise – [acknowledging that] there’s always somebody worse off than us,” Bush says. “When Geoff packs up, there’s going to be a huge void in cycling. Everybody loves Cookie.”
Since October’s Masters Observe Worlds, Cooke has been again to the clinic and had his gallstone got rid of. He has additionally been given medication for an underactive thyroid. “I’ve been taking what they gave me, and I’m absolutely bloody flying. Honestly, I am,” he laughs. It’s the similar heat snigger Cooke answered with when commissaires pulled him apart for drug trying out after his exploits in Roubaix. “At 80 years old, to be dope tested, it’s just incredible,” he says. “The doctor and I were really laughing together.” To nobody’s marvel, there were no hostile findings, and Cooke’s two new data were ratified. He has since vowed he’ll pass even sooner when he returns to the Global Championships later this 12 months. “Now I’ve got this underactive thyroid treatment, I’m well on my way,” he says.
In Cooke’s each utterance, there’s an infectious lust for lifestyles, the sort that drives somebody to race past their 80th 12 months. Whilst maximum riders at his age would possibly have given up pushing themselves – specifically after a painful well being scare – Cooke continues to discover a deeper will to hold on. What’s it that assists in keeping him motivated? “I just enjoy riding my bike,” he says, as though the solution must be glaring. “Because I’m still winning, and I enjoy winning – I make no bones about that – you just keep doing it, don’t you?” There’s additionally a extra profound reason why that spurs him on. “Cycling, in a way, saved my life. I was a bit of a tearaway as a youngster, getting into trouble and into fights, but cycling gave me something to channel all that into. It’s been my life, really,” he says. “I’m going to do it for as long as I can. It’s as simple as that.”
This selection at the beginning seemed in Biking Weekly mag on 20 February 2025. Subscribe now and not omit a topic.
