180 Seconds with Laura Scott
7th April 2017
Endurance cyclist Laura Scott will be taking on the Ride the Trafalgar Way 300 mile, 24 hour Colossus ride in July. We recently caught up with Laura at the Rapha Cafe, Soho for breakfast before she headed out on her morning ride. We had an enlightening chat about her cycling career to date. We put 180 seconds on the clock and asked the following questions. We were just over the time, however we feel the insight was well worth a few extra seconds!
Laura we would love to know, to date, what your top three most memorable moments in cycling are?
- I think on the first day of the TransAm last year. I had been hit by a car and some complete strangers messaged me and offered to drive 8 hours to come and pick me up, take me into Portland and help me buy a new wheel so I could get back out on the road. It was incredible and the kindness of strangers meant that I was able to complete my race.
- The very first time I ever rode on a road bike was from Paris to London for a charity and it was when I fell in love with road cycling
- Shortly after that I had never ridden over 100km and I decided to ride the Dunwich Dynamo and didn’t know I needed to book a way back. So I got there and then had to ride back doing over 200 miles in the process! It was a steep learning curve but I absolutely loved it!
What’s your proudest moment in your cycling career?
Getting over The Rockies with a broken shoulder! After being hit by the car I rode another 2200miles, when I eventually got it checked out later I discovered my collar bone was fractured and my shoulder was dislocated, so I managed to cycle the whole of The Rockies in that state.
What ride, anywhere in world, is still on your bucket list to do (apart from the Trafalgar Way obviously)?
I have not ridden in the Alps, at all! Anywhere in The Alps is on my bucket list.
Who are your top guys or girls in endurance road cycling that we need to keep our eye on over the next year or so?
Sarah Hammond who is Australian. She was in 3rd place in the IndianPacific. I rode with her on the TransAm during last year. She’s an incredible cyclist and it’s amazing to see how strong she is. I just think that any of the races that she is in, within the next few years, she’ll be a contender to win and win hands down.
Lael Wilcox, she won the TransAm last year. She’s from Alaska and she’s just incredibly passionate about growing the sport. She created a bursary for women to go ride the Baja Divide this year. She’s now up in Alaska running a programme for middle schools girls to get them into endurance cycling. She is not only winning but she’s also helping on the ground getting the next generation into the sport.
If you could interview or sit down and have a cup of tea with any cyclist you wanted tomorrow (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
I know her, so I could. But it would be Emily (Emily Chappell) just because I actually I met her here (Rapha Cafe, Solo). It was when I wanted to get into endurance cycling and I was debating whether to do the TransAm or not and I was trying to make that jump into the big ultra events. I made her come here and meet me and I just picked her brain. She is one of the most fascinating people to talk to, she’s so eloquent and just very thoughtful about the way she speaks about cycling, so she would be my top person.
Finally, the 2017 season is well under way so what’s the ride you are most looking forward to this year and why?
I think it is Ride the Trafalgar Way.
That wasn’t a loaded question, so you don’t have to say us!
I know, I think I don’t know what the TCR holds at the moment, so I think I’m really excited about Ride the Trafalgar Way because I’ve never ridden 300 miles in 24 hours before. It’s a new challenge and I think I can do it, so we’ll have to see!
We would like to thank Laura for taking time during her flying visit back from Canada. You can follow Laura via her social media channels on Insta and Twitter