At the age of 36, Robert Wardell takes part in the Mountain Bike World Championships for the first time - he finishes the Marathon Championships 2021 on Elba in 55th place - after a defect while he was catching up. More importantly for the Scot, he has a professional contract for the first time in his life. He has already given up on this dream twice, he writes in his Instagram feed. He has returned to racing twice as an amateur.

Bicycles were at the center of Wardell's life. He worked as a coach, for the Scottish Association and for the UCI. It was not enough for a major international racing career. Instead, he was versatile, rode road races, took part in international cyclocross events and competed in mountain bike races from enduro to marathon. He flew into freestyle parks on his BMX and at least landed a backflip on his mountain bike on the Resi mat. His Instagram clip, in which he rides his retro racing bike to the tattooed hairdresser and gets an undercut from him, is also very smooth.

At the end of August 2022, Wardell competes in the Scottish Cross-Country Championships. A puncture set him back, but he managed to catch up with the front runners again. Again he loses air, again he fights his way forward. And he even overcomes a third puncture and becomes Scottish champion. The heroically won title earns him an invitation to the BBC studio the next day. "The race was quite a disaster," he summarizes his greatest success there.

A short life full of fun

A professional contract, a title, the media interested in him: Rab Wardell is where he always wanted to be. The next morning he is dead. A heart attack in his sleep. His partner, the British Olympic track sprint champion Katie Archibald tells the BBC how she tried to resuscitate him. Even the paramedics who arrive just minutes later are unable to do anything. Robert "Rab" Wardell dies at the age of 37.

Mourning someone you didn't know would be dishonest. But helping to keep Rab Wardell's memory alive helps the bereaved feel less alone. Just as it is good when lots of people turn up at the funeral of a loved one to pay their respects. And everything that can be found about the Scotsman shows that his life was far too short, but it was filled to the brim with things that brought him joy.