I am 21-year-old cyclist from Peebles. I am part of Bart-Brentjens Mountain bike racing team. I am part of the Great Britain Cycling Team and have represented Team Scotland at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
I got involved with the sport when I moved to Peebles in 2000 from Edinburgh. I started riding a mountain bike when I attended a local kids club at Glentress run by local cyclists Tracy Brunger and Emma Guy. I enjoyed it straight away.
When I started there were no formal trails, bike shop or coffee shop at Glentress and over the years I have seen the place change and develop into what it is today. I was doing a lot of different sports at a young age but I became more interested in cycling because a lot of my friends also rode bikes.
I watched local DH races at Innerleithen as well as doing uplifts and marshaling all of which was really cool and exciting to be a part of. At the same time I was riding track at the velodrome in Edinburgh along with regular cross races through the winter, time trials during the summer and I would attend trips and club runs with friends.
BackI started racing mountain bikes from a young age in the Under-12 Sprogs category at SXC events. These were fun weekend races where my sister and I would both race along with friends, which made it quite competitive and exciting.
As I started out I was racing many different types of bike races such as track, cross, TT's, road and mtb, which I think added a lot of variety to me as a bike rider. There was a lot of support available as I grew up especially from Scottish Cycling with different race trips and camps, which were a great place to learn different things about the sport. I also received support from Scottish Borders Council and Braveheart, which was a massive help for my family to help attend races.
As I got a little older and moved to the youth category I started to travel through out the UK and compete in the British Series which was an eye opener to start with but I soon started to get on well and enjoy the events. As I moved to Junior I got the chance to join British Cycling’s ODP programme which gave me support and helped me to attend my first World Cups and World Championships. These races were a massive experience and it was a privilege to race them. It was a big step from the UK racing scene to world level but I really enjoyed it. I soon started to get some results and I got to travel throughout the world which was brilliant. I was still racing on my road bike and cross bike at this time and got to compete and attend some big events which was really exciting.
As I finished junior and moved up to the elite category I was happy to get selected for British Cycling Academy Programme, which is a full-time programme based in Manchester. This was a new experience, as I had to move away from home and had to learn how to look after myself, cook, shop, washing etc. That took a bit of time but I soon learnt the essentials! As I was now a full-time cyclist it meant there was a big increase in my training compared to when I was at school and I had to learn to manage this and there was a lot more travel to different training camps and races, which was something I also had to learn to deal with.
The Academy programme was based together and I enjoyed the fact there was a variety of different cyclists around from track, BMX and road, which made it quite interesting. In my second year Elite, I joined my first professional team of Bart Brentjens MTB racing team and I have been part of the team for two years now which is great fun and I am always learning and challenging myself.
My main target for this year was to compete in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and I was happy to get selected for Team Scotland. It was a massive event and to be a part of it was a great experience. Both events I competed in had big crowds who were all excited to watch the competition. The village and the ceremonies were highlights of the games experience away from the main competition, which I obviously thought were cool.
I think that it is important to enjoy riding your bike and have fun. It is also important to learn skills at a young age, as it is a very useful thing when it comes to racing some of the technical XC tracks throughout the World. I think that youth racing in Scotland is good but if I compare it to youth mountain bike races in Europe where there are 200 people lining up, I think that this is an advantage to them but the more people we have riding a bike and racing at a younger age the better.
BackI think if I stick to XC specifically in Europe they run XC mtb races on the edges of towns, which I think brings the racing to the people and it can be great to watch. I think that trail centres have helped improve general participation in mountain biking. I think that an increase in trails and improved access from different cities would help to continue to build the mountain biking participation levels. I think Scottish festivals and events such as Tweedlove and Fort William Downhill World Cup are big attractions to Scottish mountain biking.
BackI have ridden most of the trail centres in Scotland and I grew up on the 7 Stanes trails and I think they are some of the best in the world. I also love the fact you can go and explore the countryside throughout Scotland.
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