Four laps, flat out, from a standing start. Legs and lungs screaming, lactic acid building.

The kilo, track cycling's one-kilometre time trial, has a punishing reputation.

And yet Jody Cundy has been putting himself through it for decades.

"At the end of it, your legs don't want to pedal. You're fighting everything," he tells BBC Sport. "But when you get it right, it's really cool."

Cundy is king of the kilo. At the Para-cycling Track World Championships, he has been unbeaten in the event since 2006.

If he wins again at this year's edition - which starts on Thursday in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands - it will mark his 20th straight year in the rainbow jersey.

Not bad for someone who has just turned 48 years old.

"It's a fairly dominant run," he said. "There have been some moments where I thought it wasn't going to happen and somehow I've pulled something out of the bag.

"But I am getting older and the competitors are getting younger.…