Here are five great events in the upcoming months.
Take Care of Your Trails
Venues across Scotland
April 11-12, 2015
The Scottish mountain biking community is set to get its sleeves rolled up this weekend as the nation's largest ever co-ordinated voluntary trail maintenance effort takes place.
The inaugural Take Care of Your Trails initiative will be held on Saturday and Sunday (April 11 and 12) with volunteers across the country - from the Highlands to the Tweed Valley - set to join forces.
The event is being organised by Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS), a project based within Scottish Cycling.
It funded by sportscotland, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Natural Heritage.
Graeme McLean, project manager of DMBinS, said organisers are looking for participants of all ages and abilities to take part.
"Scotland has some of the best mountain biking trail provision in the world and those who spend time on these trails are keen to ensure that it stays that way," he said. "We believe that giving up time to help maintain local trails is something everyone can get behind."
For more information, visit dmbins.com/takecareofyourtrails
Tunnel Vision and Cycling Science
Edinburgh International Science Festival
April 12, 2015
There are some fantastic cycling themed events included in this year's Edinburgh International Science Festival programme.
Red Bull athlete and street trials rider Danny MacAskill, who shot to global fame in 2009 and most recently had a viral hit for his jaw-dropping video shot on the Cuillin Ridge in Skye, will take part in Tunnel Vision at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh on Sunday (April 12).
MacAskill will be joined by Professor Ian Robertson, psychologist and founding director of the Trinity College Dublin Institute of Neuroscience, whose work on the brain function of attention has transformed the lives of patients across the globe.
Later that same day Max Glaskin will present an evening of science hacks for cyclists at the Dissection Room, Summerhall.
His Cycling Science event will endeavour to explain the inner workings of bicycles while laying bare thorny topics such as the secrets of slipstreaming and the truth about hairy legs.
Glaskin will be joined by Dr Andrea Sella, one of the UK's top science communicators and a cycling fanatic, and reigning Scottish national junior women's road race champion, Ashleigh Fraser.
For more information, visit sciencefestival.co.uk
Max Leonard & John Deering: Cycling - A Long Way from the Podium
Aye Write, Glasgow's Book Festival
April 25, 2015
Two authors take a starkly different look at a sporting world away from the champagne and glory.
From the breakaway leader who stopped for a bottle of wine to the hapless doper whose drug cocktail actually slowed him down, Max Leonard's Lanterne Rouge shares the inspirational and often brilliantly absurd stories of road racing's last-placed rider.
John Deering's Lost, meanwhile, charts the tale of one of cycling's great fallen heroes. In the 1990s, Belgian professional rider Frank Vandenbroucke won a raft of high profile races and had the Tour de France firmly in his crosshairs.
Off the bike, however, his personal life was in downward spiral, addicted to cocaine and performance-enhancing drugs. His story became one of messy rows with teams, suicide attempts and finally being disowned by his cycling peers. Ten years later, Vandenbroucke died aged just 34.
For more information, visit ayewrite.com
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