For the past year, Bate has been planning his retirement from cycling, starting with a move to Cumbria with his wife Caroline “for the mountains”, and a property with enough room for a workshop so he can “go back to his roots” as a carpenter.
Whilst his deteriorating eyesight would make returning to building sites difficult, a home set-up is easier to manage.
“I realised I had a shoebox full of medals under the bed and wanted to do something special with them,” he said.
“Now I’m hoping to help others, whether they’re elite athletes or park runners, to display their medals proudly.”
His first commission is from British Cycling who have asked him to make the awards for their annual awards ceremony next month.
Bate is carving them from Siberian spruce boards taken up from the National Cycling Centre velodrome in Manchester in 2019, where he trained and competed for many years, alongside household names like Sir Chris Hoy, Dame Sarah Storey and Dame Laura Kenny.