Grant is a bike rider. It’s a funny thing to say, but whatever the discipline, he's into it. These days Grant can be differentiated from your average rider given the fact that he's a paraplegic after sustaining a spinal cord injury back in 2011 and rides Bowhead Adaptive MTBs. Grant is a happy guy that just loves to ride…a lot. Be it ripping DH tracks and jumps on his Bowhead Reach, riding trails up & down on his Bosch equipped Bowhead RX all day or doing long road rides, he's happy when he's riding and in the moment.
Q: How old are you and where do you live?
A: I'm 42 years young and I live in Adelaide, South Australia. We don't have massive mountains to ride but there is a stack of great sized hills with lots of variety in trails to ride.
Q: What makes you special?
A: I guess I ride a bike that is a little bit different to what most people are familiar with or ride. I think the thing that probably makes me a little different or special is my hunger to ride, have fun and do things that other people might not consider normal things to do on a bike. I also like to help. I love sharing the joy of helping others to find the joy of riding a bike.
Q: What is your bigger strength?
A: I think I would say my positivity and my determination to get things done.
Q: What is your favorite riding area?
A: I love riding anywhere but I do have a soft spot for Utah. I love the big natural stuff. The mesas and unridden terrain. That type of stuff gets me hyped. I'm really eager to get back there on my Bowhead bikes.
Q: What is your biggest daily challenge?
A: Time to do everything I want. There is simply not enough hours in the day...
Q: Do you have a cycling hero?
A: I don't particularly have anyone who I would say is a hero to me. I like seeing people do rad things, I like seeing people simply riding and having fun on their bikes.
Q: Who is your inspiration?
A: I don't really know if there is anyone in particular who I would say is my inspiration. Again, I respect a lot of people for the different things they do. I like people who are passionate about things. In saying that, my Dad is awesome. Seeing how hard he works, how gentle he is and how much my kids love and adore him is pretty inspiring and special too.
Q: What do you do for Bowhead?
A: So in terms of what I do for Bowhead, I am the person in charge of sales of bikes in Australia through my work with Push Mobility. I also do a bunch just in terms of advocacy, awareness and helping to try and bring the bikes to people and getting them I guess recognised and to become seen as something more commonly seen and recognised. This can be done through many ways, social media, magazine and print media etc, taking bikes to people to get them into and try allowing them to find the joy of what I already know. It's an incredibly rewarding "Job" and something that I am extremely passionate about and grateful to be able to do.
Q: Tell us about your Bowhead Reach?
A: My Bowhead Reach is one of the two bikes I ride. The other is a Bowhead RX. The simple difference is that the Reach has normal MTB handlebars and is powered by a 3000 Watt electric motor. It absolutely rips and is especially good for blasting downhill and big jumps. The RX is powered by a regular Bosch Performance Line CX drive unit and instead of handlebars, it uses cranks and pedals. It still rips jumps and things and is very agile and playful to ride. Both of the bikes are very unique in that they use an articulating front end that allows you to navigate off camber trails and to lean and tip into corners. Both bikes are great. The Reach was my first love and what I was most excited by but the more and more I ride them both, I fall more in love with the RX. The thing I like about it is that it is slightly harder to ride at first and you are much more involved in every aspect. The Reach is still the go to for more bike park, high speed and big jumps though! Both are awesome and I couldn't go without either!
Q: What does your daily routine look like?
A: So I guess a normal weekday is pretty busy for me. I race a handbike on the road at a high level internationally as a side note. I normally wake up pretty early, around 4:30 AM. I usually check emails, Instagram and stuff and get my lovely little dog, Arlo, up and out of bed and then jump onto either my road bike or Bowhead RX to train for anywhere between 90mins to 3 hours. I get my kids and myself organised and then we head to school and work at Push. A day at Push can be anything from being out on a bike trial to setting up beach matting or in the office doing emails, admin, seeing clients and working on building bikes. I head home and will often go out to ride again, especially during summer and longer daylight hours. Eat, sleep and repeat basically. It's fun times!
Q: How many days a week do you ride?
A: It will come as no surprise to know I ride everyday, at least once, often two or more times🤣
Q: What’s been your biggest achievement in life?
A: I think I have lots of cool things happen for me through my life. I'm very fortunate. Seeing my kids grow up and do cool things is pretty up there. I love getting to see them succeed and do things that make them happy. Not just in terms of riding bikes or anything like that either. In saying that, it is pretty cool seeing my daughter out and riding with me and seeing her love it the same way I do. She's also a really helpful and kind little soul. Only the other week I was out riding solo and broke a chain and couldn't fix it. She grabbed the tools and spares I needed from our house and jumped onto her bike, rode out and delivered the bits to me and got me home. Without her help, I was literally stranded and would have been a disappointing meal for some sort of wild animal🤣
Q: What would the best day even entail?
A: Just riding bikes with good people. That could be with friends, family or showing someone new a bike. I don't really care. I just like riding.
What goals do you have? I guess I do like the idea of doing things that others can't or wont on my Bowhead bikes, that's pretty cool but I think the thing I really want to do is to help more people get into Adaptive MTB's and raise awareness of them. That's the big goal, just making people happy and sharing the joy of bikes.
Q: If you could spend one day doing anything, what would you do?
A: One day doing anything, I'd like to ride all my bikes with all my people and then hang out and relax later with those people, eat and enjoy good times with everyone.
Q: What keeps you motivated to ride?
A: I'm always motivated to get better, do new things, have more fun than the next person, scare myself and get out of my comfort zone. I'm just always hungry to ride. New places are good too, visiting old places. I'm just hyped to ride always, doesn't matter on the weather or the time of day. Bikes, bikes are so good. I guess that's my catch phrase as my daughter tells me, I'm often caught saying it, "How good are bikes?"🤣