At the end of her first full season racing downhill in the UK, an amazing opportunity presented itself. Mikayla was approached by GreenPower, a Scottish renewable energy company, who were looking to support some Scottish riders to participate in the UCI World Cup season, the premier downhill mountain bike race series.
“I’d just won the Scottish Champs at Fort William, and although at that point I was racing a lot of the National Series and taking that very seriously, I hadn’t thought ‘next season I’m going to race World Cups’. GreenPower said they wanted to get two riders on board, and they wanted me! I’m the kind of person who throws themselves into things, and sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t, but I will do things even if I’m scared or uncomfortable – so I was like ‘Yes! I’ll do it!”
Having a sponsor on board meant several important things. Firstly, it meant Mikayla had the financial support and resources to be able to afford to enter and get to, the World Cup races, which is a costly endeavour. It also meant a vote of confidence in her abilities, and what she could be capable of. It meant it was time to step things up as much as she could.
That meant training as much as she could, while still juggling a full-time job. The location and conditions in Fort William are also tricky for downhill; in winter, snow tends to cover the mountain, the focus switches to winter sports, and the nearest downhill track with an uplift service is in Innerleithen which is a four-hour drive away. While she did her best, Mikayla is the first to admit that her first World Cup season was a shock to the system.
“It wasn’t surprising I was way off the pace!” she explains, and it wasn’t just about getting up to speed on the tracks. Everything about World Cups is big, new and complicated, especially if you’re what’s known as a privateer.
Privateers are riders who aren’t on a team, and as such pretty much have to fend for themselves. Teams will usually have a big truck in a pit area with team mechanics, where riders can shelter, rest, warm-up or have their bikes worked on. Privateers, while they have support from sponsors, don’t generally have this. And navigating the logistics of turning up to race a World Cup can also be daunting when you don’t know the processes, logistics, where things are and how things work.
“I had no idea what was happening, or what I was doing! For my first actual World Cup, I travelled out with a friend but I was still on my own because he was working. It was really hard – I look back thinking ‘God, I don’t want to do that again!’ and I sympathise with anyone who has to do it, but you have to go through it and it will be fine, you’ll figure it out.”
“It’s things like if it rains, having somewhere dry to stand. I didn’t even have anywhere to leave a bag of food! I asked if I could leave it at the Trek Factory Racing tent because I was with Trek through Nevis Range at the time, and they were really nice and let me come in and leave my bag there.”
“It’s hard to get into unless you’re an outgoing person and okay with just figuring things out because there is no-one there to show you what to do. There were a few times when I thought ‘this is too hard, I can’t do this anymore’ and I’d get upset, but I did figure it out and you will too.”
While it was an amazing opportunity and Mikayla seized these with both hands, there were most definitely also low points.
“Leogang [in 2019] was my third race and it went so badly for me. I hadn’t practised because I had a shared lift and the person driving slept in. Practice is so short, and you’re racing on tracks that people have grown up racing on so that’s another aspect to throw in. You turn up to this track you’ve never seen before and you’re trying to learn the line while everyone else is already pinned. It’s hard to not let that affect your mind.”
“But I think it’s always important to remember the reason why you’re there, and for me, that was because I wanted to be there. I enjoyed it!”
And while 2019 wasn’t the smoothest of seasons – the phrase ‘baptism of fire’ springs to mind – it fired her up for 2020. She also received direct support from Trek UK, while both Nevis Range and GreenPower continued (and still continue) to support her.
“I went into the 2019/20 off-season really motivated. I knew that this is what I wanted to do. I hadn’t had the results yet but I knew I COULD DO THIS, I just needed to put everything into it. So I lived cheaply, worked less and had more time to ride my bike and put more into the gym.”
That hard work paid off. While the 2020 season was not what anyone hoped for or expected with races cancelled and postponed left, right and centre, Mikayla stayed focussed and stayed training. Her payback came at the World Championships at Leogang, where her mental and physical preparation, growing experience and bike handling skills came together to bring her an impressive fifth place at the World Championships in Leogang.
This is by no means the end of the story, either. Mikayla has big plans for 2021… stay tuned to find out more! For regular updates and inspiration follow Makayla on Instagram.
