Life on the road a breeze for Beth
A GCU student is continuing her cycling success after making a post-pandemic transition into road racing.
Third year Physiotherapy student Beth Maciver only started cycling three years ago and honed her talent from the comfort of home using Zwift and her very own turbo trainer.
Like the rest of the world, Beth was keen to embrace the outdoors once restrictions eased and quickly found herself speeding around streets, rather than carpets.
She explained: “There obviously hadn’t been many opportunities during lockdown, so I’ve been keen to make the most of it.
"This year, I managed to get onto the Alba Development Road Team, which is specifically for Scottish women. We’ve got Elite Development Status from British Cycling this year, which is recognition for the team we are and opportunities available to us. There are eight riders involved and it’s been a great experience so far.”
As well as competing as part of a team, Beth has also been moving through the gears individually and recently won the Women’s Event at last month’s Scottish Student Sport Criterium Championships in Lochgelly.
She said: “I just thought I would enter and give it a go. It’s still early in the cycling season, so I just wanted to see where my legs were at.
"One of my teammates was there as well, so we actually got a two-woman breakaway and spent the race working together. It then came down to a sprint between us and luckily I managed to pip her to the finish line!”
Beth added: “A crit (criterium) is a short, fast event – they’re judged on time, rather than a specific distance, and usually last around an hour. The route at Lochgelly was 1.3km, and we managed a total of just over 17 miles, averaging 23.3mph.”
Travelling on two wheels faster than some do on four would be rather daunting to a lot of people, but not Beth.
She said: “It’s just part of racing and something I’ve got used to. I would say the biggest challenge, in terms of transitioning from indoor racing, would be the actual handling of the bike. When I’m racing at home on a simulator, I can just cycle through people and not need to worry. In real life, there are a huge amount of considerations around your safety and the safety of others.
"I actually crashed this week and there’s not too much that can be done – it’s just the nature of it. You put a lot of trust in the people around you…it doesn’t always pay off!”
With a challenging final year of university around the corner, Beth isn’t setting her sights too far ahead and wants to maintain her current level of performance, while also keeping in mind just how far she’s come.
She explained: “You need a lot of experience to do well in cycling, and I’m still a bit of a novice. I’m going to be involved in some national races this year with riders from all over the UK, which is really exciting.
"It’s mad to think of the impact cycling has had on my life - all that extra time in lockdown gave me the chance to really enjoy it. That enjoyment is what starts it all off and from there it’s just about keeping going – we’ll just have to see where I get to.”
By Ross Clark
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