Ryan Middleton is a name you probably haven't heard of if you're living outside Scotland. But, just because you haven't heard of someone, that doesn't mean they aren't worth knowing about...
Ryan is a quiet, shy kid from Dundee with an old school approach to things and near permanent smile. He loves to build features on his own accord, and while you may see him cutting laps in Whistler bike park with the best of them, he takes a great deal of pride in putting spade to dirt. Its kind of a right of passage that we all have to go through, building trails that is, but Ryan has kept it going, often in solitude in the hills above his home.
The features you see in the edit above are the culmination of months of hard work building, and while many young riders choose to broadcast their lives through Instagram, Ryan has kept these features under lock and key and off any form of digital media, documenting things with a roll of Ilford 125 where he can.
| I think, just from the amount of Coastal Crew and Trek C3 videos I have watched over the years, as well as that kind of riding not really existing in Scotland, I thought it would be a challenge to give it a go and see what we could create.—Ryan Middleton |
Super creative and a total grafter, Ryan has taken inspiration from many different sources. He's become a kind of cult hero in the UK scene thanks to his edits and features in the 'Zine that is Shredder, and is continuously looking for ways to document the Scottish scene.
Most of all though, Ryan is about the riding, not fame or trappings of false celebrity. That's why we reckon you'll be hearing a lot more about him in the near future...
MENTIONS: @DescentWorld
Those sneaky jumps up the Sidlaws?