Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Tag: Scottish Cycling

Kathy Gilchrist – Scottish Cycling President on her First Year, and Beyond

It was December 2021 when we first had a word with Kathy Gilchrist, not long after she was elected President on a ticket of "giving back and making a difference", so we thought it would be a good time to hear how her first year in the job has gone, what's changed, and with Scotland hosting "the biggest cycling event ever" in late summer, what this year is going to bring.

Club Spotlight: Caithness CC (powered by Alasdair Washington)

Caithness Cycling Club is thriving thanks in no small part to the enthusiasm and inspiration of 85 years old Alasdair Washington, a VTTA member since the 1980s. The club boasts that it is the most northerly cycling club on mainland UK, so is very remote from mainstream cycling activity.

John Montgomery

Within days of us losing one of the younger pillars of Scottish cycle sport in Rab Wardell we also lost one of our elder statesmen in John Montgomery, another man who I’ve been, ‘meaning to catch up with,’ – sadly, too late. 

Announcing the Launch of the Alba Development Road Team

The Alba Development Road Team is aiming to help female talent realise their dreams of competing against the world’s top riders in the biggest races. Thanks to financial backing from several international organisations all athletes are being provided with a bike, individual development plan, riding kit and full race programme to help achieve optimum performance.

Kathy Gilchrist – the New Scottish Cycling President

The name ‘Gilchrist’ is a famous one in Scottish Cycling with Mr. Sandy Gilchrist, star of road, track and time trial, as one of its most lauded sons. And now there’s another Gilchrist making the headlines in Scottish Cycling, Sandy’s US born wife, Kathy was recently elected President of Scottish Cycling.

Sandy Wallace, the Perfect Friend

It’s with much sadness that VeloVeritas records the passing of Fife and Scottish cycling stalwart, Sandy Wallace. We thought we should ask just a few of those whose lives were touched by the man to give us their tributes...

Matti Dobbins – Young Scot is trialling with Team GB

The good news is that Scotland is eligible to field a team in the UCI Track Nations Cup events and encouragingly, we have around a dozen riders vying for a ride. One of those on the squad is 19 year-old Matti Dobbins from Bridge of Weir, who as a junior was a Scottish track champion across multi-disciplines and has been trialling with the GB squad at Manchester, focusing on making the GB and Scottish Team Pursuit squads.

Oscar Onley – Looking Forward to 2021 with Sunweb’s u23 Team

Oscar Onley recently caught the attention of many, including Team Sunweb, with his win at Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc cycle sportive, a mountain time trial that took place on the same course as the final stage of the elite men’s race of the same name. For season 2021 Oscar will be riding with the World Tour Team’s u23 development squad.

Craig Grieve – Spokes Racing Team Owner

Craig Grieve is the man at the helm of Spokes Cycles, with branches in St. Andrews and Dundee, and manager of the successful junior Spokes Racing Team through which so much talent has passed. Craig raced ‘back in the day’, paying his dues in Belgium and The Netherlands in those 240 rider, warp-speed criteriums.

Kyle Gordon – “Scottish Cycling look after me so well”

VeloVeritas caught up with Kyle Gordon on the Tuesday after his splendid 48 minute ride to the top of the Scottish 25 Mile TT Championship 2019 podium on Sunday at Forfar on a miserable but rapid morning. We chatted about his training, race plans and what it's like to be on the Scottish Cycling programme.

Phil Trodden – From Rugby to Cycling to National Championship Medals in Two Seasons!

"Hey Ed, hope you are well? Just thought I'd let you know the Scottish guys are racing Ras Muhman this weekend, a four day over in Ireland. Phil Trodden in particular is riding for Scotland. I don't know if you know Phil, but he is an absolute gent and a proper racer..." That was the message from British Points Race Champion, Mark Stewart – best not argue with those trackies, they can get very emotional – so we dropped Phil a line and here’s what he had to say to us.

Alasdair MacLennan – the SC President Looks Back at the Glasgow Games

As the Commonwealth Games fade in our memory to be replaced by The Vuelta and Worlds we thought there should be a ‘last word’ on the biggest week of cycle sport in Scotland’s history. And who better to provide it than Scottish Cycling President, Alasdair MacLennan who kindly agreed to share his thoughts with VeloVeritas.

Gary Coltman – ‘Head of Performance’ with Scottish Cycling

With the recent appointment of Gary Coltman as Head of Performance at Scottish Cycling, VeloVeritas thought it would be interesting to learn about the man and his plans – here’s what he had to say to us:

Gary Willis – SCU National Development Coach

The last few seasons have seen few youths or juniors names grace the start sheets in Scotland, but 2006 saw a few of those 'green shoots of recovery' the politicians tell us about. The man charged with nurturing the crop is Gary Willis, so VeloVeritas decided we should ask him some questions. First off, we spoke a little about the job itself.

At Random

Scrapbook: Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne Brussels Kuurne 2017

Ghent, or rather ‘Gent’ we love it; the bars, the people and the fact you can walk into a filling station and there are six quality cycling magazines on the shelf to chose from, and you have to love a city where they have taps to discharge the rainwater. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the first real races of the year – Down Under, the Desert races, Langkawi? Come on!

Tim Mountford, Part One – Tandem Sprinting at the ’64 Olympics

Tim Mountford was one of the pioneers of US professional cycling in the 60’s and 70’s; he recently gave freely of his time to tell VeloVeritas about his adventures in what was a golden age for European cycling.

World Road Championships 2009 – Spain Did OK, No?

Some cycling pundits (aye, you Ed) have said that the Spanish team had a terrible World Championships - well bronze, a fourth, ninth and fifteenth is better than any other country than I guess Australia and Russia, although Russia only had two riders in the top twenty.

Joshua Tarling – Rainbow Bands and a Pro Contract

Joshua Tarling has just taken the biggest win of his young life – the World Junior Individual Time Trial Championships in Woolongong by 19 seconds from Hamish McKenzie of Australia at 49.395 kph, and he's been snapped up by the mighty INEOS team, continuing the trend for young talents to skip u23 and go straight to the World Tour.

Tour de Yorkshire 2018 – Stage 2 Wrap Up; Magnus Cort Nielsen takes the uphill sprint

Magnus Cort Nielsen couldn’t even hear himself breathe, such was the noise that greeted his mesmeric finish to win stage two of the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire. But if the Dane thought that finale in Ilkley was loud, the Yorkshire Bank and Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries leader’s jersey holder hasn’t heard anything yet. History was made as the Tour finished on a summit for the first time, the brutal second stage from Barnsley finishing atop the Cow & Calf hill some 149km later.

Al Hamilton – Eufemiano Fuentes and the View from Spain

Eufemiano Fuentes, Jesus Manzano, Operaciõn Puerto, Alejandro Valverde, Alberto Contador... and now Manuel Beltran. All Spanish, all hot topics - but what's the buzz in España? We turned to VeloVeritas Iberian correspondent Al Hamilton for the low down, and asked him some questions on just what the current Spanish perspective is.