TOM ISTED

Cool as ice

SNAPPER IAN LEAN MEETS UP WITH TOM ‘ICE-T’ ISTED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW HE WENT FROM RIDING CORNISH DIRT JUMPS TO CALMLY FLIPPING THE WORLD’S BIGGEST GAPS

I’ve known Tom Isted for 10-plus years, and he’s never been afraid to try anything. He may be known as ‘Ice-T’ these days, but before that many knew him as ‘Sketchy Tom’, due to his apparent inability to see any danger in trying something others wouldn’t! Maybe he simply wanted to be that person who did it first. If there’s a session going down, whether that’s slopestyle or big jumps, you can be sure Tom won’t be shy about dropping in first or sending something big. He thrives in high-pressure situations, being happy to go first or try the line when others think it’s too windy, and equally eager to get stuck in when people begin to trade heavy tricks.

Tom grew up in Liskeard, and like many Kernow (Cornish) folk, he’s never left, still living there now. When he’s actually home, at least – the boy puts in the graft to travel, there’s no denying that! Living in Cornwall has its disadvantages when it comes to mountain biking – we aren’t blessed with masses of elevation and haven’t always had an abundance of places to ride (although thankfully, that‘s now changing). So, it hasn’t been easy for Tom to get to where he is now. Today, we’re going to be visiting two spots both of us know well so that we can shoot some photos, chew the fat and get the lowdown on his seemingly rapid rise from local dirt jump hero to world-wowing freerider.

CHASING THE DREAM

Our first stop is super-close to Tom’s place – his compound at Adrenaline Quarry, a water adventure park just off the A38, where the owner of this local business (a sponsor of Tom’s) has generously given him a bit of land to use as a training ground. He’s set up a flat-drop ladder, two dirt landings and two wooden moto ramps made by his friend Jasper Flashman, and also has his airbag here, for learning new tricks. It’s a prime little spot, out of the wind, which Tom uses a lot.

All the tricks he does fascinate me. You rarely get to see people sending 40, 50 or 60ft+ jumps, or to watch dirt jumpers of that quality. In between sessioning the jumps, we talk a bit about Tom’s past. His love of bikes began not far from here, on an old BMX track turned skate park across the road from his childhood home. Any spare time Tom had, you’d find him there, fixed on progression. He went on to ride BMX for Mongoose Bikes, and became pretty well-known in the UK scene. Mongoose were producing mountain bikes, so he dabbled in MTB a bit, but the turning point didn’t come until he got his hands on a dirt jump frame. Tom had begun to get pretty tired of riding the same skate parks in comps and was ready for a new challenge

In 2016, he began competing in the Dirt Wars UK series, and a year later, he stepped up to the dirt jump and slopestyle events of the FMB World Tour. That same season, though, his deal with Mongoose came to an end, after six years riding for the brand. “It was tough to take, losing Mongoose after so long,” Tom tells me. “But it just lit the fire in my belly to go head-first into MTB and chase the dream.”

ON TO BIGGER THINGS

From Tom’s compound, we head to another of his favourites (also a sponsor), Woody’s Bike Park. This spot in Par, close to the sea, has featured in MBUK numerous times. Cornwall’s first bike park, it has a good mix of blue, red and black trails, plus plenty of opportunities for Tom to try new tricks to dirt, with some rather tasty lips. We spend the rest of the afternoon cruising about the vast hillside, shooting bits on various features the park offers. Again, we get to reminiscing.

The timing of Tom’s arrival on the MTB scene couldn’t have been better. Woody’s hadn’t long opened, and gave him the opportunity to, firstly, meet fellow local nutter Jasper Flashman, who builds the trails there, but also, get comfortable riding a downhill bike on big jumps. It didn’t take him long. Shortly after, Jasper managed to get Tom an invite to LooseFest, part of the super-sized Fest Series, which Nico Vink organised in Malmady, Belgium. After that, he was hooked. Having ridden dirt jumps for a while by this point, Tom had some tricks up his sleeve, some of which he’d been able to bring over from BMX. Transferring these to a DH bike was tricky, but soon enough, he had them dialled.

TOM HAD BEGUN TO GET PRETTY TIRED OF BMX COMPS AND WAS READY FOR A NEW CHALLENGE

Another rider who helped Tom get where he is today was Sam Pilgrim. After switching over from BMX, he became good friends with the FMB world champ and all-round funny chap. Just featuring in some videos with Sam gave Tom good exposure – something he knew he’d need more of if he was going to make an impact.

UP A CREEK WITH NO SPONSOR

In 2018, Tom was picked up by GT Bicycles and continued to build up his FMB ranking. The next year, he started a YouTube channel, following in Sam’s footsteps. All appeared to be going well, but then, in 2020, Tom’s sponsorship with GT came to an end, just as the world began to close down because of COVID. Unable to find a new deal, he was forced to roll solo. “The timing of my exit from GT couldn’t have been worse!” says Tom. “The global pandemic had just started and everyone was being very conservative.”

Losing the support was hard for Tom, but it made him determined to get out there and prove to potential sponsors what they were missing. He made frequent trips to Europe, with his increasingly beat-up GT frames, so he could progress his skills, ride different jumps, feature in other FMB riders’ vlogs and create his own content for YouTube. It wasn’t until 2023 that he had his breakthrough, though, when he headed out to Darkfest in South Africa.

THE CLIP OF HIS WORLD RECORD-BREAKING FLIP BLEW UP THE INTERNET, RACKING UP HUNDREDS OF VIEWS

At that point, Tom was well-known within the slopestyle scene, but sufficiently ‘underground’ to be nominated in the Newcomer category of our Rider of the Year awards, despite having been taking part in MTB comps for seven years. The first inkling that this was about to change was when a video began circulating of him and fellow UK rider Sam Hodgson backflipping a 110ft jump, built the year before, but never previously flipped.

FLIPPIN’ HECK!

“The light was fading fast,” Tom recalls. “Sam and I were the last ones up there, and we just dropped in one after the other, resulting in us both breaking the previous [dirt-to-dirt] record!” That wasn’t the end of it, though. While the pair sent it an impressive 106ft and 104ft, respectively, on their first try, Tom knew he could do better.

The day of his next attempt was windy. While most riders would have called it a day, Tom isn’t one of them. “The stars aligned,” he says. “I had a fire in my belly to prove myself, I timed it perfectly and the wind we had was, luckily, a tailwind – but I absolutely didn’t think I’d go 120ft!” The clip of his world record-breaking flip blew up the internet, racking up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. It didn’t surprise me, though – Tom had been on a mission to prove himself and get a big ride, and went there knowing he wanted to do something big.

While the jump itself was wild, what’s even more bonkers is the fact Tom did it on a £300 frame. Before flying out to Cape Town, he’d decided it was time to replace his knackered GT DH bike, and took a punt on a decade-old Giant Glory, building it up with parts he already had. “I just wanted to change it up,” he explains. “I’d been running old frames for years, and I’d always wanted to try a Glory. One came up on eBay, I thought ‘why not?’ and the rest is history!”

When Tom returned home from Darkfest, the calls started to come in. The right person at Giant became aware of the clip circling the internet of Tom’s massive flip, the staff couldn’t believe he’d done it on a 2010 Glory, and they reached out to him, offering the pro deal he’d been searching for. “It was a perfect fit,” says Tom. “They were on the lookout to expand the freeride team, and I was still looking for a ride.”

TOP OF HIS GAME

With confidence running high after Darkfest, Tom went on to finish third at 2023’s biggest slopestyle comp, Red Bull Joyride at Crankworx Whistler – a result that helped boost him into the FMB top 10, alongside the likes of Emil Johansson, Nicholi Rogatkin and Erik Fedko. Now aged 32, he can safely say he’s made it. He has a pro deal, over 30,000 YouTube subscribers and 100,000 Instagram followers, and has cemented himself as one of the world’s top freeriders. He’s just picked up another sponsor, too – DMR, whose parts he’s running on all his bikes.

With the likes of Sam Reynolds, Matt Jones and Sam Pilgrim all having seemingly retired from the competition scene, Tom’s flying the flag for the UK on the freeride world stage, and 2024 looks set to be another packed year. He’s already returned to Darkfest – where he bagged the Best Moment award for flipping the same jump on his first run down the track – and competed at the first Crankworx event of the year in New Zealand. By the time you read this, he’ll have been back to the Southern Hemisphere for Crankworx Cairns, and, following on from that, will be attending Crankworx Innsbruck in Austria and other FMB gold-level events in Europe and Canada. Not bad for a lad once nicknamed Sketchy Tom!

PASTIES & PINNERS

Ian Lean gives us the lowdown on the Cornish riding scene

“The scene down here, as you can imagine, is rather small compared to most places, but there are more spots to ride than you’d think. We may not have the longest tracks, but there’s definitely a good mix. Gawton Gravity Hub is still the hotbed for DH racers, with Jay Williamson doing a good job of helping youngsters come through. The Fully Gassed crew, who are Woody’s Bike Park locals, are doing it for the senders. Then you’ve got The Track, Woody’s, Old Hill Bike Park and Bike Park Kernow to whet your park whistle, plus techy DH tracks at a place called Grogley Woods. MTB is more alive here than you might think!”