Video: Cornish Freeride with Tom Isted – Live To Ride Ep. 7

In this episode of Live To Ride we travelled to Cornwall on the south-west coast of Britain to find out how Tom Isted, a regular on the FMB series has been dealing with a summer at home. Between his private training compound and Woodys Bike Park he’s got everything he needs to take his riding to the next level.
Tom Isted, known previously for his skills on a BMX has left the small wheels behind in search of bigger jumps. In recent years, he has competed in the Crankworx slopestyle, Audi Nine Knights and is a regular on the top spot of the UK Dirt Wars competitions. Being based in Cornwall, a county known more for its water sports, Tom told us how he much preferred to be in the hills.

Cornwall is a coastal county so we’ve got more coastline than we’ve got anything else, most people are in the sea but I don’t like the sea so I’m happily in the hills riding bikes.— Tom Isted

We first met Tom at Woodys Bike Park, set just back from the sea. The park boasts a large range of bike trails from flowy blues to double blacks with some of the biggest jumps you’ll see in a UK bike park.

It’s more of a jump park for downhill bikes, high-speed corners and big jumps. I just want to go fast and roost some berms. Anything where you’re flat out and hanging on for dear life is what I like to do.— Tom Isted

During lockdown, the park was closed and Tom struggled not being able to ride with anyone but now that the lockdown has eased the park is reopen and during filming, it was really busy with around 70 guests. With such a large site it was great to see people outside enjoying mountain biking at a social distance.
It’s seriously impressive seeing what Tom can do on his downhill bike however when it comes to training for the FMB he’s got his own private compound just 10 minutes from home.

You always had to travel quite a lot to ride, at least an hour to a good skatepark but now I’ve got this place just 10 minutes from my house, so it makes my life a lot easier.— Tom Isted

Tom’s passionate about taking the tricks he learnt on his BMX and doing them on bigger jumps, it all starts on his huge air bag where he can safely push his limits before trying it on dirt.
With events starting up again Tom was at Dirt Wars last weekend at Radical Bikes Bike Park where he took the win, a strong start to what will hopefully be a short but jam-packed season.
Thanks for reading and watching this episode of Live To Ride, please subscribe for more and a massive thank you to this episodes sponsor Carder Tech

Video & Words: Nico Turner
Photos: Kieran Kenney
Rider: Tom Isted
Sponsor: Carder Tech

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