Andy Cathcart

Only just heard the awful news about Andy :

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Scots-lecturer–killed-in.5205349.jp

Whats awful news. Andy was inspirational. His fitness and skill were incredible, we rode withhim several times and often referred to him as having brake fluid instead of blood. Rona if you read this please accept our deepest sympathy from all the Singletraction lads at Leeds. He will be very much missed by us all. Just the nicest bloke you could ever meet, never mind just in the mtb circle.

My deepest sympathies to his family and loved ones. A group of us met up with him a few years ago and did our best to keep up with him around Drumlanrig; he was a pleasure to have met and ridden with.

You know my most typical memory of Andy was at Mabie when he did the Kona gap jump on the northshore whilst us mere mortals watched in anticipation. He stuffed the landing at speed and came down hard, his bike spiralling through the air. Now if that was me I’d have been rolling round close to tears inspecting my wounds and swearing never to atempt it again.
Andy got up, dusted himself off, made sure both wheels span and went for another go, this time clearing it like the pro he was. We were in complete awe of him, none of us plucking up the courage to follow him. Thankfully we’ve a few good photos of the time we spent together and I’ll always remember what a wonderful example Andy set for us all to follow. We will all miss you so much mate.

I was struck by his modesty; a great ambassador for our sport.

Yeah. Very sad. It would appear that Singletrack towers knew about this as the latest issue is dedicated to him. Just hope this thread isn’t treading on the families privacy. A quick search confirmed the worst.

Met Andy on more than one occasion on our Yorkshire trips to Scotland. Just one of those people who went out of his way to make sure we all had a cracking weekend. A selfless character who will be missed.
Thoughts are with his family.

Yeah completely selfless. It always amazed me how patient Andy was with us lot. He was better than us all in every single aspect of MTB’ing. I liked him that much I was instrumental in organising the voting on Bikemagic for him to do the Trans Scotland race.

I remember meeting up with him at Glentress one day a couple of years back. We pulled up in the car park and it was lashing it down. I sat in the car drinking flask coffee wondering where Andy was and up he turned, covered in mud and dripping wet. Turns out he got there a tad early and did the black whilst waiting for us then out-rode us all completely on his 2nd lap.

There was a memorial ride for him at Drumlanrig last sunday, Unfortunately I didn’t make it, but lots did.

Just hope this thread isn’t treading on the families privacy

I kinda figured that was why there wasn’t a thread about it closer to when it happened.

He was a truly inspirational person without even trying.

A good guy, met him while being one of his guinea pigs on TransScotland. Bumped into him a couple of times since at Glentress and at Mayhem and he recognised me and chatted for a while, that sort of thing says a lot about someone because while I’m just one of the ones at the back he had time for all. Bloody quick too. Thoughts are with his nearest and dearest.

Thanks all for your kind words about Andy – he was just truly an awesome rider and all round great guy. I miss him terribly – but Andy was also the most positive, determined and enthusiastic person I have ever met and I am trying to follow his example and stay as positive as possible.

misterfrostie – I’ve sent you an e-mail to the address in your profile.

All the best,
Rona

The ride at Drumlanrig was great fun – and well done to Rona to tackling parts of the trail that she couldn’t tackle before!

That’s a lovely looking bike in the photo, by the way…! 😉

I think his family and friends know how many people the news affected and how Andy had some sort of influence on a lot of people. I tried a wee bitty harder than I normally should riding with Andy and was used as, well, as a lab rat for him on more than one occassion!

Top guy, amazing rider and will be missed.

Total shock.

In 2004 a friend and I responded to Andy’s advert on here to join them in their mixed team at Mayhem. Andy, Rona and their 3rd man made us both feel totally at home and welcomed us with open arms, and some hot food I recall!

It was the first muddy Mayhem at Eastnor, and it was very hard going. Each and every one of us admitted afterwards that they’d wanted to quit, but they didn’t want to let the others down so slogged on.

It was an absolute privilege to get to meet and race with you both.

Thank you for the memories Andy.

– Barry

Agreed, the Drumlanrig ride was great fun, even if we did have to bail out far too early. Andy was an all round great guy and I’m also hugely in awe of Rona’s attitude and determination at the moment as well.

I only found out the terrible news last Friday when I spotted that the latest Singletrack magazine was dedicated to Andy.
I rode with Andy probably only three or four times but he made a lasting impression, such a talented rider and a really nice bloke.
We we’re in Scotland the weekend of the memorial ride but we hadn’t heard the news, but we’ll be there for it next year.
Our thoughts are with you Rona.

We dedicated our local ride to Andy last night and as was the case when we met up with him & Rona, we had a great time larking around and egging each other on. I think we all rode a few features we might normally have bottled, purely in his memory. I just know he was looking down having a giggle at us, especially as we took turns to clatter straight over a 3-4 foot stack of FE style logs instead of taking the slow, tekkie approach.
We’re all incredibly proud to have had this great man as our friend.

Thanks all.

CCC – thanks for making it to Drumlanrig and glad you enjoyed it. It was great to see so many people there. I just had to ride those roots – at least they were dry at that point! Whenever I used to bottle anything, Andy would make me try again and I usually surprised myself at what I could ride. He was a great influence.

Bazza – that was a great Mayhem – maybe not at the time (!) but one of the most memorable. We would have REALLY struggled without you and Chris. Andy was so pleased that it was a couple of fast guys who turned up! Thanks for joining us – it was a real pleasure.

mrsflash – glad you had a good day – we really appreciated that you made the trip up – and thanks for the support … just trying to get through in a way that would make Andy proud.

Simon – thanks for your kind words. I didn’t know the mag was dedicated to Andy – that’s good to hear and his family will be pleased to hear that too. Looking forward to riding with you guys again in the not too distant future.

misterfrostie – Andy would be glad to hear you were out pushing boundaries in his memory. He would often tell me I wasn’t trying hard enough if I came home with no bruises or scrapes. He felt the same way about you guys. Singletraction guys rock!

Rode with Andy in the alps last year at Bike Village. Man he was quick on the downhills! He was a demon climber to!!

Glad he will be remembered for all the right reasons, andy influenced alot of people and definately showed me how to ride in the french alps!

Seen him at alot of other events to and it was hard to get away from him (in some cases I didn’t – he always beat me!), it was like you were best friends!

Top bloke and hope he influenecesd people to ride garder and faster!

Cheers

I have only just found this thread. My brother (Andy Bryce)went to school with Andy and later on did some biking with him. We pass our sympathies onto Rona and the family, sorry we missed the Drumlanrig ride.