Just for the fun of it with Nick Antle

Like many in Whistler, B.C., Nick Antle is a transplant from the right side of the country. Hailing from New Brunswick, the 33-year-old moved west for the snow and mountains.

These days, he’s still hitting the snow hard on his board and sled, but when the valley clears and the dirt is ready, he is a fixture at the Green River Motocross Track (GRMX) and racking up miles on the pickup, travelling around looking for fun places to rip his moto.

Antle caught up with RidersWest to answer a few questions for us: 

How long have you been riding moto?

Ten years.

How did you get into dirt bikes?

I’ve always loved motocross, even though I didn’t ride as a kid. On TV, I looked up to Jeremy McGrath—I always wanted to be like him. So when I was 22, I bought my first bike, a 1998 YZ125, and have been shredding ever since.

What is it about motocross that attracted you?

Just how much fun it looked. How the pros made it look so sick with big jumps and speed. The racing side of it, when compared to competitive snowboarding, is different. There is nobody to please—either you win or you don’t.

As far as other riders go, who do you look up to and why?

Jeremy McGrath for sure. Just how much fun and style he brought to the sport. Those old Terra Firma videos where he would just slay it.

What is your favourite type of riding?

I would say track because that’s what we have here in Whistler, but I have really been loving freeriding in the interior. Kamloops has some super sick spots for jumps and my first trip to the dunes last year was amazing. I need to go to Glamis now that I’m on a 450.

Racing or freeriding—which do you prefer?

I love racing, always will. But it’s hard because it’s so pricey and getting places far away when you work full-time can be difficult. Freeriding is really becoming fun. I’m not super fast at races but feel I have good style that can look good in photos and videos, which are fun to shoot.

What is the favourite place you’ve ridden and why?

It was probably the Oregon dunes last fall. It felt like sledding, just go anywhere and jump off anything that looks good. I just needed a more powerful bike.

Where would you like to hit up that you haven’t ridden yet?

Beaumont Hills in California—those freeride jumps look amazing—and the dunes at Glamis.

Favourite riding partners?

Cheyenne Stuart, Felix Savard, Logan Short, Ray Krumme, Chris Harper, G-Money 170, Kyle Lamarre, Calvin Proc, Keely Baumgartner, Adam Gabel, Dan Gobbo and Chris Young.

Where did you learn to whip?

On the Skyjacker Jump at GRMX, when the jumps were bigger. They have been slowly getting smaller but we make it work. I watched the RC4 FOX video on how he whips and just applied it. Just like snowboarding, I’m a visual learner, so I pressed replay on that like 100 times then just slowly went and did it, small steps at a time.

What other sports do you do and which do you like best?

I snowboard, sled, mountain bike and BMX. I think I have to say sledding right now because I have been doing a lot of things to push myself with that. But nothing is ever as nice a feeling as floating a big back one melon off a park jump snowboarding.

Any cool plans for this year?

Hopefully, get out and shoot lots of photos and videos to make a really cool edit this fall. I have some freeriding ideas that nobody has done much around this area of B.C., so I'm hoping to make that happen. I’ll get some races in and hopefully do well in the vet class again and not crash too often!

Any shout-outs?

Cheyenne Stuart for making me look awesome, and for making sure I’m never hungry, Matt Mallory for the opportunity to do this little deal here, Felix and the whole crew over at Revolution Powersports. Ryan at 100%, Matrix, Atlas and 1.7, Dez at MyPackage for keeping me supported, Josh at Dissent, Cody at Troy Lee Designs Canada and finally my parents for getting wild that one time and ensuring that I came along. Oh, and all that other stuff they helped out with as well. Love you all!