RAPID RESPONSE: RYAN GUETTLER

Name: Ryan Guettler

Age: 27

Sponsors: Monster energy, Vans shoes, Unit clothing, Colony BMX, Protec helmets, Kicker audio, Ogio bags, Ethika, Vale bike shop.

How has the transition to going all in on Colony been for you? It sounds like you already have a pretty solid shop tour trip lined up with the team here soon. Does Clint have any other things going on that you are looking forward to?
It has been amazing. Clint has been a hero of mine my whole life. I went on a road trip with him when I was 6 years old when he had just started riding for Hoffman bikes. Good times, haha. Every year Colony does road trips and amazing events that I love being apart of. That’s why it was easy to make the “BIG” switch. We already have 3 trips I’m looking forward to in 2011. First to New Zealand then a road trip with everyone to the BMX games and another road trip to Perth to film for the DVD. Nothing is more fun than loading the vans with good mates and finding new stuff to ride. I think it’s the best to not know what’s around the next corner.

A few months back you mentioned that you would like to take on the role of a team manager in your Off the Record with Kosman. Did that lead to you making the moves to Unit clothing as a rider and team manager? What can we expect in 2011 from Unit riders?
Oh man where to begin. The people over at UNIT are the best. They are a young team just thinking out side the box and with so many skills. Elley has been working hard with me on the BMX program. What would take me a week to put a good ad together she has 4 mock ups done in an hour; it’s just unreal to see. The owner Paul is so chill and fun to be around. If you can prove to him your idea works he will do his best to help you see it through, it’s how a boss should be. Things you can expect in 2011 from the BMX side of Unit are very well thought out ads, getting the team more involved on ideas, team input on new riders, BMX clothing, web edits, and team road trips. Unit supported the BMX program a lot already, but for 2011 there is going to be a lot more control. To see whats going on go to Unitriders.com

How are things going with the rest of the sponsors?
2011 is going to be one of my best years. I feel a lot closer with my sponsors and I have the best sponsors ever. A lot of them are so big that they do more events other then BMX. Monster just took me out friday night to a VIP party to chill with Snoop Dog and on saturday Vans took me to the supercross race in Anaheim. My life is BMX but IF I wanted to take a step away from it, I know my sponsors support this. Their support makes me want to ride so hard and achieve the best I can for my life.

How are you? I’d imagine you are pretty close to all healed up from the double shoulder surgery by now. Have you been on your bike much, or have you just been doing your rehab still?
I’ve been on my bike for 2 weeks and I can not get enough of riding; it’s the best. I ride for 2 days then take a day off because small things hurt like my hands and knee because they got weak from the 4 months off. If I could be riding every min of the day, I would be. I rode almost every day for the last 10 years, since I left school when I was 17. If I had a day off it was because I was traveling somewhere to ride more. I needed these 4 months off to relook at the sport and relight that passion for BMX. It was perfect timing in my life to happen and now I could not be happier.

It appears that you have also been taking on more behind the scenes work with filming and editing. When did you start getting into that, what’s your current setup, and where have you been contributing to?
My current set up is Canon 5D mark 2 with a bunch of lenses from the 15mm fisheye through to the 300mm lens, 2 Q flashes and 2 vitars flashes, 5 pocket wizards, a glide 2000 for filming and my back up video camera is a Panasonic P1. I also have a bunch of random film cameras like Helga’s and Polaroid’s. I’ve been shooting a lot of Polaroid’s and putting them on the fridge. I got into taking photo’s well before video because my dad had an old school film camera that was sitting around house and one day I asked if I could use it. After that day I was hooked. After years of riding with my mates and seeing them do good tricks I was always telling myself “Man, that would have been a good photo”. After looking back over the first roll of film I shot, a lot of photo’s were either too dark or too bright and I just fell in love with what goes into making a good photo. Since then I almost always have a camera in my riding bag every sesh. JUST IN CASE. One day Clint Millar said I should send some of my photos to a mag called 20/20. I did and then that became my new goal. I want to shoot good enough photos to get them into mags when needed. Most of my photos go to 20/20 mag in Australia and my web videos go to ESPN.com. When I was hurt in 2010, I made 17 web videos for my friends 13 of them went on the ESPN site and I didn’t get hurt till August, haha.

What else is new in your life?
Everything is new and everything starts now.

Where are you right now?
Sitting at Colony

Where are you off to next?
To the fridge to get some food.

What does your average daily routine consist of these days?
Right now I’m in Australia, so I wake up to warm weather and go to the gym to work on my rehab with the shoulders and to get stronger. Then I drive to UNIT or Colony, knock out emails and some team stuff. Kyle Boldock (Kiwi) lives right around the corner so I pick him up and go ride a few parks. Around dark I go home for dinner, skype with Kelsey, then go to the race track at Beenleigh and use up all my energy before going to bed.

What’s the last song you heard, movie you watched and website you visited?
Lil’ Wayne – 6 foot, 7 foot, movie : Road Fools 18, website: emails and this interview was in the inbox.

What does the rest of 2011 have in store for you?
Nothing but good times. I’m busy but it’s a good busy and when I’m chilling it’s Kelsey (GF), me and my 3 bulldogs.

Any plans for tonight?
Hang out at the skate park with me mates and ride till the pedals fall off.

Some of Ryan’s recent edits he filmed and edited…