INSPIRATION
After a difficult couple of years, Isla is making her big comeback in 2025 and we couldn’t be prouder to support her with kit this season. With two podiums already in the opening races of her comeback, she’s proving that she’s stronger than ever. We caught up with her to talk about racing, rediscovering her love of bold colors, and why sometimes it’s okay to take the ‘B’ line.
How did you first get into cycling?
I was born into a cycling family and spent most of my childhood on the back of a triplet reading a book or asking if we were nearly there. I have two sisters and the whole family would cycle tour around the UK and Europe. It was very organic and it’s totally not a surprise that I’ve ended up forging a career that involves pedalling bikes!
What made you get into racing offroad and have you done any other types of cycling?
My dad was racing a mix of mountain bike events around Scotland during the time that I was at a boarding school for musicians (it’s as posh as it sounds). I felt pretty suffocated by that pressure and heading away to support my dad on weekends in the outdoors was a total escape for me. When I started to race instead of support, I fell fully in love with the world of cycling. I’ve raced a lot of domestic cyclocross and also dabble in marathon racing. I raced a couple of road races when I was younger but I’m much happier in the forest. I train a lot on the road though and I do enjoy the variety it brings.
How are you feeling about the season ahead?
I’d call this phase of my career a bit of a rebirth. Throughout my career so far I’ve shown glimmers of my potential but I’ve never had the consistency of great performances. I’ve had a huge number of setbacks in the last several years and those curveballs have brought me to where I’m now, in a position to create exactly the environment and support around me to get back to my best, or even to find a new best. I want to go to the LA Olympics. That’s the ‘end goal’, I suppose. Between now and then I will be building gradually towards putting myself in that position with some other big plans along the way. Getting back into the top 15 at World Cup level this year is my first step. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt physically and emotionally ready to be there, so I’m excited!
What do you like most about riding your bike?
Big question! I love so many things about cycling. It’s been a primary support system for my mental health over the years. The reason it’s so special to me is because it can still serve me both as a job and a passion, even after the various dark places it’s taken me (accidents, injury, failure). I love to be in the hills on my bike, it’s my medicine. Even when I have structured intervals to do, the relationship between me, the trail and the effort is full of freedom and feels far from the business of everyday life. It’s also connected me with many unexpected people and forged relationships that have had profound impacts on my life, health and happiness. It’s much, much bigger than racing for me. It’s an anchor.
What would you say to someone thinking of getting into cycling ( and 3 top tips):
- Think carefully about where you want to explore and what bike would suit that. As a professional racer, I have access to multiple bikes for different disciplines, but part of me is really looking forward to the day that I pick one bike that can do it all.
- Share the journey with somebody if you can! Adventuring by bike is so much fun, especially in company. Even if it’s riding for one hour and sleeping on the hill for a nice sunset view then pedalling home the next day. Bikes can create adventures of any size.
- Don’t be scared to be a newbie. I’ve been racing bikes for 15 years and I still feel out of my comfort zone at times, on new tracks with scary features or on trails that I’m not as speedy on as others. The more you can allow yourself to venture into new territory, the more fun you’ll have. Being open to learning is the best you can do for yourself! On the flipside, learning to be totally okay with saying no is a great skill too. Sometimes I’m a ‘B line girl’ in races and I’ve learned that’s 100% alright!
What advice would you give women who want to give mountain biking a try?
Take advantage of the growing number of women who are mountain biking and coaching; I really lacked female groups when I was learning to mountain bike, and now that I have those groups I can see how much I would have benefited from the camaraderie and encouragement back then. There’s lots happening these days for women who want to mountain bike!
If you could do one thing over again (thinking cycling related) what would it be and why?
If I could relive an experience, it would be my fifth at the 2020 World Champs. Best day of my life by a mile! But if I could go back and do something DIFFERENTLY, I’d have taken time off somewhere in the last four years. I’m not sure exactly when, because the process was gradual and subtle, but by the end of 2022 I was very burnt out and low on energy from some personal challenges. I continued to race at the highest level through this time and eventually my body and mind said stop. I think I delayed my rebirth by a few years by not listening to the signs earlier.
Why do you choose to wear IRIS?
I was very drawn to IRIS for a couple of reasons. I love bright colours. I started choosing my outfits when I was 2 years old, and my lovely mum let me wear whatever I wanted. This was a very important aspect of self expression that I carried through into my teenage years. As a young adult, this became very toned down and kind of disappeared as my mental health suffered and I became quite shut away from the world.
In January 2024 I was diagnosed with ADHD and a really nice part of that process was understanding my relationship with how I dress. Bright colours and funky patterns reflect my personality perfectly; I’m chaotic, have a huge emotional range and am ultimately a very outwardly happy, smiley person. My outfits used to reflect that and I wanted to bring that back. So many of the IRIS patterns represent what it’s like to look inside my brain and I love that. Partnering with IRIS is for me a celebration of discovering my own neurodiversity and with that Isla 2.0, back and brighter than ever.
What do you love most about IRIS?
I love to work with smaller brands. There’s something unique about being able to meet the people behind the company, to understand the company’s values fully and to develop a really authentic relationship. I’ve raced both as a privateer and on factory teams, and it’s not always easy to navigate the obligations around promotion and exposure on social media if you don’t align with a brand or their message. Getting to choose who I work with makes this such an easy part of my job because I get to be totally honest online and it’s much easier to hype something you actually love! Plus getting to work with brands led by women is fantastic!
What’s the best day you’ve had on a bike?
Best day (not at a bike race) – New Year’s day 2019. My boyfriend and I set off before dawn to do a 100km MTB route we’d plotted that took in all seven of the hills with marked trails around where we live. It was a beautifully cold and crisp day and we rode into dusk – around seven hours I think door to door. That’s my perfect day!
Best day (bike race) – finishing 5th at the World Champs in 2020 in Leogang, Austria. Everything about that day was so calm and faultless. I felt no pressure because I’d never done a top 10 before, it all just happened smoothly and I felt no pain in my legs. State of flow! Also the GB team manager cried a bunch afterwards and I can’t describe the feeling that seeing how proud somebody is of you brings. Getting feels just writing about it! I couldn’t sleep that night and I just kept giggling to myself in my bed. That thing just happened!
Have you ever been on a women’s only group ride/event?
I don’t actually think I’ve ever been on an exclusively female ride or event! But I’ve done a lot of riding with just a group of girls; my previous team was an all women’s team and that was really unique and special. We got to bond in a way that is much more difficult in a mixed environment and my technical riding in particular improved a huge amount in the two years I was with the team. But I love the idea of doing some all womens’ rides and events.
To round things off, tell us a fun fact about you!
I’ve been a dog person my whole life, and actively disliked cats until September 2023 when my boyfriend (who owned many cats growing up) and I got Waffles, our fur baby. I’ve converted dramatically to the most crazy cat lady you could ever meet. You’ll find me in my cat pyjamas, watching cat memes with my cat on my lap. I also made her a climbing wall in our house with my dad’s wood working tools and have big plans to expand this.
Follow Isla here!
Photos by Pete Scullion
