When 80-year-old Geoff Cooke left hospital late this summer, the doctors told him he’d need to do a bit of exercise to bounce back from his treatment. Little did they know, that within six weeks, he’d be competing at the UCI Masters Track World Championships, adding three new world titles to his already long list of achievements.
Cooke, a former Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, is one of the oldest riders competing at the event in Roubaix, France this week. So far, he’s won the scratch race, points race, and 500m time trial titles in the 80+ category, with the individual pursuit to come this Saturday.
His success, he told Cycling Weekly, is the fruit of “terrific form” he built up in training, despite a 48-hour hospital stay.
“Six weeks ago I was in Royal Derby Hospital having gallbladder treatment and an operation. I had kind of almost given up on riding, but I came out, I felt good, and I started to train and ride,” he said.
“I worked like hell before I went to the hospital. I really got my head down. I have a lane that I do sprints on, and I go to Derby track on a regular basis, and I really worked at it, knowing that I had to get this sorted out.
“The pain of gallstones is pretty intense, I can tell you that. I have a fair old pain threshold, but the pain of that was just unbelievable. But 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.”
Within days, Cooke was back out on his local roads, where he typically trains between 200 and 300 miles a week.
"[In the hospital] they actually said to me, ‘Now look, we want you do to some exercise when you get out.’ But they didn’t have any idea the sort of exercise I’d do. It was quite funny, really.
“It took me a little while before I actually sprinted, but I was rolling around. Then I went out and just did 80km, 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,” he said.
In Roubaix, Cooke set a new world best in his age bracket in the 500m time trial, clocking 40.199 seconds over the two laps. The gold medal he won is one of 63 he has now celebrated at the Masters Track Worlds, having competed at all but one of the championships since they began in 1995.
“At 80, you should be grateful for everything you get, but I do work very hard at it,” he said. “I’m very competitive. Chris Boardman once said about me, ‘Geoff is hugely competitive’, and I am, I am now even. It’s the only thing I've been really good at in my life, and I enjoy just riding my bike. During lockdown, I did 9,200 miles all on my own, just riding around local lanes.”
A track sprinter by trade, Cooke began racing at the sport's top level when he was 16, and went on to represent Great Britain on the track in the 1972 Olympics. He became Commonwealth Games champion in the tandem two years later.
On Saturday, the 80-year-old will have the chance to go for a 64th world Masters title, this time in the individual pursuit. He was initially unsure about competing in the 2,000m event, but changed his mind after accidentally missing the sprint qualification due to a late schedule change.
“I’ve set up my bike. I’ve put my tri bars on, and here we go for a pursuit,” he said. “I’ve been telling all the people it isn’t proper racing, the pursuit – how can you race somebody on the other side of the track? But I know my doors will come off at about four laps out, because I’ll go out too hard, I’m sure I will. You never learn.”
After more than six decades in the sport, what is it that keeps Cooke motivated? “I just enjoy riding my bike. Because I’m still winning, and I enjoy winning – I make no bones about that – you just keep doing it, don’t you? All these lovely people that I meet at Derby track and these sorts of events, it makes it all worthwhile.”
