An email conversation with ex-rower James Cracknell

'I cycle more now, but I can't wait to watch the rowing in Beijing'

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Your next big plan is to compete in the 400-mile Race to the South Pole this November, along with Ben Fogle. Does your wife, Beverley Turner, still humour such schemes? She's brilliant, but thinks I retired a bit early and didn't get it all out of my system. Whereas I'm thinking it's part of my personality.

Are you both still glad you called your son, now four, Croyde? Remind us of the thought processes. It's a coastal village in north Devon and we liked the alliteration with my name, love the place. He wasn't conceived there but, unfortunately, it comes across as a little Posh and Becks. He is an amazing boy and makes the name his own.

Since giving up rowing in 2006 you have involved yourself in a series of activities that would make Action Man think twice – if Action Man could think. Do you ever relax? Can't! But in terms of normal relaxation, time with the family is brilliant and extra special as I'm away a lot and appreciate it that much more. The little guy is off stabilisers now so we ride our bikes together.

You recently finished your latest event – a sponsored London-to-Paris cycle race in Tour conditions. Please tell us you felt weary. Yep, felt weary and knew my place in cycling's hierarchy. There were some great riders who were full-time, as well as being in the same bunch as Stephen Roche [the 1987 Tour de France winner] who certainly knows his way around a peleton. Riding on shut-off roads and being made to feel like a professional cyclist was brilliant.

You once said your toughest rowing race was when you and Matthew Pinsent won the coxless pairs gold at the 2001 World Championships by 0.02sec, immediately after having secured the coxed pairs title, adding: "Everything was very black for a while." Has anything you've done since taken you to such depths of exhaustion? The marathon was hard as my legs didn't really want to work after 23 miles, but it wasn't the same lung-screaming pain. Rowing across the Atlantic or the Sport Relief Challenge (see below) were far more mental but I learnt that, if you put one foot in front of the other, eventually you'll get there.

The British men's four have had their preparations for next month's Olympics disrupted by injury and illness, as yours were four years ago. How do their problems compare, and what do you think Britain's rowing prospects are for Beijing? On a positive note, they have raced in their Olympic combination, which we didn't do pre-Athens. They will be OK – their best is better than anybody else's so it's a case of doing that on the day. They should clean out the Dutch boys who beat them in Poland every time. As for the rest of the rowing team, nobody has brought back Olympic gold other than the heavyweight men. I expect that to change this year with the women's quad and men's lightweight double.

You are an ambassador for London 2012. What does that involve, and does the prospect make you wish you were still an Olympic rower? The Games coming to London is a wonderful thing and as an ambassador during the bid process I really focused on that. Now I do some work with the sustainability committee, which has a wonderful brief from legacy to the environmentally-friendly building of the facilities. It's great to be part of it. As for racing here – damn right I wish I was young enough!

After injuring yourself before the 2005 London Marathon because of an over-ambitious training programme you clearly got things right in finishing in three hours the following year and going under that this April. What's the secret? Learning from my mistakes and listening to my body in the build-up, and pacing it properly on the day. Plus I didn't fancy doing it again if I didn't get under this time around!

Do you ever yearn for the old routines of a full-time rower? I've been down and seen the boys training and, yeah, you miss the simple life of row, eat, sleep, row, eat, sleep, row, eat, sleep... But ultimately it's brilliant to do a variety of things.

Who was most fun to row with? Luka Gruber, my housemate and my best man. He won gold with the GB eight in Sydney, but we didn't race together that much.

You had your Olympic gold medals stolen from your house in 2006, along with family photographs and a laptop with 20,000 words of a book in it. How much of it did you get back? I got my medals back but my computer was stolen with words and pictures on it. I rewrote the book but the first three years of my little boy's life have gone. It's my own fault – I should have backed it up. Then again, why should I have to do that and assume that some work-shy coward is going to break in to my house?

Your task for Sport Relief this year was to get from England to Morocco by rowing, cycling and swimming, the last of which involved crossing the Straits of Gibraltar, which you did in the company of the Little Britain comedian David Walliams. Was that a good idea? I enjoyed the journey – both the planning and execution. Sport Relief is an amazing charity to work with. The swim wasn't a barrel of laughs, though. Even David Walliams struggles to be funny while being seasick.

Is rowing still your favourite sport? Not to do – I enjoy cycling more now – but I can't wait to watch the rowers in Beijing.

Mike Rowbottom

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* Born 5 May 1972, Sutton.

* Education Kingston Grammar School; Reading University; Brunel.

* Lives Henley; married to TV presenter Beverley Turner; son, Croyde, born 2004.

* Rowing career: 2000 wins Olympic gold in coxless fours at Sydney with Matthew Pinsent, Steve Redgrave and Tim Foster; 2001 wins world title in coxless pairs with Pinsent; 2002 pair retain title in world-record time; 2004 wins second Olympic gold with Pinsent, Ed Coode and Steve Williams. Awarded OBE.

* Life after rowing: 2006: finishes Atlantic Rowing Race, partnered by TV personality Ben Fogle. Retires from rowing; 2007: Works for ITV; he and Fogle announce entry in 400-mile Race to the South Pole in November 2008; 2008: completes Sport Relief Challenge from UK to Africa in 10 days; runs London Marathon in under three hours, at his third attempt.

James Cracknell has uploaded his favourite bike rides using the Nokia Sports Tracker, a free application available on all Nokia GPS enabled handsets.