WHIZZING down ramps and taking sharp corners like a pro - it's hard to believe some of the girls at the Loading Bay cycle track have only been on bikes for four weeks.
The group of S1 pupils from St Paul's Secondary in Glasgow are part of a new school initiative to encourage girls, who are underrepresented in the activity, on to bikes.
As the city prepares to host next year's UCI Cycling World Championships, local authorities are keen to create a legacy for the city with this 10-week schools programme forming a part of that ambition.
Girls most at risk of inactivity and isolation are a key target group for the city’s sports development team, which has rolled out the bike scheme to 12 schools.
Jane Damer, of the cycling development team at Glasgow Sport, has been the driving force behind the project.
Her focus is the grassroots involvement of girls in cycling. Rather than looking to develop professional champions, she wants to build confidence that will see girls and women taking up space on the roads to commute and travel just like their male peers.
She said: "Girls are massively underrepresented in all disciplines.
"With this programme we wanted to catch girls while they are still at a malleable stage so we thought about the biggest transition times in their lives and one of those is the transition from primary school to secondary.
"Their periods are starting, they're exposed to bullies and body image issues and social media, which is really, really toxic for girls.
"We know that girls start to drop out of physical activity at high rates in second and third year so we wanted to catch them before that stage.
"We're hoping they then take this positive influence and passion for cycling back to their schools and spread it around."
Pupils taking part will experience track sessions at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, mountain bike sessions with the Endura Lifecycle Trust at Balfron, BMX freestyle sessions at the Loading Bay and roadside maintenance classes from Bike For Good.
As well as the practical cycling sessions the girls are given workshops in self esteem building and body image.
Ms Damer added: "Glasgow is going to look like Copenhagen in 10 years time.
"But part of that will be looking at how do you change the culture?
"In a decade we want to see cycling as a major part of the curriculum and getting people to cycle to school.
"Part of that is really drenching our girls in really amazing opportunities and about changing the culture from one of insecurity to girls thinking, 'I'm really rocking it'."
A culmination event will take place for all girls involved as well as gathering the groups to take part in any public mass participation rides planned for next year, ahead of the World Championships.
St Paul's pupil Sophie Watson has enjoyed the practical sessions of learning about the component parts of her bike - but the best times are those spent actually riding around.
The 11-year-old was already keen on cycling and learned to cycle when she was so young that she can't remember doing it.
Sophie said: "I go out with my friends and family but I do go out on my bike by myself.
"I would like to cycle to school but I don't trust my bike outside the school as there's no secure storage where you can lock your bike inside - if they had that then I would cycle to school."
Fellow St Paul's pupil Mahnaz Noori has just learned to ride a bike at the age of 13.
The second year pupil came to Scotland a year ago with her family.
She picked up the skill within a week and now she's riding on BMX tracks and mountain biking.
Mahnaz said: "I really love it, it's so enjoyable. It was hard at first but then I got better."
The Loading Bay BMX Freestyle session was led by Jack Mills, Loading Bay Centre Manager, and supported by Glasgow Life’s resident female BMX coach, Dasa Polakova.
Dasa, a former elite BMX competitor who was once a World and four-time European Champion, initially started cycling in the former Czechoslovakia, prior to moving to the UK following 2008 Beijing Olympics.
She said: “Sport has massively shaped my life right from helping me with staying off the street and learning to push myself.
"I was fortunate to be able to travel the world and meet so many amazing people, learn a new language and become part of a great community."
From August 3 to 13, 2023, the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships will be hosted in Glasgow and across Scotland.
It will be the single biggest cycling event in history, bringing together 13 existing individual UCI world championships into one mega event, with five venues in the city staging eight of the 13 UCI World Championship events, including BMX Freestyle at Kelvingrove Park.
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