I have not been setting myself hard and fast targets

That pressure came not from the outside world but from myself, and I was disappointed to finish second in the omnium. I always want to win but I messed up the points race, which had a knock-on effect, and there was no way I was going to catch up. I had been unbeaten for over a year but you realise eventually that you have to lose.

The team pursuit went amazingly well, given it was not even our Olympic line-up, and Elinor Barker rode superbly. But when it came to the omnium I lost 10 points to Sarah Hammer in one race and it was too great a gap. After the two golds in London you could say that I had more of a target on my back, but there were four or five of us in that field who felt the same way. I still regarded the omnium as my event and I wanted to win it again.

I found the atmosphere around Minsk more relaxed, purely because everything we had been doing in the lead-up to London had felt so intense. It was a relief just to go out on the final evening with my boyfriend, Jason Kenny, and my parents. Jason had been there for the entire week although I was cheering him on from the team hotel when he won gold in the keirin.

Now it is time for me to go out on the road. I have not been setting myself hard and fast targets – I will compete at the European Under-23 Championships on the track, but besides that I will just be learning how to ride the road. I am not sure my love of racing will ever go away. I do this because I love it, not solely because I am good at it. I will do almost all the races with my sister Emma, and while we are not going to be on the same team I will see her out there all the time.

I definitely want to race at the next Olympics in Rio, but beyond that I just do not know. It is hard to think about doing this forever or until I have as many gold medals as I could ever have dreamt of. It is the sheer practical burden of committing yourself to another four years. I would like to think that I would go to two more Games, but ultimately I will only decide when I reach that point.

 IF, like me, you have always fancied the idea of cycling to work but have been too terrified to do it — help is at hand.

I often admire the courage of cyclists who whiz past me on their commute to work, but assume it is just for fitness fanatics.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TFGM), however, is keen to convince people like myself that cycling is the way forward, and with spring just around the corner, I thought I would give it a try.

TFGM has a team of cycling instructors offering free one-to-one sessions, lasting two hours, to people of all abilities. My instructor, Steve Owen, also known (in his blog) as the Sacred Rider, is an expert in all things to do with wheels and scary traffic. We start off in Queens Park in Bolton, a safe place away from roundabouts, drivers and, my biggest fear, lorries and buses.

Steve, from Wigan, starts off by taking me through the basics, such as the correct seat height.

I instinctively want mine nice and low so I can put my feet flat on the floor, but that’s a no-no in cycling, apparently.