Like Father, Like Ryder

Josh Hult Interview with his son Ryder

I've known Josh Hult for years. Heck, I was one of the judges when he won the first stop of the 2009 Dew Tour. As Josh got older and his beard longer, the mountain bikes started calling. These days he's deep into the MTB world — and so is his son Ryder, who's coming up fast on two wheels of his own. I sat down with both of them to talk names, backflips, and what it means to share something you love with your kid.

FL: When you first had a kid, were your hopes that Ryder would be, well, a bike rider?

Josh: I mean, obviously, we knew from the get-go that there was a good chance he would enjoy bikes — just sharing my passion. My mother-in-law came up with the name Ryder, and we loved it. I'm a big believer that everybody kind of becomes their name. So we named him Ryder with the intention of hoping he would be fun to ride with — like a little buddy — 'cause that's really what I wanted. In fact, I asked Misty if she could just kick out a toddler that was up and running and ready to go play. (laughs) She wasn't down, so we had to go through the baby stage.

FL: When did you realize, oh, he's progressing and is actually going to be doing what you do?

Josh: Ryder rode his first pedal bike without any training wheels right before he turned four years old. He had this natural ability to get out of stuff. He would be headed towards the curb at full speed and just step off his bike and run out of it — he somehow got out of crashes really well. He has good air awareness. I'd say almost immediately after his first crash, when I realized he could get out of it that well, I was like, okay, he'll be a good rider.

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FL: He just recently learned backflips. What was your anxiety level when he went to try the first one?

Josh: When he first started doing backflips I was super nervous, but we took him to Woodward and he did a bunch of them into a foam pit. It took a couple tries to get him sorted, but after he did one, the next ten were perfect. In the back of my head I was like, okay, as long as he doesn't freak out, it won't be a problem.

Then he didn't do one for quite a few months. The first one he ever actually did was over a wooden lip with a gap to a mulch landing — basically a dirt jump. I was pretty nervous, but the very first one he tried, he landed back wheel, kind of blew his feet off, and rode out of it. The second and third were perfect.

We came home and life got busy. We just didn't ride the yard for a couple weeks. He wanted to flip the jump in the backyard, but then he got in his head about it and was super scared. I'd been trying to get him into it for a while, and then by the time I finally got him to try it in the yard, he was like, "All right, I'm gonna try it — but we're gonna do it when Leigh gets here!"

I was nervous for him because I knew it was a big step and he'd been scared of it for a while, so it was built up in his head. But he did a really good job at pushing through. The first one didn't go as planned — he sat a little too much into the lip, went too high, and it slowed down his rotation. He ended up trying to bail at the last minute, bounced his shin off his handlebars, and under-rotated. But he got back up and did it. He came back for redemption and absolutely killed it. That was really cool to see.

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  The Crashed Flip mentioned above.

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  The backflip Ryder pulled

FL: That was kind of a warm-your-heart moment — watching you teach your kid something and seeing him accomplish that goal. What's the difference between riding with your kids versus riding with your friends?

Josh: Oh, it's so much fun. Riding with my kids is the best. It's hard to describe how excited you get watching somebody else push and learn something new — but when it's your own kid and they share your same passion, it's on another level. I've always been very careful not to push my desires and passions on my kids. I just try to present them with opportunities, and if they want to run with it, sweet. If he didn't love riding, that'd be fine too.

But it's super fun to be able to share that with him — and the fact that he loves it as much as I do is awesome. Everybody has a good friend they ride with, but having my son means whenever I want to go somewhere or have an idea, I can just go wake him up like, "Hey, we're going to this today." And he loves it. Having somebody who's always down to go ride and always down to have fun is pretty awesome.

FL: How do you feel about being named Ryder?

Ryder: I like it. It's pretty cool — just like, living up to my name. Riding bikes and being a rider.

FL: When did you first realize your dad is a big-time pro? Like, oh, that's actually pretty cool.

Ryder: I'd say it all started when I was pretty young. I always asked my friends, "Do your dads ride bikes?" And they'd always be confused. But then going to shows with him sometimes, or seeing videos of him competing — that's when I really realized how good he is on a bike.

FL: Everybody wants to ride a bike, but what made you want to actually progress?

Ryder: I just always saw my dad and all his friends doing cool tricks at grandma's house, and I always wanted to do that when I grew up. So I just decided to go for it.

FL: And you did, dude. Tell me about the flip — what's it like having a dad who can actually relate to what you're learning?

Ryder: It's always nice having somebody there who knows how to do it and can give you pointers and help you through it. Like, the first flip I ever did to that mulch landing — I was sitting up at the roll-in for a while. He was just there talking to me: "Make sure you have the right speed, sit through it good, just pull back, believe that you have it." And it worked.

FL: Where do you want bikes to take you? What does your dream future look like?

Ryder: I honestly don't know. I just want to keep riding bikes, keep getting better. Maybe get into some more competitions, keep doing shows, and just have a fun time. I'm starting to really love the whole BMX side of things too. I obviously love mountain biking. It all just depends on the day.