The Jamieson Philosophy - Keeping It Grounded with High Stoke

What does it look like to raise five kids, support big dreams, and still keep the house calm?

This week I sit down with JJ, Elliot, and Nash Jamieson for a conversation that’s less about podiums and more about parenting, perspective, and protecting the joy in sport. JJ and Trish raised five kids in a home where bikes were always around, but pressure wasn’t. The philosophy was simple: support fully, manage lightly, and let the kids steer.

Elliot shares what it was like walking away from a serious junior hockey path to chase bikes, dealing with expectations at the highest level of downhill, and finding his way back to loving the ride again. Nash talks about growing up in that same house, winter miles in Squamish rain, learning to handle the mental side of racing, and figuring out who he is beyond the family name.

This episode is about more than racing. It’s about calm leadership, honest conversations after hard days, and choosing people over pressure. It’s about what happens when parents stay steady, kids are allowed to fail, and performance becomes a byproduct of joy.

If you’re raising athletes, chasing your own goals, or just trying to keep sport healthy inside your family, this one will resonate.

Share it with your riding crew, hit follow, and tell us where you want to ride, the next chapter starts right now.

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• Hosted and Produced by Jarrad Connolly

Transcript

Meet The Jameson Bike Family

Jarrad 0:00

Welcome back to the Dynamic Lifecycles podcast. There are bike families, and then there is the Jameson family. Five kids, a house that somehow balanced chaos and calm, and a garage stacked with vintage BMX, mountain bikes, cruises, an old hot rod, and a sixties V D just for good measure. Out of the five, two all went in on bike. Nash and Elliot. Elliot who walked away from a serious junior hockey bar to bed on two wheels, and Nash carving out his own identity in the sport where the James name already carries weight. And in the center of all of that is JJ, a rider who can raise anything, a product line trusted across the industry, and a dad known for being calm, realistic, and steady when it matters. This isn't just all about racing. It's about a family. Influence, feel versus data, and what kind of legacy you build when you put people first. This story is about the Jamesons. I hope you enjoy the listen. How are we all? Good. How are you? Y eah, great. It's been uh it's been a pretty good week. Quite sunny out there this week.

JJ 1:23

Yeah. And it feels like a better February than a lot of them, that's for sure, for riding.

Elliot 1:28

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, no, we're all doing well. Nash and I last weekend were riding a ton, and I know yeah, you guys were riding a bunch as well, and it's good. Yeah. Season's kind of ramping up now, so yeah, it's key for it. It feels like an early season. Definitely. Yeah, yeah. I think I don't think like no most winters we have, you know, at least a few days or like a week or two, you know, that's pretty mixed or where the trails will be shut down, but this week it's just been full, or this off season's just been full, yeah.

JJ’s BMX Roots And Norco Beginnings

Jarrad 1:53

So yeah, it's been been pretty gnarly. So uh I wanted to get you guys in. I feel like your story, the family story, really resonated with myself. And I'm gonna say probably a lot of people that are listening as well, in the sense that like I grew up with uh two other brothers, dad that raced, mum that was always at the races. Like I feel like your family vibe and and where you guys are going through, and like right now, like you're you're getting into the factory side of things and and stuff like that, and it's it's kind of a cool story, and sort of wanted to dive into that because from what I understand it hasn't really been like overly told. Like, obviously, you guys have all sort of talked about things individually, but yeah, it kind of all get you together and and have a bit of a chat. So, JJ, like tell me way back when that started, because you've been what with Norco 36 odd years?

JJ 2:47

I think I only had 37 in uh in November this year.

Jarrad 2:50

Oh wow, that's pretty nuts. That's insane. And then where where did it start for you before that?

JJ 2:58

Funny thing is, you know, that goes way back because when I was a little kid, I went to my grandparents' house and pulled this old bike out of the shed and started tearing it apart. And as a kid in our neighborhood, like when I was pretty young, I was always kind of messing around with bikes, checking out other people's bikes, putting like taped on crossbars on our high-rise bikes to make them look like a motocross bike, you know? And that was like way back when I was like, geez, probably like 10 or 11. And then I think I got my first BMX well in grade, well, 1979, so I would have been 11, I guess. And it was a Norco that I still have, actually. Oh wow. So that was kind of a game changer because BMX was new, like the high-rise bikes were kind of you know, like banana seats, they were kind of on the way out. There's a short stint of those motocross kind of gas tank bikes with shocks, but the BMX was like it was the one, and I saw a kid in our neighborhood rolling one. This guy Drew Wyden, he was a hockey player that I knew from hockey. And when I saw that bike, I was like, had tough wheels. It was like it was pretty rad. And I'm like, I have to buy that bike, but I don't think my parents are gonna let me. So I was sort of working this deal where if I could save up a bunch of money and and buy that bike, and I'd say from that chance to get rolling on a BMX, I was on it and I really never looked back. Like, I think I remember like later on being older, and like I'd race BMX through my teens and stuff. But I remember like being worried as a 16-year-old when my friends were getting cars, girlfriends, jobs. I'm like, what am I gonna do? Like BMX, like it's starting to change. Like we were starting to get worried that something was gonna happen that we weren't gonna be able to ride, you know. So anyway, yeah, but a lot of that through that window. I just rode BMX every day. Like we'd leave the house in the morning and come home like for dinner and then go out again and ride. And or if we were at someone's house, we were working on bikes, we were building ramps, we were digging jumps. And it was a perfect spot to do that because it was Brookswood, which is in Langley, and there was like all these new suburbs on one side. There's a fresh BMX track, but there was also like a lot of butt like um farms and stuff, so you could just start digging and building. And so across the street from my parents, there's a big turkey farm with like 40 acres. So we used the barns inside to build ramps because one barn was empty, had these pigs at the back and an old fire truck in there. But we had two quarter pipes, a starting gate, a couple trick ramps. Oh wow. So that was like you'd flick on the lights in the winter and like nights like this, put the ghetto blaster out and just ride in there. But in the day, like in the summer, we just dig jumps, and I could see all the kids from my front where I'd have breakfast, they'd be riding in this. We called it the bush track, or they called it Jameson's track or whatever. Because I did most of the digging there, but it was just like a random just jump. So we just hang out there every day. I'm probably talking too much already. Oh, that's awesome.

Jarrad 5:58

The book, the boys are looking at you, so it's all good. Could all industry.

JJ 6:01

So yeah, that's but I mean, I was a bike kid, and then I thought I needed to get a real job. So I ended up going to university and college, finished that, and I started working at a skateboard warehouse distribution place where they're doing skateboards and snowboards, and I kind of got into that. BMX was kind of dying in the late 80s a bit. So I was a bit unsure, but I kind of liked the skateboarding, snowboarding angle, and surfing. And so got the job there, but then I got a chance to go get a degree. And when I got home from that, it was like 80, I guess mid-89. And I applied at Norco. My mom was like, You need a job and you like bikes, like, why don't you try Norco? And I just phoned up and I started working in the warehouse. Who was and I had a degree in business after that. Okay. A couple of years of or a few years of school. So it kind of got me in. But yeah, I just started working in the warehouse.

Jarrad 6:54

Who was running Norco back then? Like, obviously, Bert was it obviously heavily involved, but who are you talking with?

Raising Kids Around Bikes Without Pressure

JJ 7:00

Well, first to get in, I just phoned the warehouse manager who was at the time Carrie Denegra. He hired me as a picker. I started driving a machine. Um, but when I got the job upstairs, I was only in the warehouse for a short time, maybe four or five, six months. And I saw this opportunity upstairs, and it was um basically a secretarial position. I had the lady that drove the forklift phone upstairs, and the lady up there goes, Oh, I don't think you want this job. Like it's more clerical typing and stuff. I'm like, Well, I'll learn how to type, that's cool. So I took a typing course and they hired me upstairs, and it was kind of funny because I went upstairs and the head person in bike division was called his name was Jim Harmon, and all in his office he had old BMX pictures because his son raced BMX and I kind of knew him. He was younger, but all the other racers on the Norco team, I was kind of friends with, so we kind of connected really well. So when I moved upstairs, they were like, okay, you can be the secretary for a while, but you can also help with like QC tech, you know, just things that Dave and Pete at the time didn't um have time for. So that kind of got me into the bike division in a bit of a way. But yeah, for the first few years, I went for lunch with the secretaries every day. I just did all the back then it was faxes and just filing and organizing and stuff. So I kind of started in the warehouse, then I started doing the office stuff, and then I was kind of like a junior buyer at that point. So leave school quite far back now.

Jarrad 8:29

Literally from the bottom of Norco all the way up.

JJ 8:32

And I was younger than Elliot. Like I was only 21 when I started, so yeah, you know, by the time I was his age, I was just starting to go to Asia a bit. You know, I think 92 I went to Asia the first time to go visit the factories and stuff. So that was a bit of an eye-opener.

Jarrad 8:46

Yeah. I don't even know where to go from that, to be honest.

JJ 8:50

So that's a little bit of history in that one. But like I say, I was just a BMX kid, and at that point, that was my life was just riding BMX bikes every day. Yeah. And the parents weren't involved much. Like my mom would take me to the odd race, but she wasn't into it. My dad really didn't like racing. I played hockey in the winter and he kind of enjoyed watching hockey. Yeah. But I think he was really nervous about racing and he didn't really support it, or I don't think he ever came to a race. So most of the local races, I just rode my bike to like he just rode there and rode home, and the track wasn't that far away. But um, yeah, so that was. I think I probably would have got either more into it if my parents were into it, or I maybe would have done less of it because all of a sudden, maybe the overbearing parent would have pushed me the other way, you know. So who knows? But at that point in time, Langley was a hotbed for BMX, and it was really cool because so many kids were into it. It was just the funnest, just you know, wherever you're lake jumping one weekend, you're riding ramps, you're riding track, you were riding whatever, it just you're on a BMX trying to figure it out, you know, and it was kind of a new sport.

Jarrad 9:55

Yeah. So where did the boys come into this? Obviously, like how old are you now, Elliot? I'm 24 now. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So that's like early 2000s. Uh when when Elliot was born, and then uh you've got four others as well in that time frame, and then obviously with Nash as well. Where and how did all that come and where did yeah, like hit take it from there a little bit?

JJ 10:23

I think during that window of time, like I was a bit older when we had kids, I was 32. So I'd had a window of you know, lots of riding as non-parent. So once we had kids, it was a little bit of a change of lifestyle because you're not going on road trips every weekend, but we tried to keep that going and just do what we did with the kids. So it meant like I think we went to California a month after you're born and just kind of tried to roll with it. We went to Hawaii that winter to go surfing a bit and hang out, but also just kind of not not really ever push the kids, but just keep them around bikes where you always had the chance, like, hey, we'll ride, how about riding or how about this or that? Like, I remember through a lot of the years when Elliot was a little bit older, but we'd be loading up like six or seven bikes on the van every day and just going up to the dirt jumps. I mean, White Rock's not the greatest place to ride, but the trails are actually kind of fun for kids, you know. There's some trails, there's some jumps, so and even like to jump in.

Elliot 11:24

I feel like even going back to when I don't know, I was really young, like you'd bring home run bike prototypes for us to like jump around on, or we'd be like snapping wooden run bikes from just like wheelie dropping off of like the curves. And I feel like we yeah, we were just always around bikes, and that sort of whole, you know, that just kind of like inspired us to I guess follow in our dad's footsteps and like fall in love with the sport a bit, but not not love at first sight.

JJ 11:49

No, no, there was some some stress, like for kids. I remember that ride out in Abbotsford where you got your butt wet and you never thought you'd never ride a bike again. Or trying to get you to ride over a little bridge and you just face plant and you're like screaming at like, oh man, like this kid's not doped.

Elliot 12:06

Yeah, yeah. No, totally. I think when I was young. Well, and Nash too. Like, Nash, you weren't super into biking. There's so much complaining there. Yeah. Yeah. So much complaining.

JJ 12:16

But you look back, you guys had fun too. Like Jonas, our other son, who's 19 now. I mean, you guys would just hang out in the dirt jumps on road bikes and just goof around for hours, you know.

Elliot’s Pivot From Hockey To Bikes

Elliot 12:25

Yeah, I don't think we even realized like how much time. Well, I guess for me I raced a lot of BMX growing up when I was young, but I don't think we even realized how much time we spent on bikes, like till we look back now and are like, whoa, we actually didn't think like in those ages, you don't feel like you're doing it, but like every weekend we would go to the BMX track, and maybe that's like jumping forward a little bit, but like we as soon as I don't even know how old I was when you started doing this BMX track, like basically.

JJ 12:46

Well, you got the national number one title when you were, I think, six or seven for BMX, and Elity got it for a five-year-old. Yeah, so that was kind of like you guys were pretty little, but that was just because we were hanging out at the track a lot at that point because we lived closer to the track, and you guys were putting in lots of time doing local races and stuff.

Elliot 13:05

Totally, but I think yeah, you were always you never really pushed us to get into mountain biking, especially not racing, like that all really came from us. And I think for me, like I got into biking through my hockey friends, and like at a certain point, a few of my buddies that I grew up playing hockey with, we would after hockey, we'd all grab our dirt jumpers and just go to the dirt jumps in White Rock where we grew up, and we'd just ride those for hours, and then at a certain point it became like, Whoa, we actually like we like riding bikes way more than we want to play hockey, and some injuries in hockey and different things like kind of pushed me towards then mountain biking more seriously. But like that kind of started from you dad taking us or taking me on like Tuesday night night rides with like a bunch of his buddies, and there wasn't a lot of I don't know. I feel like we didn't grow up at somewhere like Swamish or Whistler where there's a lot of other kids our age like on bikes too. So yeah, for me, it was really just riding with my dad and his buddies, and then I think for Nash, it was obviously now with our relationship riding, it's like we're going riding all the time together, which is pretty cool. So yeah, yeah.

JJ 14:08

Oh yeah, yeah, he was totally finishing grade six, going into grade seven, I think. And there was this person that was our Russian distributor, and his son got injured. So I got a call from Skip, the old sales manager, and he goes, Hey, you think Elliot would want to go to Whistler to a bike camp? And I'm like, Probably. He's been dirt jumping a bunch. He hadn't really ridden a downhill bike much. Never, yeah. But you went up for the week, and I remember that I was like, holy, this is scary because you we got a call and it sounded like your room was like a full-on party.

Elliot 14:36

Yeah, it was Camp of Champions when they used to run it too. It was similar to like summer gravity camps where yeah, there was coaches, a crew of us, and we all got like lodging in whistler. It was all it was like kids' dream, honestly. It was insane to do it. And it's something totally, and it was something that I don't know, we wouldn't have like spent the money for, like it was super expensive, and it just happened that it was free because of the injury. So yeah, yeah, my buddy and I ended up going up there, and I remember at the end of the week, I got the most improved rider because I came in having never had never ridden a down bike before, really like that much, yeah, no bike parks or anything. And then by the end, we were riding like Durmerchin and A-line, like every lab, just having so much fun, you know.

JJ 15:13

And I think that yeah, that definitely sparked my like more racing side of being like, Oh, this could be something like yeah, and even for Nash, like I think whatever a couple years ago, you were like a young kid, but he'd go up and ride with Elliot, and you'd be like, Oh, I just rode with Connor Fear on and all these guys, and like that was a cool like chance for him to just be able to ride with older riders, you know, that were pretty friendly and cool, but not so much just kids' age, you know.

Jarrad 15:38

How is that for you two boys? Like, obviously, with JJ being around so many pro riders, and then like obviously now you're sort of starting to link in with a lot of those riders. Like, how is that growing up and just knowing and seeing them and hanging out with them almost like your idols? I'm guessing at some point. How is that? Totally.

Nash 15:59

Oh yeah, I don't even know. I mean, I watch like YouTube videos and I just see them kind of around at the races, like crankworks and world cups, but then when you're kind of with them, you just kind of realize they're just kind of like what Elliot is. Like my older brothers are pro, so yeah, you kind of just notice they're just all like chill and they're nice and or end up riding with them, so yeah. Yeah, it's not really like for me, it's not really as much of an idol anymore. Cause yeah, so it's just kind of like you spend time with them, yeah. It's sick.

Elliot 16:25

Yeah, totally. I feel like maybe for me it was a little bit different because I was the oldest, I didn't have that um that like exposure. Yeah, yeah. So I think for me, I definitely more so like put professional riders growing up on like a pedestal of like they're like, you know what I mean? I really looked up to like Sam Hill, Sam Blankensop, who ended up being teammates with, Stevie Smith, those are kind of like my main guys I looked up to, and a lot of that was I think yeah, just put them on the pedestal because I had no there was no one, you know, and I I guess I grew up a little bit riding with I met some pro athletes like Jay Hoots and Ryan Leach, some like Norco factory team riders, but I kind of grew up riding a little bit before the Norco factory team and the you know form it is now where it's like a high level like multi-disc or it was multidisciplinary now focused on downhill, but it was kind of before that, so I think I think it was 20 maybe 14 when the Norco Factory Racing got launched, which was like Blankey and um Henry Fitzgerald and a few other riders, and yeah, so that was insane for me to look up to those guys.

Jarrad 17:24

Yeah, yeah. I I'm just really thinking back as like you guys are talking, and it's like I remember the same thing like growing up and and racing moto and things like that, and and seeing the pros at the local track, and then you get chatting with them, and then your old man starts chatting with their dads, and all of a sudden you're practicing with them, and yeah, it's like it's pretty wild when all of a sudden people that you see on TV or YouTube or whatever are now all of a sudden just like hanging out in your living room, and it's like yeah, yeah, pretty sick. Yeah, 100%. One thing I wanted to go back to, um, and I had a bit of a question on is um from what I understand, you're quite a high-level hockey player in the junior ranks. What was the big turning factor for that? Obviously, you just mentioned injuries and enjoying biking more. But at what point did you make that full switch? How did that go down?

Parenting Style: Support, Not Control

Elliot 18:16

Yeah, totally. I think, yeah, I honestly it's funny because I think growing up, you know, my parents never really pushed me towards playing hockey, like my dad Easy said, grew up playing hockey as well. But I was just started watching hockey on TV and I wanted to play the sport so much, so then I feel like you guys were reluctant to like even let me start like ah, I was kind of begging to play it, so I really wanted to play hockey, and yeah, honestly loved it. That was my first dream was to be a professional hockey player. I think like a lot of Canadian kids, it's like the NHL is such a big, such a big thing here, and um I loved it. I feel like it taught me so many things of like being part of a team and like learning to work with coaches and training and like fitness and everything like that. But yeah, at a certain point, I think I had started riding bikes a little bit more, but very like casually, like not really racing seriously or competitively in any way. And I was really pushing hockey, playing playing rep hockey at a high level for like the minor hockey association and kind of like trying to figure out what that path would be, like into the next steps. Um, but then yeah, biking honestly kind of just took over, and I remember a key, like a pivotal kind of turning point was we were in like a spring hockey tournament, and we were destroying this team from down south in Portland. And anyway, I like went to shoot the puck into the other team's zone and ended up like hitting their defenseman like pretty hard on the shin pad, kind of, and it went out of play. And the ref like blew the whistle down, and I turned around to turn back to the bench to change, and the kid just like cross-checked me from behind after the whistling of the boards, and I like I was completely completely unexpected, and yeah, it like broke my wrist, my arm, and I ended up being like I was more disappointed to have the time off the bike than like missing with my teammates and everything. And so that was a big like eye opener of like, whoa, like this is my interests have really like shifted, and then I think like in retrospect too, I definitely enjoy pursuing like individual sport. Not that like mount like obviously with a team there or with mountain biking, there is still a team aspect, but I felt like with mountain bike racing, especially when I started racing across country, it was like how much effort and like passion I have for it kind of directly would translate to results, especially at a young age, versus with hockey, it was like I could put so much work in, but obviously it's you know, there's 20 guys on a team, and if everyone's not putting that level of work in, then it's you're not you're not gonna like win and make those jumps.

JJ 20:34

So also where we live, there's a lot of dads that were all friends and like the club of hockey style. So definitely there was a little bit of a bias where we weren't as friendly with them, so Elliot wouldn't get the the treatment, maybe, you know. You feel like there was a little bit of there's yeah, I don't know, like who is really better than the other thing. There was favoritism.

Elliot 20:53

I wouldn't use that as an excuse because I think like you can still oh yeah, you can outperform that, but for sure, like in where we grew up, there was a lot of that going on where it was like the you know, the people you know and like the friends, they would kind of all and then when you're in that, then you just get more and more support and it you just go farther. So versus mountain biking was like, I guess too, another thing to add would be like as soon as I started mountain bike racing or like riding more, the community was so positive and friendly, everyone was friends at the races, like versus in hockey it was like kids were fighting in games, like it was like you're going to war, you know. And I honestly didn't enjoy activating like that, yeah, that side of me to have to like play versus mount bike racing was just so fun, and then you're battling and you're like digging deep, but you're not like I was like red hot with like anger after games, and I was like, okay, this is like nothing. Yeah, so yeah, anyway.

JJ 21:44

Well, you were a bit younger, you didn't really get into hockey, but we had three kids in hockey at one point, like Elodie playing and Jonas was a little hectic, and Nash was a baby, I think, around that time. Yeah, yeah.

Jarrad 21:54

The yeah, the time to get on the ice would have been insane. Like that would have been crazy to get all things. Straight kids on the ice.

JJ 22:01

While just running around, like with his schedule, it was pretty full on, and then yeah, just there was a lot of hockey, so yeah.

Elliot 22:08

I still love it now. Like I love watching it as a fan, but I defin and maybe one day I'll play like Beer League or something, you know. But I'm definitely super happy that I kind of like directed my focus into something that like was more similar to maybe like who I am to, you know.

Jarrad 22:21

So yeah, I definitely did the same thing, but with soccer in the sense of like did a couple of years of soccer really young. But same thing, it's like I could see if I re when I rode my bike and put in X amount of effort, it would equally translate to just me, and I didn't have to worry about the goalkeeper letting the goal in and then losing the game no matter how many goals I scored or whatever, like you know what I mean. Like totally, yeah, and then the hockey I can't even imagine throwing in the the fighting and the that side of things, which is like yeah, pretty gnarly.

Elliot 22:54

Yeah, definitely. And I think too, like, even just with coaching, like I remember games where the team maybe I would have like I would feel like I performed really well in the game, but the team as a whole wouldn't have performed, and there was games where we'd like fully just throw in our running shoes, fully dressed, and just like run laps around the rink like after the game because our coach is just like angry at us and like yeah, just like yeah, I don't know, things you're proud of your efforts, yeah. And you're coming home and I would just be like, yeah, just bummed. And so it like didn't it wasn't like yeah, building it in the most positive direction.

JJ 23:23

So well, and you think of like a sport like riding, like last night I said to you on the way home, we were out at VMX at the indoor track, and on the way home, I'm like, it's pretty rad. There's 60-year-old people there and th like three or four-year-olds all enjoying like an evening of VMX, like some of the sports like hockey or soccer, you you can do them when you're older, but it's not really the same. Whereas I think like surfing, you know, snowboarding, riding, you can kind of still have fun when you're older.

Jarrad 23:50

Totally, yeah. Yeah, yeah, and I think not to talk like actual politics, but like politics in sport. I think hockey, as you're saying, like the whole clickiness with the parents and then the coaches, and like that's definitely not something that happens in mountain biking.

JJ 24:04

Yeah, no, it's there's some heated parents around mountain biking too. I mean, the big time coming over.

Jarrad 24:10

They're definitely coming over, definitely in BMX.

JJ 24:12

I've seen it in BMX a lot more, but yeah, and I wonder whether that's to do with like the Olympics starting and being involved in the Olympics a lot more, but yeah, and I think any parent now, like you look at some of the hotbeds of mountain biking, like squamish, parents are just way more into outdoor stuff, and they want their kids to race, win, or just be more into it, you know. So I think not all, but there are some that are quite serious and you know, putting extra effort in, whatever whatever it is to something that came up, and I wanted to actually ask you.

Tech, Prototypes, And Testing Culture

Jarrad 24:44

So, this is a perfect segue into this, but your whole personality, culture vibe, whatever you want to call it, is so calm and relaxed, almost like that like South Cali surf vibe, you know, like and I know you've got like the the uh V dub bus and all the rest of it, which fits this whole like vibe that's going into it. But so many people that I reached out to and said, hey, like the boys are coming on, everyone started the conversation with the Jamesons of the family that I want to base my family on. And so but like tell me a bit about that. Like, your where do your I guess morals or whatever you want to call it come into like the way you brought up the kids? And before you start, one story I want to tell, which Grizz is gonna laugh when he listens to this, because he's told me I want to say he's told me this story 15 times, and I don't know which one of the kids it was, but one of the kids was doing something wrong, and it might have been Nash, to be honest. Probably one of the younger kids, but anyway, Grizz tells a story and he impersonates you, and he's like, if my kid was doing what the this kid was doing, I would have been blowing my stack. But JJ, the way JJ handled it was like, Bro, you're kind of bummer me out right now. And and Grizz is like, the reaction from the kid was like as if I'd literally just torn his head off. Like so, like tell me a bit about that. Like, where does that come from? You think?

JJ 26:29

Well, I think when you have lots of kids, you realize I don't know, I've learned it even more now as I'm older, but they're just kids trying to do their best, and they're all different. So you kind of gotta just take that on and almost help them as much as you can, you know, and just kind of let them whatever, just kinda roll with it, you know. It's not always that serious. Like I think too many parents get wound up in it. And you know, I think the other thing is just overmanaging your kids. Like we have good examples of times where we just kind of go for it and try it, you know. Like the kids were really little, like the cyclocross race. I'm like, throw them in there, they're only like the smallest kids there, but I'm like, give it a shot. You know what? A lot of parents are like, no, it's you know, they're worried or something, they're a little too stressed. You just kind of run with it. And I think you always go with I always thought about this a while ago. You really need to support them 100%, but do as little managing as possible. Like, I don't get involved in any other deals with anything, I don't really tell them what to do. I don't even know sometimes what they're thinking or what they're doing. So I think you gotta have that trust and like let them grow up. And you know, like your guys' big road trip you did last year, my wife was a little bit worried they were going to Tennessee, like driving across the US in the middle of like snowstorms, and you know, for Nash, he's in like grade 10 and rolling out with a few older guys to go race, like in Tennessee. And to me, that was one of your probably funnest times. And yeah, you know, a lot of parents would be like either trying to overmanage it and make it stressful or say no, you know. But sometimes you just gotta like, and I think, yeah, you'd probably be able to explain that. But that was pretty fun for you guys to pull that off. And honestly, in the two weeks you were three weeks you were gone, I think I got one call, and I was like, the first race Nash did, he qualified first out of like all the kids his age in the qualie, right? Which is insane. Like, and I'm just getting a quick call, like, and Nash got first in the qualies. I'm like, holy crap, this is like USA, Tennessee, like this is like a big international race, yeah. But it just was kind of like, okay, and then we never heard from you guys for the next three weeks. Like, yeah, I kind of felt bad. I called you once, and then I was like, we're in California when you guys were there in the window, and I'm like, I didn't hear anything, and I just kind of let them roll with it, you know. And I think that vibe is just yeah, it maybe sounds loose, but it's not really loose. Like we're always there to support, but we're not there to manage.

Jarrad 28:58

Yeah, how how does that feel for you boys? Like, I know, like I feel like my dad and mom like uh still like very heavily involved in a lot of decisions I make, and but in the same way you're talking, like they let me make a decision and they let me do what I want to do and they support, but they also are there for advice. Like, do you guys feel the same way, I guess, in that sense?

Nash 29:20

Oh yeah, I'm always asking questions and asking for like I don't know, guidance on like when I'm writing an email to like someone who's helping me out or just those kind of things, and same with Elliot, I feel like. Yeah, totally.

Learning Setup: From Downhill To Enduro

Elliot 29:32

I think I think you you honestly explained it perfectly, Dad. I feel like you like support us with like things we're going through, but then also like let us maybe make mistakes we're like figured out along the way too, like without it being overbearing. But if we if you we always know you're there if we're like really stuck or if we're like in a situation where like okay, we don't I don't know what to do, you know, that we can go to many so much experience and just knowledge and and also approaches it just being it's not yeah, it's not based on like stress or like making us scared in any way. It's like no no, like yeah, you're good. Like a lot of the time the problems really aren't that big, but he's just there to like listen and support, you know. And I think too now, even I'm even more grateful because I feel like our relationship is like we're more it's more like friendship based, which I think is so cool. Like that's I guess the evolution kind of of like as a as a kid like myself gets older and now we can just like yeah, share ideas and go for rides together, and he's like my biggest role model, but also we're you know friends too, 100%. But then we're also different, each of us, I think. Like Jim, Nash, and I all have different kind of nuances and like unique kind of bits about us that sometimes we don't like fully agree and we'll have like interesting conversations with each other, so it's cool.

JJ 30:46

Yeah. Well, and I'm pretty loose, like I don't check my tire pressure, all those kind of things where I'm like like when Elliot went to World Champs as a junior and got third, we brought his bike to a Norco meeting the day after, and one of the distributors looks at his tire and goes, The knobs are completely gone. Like, did you race on that yesterday? And it was like a tire you'd been running for like six months. We're just like, Oh yeah, that's a bad move, you know. We probably shouldn't have had that old tire on your bike, but totally things like that were a bit loose, right? And you can't run on that style, you know, you need to be pretty organized.

Elliot 31:19

So yeah, which I think is funny because I think, yeah, growing up, like as you said, Jim, I feel like I didn't I was not dialed in with that stuff at all. And it was really, it really was until I was on the Norco factory team where I like had to clean that those sort of things up, like from like a professional like athlete side of things. Like I think I had the fun, I had the skills, I had like the the pieces to ride well, but then it was a lot then going into like a factory team setup. Whereas I think now with like Nash and I, I think Nash can I I'm jealous of him because he can balance like maybe my dad's approach and then with my approach, and there's like a bit of like I can kind of bring some of the medium, yeah. There's a happy medium where like some things I'll I'll tell Nash about like that may be different than what like my dad would say, but he's eating well and he's got his bike dialed in, you guys are like organized like the nuts.

JJ 32:07

Yeah, bikes a little clap sometimes.

Jarrad 32:13

But it it almost reminds me, and I don't know if you guys follow the motocross or the supercross lines with the Lawrence brothers, like 100%, yeah. And it's always like Dazzy's always talking about if Jet doesn't if Jet was never better than Hunter, then we kind of failed in that sense of like obviously you're learning and almost experimenting with new things, and then Nash gets to learn off your experiments, I guess, in that sense. Totally it almost like when you were talking, I'm like, that's exactly what they talk about.

Elliot 32:44

Like, yeah, and the cool thing of is with Nash and I is he's eight years younger than me, so it's not like we've grown up like battling each other as rivals, it's honestly like such a cool relationship where like we're best friends now, but he's younger enough to me that yeah, we've never like I'm so keen and happy to like share everything I've like learned because it's like yeah, I want him to succeed as much or more than me. Do you know what I mean? So it's like it's exactly what you said, it's like that perfect. But I think it's also even adds another level of like the gap in age is quite drastic where but enough now, especially as Nash is getting older, that like, yeah, we can go on road trips, we can race together, we can like share everything we're learning all the time and work together on that um without it being like you know, say if Nash was like a year or two younger than me and we're like neck and neck, it'd be a bit more there'd be more tension, I think. Rivalry.

JJ 33:33

Well, and even like Jonas, who's our other son, 19, he was not very competitive, but I remember signing you guys up for the Bear Mountain XC. You were already racing, like, but you guys were pretty little, and there was two girls, Geza and um Carter Woods' sister, racing, and they took off the same time as Nash. And they were like, you were like seven or six. This isn't positive. Way out there. Geza and um Carter's sister uh Sarah, I guess. Yeah, they came in and were like, where the hell's Nash and Jonas? Another half hour went by, but Jonas just wasn't competitive, he was just riding the track, and Nash was like right on his wheel, but you didn't know where to go probably.

Nash 34:11

I think if I passed him, I would have been gone somewhere. Like I had off track.

JJ 34:15

But it was just funny because you were very little, Jonas was quite little, but then I realized Jonas just didn't have that like angry edge. The girls took off and they were fighting for the woman. Yeah, whereas Jonas took off and goes, I'll just ride with Nash. You know, it's just funny, his nature was different, right? So Nash was quite competitive even as a little guy, you know.

Elliot 34:34

Yeah, and I feel like even we were like, yeah, Nash and I were a lot more competitive than you too, Dad. Like, I feel like even with racing, like, yeah, we would be a lot more hungry and like and like not yeah, not like stress boat, but like just like really driven to race versus I feel like you dad always just ride like for the fun and like the essence of it more so, you know, sometimes.

Pressure, Crashes, And Mindset Reset

JJ 34:53

And I think that's a little bit the opposite of a lot of parents. You get a lot of parents that are super aggro and they put their kids in racing and go, oh damn, my kid's not as competitive or doesn't have that intensity. And that's a hard one to balance for those parents. Sometimes they'll get a super competitive kid, but for me it was kind of the opposite. The kids kind of have their own motivation, like they're up early training, getting organized, or like putting the effort in, you know. Yeah, some people just don't have that.

Jarrad 35:20

It's funny you say that because I had Andrew Pinfold in just recently, and that was his biggest thing was um because I said to him, like, what would you tell the kids like growing up? Because obviously he did quite well with his racing, and then James as well is doing quite well, and it's like if the kids don't want to be there, then don't put them there. And like that's what you're you're sort of saying in that sense.

JJ 35:43

100%, yeah. You gotta have the stoke. Yeah, yeah.

Elliot 35:46

And I think that helped. I think it was so cool growing up because and this is where like I would I leaned on you a lot, Dad, was like because he was at Norco, it was so easy for him to like borrow bikes for us to like just demo bikes or whatever to go ride. So I could one weekend do a Donald race, then I could out, you know, borrow his enduro bike and go to an enduro, then do an XC, then in the winter do like cyclocross, BMX, like it exp that I think was such a cool asset where you were so willing to support us, whatever cycling discipline or type we like wanted to do. It was just like about the love of like riding bikes, and I feel like I still have so much of that now because of that.

JJ 36:21

Where like I'd I love going for a road ride, like just as much as going to shuttles or like riding bike park or I'd get in trouble for that because I had my bike and they'd get races going, Why is this kid riding a brand new revolver like this? Oh geez, an old generation one with some new SRAM that hasn't even been released yet. Remember, yeah, one time you took my bike back east and one of the bolts fell out. They're like, We've never even seen this yet. Like the shuttle there. Yeah. I'm like, oh yeah, that's not so good.

Elliot 36:48

Or like I'd steal, you'd bring home. I remember when the site was first coming in you right when the 29er site came. And borrowed it on purpose. I was like, this bike is so fast. And I just took it from my dad. It was supposed to be his test bike, and I took it and I raced it the whole rest of the summer and was loving it. And anyway, he never saw it again.

JJ 37:05

And he was supposed to be an XC kid at that time, and then it was Chris Mayo that had an old downhill bike downstairs. We built up at the last minute for you to race the national champs, and then that led to like a world champs third. Yeah, wow. And that wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for like just a bike in the warehouse that was kind of on loan for that sort of window of time, you know.

Jarrad 37:25

So that's that's another point that uh someone mentioned to me is what was it like, and what is it like, I guess. One with all of the future you see, because I feel like in your role with Norco, you're kind of three, maybe four years in the future of a lot of items that you're seeing growing up around the dinner table. Obviously, you just mentioned then, like you you're seeing stuff come across the dinner table that may not be known to the public, but then on the flip side, almost being like the uh unofficial test riders of Norco to some degree, you know. Like, how was that growing up?

JJ 38:04

Like, you just mentioned a bunch of bikes that obviously weren't available publicly, but even Elliot was in like if you search up old YouTube videos of early Norcos, you often had like a test bike that you were in a Norco video shooter, even you.

Elliot 38:18

Yeah.

JJ 38:18

So yeah, there's lots of bikes, but I think that just became normal. Our house always has random bikes around and didn't really probably wasn't out of the ordinary, you know.

Jarrad 38:28

So what what is some of the most random stuff that you've had on bikes that either have never made it past your own bike or something that has uh sort of changed the industry? Like I know talking with Pete Staysmith, he was one of his first bike, well, I shouldn't say one of his first bikes, he was one of the first people to run a telescopic seat post, and then that became like a big thing, and then obviously drop a post and and so on. But like, what are some of the stuff you've seen that's changed?

JJ 38:58

That's quite a bit. I mean, since the early days, I mean I laugh because Elliot, I mean, tried a bike once with with uh I guess it had a front derailer and you're like, what is this? Like you never shifted a front derailler.

Elliot 39:10

Yeah.

JJ 39:11

Um, but yeah, you look at the I mean, since the early 90s, there's been a lot of development in bikes, and it I guess it all just kind of blends in. Like there's so many things going on every day, like from what we're testing now, um, with you know, different idler placements or things that are really small, but that make little changes, you know, to what's the next thing coming, or you know, lots of I mean my revolver has nine batteries on it and it's not an e-bike.

Jarrad 39:39

Yeah.

JJ 39:40

So that's like, you know, tire whiz, that's front and rear derailer, or not front derailer, but you know, crank for like the palm suspension for the flight attendant. The flight attendant, yeah. So things are just quite technical, but you just kind of roll with it.

Elliot 39:54

You don't really I remember like some specific things though. Like I remember when I was raised really into XC and you had the RS1, like the fully carbon inverted XC fork. But you were one of the first riders in, you know, I think you got one from RockShock super early on and you brought it home, and I was like, oh, this is insane, you know. Things like that. Like there were sp a few specifics.

JJ 40:12

And even borrowing the podium fork for the Squamish Enduro last year. I was flexing next to Richie Roode there. He's like kind of how'd you get that fork kind of thing? Because he was testing it at that. Remember that? Yeah, yeah. Before it was released, too. Yeah, and even I was at the Enduro in Idaho this year with Nash, and I could hear people in the lineup going, Why does that guy have that fork like? It was like a few weeks later, and I felt kind of like a squid, you know. Anyway. But it's funny too, they're like, yeah, anyway.

Nash 40:41

A lot of the time too. I'm not the most dial on the tech side, so I would honestly have no clue what like what is on the bike. I'd just be riding it too. It just feels good, looks good. Yeah, that's exactly it.

Jarrad 40:52

So, how about for yourself, Elliot? Like, obviously, being on the pro side of things, you've been with a few factory teams. Is there much testing that you're doing? And are you seeing some of this stuff change over? And then obviously, do you talk to to JJ here and sort of say, hey, like, what do you think of this and what do you think of that? Like, are you seeing much of that at your point in your career yet?

Nash’s Path: Junior Lessons And Grit

Elliot 41:15

Yeah, definitely. I feel like when I made the jump, kind of as we were talking, like when I made the jump from being, yeah, just like a junior racer to then having like yeah, achieving a bronze medal at worlds and then getting an opportunity to go on the Norco Factory downhill team, that was so new to me because I had never done any testing. I'd never even really set up a downhill bike before. I basically just was like, I would just pop my suspension up and then just go race. And I think the sports changed a lot from that now, especially at that age. But yeah, yeah, I think through the years I was with Norco on the downhill side, we did a lot of development where the downhill bike was going from the previous generation, like or MHSP, into then we raced a few years on like a range kind of mule long travel downhill bike, which was kind of a bit of a Franken downhill bike. And then um from that point, that was kind of when I switched into focusing more on Maduro and did a year with Norco on the current generation range racing that at all the World Cups, and then moved on to Common Sal and you know did some development and played with different bike setups they had there, and then now specialized. I think it's every every season and every kind of you know, jump to a different bike. I've learned so much about what I maybe like or prefer and then where I feel like you know I can try to maximize strengths of the bike and then um work on the weaknesses a little bit. So yeah. Have you done much with like the data analysis side of things yet? I haven't, no. I would love to. I think a key with that is obviously working with someone that can read it and reinterpret it, and I think that would be overwhelming at the start for me to just like you know throw on that and try to figure out insights to actually use. Um I think it's interesting, there's such a difference between setting your bike up for downhill and enduro too. Like you know, downhill you're kind of pushing that like cutting edge of speed and grip, and then what you're obviously confident on and tracks and conditions. Whereas for Enduro, I feel like you can set your bike up generally quite well, and as long as you're quite comfortable and confident and it's predictable, you can then translate that to speed kind of anywhere. I feel like so far. Obviously, there's specific differences of like certain places in Europe versus North America are quite different, but it's yeah, two different, two very different kinds of battles, I think, was set up.

Jarrad 43:30

Yeah, no, I would have to agree. Like, I think exactly as you said, like downhill is three to four minutes of very, very specific, like this is the pinpoint we want to be at, versus as you say, like enduro is such a broad range, you just need it to be the most consistent, totally, totally, and comfortable.

Elliot 43:49

And I think that's honestly like going deeper than that. I feel like that's one of the reasons why I love Enduro so much is because it's a little bit more similar to um the mountain biking that like everyone. Does and like I think I love racing downhill and finding those like little gains on like a set track as it's developing. But I feel like over a day of enduro you have so much more opportunity to like showcase every aspect of yourself as like a mountain bike rider from like fitness to like nutrition, like managing your bike, um, and then obviously the setup and all the other aspects. There's so many things that go into the racecraft of it that obviously downhill has a lot of that as well, but enduro it's almost like more similar to what people normally do and you know experience.

Jarrad 44:30

So, how how do you find, and I don't know how much you've done world cup downhill level in the sense of more currently, I'm guessing it's more induro based, but how do you find like team set up and pit set up? Obviously, working with ALN and and the whole Common Soul team and and obviously what you did with Norco and now moving forwards into specialized. How do you find that difference? Like, obviously, when you look at it online and you see the massive pits and the big race trucks in the downhill world, and then you see almost like the minivans in the euro. Yeah, like I feel like that almost fits the whole personality of the family, really.

Community, Coaching, And Big Adventure Rides

Elliot 45:10

Yeah, I think it definitely was it was super overwhelming when I first signed with Norco and went into my second year junior off of a bronze medal. I think in my mind I was like, okay, with like a winter of training, I can be like a threat at every race. Like, I expect myself to win when I was a second year junior in World Cup Downhill, and looking back in hindsight now, like that was such an impatient, short-sighted like process. But I think tying back to that, like the entire just atmosphere of a World Cup Downhill is so yeah, it's high end, it's like there's so much going on, it's high pressure, it's there's so many big teams and big riders. And I think when I jumped into that as a second year junior, I was not ready at all for that. And in hindsight, I think I should have maybe yeah, I really should have brought down like my pre the pressure I put on myself. It wasn't the team or anyone else other than like me, like I just had so much pressure on myself. And then after those few years of like having some good results in downhill on Norco and having a lot of like really challenging races, when I moved to doing the privateer setup for Enduro in 2023, that was my last year of my contract on Norco where I was actually contracted to stay on the Downhill team, and I reached out and I was like, I talked to everyone at Norco and they were like, Yeah, like if you'd like to do Enduro, like we'll support you with you know XYZ and you can go to the races. And so the first couple races were in Tasmania that year, and uh my aunt lives down there, our aunt or Nash and I's aunt, and she had a spare minivan at her place, and I borrowed it for a couple weeks, and I just camped. I was doing school like the day before the races. I was just you know, cooking, working on my bike, just by myself, like hanging out, and and then I ended up having two top 20 races, those first couple in Tassie, and I was like, oh, this is so cool! Like, those were some of the best results at like a World Cup level event I'd had, and I was just like doing it so like you know, just loving every day, like keeping things really chill and relaxed. And now I think I've bridged a the little bit of both of like having that chill, relaxed, like fun, like enjoying the process, like being really present kind of mindset while also trying to bring in like the really high performance side of like all the bike setup, all the you know, training and preparation and and mental you know performance kind of work that I feel like I've done. And now I think I'm in a really good spot where like yeah, with Enduro, I feel like I'm now battling kind of at the top, and but I think everything I learned would would translate a bit better back into downhill now if that was like something I pursued in the future again. And yeah, yeah, I wouldn't write that off. I think to me, like they're all just mountain bike racing, and I think any one of those they all like you know are benefit each other and help each other.

Jarrad 47:44

So yeah, definitely. Have you guys seen Elliot's like change? Like, is it in his personality externally? Like he just spoke about so much stuff there, and I'm just trying to break that down in my head. But like from a father, from a brother, like have you guys seen that change?

Nash 48:04

I mean, I mean, I guess I have. Uh it's kind of hard to like. I mean, there's certain points kind of like where he went to live on the island and he was like full training for downhill, and it was I didn't talk too much, I didn't really ride with him ever, so it was more like intense, more like factory kind of style. He was just training straight downhill. I didn't yeah, I get to ride with him, and then there's kind of like the old XC days where I didn't ride at all, really. So it's kind of like I was tuned out from that point, and then now it's like perfect mix of like just fun training, and then also like it's not like it doesn't feel like training when we go ride, it's just like a good day out spending time. But yeah, I've kind of I don't know, have you changed it?

JJ 48:41

I mean I think he has gotten older and more mature and more competent in all ways of even managing himself as a like almost like a team manager, but also yeah, keeping the stoke still and knowing that it's still fun and there's still a good vibe there that you're not in it for the wrong reasons, you know, you're in it for the the big picture, you know. You get to go to cool places. Obviously, you're racing. But when I went to watch you guys, I mean it's a pretty cool vibe, the Enduro scene. Like, it's almost like if someone had a problem with their bike out there, other people will come to you and help.

Nash 49:16

Like, that's not the way each other and you'd see other sports.

JJ 49:19

They just ride by and go, I'm gonna win now, you're done. Like, but it's like almost like uh you're on a mission, but you're kind of like working together huge days, like in insane weather and situations that you don't even see in the videos or what's actually going on. But to me, that's such a cool way to, I guess, race, but also just be out in the wilderness, and I think that's where you always just stop and go, damn, we're in a cool spot here, like even just riding locally, or when you're in Europe somewhere in the crazy locations, it's just such a cool thing to be doing.

Elliot 49:52

I feel like not to like speak for you, Dad, but I feel like a few years ago when I was kind of like trying to decide between making that switch between downhill and duro, I feel like there were definitely some like really hard, like we had some like hard conversations of like for me. I think I was reflecting a lot on like well, yeah, what like my dad said, like, was I doing it for the right reasons? And I think for a little bit I was pushing myself beyond my the zone where I could like operate, not comfortably, because obviously you're racing, it's not like comfortable, but I was I wanted certain results that I like wasn't ready to like ride at that, and I had some really big crashes, like a few like concussions and injuries. And I remember at a certain point, like my dad and I were talking, and he he was like he was sad about it and emotional, and like we both were. But like, this doesn't really this doesn't seem like a super like great kind of situation you're in. Yeah, it's like it wasn't a good point for me, and that's really when I was like, you know what, let's let's take a step back here and let's try a couple that year. I ended up trying a few enduro's and like loved the scene of that, and it felt so much so refreshing compared to like what honestly everything I just built up in my own head about racing World Cup downhill. I put so much pressure on myself and built it up into this like such big thing that now in hindsight it's like I was it was all in my own head, you know. But at that point, taking that step to Enduro and like with my dad supporting me, and and Nash was still pretty young then, so it was before he was really like getting into or like kind of the relationship we have now where like we're riding all the time and we're like best friends, he was still like kind of just watching and cheering me on. But yeah, I think that was kind of a pivotal, like challenging point where it was like, yeah, but then I think overall it's obviously worked out in a really cool way where I have a lot better mindset in in all ways around racing now.

JJ 51:34

So yeah, if you saw our family photo when he was younger, Nash was only like this tall and earlier.

Nash 51:40

Now all the kids are the same height, so totally and I remember going to Europe like watching you race, and it was more just like it was so stressful, like watching you. Like you slid into the 60th position in qualities, and then you got a flat at one race. It was like I didn't actually get to like watch him ride. I'd like see him go by and practice, and then we'd go down, eat some food, and then next thing you know, like a flat, and he rolls down on track with the flat.

JJ 52:04

And I was mostly nervous about the Andorra track because there was that crazy turn at the end, you know, where you have to launch off the 2022, was it in Andorra?

Multi-Discipline Racing And Tactics

Elliot 52:14

It was with the first year they moved to the new track in Andorra. Yeah, and the finish was like a huge wooden, like oh rubber mat with like a really sharp corner thin that you then had to like jump drop off of onto like a paved finish.

Jarrad 52:27

Wasn't didn't one of the juniors?

Elliot 52:29

Remy Meyer Smith have a really bad crash on that. Yeah, and like I remember, yeah.

JJ 52:34

When you ran over Amory Pyron in the face, yeah.

Elliot 52:36

In practice, I ran over Omri. Sorry, Amory.

JJ 52:40

It was just like it was just like 40 degrees, and like just the track was just like so hot and not I don't know, just hard.

Elliot 52:48

Yeah, and I I qualified last in 60th, and that was one of those top 60 in quality. And it was I I just knocked it into the last position.

Nash 52:55

I remember too watching like this is when I was kind of following. This is the first year I started like really like tuning into their racing, which kind of sounds like not dialed, but I was like starting to pay attention to like that when he was at the races, and I remember watching like Ben Cathar's like pink bike videos on the lot, and I just saw like Elliot at Fort William have like a massive crash in the in the like background, and I was like, Yeah, I heard he like had a concussion and he like got blown off the top rock section, but I was like seeing it just sitting on the couch eating some food, like just enjoying the video. I was like, holy like that's Elliot. Like huge. That's a big one, Elliot. This is like gnarly, I don't really hear anything good like happening with this racing. It was just like crash. Yeah, that was a reaction.

Elliot 53:34

It it got really hard, but I think too, it was it's like you kind of I I really believe you like you kind of get back what you're like, kind of, you know what I mean, your approach. And I think my approach was so it I was kind of riding on like it was more like desperation than like fun, you know. Like I was I was had a spot on a factory team, I wanted to prove myself and like back up, you know, my junior kind of career where I was like a top five guy consistently. I was like, okay, now I'm in the elite. I started off my elite career in 2020, where the COVID year when it was we just went over for world champs, and I think I was just inside the top 30. So I was like, okay, that's like a great start to my like elite kind of download career, and then from there I had such a hard time like ever kind of continuing building that momentum, and it really was just yeah, my own kind of doing. So that's funny that kind of got like reflected a little bit on like yeah, Nashville to get a home of me just crashing, and just it was more stress, you know. And I think it's so different now of how like I think we all approach it and the approach is different.

Nash 54:33

Yeah, I remember like to my first down race. I like I did my race run, crashed. I was like, I ran into dad and like on the practice lap, like through two lines, and I like took him out on a rock slap, and we both like the bikes were just everywhere, and then I watched Elliot come down, and he also had a massive crash at National. It was like 2022, and I was like, geez, every race I go to, so like something happens with Elliot, and I'm like, this is bad.

JJ 54:57

We went to a race, remember at uh Fernie, the first one, and you're like, I can't race this down. I'm like, I need to ride the trail bike, and everyone's like, no, no, no, and he's like, I need to ride the site. So we race the site, and everyone's just like, what's this kid thinking? What is your anyway? Yeah, no, that was quid, but but normally a parent would get mad, but I'm like, Nash, do whatever you gotta do.

Jarrad 55:17

If that's if that's what you feel like you need to do, make it happen. Yeah. So let's talk a bit about the future for yourself, Nash. You obviously did a bunch with Common Soul in the past couple of years. Yeah. What's next for you?

Nash 55:29

Well, I mean, it's kind of hard because I'm still trying to kind of like in the process of I mean kind of planning it out. It's hard to like think of that, like the long term kind of, so I'm just kinda like chipping away at what's happening now. But this year I'm kind of riding for specialized Canada with like the AGR racing team with like Ryder, Nolan Wees, Hannah. Um, and it's ran by Andy, Picard. So yeah, that's gonna be cool. And then I'm gonna keep like I kinda raced more Donald last year. Like I spent the whole offseason kind of just focusing on like this season's gonna be mostly Donald. I'm just gonna race a few Enduros and like I know the speed kind of translates and the the training, so I was like, I'm I still love Enduro, but I like felt like the mental side of Donald challenged me way more than the meta side of Enduro, so I was like, I feel like spending this like it builds like insane, like it just helps your character kind of and like how you approach things outside of racing. So I was like, this is cool, and then it kind of like pretty intense season, like I was yeah, supported by Commons All Canada and just like lots of learning. Like came out, spent the whole offseason training, and then first race. I was like, I knew I could do well at the Tennessee National, and I like just qualified first and then crashed, and it was just like it's a lot of learning, and I just felt like yeah, this I mean that's last season, and then the season before I kind of just raced in duro on my dad's like I just stole his bike at the squawish and duro and just I like literally stole it, yeah. Like mid-race, yeah, yeah.

Future Of Bikes, E-Bikes, And Industry Hopes

JJ 56:57

We broke Debex Hill, yeah. And I got to the bottom and I'd finished that Debex Hill. It was a rowdy stage. Yeah. It's like rigged. I kind of jumped in, yeah. Dirty G. I was like, okay, I'll start pedaling up. So I left and I was way up past Quest on the heading for the whatever lap, and you phoned me and go, uh yeah. Yeah. Blowing up back wheel, no chain, like flat tire. Yeah. So I'm like, well, do I leave them there or do I go back? So I went back and we just switched bikes, and then you ended up doing the rest of the race, and I was like, uh at least I got in like three stages out of five. You kept going. I think you got second or third that year, didn't you?

Nash 57:36

Yeah. Because like went from the clapped out old site and then to like the new gold podium for it and stuff. Like with the kind of like the site. Yeah, like the brand new site, which that was kind of funny. But yeah, it kind of like it was more loose from the start. Like I didn't really I just kind of followed what you guys were doing. I knew like other siblings didn't really race, so I just it was just so so much fun. And then last season I kind of took it more serious to like train all winter, kind of, and I had like a goal or a race I wanted to do well at, which it kind of like it got intense, like for myself, not not because of anybody else, just from my from myself, and then now this season I feel like it's more chill, and I'm just riding with it like for fun, kind of like doing both still, but I'm not like focusing too much on downhill or too much on Dero. So I feel like that's kind of works good for me.

Jarrad 58:23

So like what are what are some of the big things you feel like you've learned? Like you're still pretty young. Like, how old are you now? 16. Okay, so you've still got a lot of learning and growing.

Speaker 4 58:32

Yeah.

Jarrad 58:33

Um, but over the past couple of years, what are some of the biggest things you've learned to then like change? Because you just mentioned that like racing downhill has really changed and challenged you to then sort of make decisions in your let's call it normal life off the bike. What are some of those things that make you think that way?

Nash 58:54

Oh, I don't it's a lot. Like, I mean, just for me, like one of the big things was like I would just overthink and stress and think of all these different outcomes, kind of like training and how I wanted like a certain race to go, and kinda one of the I mean one of the things I've learned is kind of just like any like anything could happen. You don't have to like you can put like as much effort in as you can like can just work hard, but you can't really control everything, so just that's one of the biggest things. But yeah, I've also kind of just like I mean from the start I've just kind of done it like for fun, like when I was I don't know even how like when old was I when I did like cyclocross races and he kind of just threw me in. Um you raced a lot of cross, he got national champ in cross. But yeah, yeah, even before that though, I was like improper I had to like adjust the age on my UCI license to to uh because he was too young to race, so they added a couple years to his license to let him in for the first couple of years.

Elliot 59:54

But then didn't way later you tried to register for a race and they were like, oh, we think now they have to ask for the way older to actually put his real age back in, like two years younger.

Nash 1:00:02

So I mean that was just a bunch of fun. It was kind of like kind of stressful. I was just like, it would be hailing rain, it'd just be like a muddy field, and you'd just be like, with all of these old men, I'd be like, this is kind of weird, but it's fun, like just in the pain cave.

JJ 1:00:17

But you know, the game changer for Nash was during COVID, there wasn't a lot going on, and Elliot's old team, or I guess you're never on charge, but part of the I guess it was Team Squamish. There's a bunch of kids, and we were at a race, I think you were racing, and Tobin was there, and he asked Nash if he wanted to join the team, and I was like, I don't know about this. So we went to Squamish and you did a big ride with those guys, and you liked it. And they took you under their wing. And I mean, you guys were doing like 40, 50k rides in the winter and bad weather, and I mean that was a game changer for just your just character building, character, just stoke. And like, I mean, you'd be in the middle of nowhere, and we'd be like, damn, we don't have any food. And the kid would be like, Nash, here's a bar, like, keep going. Yeah, and I still remember that day when we were, it was like you were a year or two in, and we got to the top and it was sleeting sideways, and we were frozen, and half of us were like, we're going home, like straight to the car. And they're like, Does anyone want to go ride some more like fun trails? And Ash, like, you and like one of their kids are like, Yeah, we want to ride fun trails. I'm like, that's like heart that you'll have all your life to go out and just do adventures. Cause yeah, that was that like core, almost like I think Sharuk was like a military trainer or something at one point.

Elliot 1:01:29

Yeah, Mike Shiruk, who is leading those rides, is a legend who coached well, he coached me when I was on the provincial XC team growing up, and he coached some of my good buddies to like insane results, like world championship podiums and I think Chris Ferner, like Carl Rancy, Alton Jones, like so many insane riders were went at were under his wing, you know, and then he that was like one of Nash's first coaches was him and like it sucked to have such a legend.

Legacy, Gratitude, And Keeping It Fun

JJ 1:01:52

But I swear he just wanted to have fun with the kids. Like he was an older guy, like probably my age, but he was really involved and helped so much. But just yeah, those years were pretty fun, and when not a lot was going on, it allowed you to do big rides and just learn skills and have fun.

Nash 1:02:06

Yeah, it was like a mixture, you'd be out like so tired, and your hands would be like numb and stuff, but then you'd also be in this big crew, just like it'd just be so fun. You'd just be like descending, I don't know, like Meadow the Grizzly or something, and just well, every kid was on icons and recons and revolvers.

JJ 1:02:24

There was no like normal tires, there was no like enduro bikes, it was all XE, but you're in squamish riding like tax so in the snow and that's an insane way to like get into mount like mountain biking, really, you know.

Nash 1:02:36

Which yeah, like from the start, I feel like all I remember kind of was like from a young age is that like BMX, like kind of crashing or like crying or something, or like cycling across. I wouldn't really complain too much, but it wasn't like I enjoyed it because I kept coming back, but it wasn't like I felt like it's an insane amount of like fun, it was like it felt like a hard effort. And then when I started like riding with charge, it kind of I started like see the joy in it, kinda. Yeah, it would be like fitness, but also then you'd ride the trails and actually so there was a funny one when you guys were little, and remember we did the Mackenzie River Trail in Oregon?

JJ 1:03:10

Oh yeah, and I was like, I've done this when I'm younger, it's a black diamond, but it's pretty easy. But it was like it was called out as like 40k a downhill, but holy, like, we had the whole family. I had like and it's like a Kira on the baby seat, Jonas, and you got everyone was like lost on this giant ride, and we ended up pulling out part way down. But that was like kind of went through that stress as a little kid on a picture.

Nash 1:03:34

I have this picture in my head still from that ride. It's like the whole family, and there's like basically you looked like this is an image in my head. You look to the left, and it's just like a screech drop into like a lake or a river. Or it's a giant river, like a running river, and I just remember like the trail is so so slim, like so like small and narrow and sketchy. And you could fall and just like get so cooked. Like Jonas's birthday ride.

JJ 1:04:03

Yeah, anyway.

Nash 1:04:04

Yeah, the kid who doesn't want to ride. But yeah, no, yeah, so it's funny. Just a mixture of fun, but also kind of stressful. And I mean, just being in the pain cave, honestly, actually kind of like started the joy. Which is kind of funny to say, but yeah.

JJ 1:04:23

Yeah, no, there were a lot of years where we'd just be like, okay, kids, what are we doing today? Which kind of bike do you guys want to ride? Yeah. Cruisers, BMXs, mountain bikes, whatever, dirt jumpers. Yeah. Just try to pick the option, you know?

Nash 1:04:36

And not stick into like one. I never really. It wasn't just BMX or just mountain biking, like I didn't touch a mountain bike, really. Yeah, I don't even know. Yeah. You just didn't ride it as much. No, yeah. More cyclocross and stuff. So yeah. That's kind of that's that's where it comes from.

JJ 1:04:54

Yeah.

Nash 1:04:54

Yeah.

JJ 1:04:55

Cyclocross is one of those weird sleeper sports that you don't realize how much skill you need to ride slick mud and weird sand and all that on a sketchy bike. Totally. With like little tires and bad brakes.

Elliot 1:05:07

And it's also like the funny funniest, most fun culture and scene too. Like you go to a cyclocross race, and like when I remember when we first started going, like, I don't think you dad had even really been the menu. No, no, not at all. But we ended up I like I feel like I kind of got into it because it was like, okay, we can I can race XC in the summer and then like do it as cross-training in the winter and go race. And then it ended up being so fun, and everyone was just there like laughing. But then there was also like a crew of super fast hardcore guys who were so fit, so skilled, and yeah, it's just such a cool sport.

JJ 1:05:38

Well, that was probably the first time we thought you were gonna make some money in the light rock. There's like South Surrey Cyclocross, and yeah, Elliot's winning the race. All the locals are yelling and screaming, and then this old guy blows by him at the finish line just played you the whole race.

Elliot 1:05:50

Oh, yeah, Nathan Killum. Yeah, he basically sat on my wheel, and we were racing in Elite. We and there's our local one up at the Junkyard Dog, South Surry Pike Park. Yeah, he basically sat on my wheel the entire. race and he just outsprinted me at the end and I was like oh okay like that's that's how I guess you win that was that road race too the kids played you all yeah road race and when I raced road racing growing up too I was I went in as like just like an individual guy and yeah there was all these like young youth teams like you know Divo and and triple shot and they all kind of had their like crews of guys and a lot of them I knew because I'd either you know raced a little bit of an XC or I knew they were like kind of the faster fitter road kids and it was so funny like I remember we were all in a Peloton and we'd probably I think it was like five laps and it was like a 100k race or something and I remember I didn't even realize but one of the two of the guys on one of the teams took off like 10k in and I fully thought like everyone in the race was still together. So then I took off like halfway in launch and I thought I was like winning the race and a couple guys jumped on me and we ended up like drafting each other and they both ended up outsprinting me because they just like played me but I didn't even realize like the two guys who had won and got second finished like 20 minutes before just like no regards any tactics. Yeah so anyway but then then there's like some like the time trial I could like really go for it and hammer it individually but yeah anyway I feel like all those experiences and like funny little stories and and things that happened like all have just helped like us love all the different bikes and then also race like so much better now you know so yeah yeah kind of funny.

Jarrad 1:07:19

Yeah it's pretty insane like I'm just sitting here listening to you guys all bench race at the end of the day and it's like that's so fun like I'm just thinking about all the different things like I did the same thing like grew up like motocross and then a bit of downhill and then cross country and same thing like jumped in the road side of things and I did a bit of velodrome racing and the roadies hated it because I did a lot of forecross BMX and then like motocross you're pretty explosive with that and same thing like you get on the Velodrome and they would all out smart me until it'd get to the 200 meter sprint and I'd just kick and because I had the mountain bike kick they couldn't keep up with it and they would be so pissed because so funny.

Elliot 1:08:06

And you don't like you're not conforming to their expectations of like what they'd think for either you're just like doing your thing and smashing it. The funny thing with bikes is I've ridden a lot of kinds of bikes but Nash is the only kid that's really ever fell a drum road I guess you did one there right yeah but you were the only one who actually did it like you did it quite a bit yeah that's like one of the only disciplines we haven't really done a ton of you know but yeah yeah yeah I would say that's if it wasn't so unique I would do it every day.

Jarrad 1:08:32

It's probably my most favorite form of racing because like it's obviously so simple. There's no brakes there's one gear it's fixed it's you're going in a circle so there's no like it's just so much strategy and then like if you think of like the last two laps of a crit race it's pretty much that for 10 minutes straight. You know like the whole time the whole time is just like you're always just not trying to learn where everybody is and then you start to learn who's gonna do what and then you need to pick a wheel and like you squash people out and it's like it's so intense but yeah it's you're kind of just learning this the basics of that getting into it.

Nash 1:09:12

No yeah I remember like pulling up and one of my teammates like on the trails you kind of are in control of when you crash like you hit a rock or something you just fly into the woods but like on the track I remember pulling up and like my teammate just like another kid kind of that was squirrely like came down hit her hit her and then they just all flew into a pile up and I was like geez this is kind of gnarly I think it's yeah it's like BMX you're all in a tight space trying yeah yeah but pretty pretty wild so moving on one last thing before we wrap this up what do you sort of want to leave in the industry JJ like I know like you've done so much already with everything you're doing and then like what's the future for you like we've just spoken about the boys and stuff like that.

Jarrad 1:09:57

Like what do you see as the future of the industry?

JJ 1:10:01

Future of the industry or future what I'm doing? A bit of both I guess. Well I think obviously the industry's been in a bit of a weird spot for a few years and you know there's so many things that have kind of hiccupped a bit because of COVID and just the mess the industry got in so I hope that kind of level sets and might take another year or two but there is some signs of that. That's good. So I'm stoked on that and I think obviously e-bikes are a huge part of cycling now which is amazing to get more people on bikes. I also personally I always try to play up the pedal side because I'm kind of a I don't know I just I just love pedaling and I think that to me is the sport you know but I do think that it's healthy to have more people riding and adding to it and I think you know for a pro like say Elliot you can use an e-bike as a tool which is amazing or for someone who wants assistance I guess but I'm kind of a holdout and I hope that you know things like enduro level set and those kind of bikes and there's kind of a good feature there and you know but yeah otherwise I mean there's always innovations still coming maybe it's it's you know leveled a little bit but you see lots of cool stuff. Even gravel like you know it's kind of still probably growing and who knows what's next. There's always lots of stuff kind of coming and I think that's why I like listening to these guys because every night we're chatting about bikes and I try to as an older guy at Noriko I try to bring the youth in and I I actually remember my boss when I first started at Noriko he'd be listening to me and I was 21 23 and I'd be like why is he listening to me? Like he's been in the industry forever but now I'm like listening more and trying to say hey the young people are speaking here like whether it's a color a style of bike or just what's happening with videos or I mean you guys are the best critics of what's cool or not cool and I like that because I'm close to it. You know whether I'm at a race or just hanging out with you guys at the trails or whatever it's just cool to be almost like hanging out with young people and it's funny like I'll ride with people my age and I'll be like oh geez I'm actually not that slow but I ride with these guys and I'm like they're just gone like so it's kind of a good balance too to to see you know the I don't know where we go ride and like I I went to some trails in Bellingham and Nash on the weekend and I swear they're the steepest trails I've ever ridden and he's just like kind of like holy crap like as a rider's ridden forever like I'm like damn kids are pushing the envelope you know so that's cool to be part of that and yeah I don't know I mean who knows I don't really have any plan to retire at any point yet but I don't know see how it goes I guess still just feel like a kid like I really feel like I never had a real job. I said that to Trish today because we were talking about Kira with Dance our youngest daughter and I go when you go to work at whatever eight in the morning and then it feels like you never look at your watch that your day's gonna end and you're like damn I just wish it was like the end of the day. If you've gone 37 years and not really felt that in your job that's probably a good sign I guess. Yeah and you go home and either like I love old bikes I'm either working on bikes watching shows on bikes or hanging out at or riding bikes and it never gets boring. That's a good sign I guess.

Elliot 1:13:19

Yeah anyway totally yeah I'm talking so much now that's rad that's rad is there anything you two boys want to throw in there before we wrap it up nah I think maybe just yeah I feel like just so grateful to have our dad you know because I feel like without him and without his like stoke and enthusiasm we wouldn't have the same experience that we have with riding bikes and we would have never been you know I'm speaking for Nash and myself I feel like yeah we just wouldn't have been exposed to such a cool as we're talking about like sport that we can do for our whole life and that's like one of I think my per personal like biggest goals is you know obviously being a racer now and trying to achieve my goals with racing is my priority but then also I want to ride bikes for my whole life you know all different bikes and that's way more important to me than like any sort of different achievements. It's just like loving that for entire life. So yeah to say thanks to our dad for yeah for getting us stoked keeping us stoked every day.

JJ 1:14:14

Yeah I think that's good. I mean you don't want to get too uptight or stressed or make it not fun because then you don't want to get up in the morning and go do it you know you need to be able to have that enthusiasm to be fired up like and that's the thing I'm never like hey you should be training today or you should be doing this. I just they have enough motivation that they're so fired up that that's such a cool way to see that you know so I just like I say help out with that and keep it fun. Yeah and you guys take it serious.

Nash 1:14:45

Yeah well I feel like if you want to reach your goals in racing you gotta kind of have that stressful moments but if you're not having fun I don't know there's not really any point of doing it.

JJ 1:14:54

Yeah and even like Nash I mean we went to Port Angeles you had the craziest crash in qualifying and I didn't you were like man I don't even know if I can ride tomorrow and I'm like geez and then the next day you like won your class and another like beat the kids almost all the older kids and I'm like you know that's your own like mental space you know that you're in there that's pretty cool. I don't know pretty amazing though like when I see this stuff I'm like holy but even we always laugh because we're from White Rock and not many people who ride mountain bikes are from White Rock so yeah it's yeah it's pretty flat over there. Yeah totally but it's actually you know the more you think about it we're right in the middle of a lot of directions you can find amazing trails so you get a lot of variety too which is kind of cool.

Nash 1:15:37

But yeah we live in a spot where we're kind of not knowing to be in a mountain bike scene yeah totally what else you gotta say no I was just I mean I don't know I'll just keep riding as long as it's fun and then I'm sure you will too and oh I'll just follow you.

Jarrad 1:15:54

That's awesome Rad.

JJ 1:15:56

Sick yeah well thanks for coming in and and spending the afternoon and yeah pretty good appreciate it thanks so much Jared yeah first time with this custom setup so thank you like a square just hitting things all good it's all good cheers yeah thanks