When I was at university, the cycling club had a lot of really cool women in it and I wanted to be like them. So, I joined them, initially as a road cyclist but quickly realised that mountain biking, although terrifying, was way more fun.

I’ve ridden bikes since I was little but only started racing competitively when I was 14. My younger sister went to a local go ride session and I went to pick her up one day on my bike and the coaches there invited me to one of their sessions and I've been riding ever since.

Being dragged around on the tag a long at muddy MTB centres by my Dad.

I really hated it at age 7.

My dad got me into mountain biking, I’ve always ridden with him and my family from a young age and I’ve always loved riding and anything involving bikes and the outdoors. I’ve always been the one chasing my dad down the trails - until recently when I’ve started to overtake him!

An injury from another sport, karate, my karate instructor also rode MTB and worked in local bike shop, I joined a ride, bought a bike (fully rigid back in 96') and that was it, hooked, I couldn't believe the freedom a bike brought me.

I started cycling after watching the 2012 London Olympics. I inspired to ride the velodrome. My brothers also started at the same time, which encouraged me to get involved.

I was doing track, road and cyclocross but it wasn’t until U14 when I started mountain biking and I realised how much more fun it was compared to riding in circles around the track.

I started mountain biking, because my brother had seen some videos online of downhill Mountain biking, And he wanted to try it and wanted me to come along, so I said why not! My first memory of biking was crashing at the top of the T bar lift because I didn’t know how to get off, haha! After this day of riding I realized how fun it was, and how great it is for your mental health, So this was the start of my life mountain biking. At this point, I lived in Sweden and it’s very flat there so my “mountain biking life” really kicked off when I moved to Queenstown, 7 years ago, where I could ride every day!

I was born into cycling, I didn’t have a choice!

As child number 5 of 6, I was dragged along on rides and to races at a young age with my older siblings. I haven’t looked back since and cycling has been a huge part of my life, giving me so many friends and unforgettable experiences along the way.

I was competing in rollerskating artistic until I saw a bike flying for the first time. I instantly fell in love, saw that I had to do that and worked to buy my first bike, specifically dirt jump.

I first fell in love with Mountain Bike when I was at University in North Wales. A friend of mine invited me to tag along on a club ride to Dyfi Forest. I borrowed a bike and all the gear and had an absolute blast, wobbling around the forest in the pouring rain.

I've always been into cycling, as a kid I loved doing skids round the garden, and for getting around to my friends houses or for work. It gave me independence.

I started riding while at Sheffield university... initially, it was something that my friends in the climbing club did when the weather was too wet to climb!

My late husband Gareth was part of this group and really into mountain biking, so I just joined along with him and his friends, borrowing an old bike at first until I was hooked and spent my next student loan installment on a new bike!

I've been riding bikes on mountains, if not exactly 'mountain biking'  since the late 1990s. At the start, it was always something to do here in North Wales when it was too wet to go climbing. It was also a good way to get to crags for after work routes and a fantastic way of quickly getting back to the pub for last orders! Mountain biking seriously took over my life following a pretty serious climbing accident. Discovering the joy of modern mountain bikes, trails, enduro racing and brakes that worked was life changing!

My parents originally, my dad raced XC in the 90s and as I grew up we’d ride local trail centres. I’ve got many character building memories of classic Cumbrian weather coinciding with our family rides.

More recently though, after moving to Aberdeenshire, my partner got me into the delights of natural trails and enduro racing. Biking has now escalated. I’m a guide, coach and mountain bike event organiser!

My dad got me into cycling, taking me on the back of his bike on a tag along.

I fell in love with it, and progressed from there.

Growing up in the north of the Scottish Highlands as a child, I always loved being out on my bike. I loved to try and take my bike down mountain paths and push the limits of what me and my bike were capable of.

I've always been into cycling ever since I can remember, I was an active kid and lucky to have active parents who took myself and my brother out on rides at the weekends. I went to all the after school clubs I could manage to but eventually focused my time on cycling.

I entered a 100km sponsored ride and, in training for that, got hooked. It was probably more like a mild obsession when I was riding the roads, but as soon as I discovered off-road riding it totally escalated. Now, so many aspects of my life revolve around bikes and I love it.

My two older brothers got me into riding. My first bike was a dj, which I had when I was 12. It was already kitted out with Hope X2 brakes .
After a year my oldest brother pushed me to buy a freeride bike to do some DH racing. I didn’t want to, to start, but now I’m super happy that he pushed me into the big downhill/ MTB world. 15 years later I’m still riding bikes and I love it so much.

My Mum and Dad persisted for years when I was small, trying to entice me to become a cyclist with seemingly endless slogs into headwinds along Welsh fire roads.

Needless to say this put me off immediately and determinedly and it wasn't 'til I went to university that it suddenly clicked that cycling could actually be fun.

My family got me into cycling as a little kid. My fondest memories are trips out on the tandem for hot chocolates.

From learning to ride a bike as a youngster (an essential part of growing up on a farm). I bought my first mountain bike to help keep me fit and help develop skills for competing across the UK in motorcycle Trials National series.