The Young Ones Part II

The Young Ones Part II

Jenny wants this blog to have a theme - I pointed out to her that they all have a theme, one week we make fun of a well known local outdoor equipment business magnate, the next week we say something derogatory about Bianchi man - however, it is about time we had an update on our assisted riders aka The Young Ones, so we have a ready made theme for this edition. Its a day when Young Ones all over Scotland will be opening envelopes from SQA. If you need cheering up check out the original Young Ones on youtube - if you got the results you were after, well done!

The first of our Young Ones updates is on Megan Riach. If you have an eye for a nice bike you will have seen Megan speeding around Aviemore and further afield on her Ridley Excalibur

" The last couple of months I've been competing in the National Omnium rounds and I've been trying to get back to form after the flu and injury. I managed to qualify for the British Omnium finals and this month I've been training for the British National Track Champsionships in August for the sprint, scratch and TT (still waiting comfirmation!). In the next two weeks I'm going to be racing at Dundee in the Scottish Scratch Championships and the next weekend I'm away in Bradford for the British National Road Circuit Championships. August is madness for me! I will be in Manchester training most of the time but will have to squeeze in a trip to Edinburgh for a few days at the Scottish Track Champsionships before returning to Manchester for the Omnium finals . I also have a week at the British Track Championships. "
Our more astutue readers will have noted that there has been a short delay in publishing Megan's update but it is nice to hear how busy she has been on the cycling scene and we look forward to hearing how she fared in the events she was preparing for.

Next cyclist up on our talented rider scheme is Hamish Hepburn of Carrbridge. Hamish recently took delivery of a Saracen Amplitude to add to his stable of bikes. Sick of your dad beating you on a road bike? Sick of your mum beating you on a mountain bike? Sick of your wee sister out-tricking you on a bmx? Solution? Buy a trials bike... the Amplitude does it all, whether you ride dirt, park or street. Sick of being made fun of in the blog? Solution? Write your own updates

The latest addition to the Young Ones squad is Elena Melton. Elena used Mike's Bikes and Merida to source what can only be described as an awesome Merida Scultura Evo full carbon frame in XS with a bespoke build to her spec from Mike's Bikes. With Ultegra componentry, RS80 wheels and female specific modifications it is a fantastic machine - special thanks are due to James at Merida for helping to make this possible. Elena races in the colours of Mikes Bike's sponsored Cairngorm Cycing Club.
Elena had a good result recently with a 3rd place at the British Series MTB race in Margam Park Wales. The 26 hours of driving involved is not doing anything for her dad's fitness. She has also won the last 2 Scottish Cross Country series races. The British MTB Nationals and the Scottish MTB Championships are on her race calendar then she is going to target the Scottish Circuit race championships in August. The plan then is to race the UK school games at the beginning of September, though this has yet to be confirmed. She is not expecting too much from early season racing as she adjusts to a new discipline but she is hoping to be competitive on the hill climb races at the end of the season, as her power to weight ratio is very good.
Elena has provide us with her own account of the Scottish XC Championships at Perth on 31st July 2011
With the UK Schools Games on the same weekend as the Drumlanrig SXC, Perth became the Scottish Championships in the youth and juvenile categories and the last SXC for me this year. So far I had two 1sts and a 3rd and was hopeful of a good result.
However things didn't get off to a very good start as i had quite a bad crash in practice. I can't really remember what happened but i was going too fast down a steep descent and ended up off the trail not being able to stop and only coming to a halt when my head hit off a big branch and flipped me off my bike. Surprisingly, I wasn't too badly hurt but I had lost my confidence on that descent and when I went back later to try and ride it without crashing I kept getting blocked and had to leave it.
I didn't feel too bad on the start line and not as mervous as usual. My start is not one of my strongest areas particularly when it is a flat or downhill start. All my main competitiors got ahead of me. I pulled myself back into 2nd place as the fire road started going uphill. Just as we were coming into the first uphill single track some riders got in between me and Erika who was in 1st place. One of them got off in front of me which forced me to get off too and run. I tried hard to close the gap but lost further time when I ran the section where I had crashed. I ended up coming in to the finish 2nd, 40 seconds behind Erika and 2 minutes ahead of Eve in 3rd place.
I felt a bit disappointed but not too bad.

Cal and Sal, our 'happy to help you' assistants here at Mike's Bikes are eagerly awaiting delivery of their matching Saracen Zen 1 mtbs - watch here for their expert verdicts! In the meantime they have been testing the shop GoPro camera on their current bikes on the trails around High Burnside. Check it out!

Finally, in the Young One's section, a rider who paid me a tenner to include him as a Young One. Andy, of well known local cycling duo Pandy, has just taken out the Merida 96er for an extended test ride on the Burma Road. Being a man of few (written) words and exhibiting a technical expertise uncommon in men his age, he has submitted his review in the form of an uploaded video. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?!