The 2015 Scottish Cycling Women's Road Race Series gets under way on April 11 and there is still time to enter.

The series, supported by Dales Cycles, will consist of six races taking place in Glasgow, Inverness, Falkirk, Dundee, Banchory and Aviemore between next month and September.

Women's cycle sport in Scotland continues to go from strength to strength. According to recent figures from Scottish Cycling there was a 35% increase in the number of women participating in cycling events across the country between 2013 and 2014.

When the inaugural Scottish Cycling Women's Road Race Series took place last year it attracted a diverse field of riders, many of them first-time racers. Among them was Morven Brown, Scottish Cycling Regional Development Officer (West), who is traditionally more likely to be found traversing mud-splattered mountain bike trails than gunning it along tarmac toads.

Here Morven, 24, shares her top tips for any fellow rookies considering getting their racing stripes.

What advice would you give to someone considering taking part in their first cycling race?

Just do it. Entering an event like this will give you focus and less excuse to chicken out on race day. Doing some longer road rides as training helped me a lot and keeping the pedals turning constantly is something worth practising.

It's also useful to do a pre-ride or recce of the course because it's good to know if there are any rough surfaces or corners that might catch you out or challenging climbs.

Looking at the course you can start to get an idea of where someone from the bunch [main group of riders] might attack and push the pace, for example on a hill or just after a corner, and being able to predict this makes the race a bit more relaxing.

Tell us a bit about your experiences as a road race rookie last year?

I entered the Glasgow round of the 2014 Scottish Cycling Women's Road Race Series as a bet if one of my friends entered a mountain bike race. I've raced bikes for 10 years but had never done a road race so it seemed as good a time as any to try it.

I did some last-minute training and rode the course a couple of times, it was flat with two roundabout U-turns at either end. Flat courses aren't ideal for me, but I was interested to see how I would get on.

I did the race on my cycle-cross bike with road tyres on it and mountain bike shoes and pedals. Fortunately, I managed to stay with the bunch for over half the race and then it started pouring with Biblical-style rain. I slogged it out from there which felt like the longest 10 miles of my life.

It was such an enjoyable experience but really challenging, taking complete concentration and then later having to block out the pain to keep my legs turning.

I ended up finishing in the top half of the race which l was pretty shocked about and discovered the most important part of road racing: the food and cup of tea afterwards.

How did you tackle feeling out of your depth?

I didn't have a clue what I was doing in road racing - I'd never even seen a road race in real life. The organisers were really supportive as were the women's cycling group on Facebook and the Scottish Cycling women's road race coaching session.

I asked a lot of silly questions and even on race day I still wasn't too sure of what I was doing. But if you just get stuck in, are willing to ask questions and give it a shot then you'll enjoy it and learn a lot.

What did you enjoy most?

The best part of the road race was the sense of achievement at the finish. I was tired, but had completed the challenge of racing on the roads. I even liked it so much that I went home that evening and entered the next round of the series.

What was the atmosphere like out on the road?

It was great. The more experienced girls did a good job of organising the bunch on the road and I had an extremely understanding woman next to me who, when I asked after half a lap if the race had started yet, confirmed that, in fact, it had started a while ago.

The coaching sessions before the race had given many riders the confidence to work together in a group and instead of having to ride alone when you dropped out of the main bunch, everyone worked together in small groups to finish.

It's a really special feeling to be racing on the roads in an event solely for women. It's also a great way to keep fit as an alternative to the usual gym spin classes.

Will you be entering this year?

I've already got my entry in for the Glasgow round. It will be first race of the season so it's a good leg-tester and another opportunity to experience women-only racing on the roads which is something we are really fortunate to have.

For more information or to enter the 2015 Scottish Cycling Women's Road Race Series, visit britishcycling.org.uk/scotland