Late into the summer of 2014, my good friend Dave called me up to invite me on an epic mountain biking road trip in early September. The plan was to travel through the interior of BC hitting every juicy trail along the way. This plan sounded amazing – but I was hesitant.

I knew Dave well. We'd forged our friendship through countless hours lapping the trails of the north shore, hunting for secret trails, and often arriving back at our vehicles well after dark – sometimes in the snow. But the trip was with 10 other people that I'd never met before, a tight knit group of riders. I was signing up to camp, ride, and basically spend every waking hour of the 10 day trip with 9 people I'd never met before.

Of course, the sweet appeal of hero dirt and endless shuttle laps won out over any anxiety I had about plopping myself into a new group of people, and I signed up for the adventure. We'd start in Pemberton, and then crawl our way into the interior, sampling every bit of dirt, rocks, and roots along the way. The day before the trip, I hit solo laps at Whistler, then Dave and I drove out to Pemberton to crash at Graham's place.

Graham would serve as my introduction to the group. Within a few minutes of meeting Graham, he invited Dave and I to go take a look at his "garden" in the backyard. I was surprised to see 7 foot tall weed plants growing directly adjacent to some BC Hydro infrastructure. Graham thought nothing of it. After the garden inspection, it was gear show and tell time, one of my all time favourite activities. This was before the advent of snow bikes – we checked out the sleds and Grahams DH bike.

I had heard that Graham was fast, but when I saw the bike he was riding, I grew skeptical. The linkage made noises that I've never heard a bike make before, the brakes and drive train definitely left something to be desired. All the people I knew that were fast didn't ride bikes like this one. Later that night he'd show us his new riding shoes for the trip that he just bought in preparation. I too had just bought new riding shoes – fresh 5.10's, close to $200. Haywood got his at Walmart for closer to $20. He was stoked.

The first day of the trip, we did a huge hike a bike in Lillooet. About 75% of the way up, we were out of water, it was 30+ degrees, and I was exhausted from the hike a bike. Most of us decided to turn around and enjoy the descent from here. In typical fashion, Haywood charged ahead to the peak with a couple other members of the group.

On The Pedals

There's a pecking order in mountain biking when riding in a big group, and it just makes the most sense for the fastest people to ride at the front. Haywood was always up front. I spent the next couple of days riding trying to figure out where I sat in the group. I started in the back, and slowly worked my way up to the front. Occasionally I'd end up chasing Graham.

Chasing Graham was wild. He rode with a confidence on the bike so strong it elevated your own just by being in his radius. I blindly sent some of the biggest features I'd ever hit on that trip chasing Haywood's back wheel. As a result, those 10 days in 2014 were some of my biggest days of progression on the bike to date.

Chasing Haywood made things that I'd never considered riding seem totally manageable. If you stayed on his tire, he'd pull you through it. A wake of inspiration flowed off Haywood's back wheel, ready to elevate those in tow, but you sure had to work for it. Staying anywhere near Grahams tire wasn't easy. Not just because he was fast, but because if he missed a feature, he'd usually have sprinted back to the top before the rest of the group had even arrived.

Following Haywood unlocked lines for me that I wouldn't have ridden otherwise, like this road gap in Penticton. The service was free of charge if you could keep up.
5 minutes later, on the same trail. The second I’ve chased Graham back to the top – he’s already dropping in.

Grahams ability to spend a couple seconds scoping a feature, and send it a couple seconds later extended to lines far beyond my comfort zone. Haywood and I did not have the same definition of “mellow”. Sometimes (okay, a lot of the time), rather than chase him, it was better to just sit back and enjoy the show.

Graham had such incredible skill and confidence on the bike, but man did he ever keep it humble. For me, that’s what made him such a great human to spend time with. Props from Graham just hit different.

We all rolled up to this gap and not a single one of us even considered it at probably 12′ up x 35′ across, with a super flat landing to boot. Haywood gave it a quick evaluation, hiked to the top and casually sent it.

Time is Ticking

It was a privilege not just to chase Haywood's tire, but to spend time with him in any capacity. It was clear within hours of rolling out of Pemberton that Graham was a leader, before I ever saw him put a foot on the pedals. Graham didn't just ride in the front of the pack, he stayed there long after the bikes were put away.

Graham would often be first up in the morning, figuring out shuttle plans for the day, and encouraging any slow moving stragglers to get moving. He’d remind you on the daily “Tick tock, time is ticking”. Graham knew that time here was precious, and that it was best spent in the pursuit of max vert. That was the inherent privilege of spending time with Graham – he didn’t waste time, and if you were going to be in his circle, neither would you.