Words by Brodie Butterfield.
Photos and Intro by Kurt Teague.
Name, age and place of residence?
Nathan Tyas, 23 years old, residing at Mona Vale on the northern beaches of Sydney.
How long have you been riding and how did you get into it?
I think I’ve been riding for roughly 10 years now. I had this hard-tail mountain-bike that I would ride around on, and a friend’s house basically backed onto this track that a group of us eventually started riding – we tried to do jumps and that. Soon after that, we found out about the Red Hill trails and started trying to do bigger jumps there, and probably did that for close to a year, which is about the time we started to go to the local skatepark. After I saw the older locals riding there, I was blown away by what they were doing and how fun it looked flowing around a bowl. I sold my mountain-bike and the little Honda CR80 I had at the time and got my first BMX within a month of that – best choice I ever made!
For years, it was weird for me to call you Nathan, only really knowing you as “Sponno”. Care to shed some light on this?
Some of my better friends now didn’t even know my real name for a month or two after meeting them haha. Basically in my younger years, I had just learned tail taps at the time and was pretty pumped on that, and one of the older dudes at the skatepark was giving tips on how to do them to one of the younger locals – like, really going in-depth on how to do it. Me being the little shit I was, I just said something like, “Just pull your brake and keep your shoulders in, it’s as easy as that.” They took that as being really cocky and arrogant, so they called me “Pro Town” and “Sponno” for the rest of the arvo. I went down the next day and it was all, “Hey Sponno” and it just stuck somehow haha. It’s actually “Spoon” now though – if you type “Sponno” into your phone it autocorrects to “Spoon” so my group of mates all call me that now haha.
In the time I’ve known you, your bike set-up and riding style have remained largely unchanged regardless of what’s cool at the time. What made you ride the way you do?
Not really a conscious decision, I just knew what I liked as far as riding went and had my bike set up that way. From riding hard-tails at Red Hill, it was always how fast you could rail the berms and how high you could go and that just transitioned to riding bowls, too. Always fun to see how high you could hit the hips and how fast you could rail the pockets. The only real thing I’ve changed on my bike was taking my rear brake off due to an unfortunate case that led to my wheel not spinning through my brake pads – I took the brake off that day and thought of no reason to put it back on.
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You just got back from a huge trip to the US with a bunch of your friends. Tell us a bit about that.
Oh man, think of those bliss Saturday afternoon glory hour sessions with your best mates – we got to do that shit every day for 6 and a half weeks. For anyone reading this that has a solid crew and some cash to blow, book your tickets now! I think we were vaguely planning this trip for over a year and a half, mainly when we were all out sitting around a table over some beers, so naturally, it took a while. Originally there was 10 or so people who were keen but when it came down to booking tickets, it ended up being just the 5 of us over there drinking PBR in our cozy RV for 6 and a half weeks. We left in our middle of winter and Arizona welcomed us with 40-degree heat at 9 o’clock at night – you could drink a gallon of water and not need to piss. It was truly fucked up. We went to 11 states and an had unplanned trip into Canada for a night. We sweated out Sydney’s entire water supply, drunk a whole brewery of PBR and probably paid for the Wet Wipes Christmas party by the end of the trip haha. Alex (Walker) kept a log of spots we hit, and we were just shy of 100 with 96 major spots. We were very sore and dehydrated men by the end of the trip.
How would you compare what you saw of the US scene to the Australian scene?
Firstly, the Austin scene is amazing – anyone going even remotely that way should stop in at Austin for a couple nights, minimum. As a whole though, we probably didn’t meet as many riders as you would think over 6 and a half weeks, as we were mainly riding during school and work hours and spent more time at the beach then riding in California, which from what I hear is the “main scene” over there. That and 40-plus degrees outside would deter a fair few from a roll at their local spots. From what I saw and experienced over there I’d say the scene is pretty similar for the day-to-day riders in the sense of everyone giving you a “g’day” or greeting you when you get to a spot and everyone is pretty friendly and welcoming. Australia, I think, definitely has a more relaxed take on BMX, though. Most people here are just looking for a good time and excuses for trips with your buddies out of it.
In America, it seems to be more of a sport in a way. We went to the Vans outdoor park in California and we were told that you needed permission to take photos there, which I can understand because they’re probably trying to make their spot exclusive as far as content goes, but really, it’s just a photo of someone doing a trick on a kids bike haha.
The only thing I’d really like to adopt from the American scene is that fact that there are a lot more jams and gatherings going on over there. Things like the ACT Jam and Halloween Jam are always a good time here, so it would be good to stitch together the Australian scene, especially here in Sydney where the crews are so segregated from each other.
Favorite moment(s) from the trip?
Ah, too many to say! Even just some of the small moments day-to-day made it so memorable but I would have to say Austin was definitely up there. Got to meet Joe Rich at the T-1 ramp, saw Chase Hawk and Tommy Dugan rip around House Park, woke up every day next to Barton Springs for a swim and got to wrap up each day with dinner and some beers on 6th street. Colorado was also an absolute time, too! The temperature there was a bit more forgiving up in the mountains and even just the scenery there is amazing as well as the phenomenal concrete parks that it has to offer. Getting to go for a little roll at the Odyssey/Full Factory ramps and having some beers with our boy Phillip Pranalli from Cali was awesome. Just hanging out with my best mates, swimming, riding and just exploring made the trip so memorable really.
You guys spent almost 2 months in pretty close quarters in the RV. You’re all pretty tight, but there must have been some moments of frustration. Do you have any funny RV stories?
Ah yes, our little tiny hot box that we called an RV made for some good character building – almost bonding in a way. It was definitely an experience. I think considering the conditions our bodies were in and the RV was in at times, we did pretty well. Fortunately, I can say we only had one proper argument the whole trip and we all came back still best mates. There are too many funny moments to go over regarding the RV, so without making this interview a paper-back book, I’ll just give you my favorite: We’re in Utah somewhere, presumably Salt Lake City, and we just finished up riding for the arvo. Everyone was showering and getting ready to go out for some cheeky beverages. Hayden (Fowler) was hoping to take a cheeky little pre-clubbing poo but we told him it’s a bad idea as the toilet reservoir known as the “Black Water” was coming up as full on this sensor that we had. In true Aussie spirit, he replies with something along the lines of, “She’ll be right”.
A couple minutes go by and we hear the Uber we ordered pull up out the front of our RV to take us into the city. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Hayden is more then likely full of all sorts of regret. We shout out that the Uber is here and to slam whatever you were drinking. With that, Hayden emerges from the bathroom with all sorts of remorse on his face. Everyone looks over and he says as calmly as a judge, “So, ah, I pressed the button to flush the toilet but instead of it all going down… It all just came back up…”.
I was partially upset to hear this, as we just told him not to do it, but at the same time I have to admit I was impressed by his commitment to having his cheeky pre-clubbing poo.
With the Uber there we just decided to flag it as tomorrow’s problem. Some PRB was had and at the end of the night, we all came back to our now tainted RV – everyone except for Hayden who stayed at a lovely shiela’s house.
At this point of the story, I should probably say that Alex gets up way earlier then the rest of us so most mornings he wakes up and drives to where ever the next spot is before most of us are even awake.
I imagine Alex’s perception of the next morning goes something like this; 1) Wakes up. 2) “Shit cunts are still asleep”. 3) Drive to the next skatepark nearby. Meanwhile, the toilet bowl is literally filled to the brim with all sorts of dark magic.
Now, here’s my perception of the day. I wake up, but I’m not quite conscious – my first real thought was “What’s that smell?” I become increasingly aware that we’re in motion. I finally have my eyes open wide and look down the RV and found the source of this harrowing smell. Whilst driving to the skatepark, the dark magic had escaped the clutches of the toilet bowl, spilled down into the bathroom floor and across the living area and now inhabited most of the floor on the RV.
Hayden got dropped off at the skatepark later that morning but somehow it was Kurt (Teague) that ended up cleaning it up. So, valuable lesson learned – don’t drop a deuce when the Black Water is full and if someone does, just make sure that you’re not Kurt.
Okay, so, what’s your take on the Sydney scene?
Obviously, like I said before, I think all the riding crews in Sydney are a bit isolated from one another but overall I think it’s not too bad. It’s kind of like LA, meaning there’s not too much distance between spots but with all the traffic congestion, 20kms away can take you a quarter of the day just travelling to.
I have heard a few people say it’s a crap scene here but in my experience I have nothing to back that opinion. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a spot and had anyone be intentionally rude of unfriendly to me or any of my friends so I’m pretty content with the scene here.
That and we have some good people making shit happen. Tom and all the boys at Hell On Wheels and what was Emancipate throwing jams and getting involved with the council to get more parks and legal trail spots built, so yeah, I only really have good things to say about the scene.
What do you do on the northern beaches when you’re not riding?
Usually if I’m not riding or working my day would consist of seeing the little lady and grabbing a morning coffee – that’s usually the standard procedure. Lately we’ve been getting into a bit of bush walking and we just bought some dope $10 fishing rods from K-Mart so might get into a bit of that haha. When it’s a bit hotter, living 5 minutes from the beach is a nice perk so spending some lazy days at the beach is always a good time but yeah, nothing too interesting, just hanging with mates and living life.
What role do you think growing up on the beaches played on both your riding and you as a person?
As a rider, probably Mona bowl and Red Hill would’ve had the biggest influences on my riding growing up. There aren’t really any good sources of public transport with your bike on the beaches so there was definitely a fair few pedalling missions but that’s not to say there wasn’t plenty of stuff to ride. The beaches has had a fair few decent riders come from the area, too. It was awesome getting to watch the likes of Brendan Jones, Seaton Spratt, Dennis Oleson and all the older locals shred the local parks growing up. All of them are a friendly bunch of dudes too, which definitely had a positive impact on my younger more pimply self.
As a person, I don’t really know because I’ve never lived anywhere else, so it’s a bit anecdotal but in my opinion the northern beaches is a bit of a bubble. Every new person you meet, you probably already have 15 mutual friends without even knowing it, so at times it can be a bit claustrophobic. I’m thankful for BMX as it motivates me to travel, meet new people, see new things and just generally stay more open minded about certain aspects of life. You meet some people here who seem to have an elitist mentality which I’m not a fan of so I’m grateful for the people who I do have in my life who have probably had more of an influence in shaping me as a person rather then the area I’ve grown up in.
TOP 3’s:
Favourite parks/spots:
Five Dock
Lake Havasu
Any trail spot
Favourite riders:
Mike Aitken
Maxime Bonfil
Chase Hawk
Favourite foods:
Chinese
Mexican
Thai
Favourite bands:
Black Sabbath
Modest Mouse
The Amity Affliction
Favourite video section:
Mike Miller’s 2009 web edit
Clint Reynolds’ part from the Credence DVD
Chase Hawk’s Bad Idea section
THANKYOU:
Firstly, my mates, my family and my little lady for being the good group of people that you all are. To Kurt, for trying to motivate me to film and pointing the camera my way. All the OG Mona locals for taking me to new spots and putting up with me, especially Spleen (James) if you’re reading this. To Tom, Terry, the Backbone guys and all BMX store owners for keeping Australian BMX in the hands of BMX riders. To Matt Holmes, Mike Daily and Cooper Brownlee for keeping the Australian BMX scene on the map. All the awesome people we met who helped us out while we were in America, especially to Shad in Portland and the dudes at the S&M factory. Anyone who’s ever in the Portland area, go check out Goods BMX. Cooper and Brodie, for this interview and lastly anyone who I’ve shared a skatepark and a laugh with along the way. Cheers!
Sydney To Dubbo from Kurt Teague Visual on Vimeo.
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