Why Reaching a Goal Is Only the StartLine – Shaun Wallace meets Mr Motivator

What do you do once you have achieved the thing you spent your whole childhood dreaming about?

For the final episode of On Your Bike, Mr Motivator riding a VOLT Pulse LS E-bike, is joined by barrister, professional quizzer and star of ITV’s The Chase, Shaun Wallace, for a warm and wide-ranging conversation about discipline, setbacks, wellbeing and the responsibility that comes with success.

On Your Bike with Shaun Wallace: Discipline, Resilience & Wellbeing

Riding together through the North London streets Shaun has called home for most of his life, the pair cover everything from marathon running and morning training routines to failed exams, quiet low points and what it really means to look after yourself.

Shaun has been a criminal defence advocate for more than 40 years, was the first black person to win BBC’s Mastermind, and has been a household name as The Dark Destroyer since The Chase began. But as he tells Mr Motivator, none of it arrived in a straight line.

A First Ride, With a New Knee

This is Shaun’s first time on an electric bike, and the timing could hardly be better. He is recovering from knee replacement surgery, after years of arthritis in both knees left him facing a choice between an operation and a life of discomfort.

As the hills roll past, the appeal becomes obvious. A little assistance when you need it means the ride stays enjoyable rather than punishing, which is exactly what a recovering joint needs.

It is a familiar story for a good number of VOLT riders. An e-bike can be the thing that keeps people moving through injury, surgery or simply a body that has changed.

“The Worst Thing About Training Is the Thought of Doing It”

Shaun’s daily routine would put many people half his age to shame.

He wakes early, watches a bit of Minder on ITV4, then gets to work. Around a thousand stomach crunches before he is properly out of bed. Then it is onto his bike, down to the outdoor gym in the park, and roughly 35 minutes of circuits, whatever the weather is doing.

“I always say to people, the worst thing about training is the thought of doing it. Just do it, and you feel better for it.”

He has trained with the same personal trainer for 16 years, five or six days a week, a relationship that began out of necessity after a torn cartilage rather than as any kind of fashion statement. In winter, he simply layers up and gets on with it, taking his cue from the athletes who put in the hard yards in the cold months to be ready for the summer.

His motivation is deeply personal. Watching his parents live with diabetes and other conditions, he made a decision in middle age that he wanted to stay physically independent well into his seventies and eighties. That is the goal behind the crunches.

He also has strong feelings about sportspeople who stop the moment their career ends. Nobody needs to train like a professional forever, he says, but everyone should maintain a level.

Setbacks Do Not Mean Your Future Is Behind You

The most moving part of the conversation comes when Mr Motivator asks about the lowest point in Shaun’s life.

At 19, having told everyone he would be a lawyer, having been, in his words, the Muhammad Ali of his class, he failed his exams. It took him four attempts to pass O-level English language, and he did not pass his A-levels first time. While his friends headed off to university, he sat and cried, convinced he was about to fulfil the dismal prophecy his school had set out for him.

He is candid about what it took to come back from that.

“If you do have setbacks, it doesn’t mean that your future’s behind you.”

It would be easy, he says, to point the finger of blame at everyone else. But the first person you have to look at is the reflection in the mirror. Was I good enough? Did I work hard enough? Once you have answered honestly, the job is to work hard, use whatever talent you have, and accept the encouragement of the people around you.

That is the story behind his autobiography, Chasing the Dream, and it is why becoming a barrister remains, for him, the greatest achievement of his life. He said he would be a lawyer at 11 years old, and he became one.

What Wellbeing Means to Shaun

Asked what wellbeing actually means, Shaun’s answer is refreshingly complete. It is a happy state of mind. It is knowing tomorrow is not promised, and being glad to be here today. It is being fit, healthy and motivated, and wanting to make a difference to other people as well as yourself.

He talks openly about emotional health too, describing his own emotional intelligence as high and his empathy as something he values rather than hides. He is honest about the financial side as well, remembering a period 25 years ago when a broken ankle stalled his career, money was tight and he genuinely wondered whether his future was behind him.

And when he feels low? He turns towards people, not away from them.

“Isolation can be a slippery slope to a degrading of your mental health. No man is an island.”

Even the greatest athlete, he points out, has a team behind them.

The Ladder of Opportunity

If Shaun had a magic wand, he would use it on inequality, and on the people who pull the ladder up behind them because they fear the competition.

He describes himself not as a role model but as a goal model, someone who sets a standard for others to aim at. And he has a lovely way of framing what success should look like once you have it.

“I always talk about the ladder of opportunity, which you should place behind you as you’re looking forward, so others can climb up.”

It is the same instinct that runs through his answer on goals, and the line that opens the episode.

“When you reach a goal, you should never rest on your laurels. All it does is bring you to the start line of a different challenge.”

Quickfire: Health Wins Every Time

The episode closes with Mr Motivator’s quickfire round, and a pattern quickly emerges. Solve a cold case or set a new personal best? Personal best. Serial killer profiling or tracking your daily steps? The steps, because, as Shaun puts it, his health is his wealth. Playing The Chase or hitting 10,000 steps with a new knee? He will take the steps challenge, thank you.

Only one thing beats fitness for him: delivering a closing argument to a jury. There is, he says, no greater thrill.

As for what comes next, his ambition is beautifully simple. Get the second knee done, put his earphones back in, put A Tribe Called Quest on, and go running again.

Watch the Full Conversation

Shaun’s story is one of discipline, honesty and refusing to let a bad year, or a bad exam result, decide the rest of your life. Whether you are a keen cyclist, a quiz fan or someone who needs a nudge to get out of the door tomorrow morning, this one is well worth your time.

This is also the final episode of the series, so a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has ridden along with us. From Jeremy Vine to Kadeena Cox and now Shaun Wallace, every guest has reminded us of the same thing: movement changes how we feel.

Watch the full episode above or catch up on the whole series via the On Your Bike Podcast Page.