He’s Scottish. Does a mean pencil wheelie. His first home-built gym had weights made out of heavy bits of wood. He qualified at his first ever World Cup (South Africa). Works for his Dad, an electrician through the winter. Rides ‘knees-out’ at all times. Rides 125cc moto. Has been on the MTBCut team since 2011. He’ll be racing full World Cup season in 2013. And he has really heavy legs.
He is Fraser McGlone and here is his Dirty Dozen.
Hello Fraser, lets get the who’s, where’s, what’s and why’s out of the way. Who are you? Where are you from? What are you? Why are you? And where will you be in five years time? Fraser McGlone. A little village called Appin in the west coast of Scotland! A total boss. I am here because the man up stairs needed someone on the ground to keep the peace (just to clarify I am not religious in anyway!) Five years time I will be living the highlife no doubt, haha, hopefully I’ll be at the top end of DH. That’s the ultimate aim at the end of the day! Or if all else fails I’ll settle for a motocross ride on an AMA team, preferably KTM. Just give me a shout DeCoster if you’re keen.
Have you got a nickname? MC and Frazzy Baz by some, a lot worse by others I’m sure!
What is your hidden talent? You get bonus points if you’re musical, even more if you’ve made a video of you singing, playing the drums, bagpipes etc. My hidden talents are probably singing my heart out in the van with the tunes right up, got a badass sound system in the van so have a wee jolly at that when I’m trucking. Been on the wheelies recently as well, trying to claim all the local bridges is always a good laugh.
So bicycles, talk me through your entire history of bikes and don’t leave any out. I had a little trike when I was really young with plastic wheels, used to take it down to the old airstrip and smash up seashells. Then got a real bike not long after that razzing around the street terrorising OAPs. First real MTB was a Kona Stinky Jr, what an amazing bike that was cracked twice and got it sprayed by my dad in white camo! Then I had an old V10, such a heavy bike for a young racer, probably why I’m such an animal now. Then it was an Ironhorse Sunday, Trek, Giant, and then onto the Orange which I’ll be riding again this year!
Ever dabble in wheel sizes? Only from the plastic trike wheels, decided they couldn’t hack the WC circuit!
What are your World Cup plans this year? Oh and who is your nemesis, who out there do you want to beat? I’m going to be racing the full WCs again this year, it’s my first year as an elite so really looking forward to that! Wanting to get inside the top 30. My best result last year was 35th so looking to better that for sure. Nemesis: A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent, personified in this case by a ‘orrible c**t, me. (Snatch quote). According to Roots and Rain I have 18 nemeses, never knew there was that many! I don’t have any individual who I want to beat just as long as I beat Greg Williamson it’s all-good! Friendly banter is all.
What other races are on your calendar? I’ll be racing the BDS rounds because they have such good competition and are excellent practice for WC racing.
What do you make of this Harlem Shake thing? I’m old and confused by it all. It’s funny you should mention that, me and my dad were out in the garage and the full song came on the radio, safe to say he wasn’t impressed by the sounds he was hearing! I think some of the videos are funny, but they’re all pretty similar so once you’ve watched one you’ve seen them all.
I hear you work as an electrician in the off-season. Much work about at the moment? What’s your hourly rate? I’ve been giving my dad a hand at work as an electrician; it’s really cool because we do a lot of fish farm-based work, instead of being stuck indoors all day you are out at sea bobbing about in the water in some really nice locations! Bad side is that it’s in Scotland, not the tropics. We get a bit of wild weather, haha. On 8 quid an hour, tried to get a pay rise but my dad told me where to go!
Talk me through your winter training regime? So far it’s consisted of gym, cross-country, road rides, and motocross, it’s super flexible to suit work but as long as I get it all done everyone’s happy. I’m heading out to Malaga with the Scottish Cycling guys for three weeks on Saturday with the DH and road bike, can’t wait to see some dust!
All riders these days seem to blast about on motos, have you got one? Are all DH riders frustrated MX riders?! Yeah I’ve got myself a KTM 125, it’s so much fun, love every time I go out on it! I think every rider loves a bit of moto even if it’s just watching the supercross. But I think it helps for DH riding, even if it doesn’t it’s brilliant fun!
When was the last time you scared yourself shitless? Probably last weekend, not quite shitless but on the MX bike getting a massive swap on mid-air and just going stiff, landed sideways and no idea how I saved it! You have to do at least one thing that scares you a day.
Describe your riding style in 5 words. Absolutely feckin’ out of control!
It’s joke time. Can you tell me the last funny joke you heard? 10 points if it includes a meteor, the pope or a horse in it. This years X-Factor will be replaced by Pope Idol!
Cheers Fraser. Any last words? Thanks for taking the time to read my drivel guys! Also massive thanks to Stu Thomson at MTBcut/Cut Media for sorting me out over the last few years, all the guys at Scottish Cycling, everyone at Orange Bikes, Rob at Continental Tyres and, Cane Creek, MET/Bluegrass, Madison Clothing, Shimano, Hope and Five Ten for all their support.
