Q & A: Keira McVitty (Team WNT)

Question and answer with a young rider going places in Women’s pro racing, Keira McVitty (Team WNT)

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Q & A: Keira McVitty (Team WNT)

This will be Keira McVitty’s second year racing for Team WNT. She says the best thing about WNT is their commitment in supporting the riders on and off the bike.

Keira McVitty (@ginger_biskwit)

1. How did you get into cycle racing?
Keira: I started with time trials when I was younger but once I tried road and track racing I was hooked.

2. What’s your favourite discipline in cycling?
Keira: Road racing for epic-ness, Track racing for speed and Fixed gear criteriums for adrenaline!

3. What is the best thing about bike racing?
Keira: The freedom, the over-coming adversity and challenging yourself, the feeling of giving everything and most importantly crossing the finish line!

4. What was the highlight of 2016 for you and why?
Keira: The highlight of 2016 for me was having to opportunity to race on the continent with the big names like Marianne Vos, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Lydia Boylan.

5. What was your favourite/most fun race of 2016
Keira: Flanders Diamond Tour UCI race, I was just having lots of fun in the bunch and really enjoyed the course, this also lead to my best result of the year too. Happy head, fast legs and all that…

6. What was the toughest race of 2016 for you and why?
Keira: Red Hook Crit Milan was the hardest for me, I was sitting a close second in the championship and due to a mechanical meant that I dropped to 4th place. It was just really hard to take because it was out of my control, bad luck rather than poor form. It also entailed riding most of the race solo between 2 groups which was pretty demoralising!
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7. If there was one thing you learned most in 2016 to help you go faster/better, what was that?
Keira: It’s all in your head, you just have to silence the doubts in your mind because the bunch will probably ease up in a minute … right?

8. What is the best piece of equipment (clothing/bike/gadget) to do with racing you are proud of most?
Keira: I secretly love looking at the data from a power meter after races, it’s nice to be able to see improvements using my Rotor 2INPower meter, even though it is pretty lame to admit!

9. What is your warm up routine for races – rollers or turbo? Music or no music?
Keira: It depends on how long the race is. For crits I like to do a short and hard warm up where as for a long road race I might just do a few short sprints to wake my legs up. I pretty much always listen to music too, it helps me get more focused before the start of a big effort.

10. Will you stay in the UK to prepare for next season during the winter or get in a training camp or two abroad to get in some serious miles?
Keira: I am based in Girona at the moment but I am really looking forward to our early season training camp at the end of February. We are spending 10 days in Tarragona, Spain after our team launch at the Rotor HQ in Madrid.

11. When did you start training for 2017 and what comes first – long steady miles or a mix of miles and efforts?
Keira: I started my preparation for the 2017 season with long miles, but as the season draws near it becomes more a mix of efforts within the miles.

12. What are the goals for 2017?
Keira: My goals are not defined as yet but I would like to improve on last seasons results and really step up as the team embarks on its first year as a womens UCI team.

13. Does winter training consist only of riding the bike or running/swimming/gym work (cross training)
Keira: We have been very lucky with WNT to do some cross country skiing in preparation for this season with the team and as well as that I like to do a bit of gym work and go for a stroll if the weather is dry!

14. Finally, what have you learnt over the years to best deal with the winter months on a bike!
Keira: Having the right clothes/equipment makes a huge difference, I wouldn’t leave the house without a neck warmer/buff in the winter months…and you can use hot water in your drinks bottle which cheers you up considerably in the first hour or so!

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