THESE days Eileen Roe can generally be found with her backside parked in one of two places: a plane seat or a bike saddle.
For the coming days, at least, it is the latter perch that will take priority. Fresh from racing the Tour of Chongming Island in China with her Wiggle-Honda team last weekend, Roe will be on Scottish soil for the second round of the 2015 Matrix Fitness Grand Prix Series in Motherwell on Tuesday.
Roe is the defending series champ- ion, but says that having missed the opening round in Redditch last week - won by double Olympic champion Laura Trott - this year will be about targeting stage wins.
"I was hoping I would be able to defend my title but when I was chosen to race the World Cup in China that obviously took priority," she says. "Having missed the first round it is unlikely I will be able to retain it because you do need to race every round to be in the running for the overall."
Before then the 25-year-old from Fife will be in action at the Milk Race in Nottingham today alongside fellow Scots Katie Archibald and Charline Joiner.
Joiner has shown good form this season. The Dunfermline-born Team WNT rider is sitting second in the 2015 British Cycling Women's Road Series rankings after two rounds, just one point behind Dani King.
Archibald, meanwhile, is on the mend after a crash in the Tour of the Reservoir last month, which left her with nasty road rash as well as leg and back issues.
The trio - who call themselves "the three musketeers" - represent a growing success story for Scottish women in cycling.
In addition to her Matrix Fitness Grand Prix Series title, Roe is the reigning British National Circuit Race champion. She was also a key player in Team Scotland's women's cycling squad at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, competing on both the track and road.
It was at the Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix last August, that she caught the eye of Wiggle- Honda team boss Rochelle Gilmore. Roe finished fourth, pipped to a podium place by Olympic silver medallist Lizzie Armitstead, but she proved her mettle in a field which featured world-class names such as Marianne Vos and her now team-mate, Giorgia Bronzini.
In perfect serendipity, Gilmore was sharing a commentary box with former Scottish pro cyclist Brian Smith, the co-founder of the Braveheart Cycling Fund, who has supported Roe's career. When the offer of a 2015 berth with Wiggle-Honda arrived, Roe didn't hesitate.
If 2014 was a breakthrough year for Roe, then 2015 could potentially be even more special. She claimed a second-place finish in the Women's Tour de Yorkshire this month and then made her UCI World Cup debut in China.
It is Roe's goal to prove herself not only as a talented criterium rider but a skilled tactician and ded- icated worker on the road. To that end, she took on a super domestique role for two-time road world champion Bronzini as the Italian rider rode to victory in the Tour of Chongming Island World Cup.
Social media snapshots of the Wiggle-Honda women as they traverse the globe exude a vibrant and infectious energy like that of a successful girl band. Roe laughs at the comparison.
"Everyone is crazy in the team so I fit in well," she says. "Going away to big races like the World Cup I was nervous but the team environment is so bubbly and energetic. The nerves disappear because the girls are really enthusiastic about racing. Everyone just wants to get out there and do well."
Another Scot excelling on the international stage is Archibald. The reigning double European champion and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist won the Edinburgh round of the Matrix Fitness Grand Prix Series last year and will be looking to repeat that feat in Motherwell on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old from Milngavie, who rides for Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International, will also be keen to successfully defend today's Milk Race title.
Archibald admits, however, that following Great Britain's silver medal in the team pursuit at the 2015 Track World Champion- ships in Paris - they lost their title and world record to Australia - time was needed to reflect and regroup upon return to Manchester.
"It was the first time we had lost a team pursuit since I had been riding with the girls and, I know it sounds stupid, but I wasn't prepared for losing," she says. "That does put fire in the belly to come back stronger."
Her crash six weeks ago was another setback but Archibald isn't one to dwell on adversity. She is philosophical, believing that going into an Olympic year in 2016 it is better to be the chaser than the one trying to stay on top.
"You would have to speak to a psychologist to see what they think the better motivator is, but I far prefer chasing to being chased," she says.
Her palmares this season include winning the sprint competition in the women's Tour de Yorkshire and victory in the Scottish 10-mile Time Trial Champion- ships (after Archibald's father convinced her to enter as a fun father/daughter day out). She also took second place on the opening day of the Tour of the Reservoir in April (before crashing out on stage two). She sits in fifth place after last week's first round of the Matrix Fitness Grand Prix Series.
For Archibald, who will contest the under-23 UEC European Track Championships in Athens this July, the countdown to Rio 2016 dominates everything.
"We know what targets we are going after," she says. "Everything we do on the track, you are thinking about it in relation to where you want to be in 12 months' time. You have to trust the process and think that if I do everything now to the best of my ability, it should lead to the right kind of progression."
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