Thursday 1 September 2016 18:53, UK
After years of hard work, we did it. We’re the Olympic team pursuit champions. What a feeling.
I never really had the chance to imagine what it would be like to win simply because I was so focused on getting the job done, so the elation of it all has caught me a little bit by surprise.
The race itself was epic. We found ourselves in an almighty scrap with the Australians and it needed a world record for us to come out on top.
The Australians went out ridiculously hard and we knew we had to match them, not give them anything, so we both ended up riding at unsustainable paces.
If we had carried it on, our time would have been a 3min 47sec rather than 3min 50sec, or something crazy like that. It was a case of who would blow up first, and fortunately it was them.
The last couple of laps were pretty rough for us as well, though. Steven Burke did a half-lap on the front and bailed, and I'm not sure if he shouted to let us know or not because it was so loud, but I didn't hear anything, so I did my turn expecting everyone to still be there.
I was planning on bailing because I had emptied myself for that one turn, but as I swung up the track, I saw there were only two left and Brad Wiggins was absolutely hoofing it.
I thought, "Oh no, oh no, this is bad", but fortunately I managed to get back on and we finished together. I can't actually remember the last three quarters of that last lap; I went so deep I pretty much blacked out.
After the race, needless to say we let our hair down a fair bit. It's a great group and we have been through a lot, so to have that time celebrating together was special.
Annoyingly, I didn't get to see any other sports while I was in Rio. I'm a bit embarrassed actually because it's one of the things I would have loved to have done, and the tickets were free for athletes.
A certain amount were available to us every morning from 9am on a first-come, first-served basis, but after our race I didn't manage to get out of bed before 1pm on any day, so I kept missing out on the tickets.
But that aside, just being at the Olympic Games is such a special thing and I enjoyed the whole experience more than I could have hoped.
In my head, the plan was to go to Rio, try to win the Olympics, tick that box and then focus on the road for the rest of my career. But after winning with the lads, and having that unbelievable feeling, something I've never experienced before in my life, I'm now thinking I would love to do it again.
It would be great to come back for Tokyo and try to defend that title with the boys again, but we'll have to see, I suppose. I'm obviously on a high right now and I might well have changed my mind in two or three years.
Shorter-term, I have got the Tour of Britain coming up in September, which I'll be riding for WIGGINS. I finished third overall last year, but there's no way I'll be able to repeat that given all the work I've been doing on the track, so I think I'll be on bottle-carrying duty for other lads like Jon Dibben. I'm really looking forward to repaying the guys who have helped me in the past.
After that, I'm riding the opening round of the Revolution, and then at the end of September, I have got my first two races with Team Sky, Milano-Torino and the Giro del Piemonte. That will be a bit of shock to say the least. All the lads I've spoken to said they are not the easiest races to start with, but I'm excited about them anyway.
Then I'm hoping to be selected for the road world championships in Qatar in October and be part of the Great Britain team supporting Mark Cavendish. That's a goal I set myself because it gives me something to keep working hard for at the back end of the season.
Plus, representing my country again would be a nice way of rounding off what has already been an amazing year.
Owain Doull is racing back on the track in the UK at Revolution in Manchester on September 17. Tickets are available now: www.cyclingrevolution.com
