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Young Kettleby mountain biker hot in circuit

By Jeff Doner

At 16 years old, Kettleby resident Graham McDougall is burning up the local mountain bike racing circuit and has his sights set on taking that a few steps further.
The Grade 11 student has recently captured a couple first place wins at Ontario Cup races in Mansfield and just this past weekend at Sir Sam's Ski and Bike in Haliburton.
“The weather was awesome, I was feeling good before the race and I ended up getting another win, so I'm pretty stoked on this seasons accomplishments so far,” he said.
Graham started racing when he was 11, but has been riding his bike his whole life. He said he was hooked on mountain bike racing at an event that happens Wednesday nights at a little trail in King City and has been doing that every year for the past five years.
“What I do is cross country mountain biking, so it's normally around a really big hill at a conservation centre or something like that. It's a lot of flat trails and a lot of hills – you bike up the hill and then back down. It's also done in laps and at different age categories you've got to do more laps and you've basically just got to do it in the least amount of time possible and try to finish first.”
As time went on he realized that he has a passion for the sport and wanted to take it to the next level, so he started registering for Ontario Cup races.
“Ontario Cups are pretty big for me,” he said. “Since I do little local race series, like the one in King, that doesn't get you noticed too much, but with the Ontario Cup it's getting pretty big and people will see you and say, ‘this person is good, you've got to see him,' but I did a couple Canada Cups last year at the national level and I won a race in Barrie for the Canada Cup, so that's been my biggest win so far. That was just an awesome race for me.”
But now that he is conquering the Ontario and Canada Cup circuits, he admitted that he is now even eyeing the next level.
“I definitely have my eye on some of the bigger races like world cups and stuff like that – that would be awesome,” he said. “I want to start doing World Cups and there's one of those this year at Mont Ste.-Anne, which I'm looking at. Also the Olympics in 2016. I've just got to keep riding my bike and keep doing that and training.”
At this point, training at least four days a week is crucial for the young athlete in working toward those higher goals.
“It's definitely a lot about endurance, but it's also about smoothness through corners and fastness uphill, so working on that is also important,” he said. “It's basically I've just got to keep biking and what I do when I'm training is just go as fast as I can and then take a break and as fast as I can again and so on. So I just try to be fast and smooth.”
This summer is going to be crucial for his training and development. Aside from traveling to Africa, Graham said he will be biking a lot and has more races planned this summer than ever before. “It's going to be fun and intense, I know that,” he said.
For a 16-year-old, none of this comes easy as trying to strike the proper balance between school, friends, family and sport becomes a juggling act.
“It can definitely be tough at times,” he admitted. “There are days when I know I need to train, but I still want to go out with my buddies, so it's really all about balance. At the moment I'm really trying to put school first, because exams are coming up, but I'm also trying to stay on my bike.
“Last week I did 70 something kilometers to make up for a couple days in the week, just so I can get those kilometers in. I also try and take a couple days off for school, but I try and compensate later for that in training.”
It's his competitive nature that keeps focussed and forging ahead, but he admitted the sweetness of winning keeps him coming back for more.
“It's awesome to win a race and it makes me want to go out and race again,” he said.
Mental toughness is another trait that comes in handy when you're sitting at the top of the hill waiting for the race to start, but Graham has his steady routine to help him get in the right frame of mind.
“I just throw my iPod on about an hour before and just ride around to get my legs warmed up, so you just have to get yourself in a good mental place and keep telling yourself that you really want to win the race. You've got to convince yourself that you're going to win.”
That mentality seems to be working great for Graham lately and he will take that to his next big race on July 14 in Sudbury, where he will be competing in his first Canada Cup this year.
“The rush right at the start line when they say, ‘go' is just awesome and the feeling that you get when you're in first place and leading everyone is awesome and I love doing that – I love mountain biking basically, it's just so much fun.”

Excerpt: At 16 years old, Kettleby resident Graham McDougall is burning up the local mountain bike racing circuit and has his sights set on taking that a few steps further.

Post date: 2013-07-09 16:15:57
Post date GMT: 2013-07-09 20:15:57
Post modified date: 2013-07-23 15:17:00
Post modified date GMT: 2013-07-23 19:17:00