Cycling star Becky James decides to ditch her bike and... give St Lucia a spin

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Being a track cyclist is a wonderful thing – winning two silver medals in Rio last summer was fabulous (at one point due to ill health and injury it was by no means certain that I would even get to the Games let alone end up on the podium). 

But there are some downsides: in the past four years I've had just two holidays.

One was to Dubai two years ago and the other was to Nice for four days in 2012 (when I still had to take my bike with me because I was in training).

Becky, right, with her friend Tanya during their stay at the St James’s Club

Managing to find times when I can get away with my boyfriend – rugby star George North – is hard. 

When the chance came to go to the Caribbean the rugby season was already well under way, so I had to travel with one of my friends: Tanya, the wife of Welsh rugby player Scott Williams.

I wasn't going to miss out on a holiday in the sun, especially as I had never been to the Caribbean before. 

For cyclists, training is generally overseas, usually in Europe. The Spanish city of Valencia is our main base, and we go to Majorca sometimes. We've also had a winter in Perth in Australia.

Even when Rio was over, the hectic life didn't come to an end. When we returned to the UK there were lots of personal appearances – so we weren't cycling but we were still working.

What I really wanted was to go away somewhere beautiful with a nice beach, so I could relax, an all-inclusive resort where I could chill-out.

From the moment we arrived at St Lucia’s St James’s Club and they handed us a lovely cocktail and showed us to a glorious room with a stunning view over the resort and the beach, it was instant pleasure.

I kept sending photos of me out on the balcony with The View just to make everybody at home green with envy. There were bikes at the St James’s Club – fixed spin-bikes in the gym – but I stayed well away from them.

If you’re looking to get fit, however, this would be a great place to go. They run great exercise classes – there’s Pilates on the beach, for example. But not for me: I just needed to step away from sport and relax for the whole week.

Island idyll: Becky enjoyed her first holiday in years unwinding in picturesque St Lucia

I'm not sure if St Lucia would be a good place to cycle: the roads aren't brilliant and it’s surprisingly hilly. 

It’s not a big island but it took 90 minutes to drive from the airport to the hotel. 

There was no real reason to leave the resort once we were there and we only ventured out once for a boat trip.

I'm not a great one for sitting out in the sun – after a couple of hours I want to be up and doing something.

Fortunately, the resort had lots of free water sports. My contract doesn't allow me to do things like jet-skiing but I was allowed to try paddle-boarding and kayaking, which were good fun. It was great to be able to try something different every day.

The highlight of the stay was the weekly beach party which offered a glimpse of St Lucia’s Caribbean culture with guys on humongous stilts walking around and dancing.

Also great fun was the five-hour catamaran trip to the volcano. Many rum cocktails were involved. I drink very rarely, maybe two or three times a year. This week, however, I could have the occasional drink and not worry about it. 

People warned me that the food might be a bit calorie-heavy and stodgy. But at the St James’s Club, which has six different restaurants, it was easy to eat good, fresh food – the fish was particularly good. 

One of the restaurants is a buffet, the other five are all proper restaurants. My favourite restaurant was Le Jardin, a fine dining place where we had excellent steak.

The next big sporting event is the Commonwealth Games in 2018 on Australia’s Gold Coast. 

I would also love to take part in the 2020 Olympics in Japan, as long my body holds out. Before then perhaps George and I will find the time to take a holiday together…