Fed-up mum takes up new hobby at 49 – now she’s been picked to represent Team GB

A mum is ready to pedal for a medal at the age of 53 after being selected to represent Team GB at the BMX World Championships.

Lesley Reynolds became fed up of “getting cold” watching her son Jacob, 14, from the sidelines after he took up the sport and gave it a go herself.

The former science teacher said: “I realised that although I was telling him what to do, I really didn’t know what I was talking about.

“People started saying to me, ‘maybe you should get out and do it if you think you know what you’re doing’. I thought ‘I’d rather be doing that than stood here freezing’, so I had a go.”

Lesley, of Truro, Cornwall, was 49 when she bought her first BMX bike.

She competes in the Over 30 Female Cruiser category and is ranked 2nd in the country on the Great Britain Cycling Team website.

Lesley will represent her country at the UCI BMX World Championships in Belgium in July after excelling in last year’s national finals.

Taking up the sport even helped her overcome anxiety and she said she has never felt mentally or physically fitter.

She said: “You have to learn to ride standing up – that was the first challenge to overcome. And then being confident to pedal fast enough to get up the steep side of a jump.

“Keeping the wheels on the ground when you are going fast can be a challenge. But at the end of the day it all comes down to how fast you pedal and how brave you are.”

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