HER blank gaze is fixed ahead, her eyebrows furrowed and her lips, normally soft and feminine, are hardened in determination.

Victoria Pendleton is much tinier than I expected, yet her legs pump effortlessly hard and fast like they shouldn’t really belong to her delicate body.

But these are the same slender legs that pedalled furiously when she was only six to keep up with her father and champion cyclist Max as he powered up monstrous hills.

The same skinny legs at 16 that caught the attention of national coaches when she beat muscular men in races.

And the same shapely pins that secured nine World Championship titles, two Olympic gold medals and a silver.

Joining her for a spinning class proved unwise. It’s impossible to believe this is the same woman coaches believed was too puny and girly to be a pro rider.

As I desperately tried to force my heavy legs round and round, I am mesmerized by the queen of cycling who, although retired, remains a human dynamo.

As her wheels whir in a frenzy, her bike shuddered so much that her long silky brunette locks immaculately tied in a ponytail swung from side to side like a pendulum.

Witnessing her racing face as our instructor shouts for us to pedal flat out, I couldn’t help but wonder whether she misses flying around a velodrome at these implausible speeds.

But perhaps not. She is, after all, something of a sporting paradox.

Yes, she could put down the visor of her sci-fi style helmet and annihilate any opponent who dared join her on the steep-sided tracks.

But that black visor also masked a woman who was as fragile, insecure and vulnerable as the rest of us. Unlike most athletes, she wears her heart on her sleeve and isn’t afraid to admit it.

And that endearing openness became immediately apparent when I met her in the communal changing rooms after the spinning session.

She was happily mulling about in nothing but her undies and cute heart stud earrings giggling and chit-chatting with the girls at the South London lido.

“Ahh I’m just a normal girl, seriously”, she smiles after warmly inviting me to “huddle in” so I can hear her through the humdrum of the busy gym, a place she’s obviously most at home.

“I’ve always been criticised from the beginning that I didn’t have the right psychology to be a successful athlete.

I’ve doubted myself the whole time thinking can I do this? And I’ve also been criticised in my later career for being so honest. People have said ‘don’t tell them that you’re struggling, don’t tell them you find it hard because it shows your weakness’ but that doesn’t mean when I get on the track I’m not going to win.

“I don’t feel embarrassed if I have moments where I struggle or people see me as fragile because I don’t think that means I’m any less successful as a human being. I just have insecurities like everyone else. It doesn’t stop you from being the best in the world if you want it bad enough.”

You can’t argue with that. She doesn’t have Queen Vic written on her bike for nothing.

But in reality despite her sculpted physique gracing velodromes, magazine covers and TV screens, she just prefers to be Vicky. And she is clearly happy now she’s not a professional athlete, or as she puts it riding round and round in a big wooden bowl for a living.

“Since I retired I’ve had a lot of my friends say ‘gosh you laugh a lot more these days’. I think they realise the pressure I felt and that the expectation on me was very high. Not having that anymore is a huge relief, a huge burden off my shoulders.

“I’ve been at the top and anything less than the best was always deemed a failure. There was really only one way to go and that was down so it was a lose-lose situation. It just felt like as I got further on in my career I was facing more criticism.

“I just thought, I don’t need to do this anymore, I’d achieved more than I ever dreamed I would achieve, so I quit while I was ahead.

“Now I feel more relaxed, I feel happier.”

That’s obvious.

Her face lights up as she chats about how life has dramatically changed since leaving the strict training routine she had as an athlete.

She’s already taken up running with her two beloved Doberman dogs Mr Jonty and Stella, been skiing, and even become a whizz in the kitchen- all things she was forbidden to do previously.

She said: “You’re always told to rest up as a cyclist. You don’t really walk around, let alone run so I feel totally reckless going out for a run now.

“I’ve also been eating a lot of vegetarian food just because I’ve never been able to do it before while training.

“Being able to eat new things feels so frivolous and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

She jokes: “Ooh, look at me- I’m so crazy right now eating a nut roast!

“I’ll have the falafel please”, she giggles.

But despite that freedom the 32-yearold admits missing the daily structure, her team and above all, lacking a “massive goal” to work towards.

“Everyone says ‘you must be really competitive’. Well I am competitive but with myself. I always want to do my best but it’s not about beating people.

It’s about working towards and achieving that bigger goal.

“That’s what I’m really looking for in my life at the moment. It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever be happy without, so at the moment it’s a whirlwind in my mind trying to work out how and what am I going to work towards.”

Victoria, who has already designed a range of bikes for Halfords, said she would love to create a cycling clothing range for women knowing she often had to wear men’s small sizes.

But for now she is simply enjoying each opportunity coming her way including starring on Strictly Come Dancing, which she quips witnessed her “bad dancing”.

The cycling champ, who cites retired athletes Lord Coe and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson as her idols for winning gold “and then doing so much more”, said: “I’ve been given so many different opportunities to do new things and the world is my oyster.”

Just when I thought Victoria couldn’t smile anymore we get onto the subject of the love of her life – former coach Scott Gardner. She says she loves nothing more than enjoying a bike ride and picnic with him on a sunny day.

Marrying him in August will be the highlight of the year, she says.

That’s not surprising given how the pair have fought to be together since falling desperately in love in the run up to the Beijing Olympics.

The couple, who initially had to keep their relationship a secret, stayed together despite huge criticism from coaches leading to sports scientist Scott being forced to leave the British cycling team. He was later reinstated but Victoria suffered for months as a result.

Glancing down at The Smashing Pumpkins lyrics inked on her right arma powerful song the couple listened to when they first met and which provided Victoria with motivation minutes before she won gold in Beijing, she coos: “I’d have married him yesterday if I could.

“We can finally get married so it’s good.

I’m looking forward to the wedding ceremony most of all. I can’t wait.”

Victoria, who says she would love a family of her own one day, added: “The wedding is going to be quite small and I’m quite happy for it to be as simple as possible.

“I think I’ve spent enough of my life being the centre of attention and it was never my desire.”

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Victoria Pendleton is encouraging ladies to take part in Cycletta New Forest this year on October 13 at the National Motor Museum. To register go to humanrace.co.uk/cycletta