Shredder MTB Zine Issue Twelve
SHREDDER ISSUE 12:
A Different Perspective:
Issue 12 of Shredder documents the outcasts, left-field and most unique riders within our world of mountain biking.
With an over-sized layout (255mm X 190mm) and a total page count of 308, Shredder is no longer a ‘zine’, but a fully fledged coffee table bible celebrating the underground world of MTB counter-culture.
Get Busy Living: An editors intro encouraging riders to bring back things to basics… Some people assign a point in life where "most people are at", and as a result feel inadequate when comparing themselves as others. Fuck it, let’s be kids again!
Go With The Flow: An interview/photofolio article with camera wizard, Jack Tennyson. Jack’s creative style reflects his connection to how he views downhill racing, capturing moments in a distinctive way that he feels suits the appearance of the discipline. Whether working with the world’s best riders, or shooting a self-filmed riding edit, his focus remains on producing work that resonates with racers, race fans and most importantly, himself.
Mountain biking's biggest inspiration is mountain biking: Unpopular opinion…. More thoughts and rambles that no one asked for, this time focussing on how the MTB industry is often unoriginal by recycling common trends.
Visual Thinking: From humble beginnings stacking dirt for his own enjoyment, to his most ambitious project to date building Kriss Kyle’s Dream Line at Glassie bike park, it’s been inspiring to see Greg Jolliffe follow his dream of building bike trails for a living. Having ridden some of the standout flowing, jump littered trails he’s been a part of creating, it’s crazy to think he’s only been building professionally for just over five years.
First Things First: I ask Dak Norton about his first riding experiences, whilst Sam Needham provides a photography showcase of Dak’s home life in Tennessee.
Be Your Own Person: To me, mountain biking is about community, creativity, and self-expression just as much as it is about riding, and not many riders embody this ethos as much as Lucy Van Eesteren. Her unique style, commitment to progression and love for riding have made her a standout figure in recent years. From her infectious enthusiasm, reminding riders to not take things too seriously, to the message she promotes through her personal style; in this interview Lucy shares what makes riding so special to her.
It’s Really That Simple: Where do I start with Conrad Robertson aka Street Grylls? A BMX street rider who turned his hand to mountain biking in what I can only describe as the most Conrad way possible. From bike set up to riding style and even his trail building, his unique and meticulous approach to all aspects of mountain biking has been a much needed breath of fresh air to our local riding scene.
Keeping It Real: Whilst all the videos featured in Real MTB 2024 were incredible in their own right, Remy Morton’s segment in-particular really stood out to me. The early footage of Remy riding his Big Hit, seeing a glimpse of his dad’s involvement in the project, the mind bending trail building and of course, Remy’s individualist riding that he’s come to be so well known for. With Scott Robb behind the lens and on editing duties, it’s the perfect 120 second summary of Remy’s riding, encapsulating his take on what makes mountain biking ‘real’ to him.
A Brief History Of Flat Pedal Mountain Biking Shoes: Since writing about the history of mountain biking clothing in the last issue of Shredder, my wardrobe wonders have only continued to grow as I now put focus on researching the history of flat pedal riding shoes. Starting from mountain biking’s formative years, I dug deep into the archives to see how the trends and styles drastically changed over time - from early beginnings when a shoe specifically designed for mountain biking didn’t exist, to a huge development which led to the first flat pedal gold medal at the World Championships.
State Of The Art: "And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder” - The bassy tones of Johnny Cash caught me off guard as I played Ollie HIndley and Christian Rigal’s ‘Carpal Tunnel’ video for the first time. It’s a change in sound to what we’ve come to expect from FASTASFUCK videos, but nonetheless, the song is well suited to the trail building mastery and the stylish riding within. I caught up with Ollie to find out how he and Christian met, and to hear the full story of how Carpal Tunnel came to fruition.
DarkFest 2025: A photography piece showcasing the happenings of this year’s DarkFest through the lens of Sven Martin.
Rudely Left-Field: HighLow are a bunch of MTB dirtbag ‘s based in Queenstown, New Zealand. Whilst they’re self confessed “slackers”, they’ve still put in a shitload of work on the filming front over the years, creating some of my favourite mountain bike videos of all time. HighLow’s presence in mountain biking reminds me why it’s so important to not take things too seriously. Tom Booker is the main man behind all of the HighLow videos, a purveyor of the raw pan and zoom style of filming, whose left-field thoughts on the state of mountain biking very much align with my own.
I Live For This Shit: Not only is Paul Courerc a Slopestyle innovator, and one of the most stylish riders in the world, but after a recent conversation with him, I discovered he’s also downright one of the nicest guys in mountain biking. A rider with his heart in the right place who wants to see mountain biking grow for the better. He’s constantly thinking about how mountain biking could improve, and he’s doing things for the culture because in his own words, he “lives for this shit”.
Twisted Firestarter: If there’s one thing I’ve learned from making Shredder, it’s that this shit can’t be forced. Whilst I sit brainstorming, thinking of something important or topical to say, I struggle to find genuine content that inspires me. As much as the act of riding my bike will always be enjoyable, I do often feel disheartened when trying to find riders, crews and media that fits the grain of Shredder, or even just gets me excited in general. Thankfully, after randomly stumbling across a trailer for a newly released freeride flick from a young riding crew hailing from British Columbia, a fire was ignited…
Make Mountain Biking Look Amazing: “My career path looks like a checklist of the things I wanted to do when I was 13 years old” - There can’t be many people in the world who can legitimately say they’ve grown up to tick off multiple jobs they’ve dreamed of doing from their youth, especially in our reasonably small world of mountain biking. Tom Briggs however, has managed to merge his passion for riding and design with a career trajectory that’s now allowing him to shape the visual landscape for one of the leading brands in mountain biking.
The Magic Number?: It sounds exaggerated to say it, but as a 13 year old, Sprung 3 literally became the blueprint to my whole life. I woke up early for school to watch it whilst devouring a bowl of Frosties. I would watch it as soon as I got home from school to get me fired up to ride, and then would watch it again before heading to bed. I even recorded the soundtrack to a cassette and would blast it through the crackly headphones on my Sony Walkman… I was fully obsessed, and to be fair, I still am. Being able to go into great detail with Alex Rankin for a 24 page interview about Sprung 3 for this issue was a personal highlight since starting the Shredder.
Simply Different: For issue 12’s Click X5 article, I focussed on this issue’s theme of riders approaching things from ‘A Different Perspective’. I didn’t just choose riders who stand out to me as being distinctive, but I selected photos that have had me revisiting them for riding inspiration over the years. I wanted to acknowledge Sven’s unique eye to capture so many shots from an individual perspective.
“Everyone Should Just Do What They Want To Do”: Whether he’s smashing a Guinness whilst watching a Tottenham game, or sending arguably one of the biggest gaps in UK freeride of recent years, you can be sure Ben Knight will be enjoying himself to the fullest. His infectious, upbeat attitude is something that mountain biking needs more of, as is his individual perspective to go against the grain.
Outcast: No matter what mountain biking is to you; a hobby, a job, a way of life... perhaps all of the above, this issue is dedicated to all of the riders who like to approach things from a different perspective.
