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Raise Your Game: How pleased are you with the events here at the British National Youth championships in Newport?

Simon Cope: It's been really good. In the 2000 meters junior pursuit, we had six girls competing in 2 age groups, they're first year juniors and second year juniors and the second year juniors qualified 1st, 2nd and 3rd fastest so we're pleased with that.

RYG: With the success of the British team out in Beijing at the moment, are you expecting a bit of an involvement boom in cycling from young people?

SC: We really hope so! We desperately need more girls in the sport. We've got a good crop at the moment, and behind these there are good riders coming up, but, unfortunately, not in the quantity that we really need. I mean if someone were to get injured or ill, then we're going to be left thin on the ground.

RYG: What do you think is off-putting for girls?

SC: I suppose one of the problems is that women's cycling doesn't have the same sort of following as the men's. Lads can watch all the big races like the Tour de France on the TV, girls haven't got that. They can't watch the top female cyclists competing.

RYG: Why should girls get involved in cycling?

SC: It's good all round competition, you can travel the world in major competitions if you've got dedication and overall, it teaches you good life skills. It's free, you're out in the open air there's a variety of countries you can ride in if you're picked for your national team. There are numerous disciplines to choose from such as mountain biking, BMX, cycle speedway, down hilling as well as track, road racing, time trials and short city racing. There's a lot of options there and its easy to get involved in all of them.

RYG: Not to mention cycling for the simple pleasure of it.

SC: There are some lovely roads once you get out of the city centre, just get out of the city, into the countryside and start exploring. I don't think a lot of people go off the beaten track so they stick to the main roads whereas you can always go on an adventure on your bike and just ride through the lanes and see some great sights too.

RYG: With talk of obesity in young people on everyone's lips, is cycling a good way for people looking to lose weight?

SC: It does keep your weight down and it burns a lot of calories. I don't think there is enough activity in young people nowadays. I don't know what it's like in schools at the moment but when I was at school we played loads of sports. There just isn't enough promotion of sport now; it's all just computer games. You should just get outdoors because any type of sport is good for you, isn't it?