Name: Steve Heading

Age: 38

Occupation: Teacher

Team: Whyte bikes

Best result: 27th World Mountain Bike Orienteering (MTBO) Championships, Australia 2004

Biography:

I started cycling following in the tyretracks of my elder brother, Andy. Initially it was cycle touring. When I left school I rode down to Greece (whilst Andy was crossing the Sahara) stopping off in the Alps to do some walking.

 Soon Andy and I had bought our first mountain bikes, and completed a traverse of the Pyrenees. We even entered our first event, the Hell of the North Cotswolds ? a ride in which I have more recently been first finisher. More ideas developed, with frequent trips to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, as well as local riding in the Peaks.

I left to work in Southern Africa, where cycling became just a means of transport. After four years I returned to the U.K. and found I had a lot of catching up to do. The ?Matlock Mafia? were riding and racing hard ? they had a top reputation in the world of Polaris and Trailquest. After months of suffering I could eventually keep up and also started competing in mountain bike orienteering events. I progressed through the placings and finally recorded my first win in 2000.

MTBO remains my favorite format, and most successful ? in 2005 I finished with a world ranking of 30th. I do however like to ride a whole range of events - training and fitting them all in is the problem! Whilst I continue to enjoy, I will hopefully continue to compete.

Winner of several Polaris Challenges (U.K. and abroad) and quite a few trailquests.

British team member for MTBO championships all three years of the event.

Winner of Dusk ?till Dawn pairs, and second as a solo rider.

Top placings in most of the SSMM and SITS team events.

And various placings, both high and low in lots of other events?..