Let's start with the basics.

"Names Travis Doyle, 37 years old (86), born and raised in Brisbane. 

I started riding when I was 13 (99) as my brother had dirt jumps built behind my house that I would go to after school and when I wasn't playing football.

My first bike was a chrome Torque that I ended up snapping at the head-tube and still remember learning to bunnyhop watching people jump."

How long have you been riding BMX and what keeps you coming back?

"After 24 years, the amount of friends I've met, places I've been to and memories made will last a lifetime. It keeps pulling me back as no matter where you go on your bike it brings nothing but the best in life.

I've learnt so many tricks over the years that it has been fun and very motivating going back re-learning not just all the bike control and tricks again but taking the new learns to a whole other level.

Over the years I have created a passion for making BMX videos and having my camera out helps me keep motivated to learn and land new tricks for the camera and after editing the video I get to both have a story/edit to publish but also to rewatch and learn from my mistakes."

In my opinion, you have built a reputation for being someone who is consistently down to send yourself at BMX jams and who rode what appeared to be a Derek Nelson inspired bike. Perhaps moreso these days, you'd be associated with a quirky grind variation while riding with a few buddies. What are your thoughts on who you are as a biker?

"This is a strange question TBH, I've never actually known what others thought of me over the years and just kept on doing my own thing. 

My bikes took an absolute beating over the years and I've decided to take the time to try and ride smoother in my older age so I won't be hucking huge barspins or 180s like I used too.

Sending stuff at jams is always fun as putting on a show for the crowd and hearing them roar, it's pure BMX at its finest."

You've been a Morayfield local for what seems like a long time now, can you remember your first experience of the place and how your relationship with the park has evolved over time?

"When I moved to Morayfield in '99 the skatepark was already 2 years old at that stage so it was still new for the area as we only had the BMX track and the bowl at the time.

Over the next 24 years that park found a special place in my heart and I know it did with many others as well. I went from a clumsy kid who crashed a lot to the proverbial 'king of the skatepark' and can't wait to see what the next generation has in store at our new skatepark."

I recall there being a strong BMX scene there when I first got my license and started travelling to ride skateparks, so around 2005. I can barely remember dudes names, but Cheezy was one of them, he drove that Chrysler 300C haha. You seem to be one of the few remaining OGs, can you talk to the scene and who was involved in maintaining it over time? 

"Morayfield has always sustained strong scenes of all sports not just BMX but a healthy skateboard scene early on (RIP T-Buns) to scooter riders not just sending it now but girls throwing it down on razor scooters in the mid 2000s. The local scene will always go through up's and downs but when a skatepark harbours and nurtures a scene the people stick around to keep on shredding.

The BMX scene in Morayfield was very self supported with only a local skateshop involved with putting on events and keeping the hype high with a cool shop to boot."

I suppose this piece arose in that the original park is now demolished with a new one in its place. I haven't been there yet, but assume it's your standard 'Convic' build. From my point of view, I loved the old style concrete. I suppose its partially due to it deteriorating over time, but the concrete finish at Morayfield was perfect for bikes, smooth but grippy, clean but not slippery, a little bit wonky in places, it was unique. What's your opinion on the old Vs new style of skatepark, specifically with Morayfield in mind? 

"I agree with all of your statements surrounding the cement surface and how the floods over the years had eroded under the 2ft banks, twisted the vert ramp approximately 1/2 a foot or more as well as cracks etc. I really liked the old park as it had flow, it could be ridden in different ways and could accommodate a large number of riders.

The new park's design looks really good and I can only trust Convic with the design. What I do hope to see from the future park is a skatepark design that supports a local scene of all sports that use less kindergarten obstacles and more advanced but accessible features as well as long ledges for me to no hander grind."

On the Morayfield scene, can you list some of the names of dudes who were genuine locals over the years?

"From the start, one name (besides mine) has been synonymous with Morayfield skatepark and that is Mykel "Perko" Perkins who dominated dirt contests and reigned supreme in the era before Corey Bohan and Ryan Guettler took the world stage. Between the jumps at his house, The Shadows and my brothers dirt jumps, the BMX scene was alive when I moved here in 1999, not just the dirt scene but the skatepark too.

Another rider that was truly amazing was my brother Brad, he had a mix of style that took from Mike Aitken and Chris Doyle and a bag of tricks to match both of them. His dirt jumps "The Bomber tree" even featured in 2020 mag with him doing a dipped 360 that one would mistake for a cash roll these days.

As the dirt scene faded away and the BMX scene started to die in the early 2000's there were only a handful of riders that kept Morayfield alive during that time, you mentioned Cheesy and he was there riding nights with Dave and Batsey keeping the stoke on BMX alive until the parks first resurface and rework for the spine and street section.

Come the mid 2000's the scene was still alive and kicking with new riders popping up constantly to get into riding but none was more of a pleasure to watch than a young Tom Stretton, fresh off roller blades in a pair of black McBeth shoes. He would go from scratch to one of my favourite riders ever to watch with his unique and graceful way of riding a bike. Tom's presence made every session that much more epic and the Sunday arvo sessions with the Tempered crew that went down were really awesome to be apart of having most of the skatepark filled with riders all sending it for the love of BMX.

After I came back from Adelaide for a few years working, the park was still going strong and a young Zac Dangerfield had certainly progressed a lot in his riding and it shows with the BMX power house he has become.

Another man who wasn't just a local at the park but also gave back to it as well was Matty D. He started up hot chip Sunday where we all chucked in change no matter what we had and we went and got chips so that all the kids/people at the park could have something to eat and keep the sessions going long into the afternoon.

The scene was the best when there was the Tempered crew, when Matty (Lawton) moved over from WA as well as crews from the sunny coast and Brisbane always showing up for the Sunday rides. Everywhere you looked there was bangers going down in all corners of the park. The stoke was soo high with riders like Jerry V doing the biggest 360 to fakies on the extension it was pure BMX back in those days and I hope the new park can bring those types of sessions back for the next generation.

There really are so many names to mention but a big shout out to everyone over the years who made Morayfield an amazing place to go no matter what they rode."

Perko was such a legend, I remember seeing him ride when I was super young and thinking he was the best biker ever, still is really. What was he like to hang out with?

"When I moved to Morayfield in 1999 it didn't take long for my brother Brad to build jumps about 100m from our house and the local BMX scene started showing up, from racers like Pogga cutting back our lips to arguably the best dirt jumper (i.e. Perko) in Australia 99-01. It was quite the surreal experience as a 13 year old to one day be riding with him then that next Saturday watching him on channel ten (PLANET X) winning NZ XAIR dirt. He was doing backflip turndown to x-ups, the wildest superman indian airs, suicide no handers that had the nose dipped and the hands stretched to the max, triple combos in 360s and he did a quad truck backflip then as well. 

Speaking of barspins, he once beat Ryan Nyquist in a game of barspins and that is quite the high accolade that any mid-school rider would agree with.

To ride with someone that was at such an elite level at a local scene was really an eye opener as it made me see that they are just a normal person that loves BMX like you and me. It made me want to put in the effort to get where they are and reap its rewards. I had an inside look onto what being pro was actually about (back then) and realised it is much more like a job than just being paid for riding your bike. That kept me focused on riding for myself rather than the fame of being sponsored.

Perko definitely had a large impact on my riding style with my love of barspins in my younger years as well as his suicide no handers that I envisioned into a double peg grind and no foot cans. Growing up around such a thriving dirt scene really was awesome and I encourage others to get out there and just build dirt jumps with your mates as it's as BMX as it gets really."

For many, a skatepark is a wonderful way to meet new faces and build a crew/scene. It certainly happened up my way with Beerwah and Caloundra. I'm wondering if that was your experience at Morayfield?

"Definitely, and in my younger days 10-20 of us would get on the train and travel 2 hours to ride Beenleigh or go ride Caloundra and Beerwah.

There was always local scenes to meet and go ride with and over the years nothing has changed both sunny and gold coast scenes are alive and strong all the way down the coast, it's so awesome to see."

Can you go into more detail about what it was like catching the train, who did you roll with and what did you guys get up to?

"Being the early 2000's, we would catch the old trains to Beenleigh to ride the skatepark (and dirt jumps at the time) and at times there was anywhere from 8-20 of us all crammed into a carriage, bikes piled high in the 4 seaters and noisey BMXers everywhere all looking at the latest BMX magazines and not our phones, it really was a precious time in BMX.

After catching the 8am train to the city we got off at Roma street for some maccas and a ride at Paddington skatepark before heading back to the train for a ride at Kuraby skatepark for a bit before moving onto Beenleigh for some lunch. We would often ride until the sun went down.

Back then we didn't care how long it took or where we had to go we just loved BMX and over the years, it really has opened the way to places you never thought you would end up or meeting people that end up life long friends long after bikes."

Can we touch on some of the more dramatic tales from your time at the park?

"Over the years there have been some quite dramatic stories to tell from lightning striking the power pole as Batsey was at the drink tap underneath to gang rivalry having our skatepark oiled so we couldn't ride it to major flooding allowing a giant python to swim around the skatepark to Andy Buckworth backflipping the funbox long ways. As well as plenty of NSFW tales.

But I think the day Tony Hawk came and skated our skatepark/vert ramp in the late 90's would have to be the best one as the skatepark was so full it was unbelievable."

Tell me more about Batsey and how he got struck by lightning?

"Daniel Batsey started riding with his brother Clay when I was in high school and even though he was 5 years younger we became good friends and would ride after school. During this time the previous generation of riders slowly drifted away and was down to a handful of riders left in the scene as our love of BMX kept us coming back day after day for more.

After a year the scene recovered with riders such as Cheesy coming into their own on a bike doing the wildest dipped 360s over the spine. It was riders like Batsey that helped keep the scene alive long enough for it to recover and hold steady for the next 10 years.

One day after school I was just about to leave when I heard a giant crack of lightning that seemed super close but got my stuff and left thinking nothing of it. I get to the skatepark and there is Batsey white as a ghost as the lightning strike hit the power pole above the drink tap as he was drinking from it, got showered with sparks and was still shaking 15 mins later."

I know we spoke briefly about your recent tendency towards unique grind combos. Can you add to that, in terms of describing what some of your dream grinds would be and what influences led to you taking this path? 

"A big influence on this style of riding came from Ruben Alcantaras' "Ruben" grind (Etnies 'Forward') which blew a lot of people's minds at the time as the first some people saw was a picture in a magazine and eventually learnt them opposite grinding on the back pedal.

That was my first grind combo 20 years ago and was only after my ACL knee surgery that I really started exploring grind combos starting with the no hand grind. It started with the fabled no hander lander double peg stall on a ramp, a staple mid school trick for any mini ramp rider and one I always dreamed of doing during a grind but always thought that it was near impossible, even for a pro. Mind you, we had 40 pound bikes and steel pegs so it was a challenge in itself to just ride the bike.

After a great deal of trial and error I figured out how to balance within the grind and throw a trick I had not done since I was a teenager - the suicide no hander. But, in a grind and not in the air and that led to various other tricks that I had done for years in the air to be done a few inches off the ground while grinding.

6 months to a year ago I would of had a handful of dream grinds to achieve but I think I may have done them all, so the next step is to do them on some real street and see how deep the rabbit hole goes with what I can come up with next.

One of my recent influences has been George Galyo (@cerebral_palsy_bmx_rider) for his really fun and unique whiplash stall that is far from an easy trick to master. I also find influence through @courage_oscar who is a freestyle rider from Benin in West Africa. Not only how refreshing his freestyle riding is, but how much he pushes himself to ride with only his own creativity and a bike."

What do you do for work and do you see BMX being integrated in your life/work into the future?

"Right now I'm currently in-between jobs so it has given me some more time to progress my riding further and work on my other hobby of making BMX videos which also drives my motivation to perform for the camera and document my pure progression as well relearning and mastering the plethora of tricks I've learnt over the past 25 years of BMX.

In the future I want to get into coaching as some of the amazing riders I rode with years ago (Nathan 'Lanky' Phillips and Vince Byron) have already had great success and it is really great to see the sport grow to the point riders can start to make a living of the sport they love.

I also want to take my filming/video editing to the next level and start producing some real quality BMX content as the riding scene in South East Queensland is off the hook currently and its especially a great time to be riding BMX in Brisbane thats for sure."

If the skatepark could talk, what would it say?

"Thanks for all the sessions, day and night, they all went off. From comps and jams to ghetto ramps and Tony Hawk airs. All good things must eventually come to an end, so don't crash out because it's over, get back up and send it again because it happened. Catch you's on the flipside."

Shall we close this thing out with some final words?

"I guess my final words would be that a skatepark can be many things to many people and Morayfield has been called many things over the years like the fountain of youth, a home away from home as you felt like you were apart of a bigger family no matter what you ride. Your scene is what you make it, so hold a jam with your friends or travel somewhere new, BMX is an adventure with no rules. Go ride."