Hello! My name is Izzy Blackman I’m 13 years old and live in the North East of Scotland.
I first started riding my balance bike at the age of one and had many adventures on it. My favourite place was the flowy blue at Glenlivet, my parents and dog had to run round the whole loop with me, and I absolutely loved going fast down the hills! As I grew up, I was given my first pedal bike which I learnt to ride at the age of three. This is when my adventures really began!
My first race was a Dirt Crit race at Grantown on Spey which was hosted by the Wolfpax Riders. This was all very new to me, and I didn’t fully understand what racing was, but by the end, I had totally caught the racing bug.
The following year I joined the Wolfpax Riders at the age of six. The club take me out all over the north of Scotland and help me develop the fundamental skills required for all aspects of maintain biking.
I love my sessions with the Wolfpax and have made lots of friends and ridden at some amazing places. One of my favourite memories is riding Ben Vrackie, which was an epic day out. It gave me so much confidence and taught me to be self-sufficient, and to carry everything I needed for a big mountain day, and the views were just stunning.
I was fortunate enough to have the first Hope Academy bike in the north of Scotland. This scheme allows young riders to have an awesome bike at a low monthly cost. Without the Hope Academy I wouldn’t be where I am now. These bikes allowed me to race my first Downhill and Enduro races.
I raced my bike at the Highland Hardline, a Downhill Race Series for younger riders in the Highlands. This was my first taste of downhill racing, and the courses were wet, muddy and really steep, but I loved the buzz of being on my limit. I came away as the National Short Course Downhill under-10 Champion.
I love exploring and doing big mountain days with my family and friends. There’s nothing better than being in the most remote parts of Scotland climbing, hiking or biking. When biking I love stopping to have sandwiches and looking at the most spectacular views, then descending back down and testing out your bike and riding skills. I’d recommend this to anyone.
Because of my love for big mountain days I decided to try out Enduro racing, my first race was at Pitfichie – 35km and over 1,000m of climbing. At the age of nine this the hardest thing I had done and a real challenge just getting round. I completed the race series and raced a further two more. As a bonus I took the 2022 overall Championship, which was a huge surprise.
Through Hope Academy I heard about the PMBA Enduro Series. These races were in England, Wales and Scotland. I could have raced in the under-12s, but was just old enough and up for the challenge of racing in the under-16 category. I raced all the rounds in 2023 and 2024, making some fantastic memories and meeting the most incredible and inspiring people, many of whom are now friends – we love meeting up and sharing our love of exploring on bikes.
The stages at the PMBA Enduros were such a great challenge and really pushed my boundaries. Riding the Graithwaite and Grizedale Epic was my hardest two-day event so far, with eight of the hardest stages, combined with a full day riding both Saturday and Sunday. It was tough both physically and mentally – I loved it and felt so proud of my achievement.
This year I’ve raced all around the UK and I kicked off my race season with the Strathpuffer in January. After watching the Puffer for a few years my friends and I decided it was time to give this 24-hour endurance race a go. We raced in a quad team, choosing the coldest year! Temperatures didn’t get above minus-7 during the day and dropped to minus-12 at night. Despite freezing cold temperatures and fighting fear of the dark, it was an experience I will never forget. Riding up the fire road at 4am with people dressed as giant hotdogs cheering you on was very confusing. Then riding into the finish to hand over the dibber to your teammate and knowing that you’ve just completed your first Puffer, and that you can finally have a hot bath and go to bed, was the best feeling!
This year was my first year as a Juvenile rider which meant I could race the Scottish Enduro Series (SES). The series had four rounds at Golfie, Laggan, Ballo and Ae Forest.
I was lucky enough to race all four rounds and came away with second overall in the Championship.
During the summer I also travelled down to Wales to race at the Lloyds National Enduro Championships. This weekend turned out to be one of the hottest, and with temperatures reaching forty-four degrees, it was definitely challenging at times! I came away from this weekend as the Juvenile 13-14 Girls National Champion, which meant I now could wear the national sleeve on my race jersey.
In between Enduro racing I also had my first season as a Juvenile at the Scottish Downhill Association (SDA) series. I raced four rounds and I learnt a lot. I raced round one at Innerleithen on my trusty Enduro bike and came away with fifth place in the Juvenile and Youth Female category. I loved this track – it was fast, natural and jumpy. Over the course of the weekend, with the support of other riders showing me new lines and towing me into jumps, I managed to have two clean race runs. I was absolutely buzzing and eager to race more. Fort William, in comparison, was extremely physical on my Enduro bike, and I felt every bump on such a long track.
At the Scottish Championships at Glencoe, I unfortunately fell off on my race run and lost a lot of time, but I came away with second place. At AE forest, after a long wait at the top the rain came, which made conditions very spicy lower down on the track, which resulted in lots of red flags, one of which was mine.
I’ve learnt so much racing the SDA’S and met so many amazing people. I can’t wait to return to racing them next year.
To round off my season I was invited to race the Naughty Northumbrian, which has the reputation of being the hardest Enduro in the UK. With a weather warning forecast, I managed to practice three of the five stages before it started to bucket it down. The final two stages were crazy conditions – staying rubber side down on this roller coaster was so hard. It continued to rain until about 2am, and on Sunday morning, thankfully, the sun came out!
Race day was unreal with just under 40km of riding. The course didn’t disappoint, with some of the steepest most technical riding, with near zero grip over every type of feature. I was so happy to take second in the under-19s after struggling on the steep off-chamber routes on stage three.
This year has been incredible – I’ve learnt so much and I’m truly grateful for everyone that has supported me and cheered me on along the way. Looking further ahead to the future I would love to continue racing Enduro and Downhill and one day race abroad – maybe alongside my heroes.
For now, I am going to continue riding my bike through the winter with friends, explore new places, and have fun! Thank you for reading my story
Thank you, Izzy, for sharing your experiences in cycling with us. If you would like to tell your cycling story for our monthly Scottish Cycling BlogHer article, please email Melanie, our Women and Girls Development Manager, on: [email protected]