Where are you from and where do you live?

Hometown: Jasper, Alberta Current: Nomadically chasing races and adventures around the World.

What's Your Favorite Kona of All Time and why? (You don't Even have to have owned it)

Hei Hei. This has been my go-to XC bike for years, winning World 24HR titles, races such as BCBR and it's even dabbled in some XCO World Cups. It is also my adventure machine for big bike packing trips in the Himalayas and Africa, as well as challenges such as Everesting and FKT attempts. It can fly uphill, and downhill, and can match up against any XC bike out there. It's a great combo of comfort, speed and durability.

What are you most looking forward to this season?

After chasing the Lifetime Grand Prix series around the USA last year, I'm looking forward to getting back to my roots and chasing a calendar full of the wildest adventures and races I can find all over the World. I predict BCBR on Vancouver Island, Marathon Nationals in the Yukon, and the World Solo 24HR Championships in Australia will be some of the racing highlights.

What was your favorite track/Race of 2022 (Doesn't have to be in a race) and why?

My favourite track from 2022 was riding Nepal’s 220 km Annapurna Circuit in the reverse direction. Climbing from 800 meters to 5416m above sea level through the Mustang valley, traversing over Thorong La Pass, then descending nearly 5000 vertical meters through the Manang valley on some flowy single-track and jeep roads was a very memorable day out on the Hei Hei!

Who has most influenced you?

When I was young, Dik Cox invited me on a ride with the Geoff Kabush and the rest of the Kona team in Canmore, Alberta. Meeting the team, and especially Geoff was a big influence on me wanting to become a bike racer myself. I have looked up to him since day one. He has led by example throughout his career and is always standing up for what is right. He raced through a tough era when there was a lot of doping, yet he kept winning and fighting the battle for clean racing. Geoff and I often battle at races now, it is fun to race a childhood hero who year after year finds ways to keep racing at a high level while really enjoying himself and continuing to push the sport in the right direction with his wealth of experience. I've also been influenced a lot by racers from developing countries who may not have the same resources or opportunities but their love for the sport and desire to find a way to succeed is impressive. Riders like Narayan Gopal from Nepal grew up with virtually nothing, but still found a way to chase his dreams. It is a constant reminder to be grateful for whatever we have.

What was the last gift you received?

Last December I was given the gift of an open-ended trip to Tanzania thanks to whoever makes the Covid travel bans. Having my flights cancelled from South Africa back to Canada, the best option was to head to Tanzania for two weeks to "quarantine" as it is considered a "green country" regarding Covid. Once landing here, I opted to cancel my flight home after two weeks and found myself on an open-ended bikepacking adventure across East Africa preparing for the 2022 race season.

If you were a cereal, which would you be and why?

Corn Flakes. I like to keep it simple and just ride my bike.

Last thing you found?

My iPhone after dropping it in the Usambara mountains in Tanzania. A few days later, a local overheard me looking for my phone, and called up his brother from two villages over who had found it lying in the dirt. He returned it a few hours later.

Last album you purchased?

Kip Moore.

Last account you unfollowed on Instagram?

Anyone caught up in spreading inaccurate Covid BS.

Last promise you made?

I promised the Tanzanian Park Rangers that I would be safe going for an FKT attempt on Kilimanjaro without a mandatory guide following me the entire ride.

Last Podcast or Audio Book you listened to?

n/a

Last Thing You Googled?

Border crossings from Tanzania to Kenya.

Last thing you shared?

My food with my guide Chris up on Kilimanjaro.

Last photo you took?

A photo of an Ethiopian dinner shared with a couple of Swiss riders in Arusha last night.

Last good quote you heard or read?

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." –Theodore Roosevelt

Last time you were scared?

When I was headed back for a fourth visit to a dentist in Cape Town to get a root canal done. It ended poorly, and afterwards I switched dentists and eventually got the job done right.

Highlight

The highlight was heading out on my Hei Hei for the next three months bikepacking across Tanzania and Kenya. Summitting Kilimanjaro two times, cruising between and beyond Safari camps in the Serengeti and Masai Mara, and training with the Kenyan riders in the highland town of Iten were pretty rad experiences.

Lowlight

One lowlight from last year was getting stuck in Africa early in the year due to the Omicron variant.