With the release of Ryan’s Tabes for the Babes Episode 2 in the coming days, I thought we would get a few words from both Ryan & Jourdan Barba.
First up is Ryan & tomorrow we will have a few words from Jourdan.
So Ryan, I am really stoked on these trips you are doing. How did the idea come about to do them?
The start of last year I moved to California from Greenville, North Carolina. It kind of started the first week I was here there seemed to be endless parks and trails. So every time I rode a new park I snapped a photo of it and made an album of spots around here. I stole the idea from Cooper Brownlee, haha. Just by doing that made me want to travel more because riding new spots improved my riding so much more, than riding the same spot over and over. So being back out in California anytime my sponsors wanted to do a road trip whether it was Vans or Monster, we got the chance to use their RV’s. It was just always so amazing having like 10 riders and a driver, not always being crammed in a van, so I decided to buy a cheaper version.
Since last year when we came out to Cali with the team, the RV has taken a major overhaul. You gotta be stoked with the outcome? It looks a million bucks now.
So I bought the RV myself but I really wanted all my sponsors help so I kind of turned it into a long term project. First I hit them up about wrapping the whole thing which was the most expensive part of it. Then kicker hooked up all the speakers inside so now it has 4 subs and 10 speakers. It’s got 2 TV’s and a Vans checkered feel on the inside. So to me, it looks like a million bucks. I definitely get a lot of looks and people yelling at the RV when I’m driving down the road.
What was your favourite place or spot you hit up?
Theres been so many favorites, because every trip I’m trying to take it somewhere I’ve never been before, so every trip is an adventure. This last trip we got to ride this really cool ditch in Las Vegas. It was so good it could almost be considered a concrete skate park.
Who did the move of this trip in your eyes? What was it?
To me it was Jourdan’s riding in general. Just because he’s such a street machine. He looks at everything so differently compared to me. So every time he would call something out to film it would blow my mind because it was such opposite tech riding than what I normally do. He has so many combos when it comes to rails.
Any cool stories or happenings off the bikes?
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Plans for the next one? Where are you thinking of hitting?
One spot I’ve always heard about and wanted to visit, is called the Sunken Sea. It’s meant to be an abandon town with a bunch of abandon swimming pools to ride. So I’m working on making that happen right now. And another dream trip I want to do is an all trails trip with a few different riders but that’s going to be hard to do because unless your a local that digs there is going to be hard to show up an expect to start filming. But it’s not completely impossible.
Most should be aware that you took a hard crash recently & were admitted to hospital. How is the recovery going?
Just real slow and painful. Even right now I’ve got my girlfriend typing this for me. Without Kelsey nursing me I’d probably still be in the hospital. The doctors said no physical activity for 3 months, but with her support I’m sure ill be back within a month.
Any thanks?
Of course, always have thanks. Huge thanks to all my sponsors who have stuck behind me all these years Monster, Vans, Colony, Pro-tec, Ethika, and Epic Bike Shop, all my friends who visited and wished me a speedy recovery, huge thanks to Kelsey for helping me get back on my bike, a massive thank you to Dylan Phol who spent so much time filming these road trips and putting out these edits, and most of all thanks to all the fans who sent me funny photos and messages to cheer me up while I was in the hospital, I didn’t realize how much support I really had.
