Scottish Shredding with Style - Video

“Style is the answer to everything.”

Style is a subject that has been popping up a lot recently, mostly due to the fact that it’s the main topic of conversation within the pages of the new issue of Shredder MTB Zine. To complement the release of the zine I figured it would only be right to put my definition of style into the form of video. What better way to showcase style than spend a couple of days hanging out with Scottish Shredder, Ryan ‘Rampage’ Middleton. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the name, here’s a brief summary of what the Dundee Destroyer is all about.

Ryan is a 19-year-old rider who lives and breathes bikes. When he’s not riding he’ll be building a massive booter at his local quarry spot, and when he’s not digging he’ll be trying his best to get some WiFi to watch a Brandon Semenuk edit that he’s already seen a billion times. He’s somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to his own riding, which may well come from his many hours watching polished riding videos. For example, we spent the majority of a day filming one opposite whip clip... Ryan must have sent the whip around 50 times, each with the style and finesse that any other rider would be happy with. But Ryan isn’t ‘any other rider’ and had to get the whip that little more sideways for his own personal satisfaction.


It doesn’t just stop at styling it over jumps though, Ryan recently took the SDA race series overall win in the senior category, no easy feat given the standard of downhill riders in Scotland these days. Ryan himself admits that racing is a tough task and he finds himself often performing perfectly during practice only to be hit with the curse of the stopwatch by the time race runs come around. One of Ryan’s strong points however is his cornering ability. He can literally generate speed out of any corner, leaving me either baffled at how he got round the turn without crashing or asking him to do it again because I didn’t move fast enough to get him on camera.

Ryan’s quirky sense of humour makes a day up in the hills an absolute treat. Not knowing what he’s going to blurt out or what song he’s about to break into next will always keep you guessing and makes for some hilarious entertainment. Whilst his attitude off the bike is more goofy than stylish, you can always rely on his riding ability to astound you when he’s presented with a big launch or a soggy rut. Hit the play button and tune in the tracking to find out why I think Ryan Middleton is the epitome of style.

Issue Two of Shredder MTB Zine is available to by now from the Shredder online store - shreddermtbzine.bigcartel.com

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