REMY MORTON
You might recognise Remy "Rem Dawg" Morton in pictures and race reports for his long flowing locks, (if you're jealous, we are too) but the kid from Queensland, Australia, should really be renowned for his bike wielding skills. He picked up BMX racing at age 5, and at age 15 made a leap of faith. He quit school and began working full time so he could focus on racing and save for the trip of a lifetime - to ride and race in Europe and Canada. The trip ultimately ended up being pivotal for him, he came home with some stellar results along with a breakthrough sponsorship with Devinci. Remy had his first full season racing as a junior at the World Cup in 2015 with the UR Team and will be following-up with another full season of racing this year with a new team, Lusty Industries. We caught up with Remy as he chills out in NZ before the big show gets started for 2016. Who is Remy Morton?Just another long haired yahoo.
Where are you from and where do you live now? I’m from the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Although I’m currently basing myself in Queenstown, New Zealand.
Who do you ride for? I ride for the Lusty Gravity Team along side Santa Cruz Bicycles, SRAM, RockShox, Maxxis, Bike AU, CrankBrothers, Gamut AU, Maxima AU, ODI ,Troy Lee Designs, Oakley Bike, Vans Australia, Leatt Protectives, Tisprings.com, Yakima AU, Ogio AU, CPGANG, Sony Action Cam, Skyline Queenstown and NSDynamics.
Where are you happiest? Either at the trails riding BMX with all my buddies or blowing up turns on my downhill bike.
What’s been your favourite race/contest venue? Crankworx Whistler always makes me the happiest - I’ve competed in Whistler for the past 5-years at Crankworx and I’ve met so many good people there that have basically changed my life. In 2015 I felt more nervous racing in the Crankworx events than I did at any of the World Cups. I’ve gotten to know so many people in Whistler and it nearly feels like I’m racing in front of a home crowd, except on it's on the other side of the planet...
What are your favourite trails? Jump tracks for sure! I think either Whistler or Morzine would have to be my two favourite places to ride. Although I seem to get a bit carried away when I get to either of those places and ride everyday until I can’t move anymore ha-ha!
What are your strengths? Havin’ a good time.
What are your weaknesses? Spending money I don’t have.
What’s been your worst crash over the years? My worst crash would have been in my backyard when I was about 10-years old. Me and my friends were having a session on the jumps and I over jumped the last gap of the set, which resulted in me breaking my shoulder in 7-places.
What’s been your luckiest escape? Learning to ride trails on a BMX bike. I definitely escaped death way too many times...
Which bike from over the years, conjures up the best memories? I’d say my Devinci Wilson from when I was 16 years old. I travelled around Europe and Canada as a privateer with my parents and met some people, which I would now consider some of my best friends. That was basically the year that changed my life completely. I left school when I was 15-years old and went on to work in a bike shop for the next 8-months to help pay for the trip of a lifetime with my parents. We began the trip by travelling to Europe where I had been given the opportunity to be a sweep rider at the Leogang World Cup. We then moved on to do the Schladming and Valdisole iXS Cups as well as Crankworx Les2Alpes. At the time doing those 4 events just seemed like a good idea, riding the tracks I’d always seen my idols ride on in bike movies, but little did I know that it was about to change my life.
We then went to Whistler, BC, to spend the rest of the summer in mountain bike paradise. Coming out with some of the best race results I had ever gotten and going to Whistler really topped things off. Everyone who was involved with making that trip the time it was, I would love to thank you all again for everything you did and the opportunities you gave me. The biggest thanks of all would have to go to Nigel Reeves and Gabe Fox - if it wasn’t for you guys, who knows what I'd be doing with myself at the moment? You really did change my life!
What bikes are you riding right now? I currently have a Santa Cruz V10 CC, Santa Cruz Nomad C and a BMX bike.
Who’s your favourite rider? For MTB, Brandon Semenuk anf for BMX, Kris Fox.
Who or what inspires you? Probably, everyone I’m surrounded by. Every one of my friends inspires me in different ways.
What do you enjoy doing away from bikes? To be honest, pretty much everything I do relates to bikes... The thing I have the most passion for though would have to be hanging out in the woods with my friends digging dirt jumps.
What are you listening to right now? "B.I.G. Flume - 2 Pac:
Having Starry Eyes is a deadly combination.
What’s your favourite bike movie? The Collective.
What's your favorite non-bike movie/tv show? South Park.
What’s your favourite non-bike website? Instagram.
What’s your favourite motto or saying? "
Live fast, die last."
What grinds your gears? When I get home and one of my house mates has drunk all of my fruit juice… (
You know who you are.)
What makes you happy?Bikes, friends, dirt, shovels, water, burritos.
If you weren’t a pro mountain biker, what would you be doing? I wouldn’t really consider myself a pro yet, but for sure it's something I dream of becoming. I'd always be doing something along the terms of riding bikes. It's the biggest part of my life and I couldn’t imagine spending my time any differently.
If you were in charge of the sport, what changes would you make? I’m pretty easy going with all of the new trends and accessories people are into although I think if I had the option I would probably stop the manufacturing of all fat bikes… There's just something about them that I just personally don’t like... Ha-ha!
When you hang up your racing/riding shoes, how do you want to be remembered? Hmm… I’d just be stoked to be remembered... But ideally, just to be known as a nice person who was happy to help out others.
What does the future hold for Remy Morton? Coming into 2016 I will be competing in the full World Cup series including all 3 Crankworx stops in-between. My dream has always been to become one of the “
Greats” in the sport of downhill, although I'd like to enter myself into a wide range of disciplines within the sport and be known as one of those people who can hop on any bike and have a good time! No matter what happens though, as long as I’m having fun, I’m going to be happy.
MENTIONS:
@SramMedia /
@Maxxis /
@Odigrips /
@troyleedesigns /
@RemyMorton
You just got a new fan! Good luck this season.
Here in the North of Canada their invention has revolutionized the winter off season. Yeah we could be cross country ski-ing or snowshoeing but...... I love bikes and riding bikes, now I can do that pretty much all year round.
vimeo.com/116572902
probly gonna end up a legend, w/o it going to his head.
its great to read about new talent like this!
www.imdb.com/name/nm0805298/bio
Story of my life