Obree

Was it really the thick end of a decade ago that Graham, Colin and I knocked nervously at the door of a flat in Saltcoats armed with a couple of packets of Lidl Jaffa Cakes and about 800 pages of notes?

We interviewed a bundle of athletes, journalists and industry figures during the 4 years that the VCDL Pod (dis)graced both the ether and, occasionally, the public at large. Sir Chris Hoy, Ned Boulting, Tracy Moseley, Brian Smith, Eileen Roe, Aileen McGlynn, Scott Mitchell, Richard Moore and Finlay Pretsel are just a few of the people who gave generously of their time and patience. But the daddy of them all came one day early in the genesis of the Pod.

A mutual friend asked us if we’d be interested in interviewing a guy who was at his (then) cycling club. The club was Fullerton Wheelers. The guy, Graeme Obree. Ooft! We’d go on to work with Graeme a few times over the next 4 years or so but that first nervous encounter as Graeme welcomed 3 strangers off the internet into his home remains a seminal moment in VCDL history.

We convened around Graeme’s kitchen table, upon which the “Beastie” would be designed and built. In fact at least one part of the record-beating machine would also come from that kitchen! While Graeme got the kettle on, our Graham fretted over sound levels and microphones while Colin and I cracked open the biscuits. The rest, as they say, is VCDL history.

The biscuits didn’t last long but the conversation they fed remains the most downloaded episode we ever made. And we’re still rather chuffed with it 9 years down the road.