Training alongside Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Great Britain's track stars has rejuvenated Liam Phillips ahead of the BMX World Championships in Birmingham.
Phillips is set to ride in the time-trial on Friday and the super cross event on Saturday at the National Indoor Arena after a six-month sabbatical in the velodrome.
"I'd raced for a long, long time and it allowed me to have a break from the sport," Phillips told Press Association Sport.
"I spent six months on a bike training with some of the best bike riders in the world. It was fantastic.
"It allowed me to spend time off the BMX bike and appreciate the enjoyment I got from it, that perhaps before was overlooked.
"It was the best thing that could've happened at that time."
The 23-year-old from Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset made the move in part due to frustration at a succession of injuries and to see if he could emulate Beijing Olympic champion Jamie Staff by switching successfully to the velodrome and leading out Kenny and Hoy in the three-man, three-lap team sprint.
Phillips had been a possible solution, following the example of Staff and Shanaze Reade, who has had success on the track and twice won the team sprint world title with Victoria Pendleton.
But after six months concentrating on one-lap efforts he did not make the necessary gains and returned to the sport he feels most passionate about injury free.
Phillips added: "The biggest thing I can take away from the track is it allowed me to get a great block of training done without getting injured. I did get strong and that's a massive part of developing that power that's needed for BMX."