AIMING FOR GREATNESS

From the sidelines of Gravel Worlds in 2023, Team Standert rider Isaac Wilkinson decided “I want that.” He wasn’t kidding. The 2024 race season meant 24 race days for him, from Traka in Spain, Road to Desolation in South Africa and World Series events all over Europe to his ultimate: Gravel Worlds 2024 in Belgium.

His consistency and work ethic on and off the bike allowed him to live his best possible life, while also motivating everybody along the way with his energy. You will rarely meet a person so disciplined yet so uplifting and supportive of the people around him. Being around him means one thing guaranteed – good vibes only!

When did cycling first enter your life?

My dad was a big inspiration for me to get into riding. I’d cycle a lot as a kid. We used to ride mountain bikes especially. When I was in my early 20s I was living between Cardiff and London and bought a bike to commute, which kicked in motion my cycling journey. I was commuting and going a little further every day, then starting to ride on weekends. When I moved to London I joined the Peckham Cycling Club and, after doing a cycling trip in Mallorca, I bought a carbon road bike.

How did you become involved in cycling here in Berlin, then?

I moved to Berlin in 2020. In Corona I was riding 500km a week because I had no work projects. It snowballed. In 2022, I’d been a part of the wider cycling community for a while through different clubs and microcosms. It was the end of that year that Maxe asked if I wanted to join the team. At the time I was smoking, drinking and partying a lot, it’s one of my favourite parts of Berlin. So for the 2023 season I was training and getting fitter but somehow my mentality was that the smoking and drinking wasn’t affecting my possibilities of getting fitter or not.

What shifted?

At the Fierabendrunde closing party in mid-October 2023, we were boozing, and I’d been out twice that week. Maxe turned to me and told me he’d stop coaching me for the next season if I kept smoking. By this point I could admit that smoking was wasting my time. I’m super competitive, I’ve always wanted to compete and be at a really good level of any sport I do. I thought I’d achieved a good level but when I’d compare my levels to those around me I realised that being hungover meant I couldn’t train, and that smoking was limiting me too. I realised that if I was going to ride, I was going to properly. I started to ask “What if?”. If I quit smoking and it didn’t pay off I could always go back to the lifestyle I’d been living.

Within a few weeks I’d stopped drinking and smoking. I read “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking” by Allen Car on a flight to Barcelona. I got off the flight, smoked two drags of a cigarette and threw it, the pack and lighter in the bin. I haven’t touched a cigarette since. It was that black and white.

How quickly did you feel a difference?

I went to Girona for my first block of training. The plan was to race more – gravel racing and a few road races. I started training and it all kind of exploded, we got new sponsors and funding. It gave me even more initiative to get fit and go into this year with good form. Within four weeks of quitting smoking it was as if someone had taken a block off me. Plus, I didn’t need to factor in recovery time from drinking. I’d never felt better in my entire life. My best 20 minute power before this was 330W. In four weeks of training without smoking I hit 366W. There’s proof you shouldn’t be smoking.

You’ve tackled both road and gravel this year, but you’ve particularly focused on gravel with the goal of Gravel Worlds in mind. What is it you enjoy about off-road riding?

Being able to do road speeds off-road is just so fun. That’s why I love gravel racing. It’s terrifying, chaotic, and fucking outright scary when you’re fit and doing these speeds. Sometimes it’s controlled but at the same time it’s full gas all day. Just spending anywhere from 4-13 hours out there and emptying the tank completely. That’s what I love.

Can you talk through what this last season looked like for you?

I’ve really taken the bull by the horns this year. I went this year with the goals to qualify for worlds, to podium a race and just get in a lot of experience riding. I came into the season the fittest I’ve ever been. We started in March with some races while at training camp. Straight out of the blocks I went to my first UCI qualifier at Wörthersee Austria.

I did three UCI qualifiers, a few Gravelmania races, a few road races. I came third in the Mittenwalde road race in Berlin, then it was The Traka 360 in Spain. After Traka I was clutching at straws to stay alive basically, I went to Aachen the week after and was completely fucked, I shouldn’t have raced, but it's a good experience to know that. The race I qualified at was the Scotland Gralloch UCI race. I’d had 10 weekends of racing up until this point, so I took a month off. July was Road of Desolation in South Africa, then I raced in Berlin at Spreewald. In September I had four weekends of racing back-to-back, and finished the year at Gravel Worlds. I had 24 race days.

Between this, you’re also working as a filmmaker right? How are you making that work?

Usually a majority of my work would be on-site, but luckily my filmmaking work is often in the cycling industry, so I’m shooting in places I can train. I took more of an editor and producer role this year which means that I could work remotely and still be racing. You prioritise what needs to be prioritised. You have to make those other pillars work and if you want it, you have to work hard. Not partying definitely also freed up a lot of time.

What were some of the highlights of this year from you?

Traka 360 was a bit one. I asked Maxe our strategy for this. He said you’re doing the 200 right? When I told him I'm doing the 360 he told me we didn’t train for that, but go and enjoy the race. I got to Girona, my power meter broke, my heart rate monitor was broken. I knew my numbers and how strong I could be for 7 hours or so, but with a 360 I had no idea what numbers I could do for 15 hours. You know how to feel on the bike, you know how to eat. I had the guys in the feed zones. I started the race with zero expectations, I thought I’d even just ride half of it. I felt so good, came into the first feed zone at 118k with the front group, next to gravel pros. I thought “this is a good day out, ey?” Then I just felt good the whole race. I placed 34th out of 1000 people. The year before I was about 250th out of 500 and thought I was really strong. This is definitely one of my highlights of the year, and even a sport highlight of my year to feel that strong.

And tell us about the big moment: Gravel Worlds.

I qualified for worlds in Scotland. My dad was there too, sharing that moment. I'm not a professional athlete at a level where it seemed at all possible to be able to ride to represent my country, ever. Certainly last year I thought it wasn’t possible. I went to the World Championships in Italy in 2023 as a spectator, supporting friends. I thought then I wanted to have that feeling that the guys were having at the finish line, the feeling of riding the World Championships.

When we arrived at worlds this yearand I put on the GB skinsuit I had a real moment of “We’re here. This is the thing I’ve worked towards.” It was such an incredible experience to represent your country in a gravel race. Getting to Belguim you have the Tour of Flanders course. The pros started five minutes before us, so you’re racing and you have all these crowds by Flandering fields and cobbles, gravel tracks, forests. You’re full gas all day with these crowds lining every inch of the streets. I crashed at the start of the race – 500 people all trying to be at the front. Gravel Worlds was the hardest race I’ve done this year, sprinting out of every corner. I remember coming into the last lap, 140km in, with one more lap of the final circuit to do. I said to this guy next to me “victory lap hey!”. It’s your last 40km of the season. Everyone there has worked so hard to be there. It’s special having these crowds banging on the barriers, shouting you in. It’s hard not to get emotional when it’s what you’ve worked for the whole year and you did it.

How was it training with Maxe as your coach, and have you already planned your next goal from here?

Over the last year we’ve built a close relationship, spent a lot of time going to races. We’d be talking every other day about the training. It was cool being close with someone who has that much belief in you to achieve what you’re setting out to do.

Now looking back, how do you reflect on the year?

It was huge year of maturing and having a completely different perspective on how you live your life, and how you go about living it. One of my main goals has always been to have fun. It’s the biggest year for personal growth and development and seeing what you can actually achieve. It’s cheesy but you dedicate yourself to something you can make it happen, this year is proof. I’ve ridden 20,000kms this year, so now I’m taking a break. Unexpectedly, I’m also spending some time in South Africa now because I met someone there while on a race. This year has just kept giving. Now to try and think: what’s up for next year.

And what’s in store for you for the next year?

I texted Maxe and said “maybe we should call and talk about my goals for next year.” His response:

Footnotes

Follow Isaac’s journey on his Instagram.