Where'd I park that Volvo? The Tyler Morland Interview-Part 2

Jan 18, 2007
by Tyler Maine  
Last friday we brought you part 1 of the Tyler Morland interview and promised you part 2 today. For those that missed Part 1, you can read it HERE.


Enjoy as we continue to ask questions in this second half of the interview and give you great pics to show you the life style we all share in-Mountain Bikes!

Let 'er Buck!
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All shop rats need to start some where


Brule-What jobs have you had prior to going to work for the SRAM Corporation?

Bike shops since I was 15 or so. Evolution being the coolest and the most fun.

Brule-What is your title and do you do for the SRAM Corporation?

I’m Part of the Marketing team at SRAM but I also share in the R&D, Sales and Aftermarket departments. Marketing is my first priority and this includes sponsorship, managing the WB relationship, event planning and execution. We did some amazing events this year like the Iscream Comp at Jordi Lunn’s, a Loonie race in Whistler, Whiffle golf tournament for Dealers and Media, Crankworks, and just a ton of trips with the kids.

Brule-Would you consider yourself a glorified babysitter? Which of your
"children" requires the most special attention?


Sometimes I feel like a glorified babysitter but sometimes it pays off. My kids ruled this year! Ross Measures so responsible. Gully so entertaining even when we drive for 20+ hours and oh the troubled one, young Ryder Kasprick. Ryder ran out of money last week when he was in Van (no job) so I end up taking the kids out for dinner and trying to teach Ryder Money Mangement… we had a little outing at the grocery store. I tried to show him how little he could spend by preparing his own food instead of eating out three to five times a day. We spent 25 bucks and he could eat for a week. Will little lessons sink in? I hope so. We also like to play the lets see if he survives game… How was the Vegas airport ryd kas? Good sleep?
(Just so everyone knows these kids are the future, their riding speaks for itself, so look out!)

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Pic by Jeremy Bekken


Brule-Tell us about the B-LABS van?


The Van is a huge diesel monster. So rad! Pretty lucky to come about it because it just sat in the parking lot of SRAM’s suspension development center in Colorado for 2 or 3 years. Someone put Gas in it (hard when its diesel) so they had it drained and freshened up with some tires and a stereo and now it just rips around all over the place. Recently Ryder, Ross and Gully just took it on a 2 week mission to Cali for super sessions and riding all the tasty spots. I just always hope my cool van comes back when the kids have it.

Brule-What is your theme song in life?

Ridin’rims by Dem franchize boyz. We just thug out to this in the van.

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Brule-Sponsor requests vs. confrontations ratio-what should a rider NOT do?

The list of dont's is so long but really, never approach at midnight at the pub… I’ll lie. Also as much as I like competitiveness, if you tell someone you're going to straight up kick their ass at the next race and then ask for sponsorship in the next sentence you better be able to back up your bull shit. Sponsorship is a crazy game that most athletes don’t know how to play. These days kids want free stuff, but I hate to crush dreams, nothing is free. Be creative! Its not just based on results and how rad you get in your back yard. Learn about how you can bring value to your sponsors. Style on and off the trail is so important and this industry is to small to burn bridges, it’s your job and you can get fired.


LA-Name game – first thing that comes to mind:


- Wade Simmons: Legend

- Canadian Racing scene: Sad

- Richie Shley:Blonde highlites

- Sam Hill: Pinner

- Tyler Klassen: I guess he's tall

- Steve Romanuk: Rowdy

- Nicolas Vouilloz:Smooth

- Lance Armstrong: Fit

- Michelle Dumaresq: Danika and her don't get a long.

- Josh Bender: morning Beer's

- Jeremiah Boobar: Smarty pants

- Wayne Gretzky: Ford and McDonalds commercials back to back. That’s amazing.

HB-What is one race you have never done but really want to do?

Mega Avalanche in Alp d’Huez but it’s the same weekend as crankworks.

Brule-Aside from biking what do you do to pass the time-hobbies?
Winter activities?


Snow boarding… I live in Whistler. And trying to learn photoshop.

HB-Favorite ski/snowboard trick?

I love when skiers grab their boot. That’s my favorite living room trick. But really I snowboard so a sweet butter is always good.

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What the hell are Yupis?


HB-If you could have one new thing every day, what would it be?

Shoes for every day of my life! Sooo nice!

HB-What would your dream vacation be?

I always wanted to check out Turkey and if I make it to Spain again I really want jump across the water and visit Morrocco.

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Wishing he was back on that Gold Wing


HB-What do you attribute your fantastically amazing Rosy Red Cheeks too?

Sometimes I dream of being shirtless on the back of an old, creepy man's Gold wing cruising down Colorado highways… Pretty much any one would have rosy cheeks thinking of that.

HB-Who is the hottest wiffle golfer in BC?

Rumor has it that Jer Buk my best friend growing up slayed all summer. He’s a weapon.

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Get's his style from Jer Buk


JD-Why do you get so angry when people accidentally call you Taylor?

Probably the same reason I get angry when they spell my last name with an “E”. Its Morland no “e”. And I think its just German dudes named Torben that spite me on a regular basis.

JD-Who's your favorite mountain biker besides yourself?

Kurt Vories. Kurt’s nasty!

JB-How can you consider yourself a mountain biker if you hate having branches touch your arms?

Hate is such a strong word, lets just say strong dislike. It’s a lot like sweating and I know no one likes to sweat especially me, but we all have to do it. I can have a couple strong dislikes.

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Looking for their fancy drink holders

JB-If you had unlimited funds what would you do with it?

Probably the standard stuff like float out to my personal lake with Adam and take control of our full sized remote controlled pirate ships and battle each other. The ships are crewed by monkeys, real evil monkeys with eye patches and swords. I know I could battle for days. Canons, flying dager’s the whole nine. Hopefully by then they have some kind of floating inner-tube system so we could be close to the action… legs dangling out, very comfortable with really nice drink holders.

JB-How much stuff have you fit into your Dakine bike bag and flown with?

The Dakine bag is just so big, it just stares at me and says put more stuff in me Tyler, it makes me feel good. Once I had to make two extra bags and the Dakine bag was just Under 100lbs and the other two were both over weight.

JB-If you could make a pair of mountain bike shoes what would they look like?

White and brown perforated leather, a nice sole maybe Vibram. Pleasing to the eye and not some horrible spacey shoe that looks like crap. I don’t think anyone from a shoe company has tried to wear one of their ugly soccer cleats all day in the bike park before. My 5-10’s are amazing for flats but the clipless realm has me baffled!

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Brule-What brought you to Whistler?

If you have ever been you would know why I live here.

Brule-Favorite tire combo for racing and all around use?


Maxxis Minion 3C fronts.

Brule-Whats the riding scene like back home in P.G.?

It’s getting pretty good. The kids behind the Rad army are keeping it core… It’s to bad evil golf course developers and two faced land owners suck because PG is loosing one of the best places to ride but what do ya do? I hate those people!

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Brule-PC or MAC?

Mac forever!

Brule-White Bread or Whole wheat?


Whole wheat.

Brule-Does a sandwich taste better when you know the maker is in a good mood? (Revelstoke)

Damn straight. Mean people make horrible tasting food. I only eat things made with Love. That mean chic in Revelstoke was pms’ing and I didn’t have a good experience.

Brule-What's your favorite style of riding?

Fast in the loam and good corners are underrated. Nothing beats a good corner.

Brule-Describe your typical day?


My girlfriend often asks “why can’t we have a normal life and I always reply “whats normal”. The same thing goes for typical or normal day. I don’t think I have one. Most days consist of the following in no particular order. Coffee, Brainstorming, Talking on the phone, Biking, gym, email, getting a call from someone that needs something, Visiting one my favorite shops, Cooking a delicious meal with my girl and if it’s after midnight or even 2am I get a call from the Gully monster… If I’m lucky.

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Brule-Tell us about your lady friend?

She’s beautiful and has put up with me for 4 years. She recently informed me I was gone something like 22 weeks this summer (she keeps track). That’s when I thought wow that can’t be good for our relationship… so we went out for a nice dinner and tried to tell her next year is going to be easy… Because we practiced all last summer. She’s amazing, smart and very good looking.

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It's love baby


Brule-You recently celebrated a birthday-how old are you now and what did you get up to?

26 and I had a lovely trip to Chicago with John. We had a couple of Bud’s at the hotel bar. It was a really nice evening.

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Brule-What's life in a "full house" like? Should every Whistlerite have to experience that?

My full house was a little different than the average party and video game pit. When I first moved in most of my roomies were a little older and more mature. Now when I say mature, I mean we still had fire cracker fights with the lights turned off but we made delicious meals together and our house was nice, fun and creative. I think everyone should have the experience of a crazy collective. You build trails,ride and just have good provocative conversations.

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Brule-You've been rocking TLD lids for a while now, how'd it feel to have one done up w/ your name on it?

Every kid's dream is to get a custom TLD helmet. When Jeremiah and John surprised me with my bonus I was like a little kid in a candy shop. Its amazing looking!

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Crankworx Loonie race-Mmmm Corn


Brule-What made the Loonie Race the best event @ Crankworx?


The Loonie race had me a little worried but it went smooth. It started right in the village during the crazyness of Crankworks and then we had everyone run to their bikes for the start. Then we switched the fast guys bikes so it was any ones ball game for the uphill portion. The preem for the hill climb was a new RS Revelation fork and the race didn’t disappoint. But the thing that made the Loonie race was the hike-a-bike after the preem… Hard.

JB-What was that sponsor sticker on your jersey at worlds?

If you haven’t seen it check Claire’s blog on www.blackboxlabs.net it’s awesome. Dawson’s big smiling face was right on the chest of my Worlds jersey. The worst organization (cca) actually left a spot open on our jersey for sponsors that support us as athletes. The year before was an on going joke because people kept asking what country Tim Horton’s is… Canada had one small spot on the jersey and Tim Horton’s had eight or something. The Plan was to have John Dawson/SRAM on one jersey and Gabe Fox/Cove on the other but the cheap pricks only gave us one jersey for 5 days of training and racing.

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Well its not Tim Hortons


Brule-Tell us about your take on the CCA?

Where to start? I guess what pisses me off about the CCA is the fact they don’t support DH and who can blame them its not an Olympic sport, so why give us any funding? Why support anything gravity? There was only 1200 athletes, 168 accredited media and 215,000 fans at Crankworxs. When was the last time anyone has seen an XC race with those numbers? I don’t want this to be a DH vs. XC thing, but the only thing they support is XC. DH is just a nasty scab they would love pick off. What we need to do is promote all things cycling and we need to grow the sport, everyone from 5 yr olds to 55 yr olds need to ride, make it fun and easy to get involved with. These guys don’t promote cycling at all. They just yell at you if you're not in line in the proper order or say you can’t race because you where running around trying to borrow a wheel so you could actually do your seeding run. I hate to break it to them but if you spend hundreds of dollars to get to a race, then “you want to race” and you want to have fun. To many stories to count but they have to realize no one is making money racing in Canada and soon no one is going to waste their time with it either. Please support amazing events like Crankworxs, Mt.7 Psychosis, and anything Red Bull. These guys know how to create events with value to sponsors and riders alike.

JB-Was it better beating Kovarik at the Psychosis or at the Beer league race?
Psychosis paid better and I think I was a little grumpy after the beer league race because Woody, Chris’s friend, told me I should enjoy the win because it will never happen again… I hate that. Cocky! I have a lot of respect for Chris. He wins World cups but boy does it feel good.


LA-What are you goals for 07?

Win the most amazing race series of all time, the Beer League World Championships. Every Wednesday night in Whistler.

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Future Beer League Champ?


Brule-Who all keeps parts on your bike?


SRAM, Rockshox, Avid, Truvativ, Cove, Chromag, Sun ringle, Maxxis, NRG, ODI, Crankbothers, WTB.

Brule-Shout outs and thank you?

Everyone that supports gravity…Thank you!

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Editors Note:

This interview could not have been possible with out the help from the following people that gave me a hand with questions, research and pictures-Liz and Charlie Morland, Tyler Morland, Adam Billinghurst, Andrea Hucal, Ian Ritz, Luc Albert, Eric Schutt, Jeremiah Boobar, Greg Herbold, John Dawson, Robert Rebholz, Mike Reid, Jeremy Bekken, Sterling Lorence, Harookz and Ian Hylands. Thanks for supporting mountain biking and the folks that support you!

Posted In:
Interviews


Author Info:
brule avatar

Member since Mar 27, 2001
3,581 articles

8 Comments
  • 1 1
 Just a comment on the riding in PG. It is amazing, I got to check it out (forget the name of the area) before it gets turned into a golf course. And it's good to see a family that supports one another, seeing Tyler's dad there on his beige Cove Hustler with a Camera crew trying to save the area. Props for trying, and I hope I get to ride it one more time before it's all torn down for people with plaid pants.
  • 0 0
 Golf course? Oh my! I grew up in PG at the top of pidherne riding there everyday ....even at home last summer i rode there a few times. I will be sad if when I get back to PG this summer it is gone!
  • 0 0
 Thanks every one, I had a ton of fun putting this article together for the masses to read. Have a great winter every body and get ready for another great season of gravity assisted pinning it!
  • 1 0
 killing it again tyler, good job
  • 0 0
 In Golden The Roadhouse is king on Mondays...KHMR is the best..ride Pioneer...
  • 0 0
 Yaaaaa Prince George Wooot Razz lol ya its sucks that they are tryingto take away the place :-(
  • 0 0
 When I grow up - I want to be like Tyler! Good job Brule - we need more pieces like this one.
  • 0 0
 heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell yea man. That is one true rider right there. Rock on man.







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