Outside of BMX what do you do? Did you go to school?
Yeah, I spent three years at University and I finished in summer of 2015. I was studying in Liverpool for those three years which was absolutely amazing, so much fun. Got my head down and studied pretty hard and got good grades and got a good career out of it. But as well life learning and living away from home at 18 years old was really interesting. Having to do literally everything for yourself. Living in Liverpool and Exeter are very different cities. Liverpool is massive with so much going on. It was eye opening.
You were exposed to that Liverpool scene. What was that like? Who were you riding with out there?
I rode a lot. The first year I’d say I rode with the younger kids riding a lot of street, cause there’s not an outdoor park in the main area. Then in the second and third year I started riding with Dub Jack, Josh Roberts, the whole whole Dub crew. I met Matty Lambert and Paul Ryan as well. They were all super motivated to get out riding as much as they can, especially in the dry weather. Right at the end of my time in Liverpool we got some new concrete skateparks and I wasn’t at Uni too much so me and Matty would get up pretty early and go ride these concrete parks.
Were you able to hang with the Liverpool dudes party-wise?
Ha, no they definitely win on that front. They party really hard, it’s crazy. Some late finishes! I lived a little out of the center so we’d get out of the bar at six some mornings and walk home. Yeah, you’d feel pretty tired the next day.
What were you studying at University?
I was studying outdoor and environmental education.
Do you plan on doing anything directly with that?
Yeah definitely.
What drew you to that and what do you want to do with it?
I’ve always been quite sportive and active. Before college I did a sports course which was outdoors activities. We went rock climbing and canoeing, and I was hooked on that. Then when I was looking for university courses and came across this one in Liverpool and it sounded really good. Of course being in Liverpool for BMX was amazing also, Liverpool is a BMX mecca. Future wise for the degree I see myself doing more with it, more so with the science point of view. I did a lot of studying geology alongside it as well. I’m quite interested in the impact of activities outdoors and the influence they have on the environment, like if you’re mountain biking the effect it has on the ground. The conflict of other users of that space, I find that area of study really interesting.
Do you consider yourself a hippie?
[Laughs] Umm, not really, no. I like doing environmental education at Uni, opened my eyes to sustainability. I would like to be pretty sustainable but it’s a big commitment isn’t it?
Tell me about your ancestry.
My dad’s side of the family is originally Native American, and my dad’s dad came over during the war and met my nan. We’ve never known his dad’s history, it’s quite a mystery but we know from Louisiana.
So you’re English by way of American Indian.
Yeah. And on my mum’s side as well, since she was adopted same again her family ancestry is pretty bleak to be fair. She can’t trace her family heritage either. We have a rough idea that she’s Celtic background. So the actual English is me is quite limited.