Richie Schley has been there, done that, and got the T-shirt. He’s one of the pioneers of what we today would call freeride and slopestyle.
Pete caught up with the Canadian mountain bike legend Richie Schley at Eurobike to talk shop, extreme skiing, ‘freeride’ and the birth of slopestyle.
Richie Schley in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Who is Richie Schley?
A man trapped inside a kids size body, that never wants to grow up and have responsibilities.
When did you realise riding bikes was what you wanted to do?
I loved riding bikes from the first moment I sat on one, at about 3 years old, but when I was a teen I dreamed of being a pro BMX rider, as that was what I was doing at the time. My next dream was to be an extreme skier (that’s what we called it before Freeskiing was a word). Then I fought my way into becoming a Freeskier with some decent success, in my opinion.
What was your first mountain bike?
I had a Rocky Mountain Hammer, that I traded my Skyway BMX bike and some money for.
Richie Schley freestyle mountain biking, Page, Arizona.
What’s your background in cycling?
I always had bikes as a kid and at one point got a shock bike that looked like a motorbike. At about 11 years old, I got my first BMX bike and it all started. Daring each other to jump of little cliffs, ride down steep crazy things and jump whatever was jumpable, in Kamloops. Once skiing became my main love, I needed to find some thrills in the summer and it went back and forth from BMX racing to riding steep stuff, like we were on skis.
What’s your background in the cycling industry?
When I was asked to come ride for Pulp Traction, a Specialized promo video made by Ski film maker Greg Stump, it made me realise that there wasn’t any lifestyle or fun,non racing size of this sport like in skiing, snowboarding or surfing, so I saw an opportunity and decided I was going to make this happen.
It worked!
I got sponsored, for doing photoshoots and bike movies followed, I proposed the concept of Slopestyle to Whistler and a new discipline was born. I followed by designing and building the courses for about 5 or 6 years, then competed in 5 Redbull Rampages, help Whistler realise that jumps were what was missing in the bike park, pushed enduro racing for many years to the Whistler people, as it was growing in Europe and no one was behind it here, until the EWS started.
Was it easy to get Whistler on board with the slopestyle idea? How did that conversation go?
Ya, they were pretty open to making things happen. Rob McSkimming is pretty open to new ideas and was behind most things brought to the table.
Once you had the green light, was it easy to get events up and running?
There was already the bigger idea in place of Joyride Festival, which became Crankworx and now the Slope style is Joyride, kind of weird, but whatever, so it was just another event in the festival, which became the premier event.
It was easy in those days, as they trusted me, so I could build anything; Tower Totters, triple step ups to a big drop for the finish…but along came John Cowan, who pretty much stole the job from me, after I hired him and changed slopestyle forever, to become much more BMX and tricks. My vision was much more along the lines of what the Fest Series guys are doing. Some people just don’t get it, or get “friendship”.
Richie Schley in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Had you any kind of experience with events before?
Not running them, but as a kid, my Dad got all of the machinery donated to the Kamloops BMX club and built all of the first BMX tracks there.
So from an early age, I was really involved in designing the tracks. Even before Joyride, I was designing the 4 cross tracks in Whistler, with the local machine operator, that was an ex BMX buddy of mine. I never organized the events, just the concepts and courses.
How did you get the riders involved?
Pretty much reputation and desire got you in. I more or less picked them and invited them. I was informed enough and inquired with people I trusted in the scene, to pick riders and build the courses that people wanted. I can go back and tell you which stunts were the idea of Bearclaw, Dave Watson, Vanderham, Bourdon… I would take their ideas and try to make a course that everyone liked.
How did you gravitate towards freeride?
I raced BMX in my teens, left the sport to play basketball, and rugby, came back and raced Pro BMX in Canada for a few years, until I became the Canadian BMX Champ in 1993. After that I had no interest in competing. I did the slopestyle contests that I built and the Rampage events, as that was what was expected of me and where the sport was at that moment, but I was never really into it.
I am much more of a sole rider and want to do things my way. That is exactly what Freeriding is, derived from Skier Freeskiing, when they weren’t training or racing. The word lost its way once all of the industries got a hold of it. Freeriding is just that. There is no Freeride Bike, it is whatever bike you are riding, if you are out riding for you and not training or competing. Kind of funny over the years hearing people use the word that have no concept of.
Richie Schley jumping a big gap on his mountain bike in Kamloops, BC – Sequence #1
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done on a bike?
There are a lot of them, but if you watch some of the old NWD movies, they are almost all in there.
There are old lines all over the Whistler Bike Park that are pretty crazy. Some are big jumps and some are just really technical cool lines that are scary.
Ride The Lightning (NWD) had a lot of pretty wild lines in my opinion.
Best trail you’ve ever ridden, and why?
Wow, tough question. There are so many different ones and such a variety. Dirt Merchant never disappoints, some of the trails in Britania Beach on the way to Whistler have always been amazing.
Retallack Lodge has some insane trails. There are too many, to say and it keep changing.
Is there anywhere you haven’t ridden that you really want to?
Sure, lots of places. Russia, the Gobi deserts, Patagonia… I want to ride everywhere that is ridable and will continue to try to.
Hans Rey said he never goes on an adventure without a good single malt. Is there anything you don’t go out into the wilds without?
Haha, thats not true, unless he hasn’t been sharing with me on our adventures together! Not really, I have a pretty good regime for not getting sick, so all of my crazy supplements, I guess.
You must have seen some crazy things over the years, is there something that stands out? A favourite moment or when you wanted the ground to swallow you up?
Well, I guess one time we did a movie premier a long time ago in Vegas, cant even remember the name of the movie, but it was a smaller video company and Wade and I did some street riding on our full suspension
bikes. I never liked that and hated getting pushed in that direction. All the BMX dirt and street guys were there and they were laughing and making fun of it.
As most know, getting the respect from that crowd has taken this sport many years and that was a real low point for me, to see that we blew it for a moment.
When Darren Bearclaw did that big floaty 360 over the road gap at Crankworx years ago, I knew thing would never be the same. That was insane and something I will never forget.
Any disasters?
I used to go a long time without an injury and my cockiness would get stronger and I would look at lines that we really difficult and keep pushing until I would get smacked down and taken out for 4 to 6 weeks…. I always found that kind of a disaster.
What advice would you give to anyone looking to career in riding bikes?
Decide if you really love it, as it seems really hard to make good money and the risk of injury is very high. Once you hit my age, you feel every one of those old injuries and it is a pretty big price to pay, being in discomfort all the time from old injuries.
Do it because you love it and make smart choices. That kind of goes for life in general.
What did you have to sacrifice to get to this stage?
Normalness, but I never wanted that anyway. Some friendships, buddies and girls, due to never being around enough. And like I said above injuries. People don’t know about my injuries, as I was always afraid of what sponsors opinions would be, so I tried to hide them and without a competition season, I succeeded.
Did you have day jobs that you had to give up?
Haha, give up. I hated every job I ever did. I built bridges and reservoirs with my dad, houses, did mining exploration in the mountains, where I ran a chainsaw, walked for hours through the forest with a compass and axe, roofing… so nothing I didn’t want to give up.
Where next for you?
Is that the million dollar question. I can’t do this forever?
Anybody to thank at this point in the journey? Long suffering spouses/parents/friends?
Everyone that believed in me having a vision and new ideas along the way. All of the leaders that took chances. You know who you are, not the followers.
