Dylan Tremblay Interview by Rob, 6/20/04 Submitted by Rob, Edited by Iggy To those who don’t know the name Dylan Tremblay, Google the name. What will come back is the star of ground breaking Canadian television show Drop-In, Rider’s Anonymous, Monkey Style and appearances in countless street and freeride competitions. Tremblay has pushed the bounds of hardtail riding mixing xc, bmx and downhill skills into a dynamic style of riding completely his own.
Rob: What’s up Dylan Dylan Tremblay: Not much, I just judged the Air Prentice event for NSMB. RR: How was it? DT: Incredible. So much young talent coming out of BC these days. These guys were just going off. RR: What was the competition all about? DT: North Shore Mountain Biking had one spot left on their freeride team and this was a comp for the last spot. RR: What was up for grab? DT: Well great exposure by being on the team but the winner also walks away with a DEMO 9 and a pimped out P3. RR: Sic. DT: They accepted resumes and took the best 12 for the comp. We went to some major features in the park-the box, wall ride, some hips, jumps and let them do their thing. RR: Wow. What was the big moment of the day.
DT: Well some guy gapped the box, which hasn’t been done this year on the new box. RR: Balls. I noticed you were riding a little 4 banger, what’s up with the full suspension? DT: Body preservation. Trail riding is taking a toll on me and I need the squishy. Too many injuries. All winter I’ve been trying to get healthy, then at the Bike Battle in North Carolina I hurt my shoulder.
RR: Where have you been filming? DT: I just did a heli-drop with my hardtail. Super nice alpine terrain. I just hit random natural stuff on the way down-wall rides, drops and gaps. RR: All on your hardtail. Wow. You and IDUN revolutionized the way we look at hardtails. Do you see the industry picking up on that. DT: Yeah. Big bikes are dead. Companies are getting back into hardtails with single crowns. People want one bike. Slope style stuff and urban in one bike. Yeah if you have 5 or 6 grand it’s nice to have a resort bike. But most kids don’t get to resorts enough and want one all around bike. If a company made an under $600 all around bike with a long travel single crown fork they would make a killing. RR: Most kids today never had a xc hardtail. How do you feel about that? DT: It’s sad really. Those are the roots. Just you and the trails. Now what kids see is straight up downhill or street riding. There’s a whole other world out there if you pedal. The bottom line is that the industry has trouble selling the XC image. The racing is unmarketable and ultimately the industry drives where the next generation spends it’s money. RR: Where’s your favorite riding spot? DT: Invermere, BC. There’s this little cabin we stay at right up in the alpine. Right in the front yard there’s a huge shale slope into a concrete tabletop. I could session that all day. RR: When did you start riding? DT: When I was young. I raced XC for 6 years and I just watched the scene evolve. From dirt jumping, to technical stuff that keeps getting more technical to resort bikes to street bikes. RR: Where do you see it going? DT: More competitions like the Air Prentice. Slope style competitions with stunts as natural as possible. Hips, banks, bmx style jumps. That’s what NORBA needs to start thinking about. RR: Do you think the BMX crossover is good for mountain biking or is it killing the trail riding roots? DT: Hmm. Depends on how the rider crosses over. Look at Berrecloth. He takes it to the trails. He shows that the BMX skills are transferable and that they can expand the perimeters of trail riding. RR: In your travels do you see BMX and street riders getting along? DT: Some towns they do. Most they don’t. I’m seeing more mountain bike guys crossing over to BMX though. When I was in Nelson and flat broke I didn’t have the money for a new rig, so I rode a $300 BMX for a year.
RR: Where do you like to ride in Canada? DT: Whistler, B.C. is definately the best bike park. Sun Peaks is cool, and I love to ride Furney. RR: What about the U.S.? DT: Sea Otter is cool. I rode Vegas 2 years in a row during Inter-Bike. I’m trying to compete in the Red Bull Rampage this year.
RR: What do you have in mind as far as new tricks for the Red Bull? DT: Well the venue is played, they need something new, but I’m going to try a tail whip of a decent size drop. RR: What other events will you be doing this year? DT: John Henry days in Vancouver. They’ve got outdoor ramps set up, they even have a roof drop. I’m doing a German street competition with dirt jumps, stairs and stunts. RR: Does your sponsor help you to travel? DT: I actually am not sponsored right now. After all these injuries I’ve just been so burnt out on finding a decent sponsor who will give me a travel budget to do my thing. RR: How was Norco? DT: Well they don’t let you keep your bike, and not a very good travel budget. RR: What about Drop-In? DT: It’s about 5 years ahead of it’s time. The industry doesn’t even know what to do with it. We didn’t even have a bike sponsor for the show. Labatt’s Beer was our main sponsor. We’re pushing for it get on the Fox network for next season though. RR: How did Drop-In get started? DT: Three years ago some movie industry guys were traveling around in a bus and they wanted us to take them around for a ride. They had XC bikes with barends and they definitely weren’t ready for what we showed them. I think we showed the best riding day of their lives. They had worked on some big movies before, umm I think they did Shangai Hai Noon so they knew how to get things done. They worked that side and Mike Kinraid has industry contacts so he worked that side. RR: Any tips on sponsorship? DT: Get your name known, figure out a way to market yourself, and work hard to get the shot. RR: Thanks Dylan. DT: Peace.
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