Andy McCoy

A typical 80’s child my first bike was a BMX, being part of the massive 80’s craze it was all about making ramps out of planks and bricks and seeing how many of your mates you could jump over.

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I remember stumbling across a BMX race one day with my parents and instantly new this was what I wanted to do! 

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As the BMX craze faded out the Mountain Bike era took over, and this is where I really fell in love with racing, starting off with XC by the late 80’s and early 90’s we would drop the saddle on our XC bikes and entered the few Downhill races which would be a fun addition to the XC event.

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The purity of DH racing was my heartbeat, between the tapes, You vs The Mountain and The Clock, your result was a pure as it gets, there’s no referees making bad decisions, no free kicks and no penalties, the stop watch never lies.

 

I won’t go into my race career the book of excuses for that one has yet to find a publisher, but I had a blast, did alright, made lifelong friends and never quit, you will still find me on the gate or between the tapes today.

 

Racing did give me lots of opportunity though, I learned to be a professional photographer, became a regular contributor for MBR mag, Dirt Mag and Wide Open. Later this turned into general journalism, writing then later producing video content for the forementioned.

 

As the years progress my greatest achievement is watching my passion for bikes being passed down to my daughter, this is naturally seemed to lead into my volunteer engagement increasing, and not wanting to be one of those people who just moan about the sport, BC, and the likes I decided to be part of the solution instead of be part of the problem.

 

I’m a very active member of Midlands BMX committee and joined the regional board for the East Midlands.

 

These days I like to ride all disciplines, from shredding trails on the E-MTB or a quick Zwift session on my set up in the office I try and ride every week.

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But mostly you will still find me either racing or on the mic commentating at a race!