Most of us will probably be tucking into turkey and Christmas pudding, washed down with the odd can of beer or glass of wine, on Christmas day.

But to Olympic bronze medal-winning cyclist Yvonne McGregor, December 25 means an ideal opportunity to get on her bike.

One of the most dedicated sportswomen in Britain, the 39-year-old Bradfordian says: "Christmas Day is one of my favourite days of the year for riding as the roads are so quiet!

"Also, you can burn off a few calories to make way for eating more. However, I never go crazy on food or drink. I just enjoy myself!"

In the autumn of her career, McGregor not only clinched an Olympic bronze in the 3,000 metres women's individual pursuit in Sydney, having finished fourth in Atlanta in 1996, but also won World Track Championship gold in the same event on her home Manchester Velodrome track a few weeks later.

In the weeks since that October victory, McGregor has rightly referred to her existence as a mixture of fame and fatigue. "My life seems to have been a continual stream of functions since I came home," she admitted. "My brain has kind of switched off.

"However, through all this I have never forgotten that I am a cyclist by profession and have been on my bike most days, just to keep ticking over.

"It has only been for an hour or an hour-and-a-half a day - very steady - but I have found it a mental breath of fresh air when the demands on my time have been so high. I find it the most enjoyable way of switching off."

Now, though, McGregor is beginning to look to the defence of her World Championship title in what she has said will be her last year in the sport at top level - and her preparations really started this week.

"For the first three days this week we - that is the Great Britain women's squad - had a short training camp in Cheshire," she said.

"Besides doing two to three-hour rides - usually in the wind and rain - the camp was designed for each rider to be interviewed by our national team manager Ken matheson. There was some on-the-bike testing followed by target-setting for next season.

"We also went through the proposed race calendar for 2001, which was very similar to 2000.

"Then we have three ten-day training camps in Majorca - one in January, one in February and one in March - which is where we start building up basic endurance miles.

"Our first races are scheduled for the end of march and, as I did this year, I will have a low-key start to the campaign. There will be no major expectations and the races will be used as good, hard training before ultimately setting my stall out for my main target - defending my World Championship."

At least McGregor has been able to give herself a short break with her family after the World Track Championships in manchester.

Phone contact, which usually meant her mum rae ended up in tears of happiness, had been Yvonne's only contact up to that juncture.

"I took two weeks off my bike after Manchester and spent a few days in Blackpool with my mum, followed by a week in Scotland with my mum, my sister Elaine and youngest nephew Liam visiting my sister Fiona, but especially her baby daughter who was just five weeks old," said McGregor.

It's nice being recognised via meeting the Queen at Buckingham Palace - an honour bestowed on all the British medallists from Sydney - a civic reception in Bradford and an appearance on last Sunday's BBC Sports Personality of the Year, but McGregor is now itching to put the training miles in as she readies herself for her final season in the sport.

Yvonne has given so much of herself to cycling, and it is fitting she is now reaping the rewards. Now for the last hurrah!