To Race or Not to Race…
There are some races that when we ask Izzy if she wants to do them she will say yes straight away, such as the Highland Hardline’s short course DH race. There are also races, such as the PMBA Graithwaite and Grizedale Epic, where we will ask her and she won’t be sure.
The first enduro she completed was a Doon Tha Brae event run as part of the Aberdeenshire Enduro Series. This lite enduro was 30km with over 1,000m of climbing and 800m of timed descent. Recognising this was going to be the hardest race she had entered by a long way, we decided to ride the route as a family two weeks prior to the race. This ride gave Izzy confidence, knowing she could ride the distance and all the stages.
She had just turned ten and was racing against under-13s, so setting goals was vital. She was the smallest by far, riding her 26” Hope Academy bike (StormFly), so getting around and staying rubber side down was the goal. Placed sixth out of six, ten minutes behind the winner and three minutes off fifth, we were ecstatic to finish. Performance will come! Izzy completed the other races in the series of a similar distance and elevation, including the amazing Heartbreak Ridge.
Having travelled down to Gisburn for the first round of the PMBA Enduro Series, four days after her 11th birthday Izzy entered the full under-16s race on the Sunday, with the same ‘let’s just get around mentality’. Having ridden four of the five stages on the Friday and Saturday Izzy was happy with the preparation and was able to ride all the ‘A’ lines, including the ones on the DH line.
Izzy was blown away with fourth out of five places and was only 3:22 off Katy ‘Kaos’ McGowan, with lots of fire in her for more. This is when we all started thinking about the Graithwaite and Grizedale Epic. Could we do it?
We’d watched Izzy grow during the Doon Tha Brae Series 2022, win the Under-10s Highland Hardline on her hardtail for the second year and watched her improve under her amazing coaches at her club, the Wolfpack Riders. She’s shown the fitness and mental strength to get around the long Scottish mountain rides we have done. As her Dad I think the final proof I needed was her cool head to do the drops on the DH line at Gisburn, not sending it to the moon but just enough speed and pop.
Let’s do this!
One slight issue – I have snapped the ACL in one of my knees. Katie, my wife, doesn’t feel confident enough to chaperone Izzy at Graithwaite and Grizedale, although she has done an amazing job keeping up at the first two races so far this year. As parents we didn’t want to be the weakest link, meaning Izzy had to pull out of a race like this. We needed a chaperone and quick. Luckily I know someone who is a ninja on a bike, so I asked the question, and he agreed.
Now to make sure Izzy is ready. What is the goal? To have fun, make the most of where you are and get around.
Izzy continues to ride every other weekend with the Wolfpack Riders so that she can continue to develop her skills and fitness and have fun with like-minded kids. She completed the first round of the Doon Tha Brae Enduro Series at Glenlivet MBT Trail Centre, where we were amazed to see Izzy take the win and knock 3:41 off her race time from eight months ago, despite some wet and boggy stages. It was also encouraging to see nine girls racing in the category.
We would like Izzy to experience many types of biking. She takes part in a road time trial with Forres CC in the summer. This consists of 6.2km laps, racing against her own times to gain points. Izzy is currently on two laps and will move to three when her PB drops below 26 minutes – this is only 20 seconds away.
Looking forward to the PMBA at Graithwaite and Grizedale, as parents are we nervous? Yes, one hundred per cent. It’s a long, long couple of days on some very technical and steep stages. Together we have all watched the PMBA stage preview videos (with the sound turned down). As long as Izzy continues to make the same level-headed decisions she has been making so far, knowing when to push and when to take it easy, and with her ability to ride black-graded routes, such as Top Chief at Nevis Range, and the loose and natural trails that you find at High Burnside in Aviemore and the Mast near Inverness, we hope she will get around.
Without the Hope Academy Izzy would not be where she is now. There is a fair bit of pressure to jump on a full suspension bike too early, but the longer Izzy stayed on StormFly the more skilful she became. We cannot thank the Hope Academy enough for their amazing support.
