Rio 2016 BMX rider Liam Phillips talks kitting out, connecting with his followers on social media, and the build up to Rio.
I did my kitting out last week in Birmingham and it is always a cool day. It’s always busy but it’s nice because it signals the start of the final phase.
It’s the countdown to when the Olympics starts to become a bit more real than at any point over the last few years.
I made a conscious decision to really enjoy kitting out this time. For Beijing, we had a trial race in Switzerland and I flew back home into Birmingham and went straight from the airport to the NEC to get all my kit, so that was a bit of a blur.
In London, with the home Olympics, I was keen to get down there, get my kit and basically tick that box so I could get back home to training.
But this year, I thought it could be the last time I do a kitting out. It was something I had looked forward to for a long time.
I documented quite a lot of it on GoPro and spread that across my social media – it was great.
I put a lot of stuff on SnapChat, which was good fun. It’s quite new for people outside the Olympic bubble to see what goes on at days like kitting out and in the Olympic village, so I wanted to share it with them.
I wanted to give the fans a little glimpse into what life is like for an athlete with Rio getting closer.
First and foremost, I’m a fan of the Olympics and always have been so to be able to share that is a cool thing.
I saw some of the canoe slalom guys at kitting out and they are going to be competing at in the Deodoro area as well.
They were telling me that the BMX track is looking better and the grandstand has gone in now, which is apparently absolutely huge.
It was quite cool to catch up with everybody, see how they’re feeling as training heads into its final phase.
I live my life in a specific manner – I enjoy my training and devote my life to being the best bike rider I can be, so not a lot changes in the final run-up to Rio for me.
I will be keeping things as normal as possible. On days off I’ll be looking to recover as best I can for that next training session.
It’s all about keeping doing what I’ve been doing for the last few years and ultimately just enjoy this process.
Aldi are proud supporters of Team GB, read more from Liam Phillips at www.teamgb.com/homegrownheroes
Image courtesy of SpogoUK via YouTube, with thanks.
