You would expect a former sprinter to be quick out of the blocks, but Neil Fachie surprised even himself when he traded tracks and moved over to cycling four years ago.
Disappointed with his performances at the Beijing Paralympics, he hung up his spikes, followed Norman Tebbit's famous advice about getting on a bike, and immediately smashed the B&Vi one-kilometre world record.
In case you didn't know, B&Vi means blind and visually impaired. Fachie was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition he inherited from his mother's side of the family.
"I always thank her for that," he says drily. "I was diagnosed when I was five. It can degenerate over time, and your sight can just randomly disappear very quickly, but I've been lucky because it has been quite slow for me."
In practical terms, Fachie has between five and 10% of normal vision. But his determination level is 100%, as evidenced by the fact the 28-year-old Aberdonian has reached the top in two separate sports. Fachie made the move to the velodrome when he realised that a 5ft 4in frame was one obstacle even he could never overcome in a sprinting world that was dominated by far heftier creatures.
"I had been thinking about things for the year leading up to Beijing," Fachie said. "I just had this nagging thought that there might be a sport out there that I might be better at and that I hadn't tried. I had always been a big fan of cycling and wanted to give it a go, but living in Aberdeen there weren't many opportunities, not least because there is no velodrome there.
"After Beijing seemed a good time to give it a go. I knew that if things didn't work out then I could still go back to sprinting, so it was no big deal. I just fell in love with it and realised that my body type suited cycling much better than it did athletics. It just worked out really well."
In biomechanical terms there is probably a more precise way of putting this, but Fachie's first task in his new career was to shift some bulk from the top half of his body to the bottom half.
"I had built up a substantial upper body in sprinting, but that would be a liability on a bike so it had to go. I then had to build up my legs a bit. Everything in cycling is focused on the legs. That's where the pain is."
The technicalities of the discipline were always likely to appeal to a physics graduate as well. However, in his first tentative steps – if that's the term – into the world of cycling, he also had the benefit of some good advice. "Just before I did my first trial for the team I was at a dinner and I was sitting next to Sir Chris Hoy," Fachie said. "I asked him for some tips and he said just don't stop pedalling.
"I've stuck to that and it seems to work quite well. There is not really a great secret to it. Just work hard. It's quite boring really."
Paralympic cyclists work in tandem – literally – with a sighted pilot, who occupies the front seat of the bike. In Fachie's brief career he has paired up with Craig MacLean, who won a silver medal at the team sprint at the 2000 Olympics and a gold for Scotland in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, and Barney Storey, his current partner. In a plot twist that could have been lifted from a soap opera, MacLean is now pilot for Anthony Kappes, Britain's other partially sighted sprint cyclist. The rivalry is friendly, but keen.
"We definitely drive each other on," said Fachie. "But because the two of us are competing and training all the time we are also improving. The rest of the world has caught up a bit over the past couple of years, but we are expected to get gold and silver in the two events; anything less than that would be disappointing.
"It's just about which way round it is to be. Nobody knows. But if everything goes to form it should be GB first and second. The other two don't give us a break and are really pushing us every day. The bikes are pretty identical, so there's no advantage there. But it's more satisfying that way because everything is equal.
"Barney and I worked together in the past and we have been riding together again since the end of last year. We have slipped back to working together pretty well. I suppose I'm an out-and-out sprinter who tends to hit the power early and fade later, while Barney is more of a slow burner, so it's a good balance and a good partnership. Luckily we also get on quite well together, which does help."
Fachie actually ended his first year in cycling with two world records and two gold medals from the world championships. Another brace of golds from London 2012 is far from impossible, especially given his admission that he grew a little complacent after making such a good start in the sport and that he has learned from that mistake. But he has a ferocious schedule ahead of him, with the 1km time trial on Saturday and the head-to-head sprint event the next day.
The recent achievements of Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and the rest of the GB cycling team have already set the bar high. The Paralympic cyclists have all the technical support the able-bodied team members enjoy, so a haul of home medals is expected. Fachie appreciates the way they all work as one.
"We are probably the best team for that," he said. "We're there together day in and day out and we have use of the same support staff. I suppose we piggyback them a little because they tend to bring in more sponsorship, but we're side-by-side all the time. So we get all the support we need, plus we get to train alongside the likes of Sir Chris Hoy. That's always going to be motivational."
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