Brock Hoyer & Russ Weibye: Pioneering Snowbiking, Timbersled Ambassadors & More

All right, hey, welcome back to another episode of the Sledder Cast podcast. We are once again in Island Park. The last time we were here was just a few weeks ago, honestly, at the Out West Sled Fest. We had Duncan Lee, and dude, your sleeve and his sleeve...

My boy. Yeah, they go hand in hand. Love that guy.

Yeah, we had him up here a couple weeks ago. They stayed with us and we shot around all over the place up here for a couple days.

Sweet, that's awesome. He's a good dude.

Both FXR guys, right?

Yep, for sure. There we go. My boy.

We're stoked. We had a wonderful day today. I've got Russ Weibye here and I've got Brock Hoyer, and I'm Trevor Erikson, host of the program. Make sure you like, subscribe, do all those things. Everything's in the description down below to make it super easy for you to do that.

We're going to talk today about what the heck you guys are doing in Island Park, Idaho, because you're from the other side of the state, and you're not from our country.

I'm from Canada.

So we're talking about what you guys are doing here in Idaho and what the next week looks like for you guys. Then we'll jump into Brock and some of the cool stuff he's done throughout his career, and Russ is with Timbersled, so I've got some fancy questions for him about the company.

Perfect.

So why don't we start off from the beginning, gentlemen. Why are you guys in Island Park? Why are you in our neck of the woods?

Well, I guess that comes back to me. I was in Canada racing X Games, a three-time medalist, and when COVID happened we kind of lost a lot of things. I was just trying to regenerate that spark. Every time I do a clinic or ride up there, I get lots of amazing people from the US saying, "Oh, I wish I was closer," or "I wish I could come up and ride, it's just so far away." So I was driving to work one day, I pitched it, and they loved it. It's kind of like, come down and just share the passion, right?

You guys got to see it today, why we do what we do. We love it. There's no fanciness behind it. It's just that collab that every sledder, snow biker and dirt biker knows: when you go ride areas with your friends, you just have a good time. That's what this is. We're going to carry it for a good amount of days, about a week, and just meet new people. Lots of people haven't got to meet me, so they can pick my brain, talk about setup and the cool things we have going on, and get people out, like you guys came out and had a great day today.

Get people on that are big in the sled industry, and then you guys get a true, good, full day. I feel like you guys had a good enough day that you might even get some snow bikes in your life here soon.

Absolutely. That's why we're here, just to have fun and share the passion and focus of the sport that snow biking is. It's a cool, upcoming, awesome sport. You've got to give it a go.

Yeah, and I feel like the snow bike community and industry is a pretty tight-knit group. Mack and I, there was no pressure at all. We started at our level, what we felt comfortable with, and however much we wanted to put the gas on, you guys let us do that.

There might have been a couple times we went a little tight in the trees for you guys, and I really apologize for that.

There was a spot right in the beginning where it was like, all right, it got tight. We are doing it.

No backing out now.

Yeah, we're in it.

I feel like sledding's been around for so long, it's such a great sport, and this is just a new revival with a different aspect. I remember 12 years ago having one of the first snow bikes in BC, way up north. We don't live in igloos, but way up there. People looked at it like it was a UFO, like, "What the heck is that?" That was a cool feeling. And now it's cool to see them all over my area, and I'm like, "Who's that guy? He's in my hometown and I don't know him." I'd love to know who they all are, and to see the innovation in the sport and the different companies.

I've been with Timbersled, I think this is going on 13 years. It's been a long time. I've been with them since 2010, almost day one.

Almost day one. So do you know anybody who has been on a Timbersled longer than you?

Yeah, there's a couple of old boys. Of course I'm in Canada, and the main spot was Sandpoint, where it originally started. There are a lot of guys there who had very easy access, and they were testing prototypes years before I got my first kit. I shouldn't call them old boys, but there are a bunch of guys who were ahead of me, enthusiasts who still love the sport, who have definitely been doing it longer than I have.

But Brock's definitely taking it to the next level, all day long. The passion is here. You saw it today.

Yeah. So what inspired you to pursue this path and get as deep as you have within the sport and the industry? This isn't your full-time thing, or is it your full-time winter?

I still work a little bit. I just try to slow work down so I can be more open for stuff like this, chasing storms and testing stuff for Timbersled. So I definitely don't work as much. It's still a job, and something I love to do, and I'm super appreciative of the opportunities I get, like this trip, to do stuff I'd love to do on my own anyway.

Here is how I got into this. I was racing motocross back in the day as a Canadian motocross factory rider. I had an IQ 440 Polaris race sled I tried for a year, because I was trying to find cross-training. Going to California for two months cost a lot, and we got tons of snow in Canada, so I figured I might as well find something I could do with it. Nobody really wanted to go race and make tracks with the race sled. Then a friend let me try one of the first snow bikes and I was hooked. I called Timbersled, gave them my Visa, didn't even ask how much it cost. I was just like, "Rack it up, ship it to me."

Then I got another athlete who was with Timbersled into it, and he got me in with the right people, the owner at the time, and it went from there. I never thought it was going to be where I am right now. I loved motocross, I wanted to do something like motocross, and this turned into a completely different level of amazing, fun people and relationships. It's been an awesome journey.

Is there something you can specifically remember that was the light switch?

Yeah. When I was on a dirt bike riding through tight trees overlooking God's country, I was like, "I want one." I'm passionate about dirt bikes, and I've sledded my whole life, not as much as most people, but I've always had sleds around with friends and cousins. I was on a setup that wasn't even set up well, I think it was a Husky, and I just tried it out and thought, there's something here. This thing is so cool.

At that time the ski was horrible. It was a 6-inch sled ski. The technology from then to now... I actually found one of my old kits and bought it back, because I wanted to hang it on the wall. Same VIN, all my stuff. I don't want to say what I did to it, but I was very abusive to that kit. It's on my wall, and people come over while I'm working on my new RIOT 3, look up and say, "Man, that thing is ancient."

It's cool to see how much the snow bike industry and Timbersled have stepped it up. What you rode today is dialed compared to what I rode 12 or 13 years ago. Going down the trail used to take full focus, and now you can ride one-handed and warm your hand up going down the trail. It's nothing. Watching the evolution has been amazing.

Cool, and to see where it started, the whole history of snow biking, to where it is now.

It's just building.

Whether it's biking or snowmobiling, winter motorized sport, I honestly don't know how anyone could not like it once they try it. There's nothing else in the world that takes you into the places you get to go.

And the experience and the feeling you have while you're doing it. Most people are on foot to get to these places.

Yep, or they're stuck to a trail to get to these places.

It's open zone, right? We jokingly call snowmobiling and sledding the poor man's helicopter, because most of the people who ever see that kind of terrain are in helicopters: heli skiers, search and rescue, whatever it is. We get to go into that country all the time. Today we had that vista, that mountain, the sun came out. Every time I see that, you've got to pinch yourself. People aren't hiking in there. And we just happened to get it right at the moment it came out. For me, twisting the throttle is a stress relief. Seeing the beauty up there just makes life good.

Totally does. So as far as your professional career goes, you've got a whole list of achievements. Within the snow biking space, if you had to put your mark on one of them, what would you say is the biggest thing you've achieved?

Of course X Games is such a big one, but to win the inaugural one, the first time ever they brought snow bikes in. I'd been pushing for it, saying I thought it'd be a good thing, for years prior. And then boom, we got an email: "Winter X Games Snow BikeCross is coming."

What year was this?

2017, the first year. I was kind of the picked guy to win, because we'd been doing lots of local racing in Idaho, your neck of the woods, and being a motocross guy, testing, and being part of Timbersled R&D, I knew more of the inside of the kits, what works and what doesn't. So much time, effort, blood, sweat and tears.

I'd just started with Rockstar Energy Drink, who helped me out a ton, and I sent my motor out to a guy I didn't know in Moline, Illinois. Junior Jackson built me this amazing motor, but we forgot about a certain part in the motor that needed more oil for a different style of high-compression piston. Long story short, I ended up blowing up my race bike literally a week and a half before heading down to Colorado to start acclimating in Leadville. It was panic: ordering parts, robbing motors out of my buddy's bike, all the stuff you'd never think about. You think everything goes perfect, and it was a complete disaster. Everything went wrong that I could think of.

We were able to piece that motor back together and dyno it in Colorado at the Yamaha dealer there. And then to go out and win, and have everything fall into place right when it needed to, that to me was the real key. Everyone kind of felt like I was going to win, but I still went down. I wasn't in the lead the whole time. Positions were getting swapped. It wasn't just me a whole lap ahead. It was a fight from the start to the finish.

My youngest kid was there, he was still a baby, so my wife, my crew and everyone were there to celebrate. It was a milestone in my career for sure.

That's awesome. It's definitely cool to have three medals. Is there anyone you competed against at the X Games that you still roll with? Have they stuck with it, or are they out in the backcountry?

Yeah, some of them are still racing snocross. My buddy Matechuk was a three-time gold medalist. I beat him in the first one, and then he beat me the next one. He's still snow biking, not as much as he used to, because everything's transitioned. There's less X Games, less racing, so he's more in the freestyle era now, doing something different, in the sense of what pays the bills for him. But he's still passionate about snow biking and still loves it. There are a couple other guys in the US who medaled in between us that I still chat with, but mostly Matechuk. I actually called him two days ago while I was driving down the road. I was bored and hadn't heard from him, so I was like, "Hey man, how's freestyle going?" And we caught up. He's on the competition too, so, you know.

Nice. There's no bad blood though, even with him on the competition?

I see where you're going with that. Yep, different kit.

What about challenges? Was there a challenge that almost knocked you out of the scene, or has it been pretty breezy for you?

I'm lucky. I'm a happy-go-lucky guy, and that's how I made it in moto. I've done US Supercross and qualified for the night show, never top 10 or anything like that. But I'm a happy-go-lucky guy, and I feel like that's how I made it as far as I did in Canadian moto. I am what I am. There's no hidden shell behind me.

Injuries, I guess, have definitely set me back. Before one of the X Games I was in a cast all the way up until December and literally had a month to hammer down. So there's been stuff like that, but I'd say I'm still feeling good. I know guys on snow bikes who are sending it and they're 10 years older than me, so I think I've got a long time. I feel like I can still give 'er and enjoy the passion, and hopefully soon my kids will be on snow bikes.

Awesome. So, kind of a super random question. When we knew we were going to be snow biking with Brock Hoyer today, of course we knew who you were, but I was like, I need to learn more about Brock and see what kind of guy we're dealing with. So we're YouTubing, Googling, finding all the podcasts you've been on, and I landed on The Way Home video.

Oh yeah, that's a good one. Other than X Games gold, that one was super fun. My favorite thing to film. Keep going.

The question I have is, did you have to shut down the town to do that video? Because there's literally no one there.

Yeah, not a public person there. It took a lot of time. From start to finish, from first talking about it in a corner to getting producers to pull the trigger, it was two and a half years. We did a teaser because we wanted to keep certain sponsors in and excited. Then it was the permits. And we got lucky. We planned it about a year out, for a week starting around February 5th, and it didn't snow and didn't snow, and then literally the day we showed up it nuked. Reset. And we had five days of bluebird to shoot it.

The funny thing in that shoot was I destroyed my kit, my RIOT, on the first day of shooting. On that sea can jump where I whip over the sea can, the third time I did it I landed funny, ended up onto the road, and the drivetrain just bent in half. Anyone at Timbersled knows the back story. I hammered that thing straight with a hammer and shot the whole video, three more days of gnarly riding, jumping groomers, jumping on the train, a couple little dances in there. You couldn't tell. I straightened it out and rode it.

But back to the story. We had permits, and we had the RCMP, the police officers, there, and traffic workers too. We shut down sections, filmed them, moved on to the next section and shut it down. Then we'd bring in certain extras, people walking down the street, to make it look abandoned.

The shot through the mountain bike shop was totally last minute. They heard us on the street and the owner came out and said, "Hey, why don't you ride through our shop?" We said okay, so I rode through the shop. In some of those spots you can tell I have a wheel kit on, because of course it's asphalt.

That all came from one of our athletes, Levi LaVallee. He does a lot of cool stuff on sleds like that, and other Red Bull athletes do similar stuff on skis and mountain bikes. I didn't know how to do it or what we needed, but I was like, man, it'd be so cool. I want to do a snow bike version.

For the sawmill shot, I went there the day before we shot it and asked the guy, "Hey, you've got some cool stuff. Do you think we can ride over your roof?" And he said, "Yeah man, I'll go plow it out." He plowed it out, fired up the whole sawmill, got a worker in, and we shot it. The sea can was on the same property, and he let me go over his roof. I'm like, man, this guy's awesome.

That's a lot of moving parts, and it was all stuff that just fell into place. I know lots of people in Revelstoke. It's such a great community. My buddy would know that buddy, and everyone was super stoked about it. It was funny, after I shot that there, everyone thinks I live in Revelstoke, because I'm there a lot. People are like, "Hey man, I want to ride in your hometown," and I'm like, I don't live there, I'm about five hours away. But it was a cool shoot. My favorite shoot.

It's awesome. So if you haven't seen it, go YouTube The Way Home, Brock Hoyer. It's money. So what would you say is your next biggest move? What cards have you got?

I've been pitching to Timbersled that I want to do a world record distance jump. I don't know if I should say that on a podcast, because some other athlete will pick up on it.

But it was your idea first.

I've been wanting to do something fun. Guys like Paul Thacker, I look up to him. He's a Polaris athlete as well, a Monster rider, and he's done some of that cool stuff. I think it'd be cool in the backcountry, snow to snow. There are riders like me and other guys who've done gnarly sends, but it's never been recorded. Of course we'd never get to dirt bike distances, but it'd be cool to put a number out there, set a level, and see if someone can beat it. A world first, right?

Everyone was always saying I should backflip it, and Turcotte, another one of our Polaris athletes, flipped it first. He called me right away: "Get it on video." I was like, good for you, man, no sweat. I'm not a flipper. I like to ski, I like to do big whips and whatnot, but freestyle just isn't my thing. It was so cool to see him pull it off. It's funny, in moto I get this question all the time. I say I race motocross and they ask, "Oh, do you do backflips?" No, I race on a track.

So maybe you heard it here first. I want to do more, and this trip is a good kick toward that. I've met tons of new people. I'd never hung out with any of these guys before, and we're having a great time. That's what it's all about.

Oh, I wouldn't have known that.

No, I met them yesterday. But everyone shares that same passion, so the camaraderie is right there. It makes it easy. We can joke with each other right away like we've known each other for 10 years.

By the way, I've met you in Sandpoint before.

No problem, dude. I've bonked my head a couple of times, so call it that. It's all good. I think you are right. I'm bad with faces and names.

You just make me feel like a butthole.

You just have to make sure you're following him. Do you have a Kleenex? I kind of need one.

I feel like there's more coming. The crews are starting to get younger and doing gnarly stuff, so I don't know what the limit is. I'd love to get into doing some movie stuff. That's what I'd love to do. There's lots of potential. I've always said, like those Bond scenes in the snow where everyone's got machine guns on the handlebars, snow bikes would be sweet.

Let's do a snow bike and a sled. Dude, that'd be right up your alley, from the time I spent with you today. I told you, you're a little pinball machine, man. Just boom, boom, boom, all over the place.

Tom Cruise, big fan. He did his own stunt where he bailed off the bike and dropped down. I'll do that with a snow bike. Let me in, let's go.

You've got to get Vin Diesel. Remember, he did the snowmobile stuff.

That's right. There are lots of areas for that.

I'll shave your head.

Yeah, I'd gain weight for that shot if I had to.

I don't know. You pulled your hat off earlier today and the first thing that came to my head was Elvis. You've got the business in the front, party in the back.

I needed a haircut. I got so busy trying to get everything ready for this trip. I'm looking like an alpaca.

I think the mullet is coming back anyway.

And then you put a perm in there and you're right on track.

With the perm. You should see my seven-year-old. He had a mullet that killed mine. He could wrap it around, it was curly, and he got compliments all the time. It's a thing right now. And then he wanted it cut, so it was gone. It was a sad day.

No rat tail?

No, it was long. It was flow.

Growing up in Australia, I literally had a huge rat tail.

Yeah, but that was a thing back then.

I had hair back then too, so there was that.

So Russ, you're with Polaris, right?

I'm with Timbersled.

My bad. So tell us what you do. What is your role, what are your responsibilities at Timbersled?

Myself and Trevyn Newpher, we're the captains. Ambassador captains.

And if I were to look at that description online, what would it tell me?

We're kind of the liaisons between corporate and all the ambassadors.

Corporate and someone like Brock?

Not necessarily Brock. A lot of it is just the ambassadors.

Okay, so let's make that distinction right there. Brock's the big cheese.

Yep, big cheese right here.

I get to do gnarly stuff all the time, high-five fenders, and these guys capture it, and we just have a good time.

So our big thing is keeping all the ambassadors in check, plus media and all that sort of stuff, and putting on rides. Trevyn and I have been with it so long, I think we were the first ambassadors.

So you guys were the first ambassadors, and now you're captains.

We were in the first group, and I've been there long enough, since Polaris took over.

Absolutely. And honestly, on this trip those guys have done an unreal job. They planned it, figured out the guys and girls coming with us and what we're doing. They've been crucial. I'm just the typical athlete who shows up like, "What do I have to do?" They figured out the step-by-step itinerary and how to fit everyone in. These guys are definitely the gatekeepers. They keep everything rolling and people happy and having fun.

Yeah. We're back here at the cabin lodge, and Trevyn's over there banging it out right now. He's working.

He's editing today for the next day.

And they're both shredders too, but they're working this week. That's awesome. And I appreciate you guys bringing the snow. It is still nuking outside.

I brought it from Canada. We didn't get any, but it was heading for the border and I turned it around and said, "Follow me."

I'm telling you, I rode Pilot Peak and Idaho City on Sunday. This is amazing compared to what we have over there. It's just not there yet.

Six days ago, right here where we are, compared to what it's like now, it's night and day. So that's you guys.

Oh, heck no. But sometimes cool things just work out.

Yeah, the snow started dumping the night before we showed up, and we were like, nice, this is awesome.

Honestly, the one thing Trevyn and I do is bring a fellowship with the ambassadors. We try to put on rides and get involvement, and that's what it's all about, because we're trying to get content and get people out in the sport. Some guys are more into the jumping and the videos. I'm the guy who gets the butts on the seats. Everyone's got a different role. I'm lucky enough to be called a captain, same as Trevyn, and I wouldn't give it up for anything. I'll do anything for Timbersled.

Especially in such a new sport. And Trevyn is at a spot in his life where he's done well and doesn't need to work. He does this because he loves it. That's what's cool, to see guys come in who just love to do it. They'll drop work at a day's notice and say, "I'm out, let's go do this." It makes it work really well.

It makes the sport work.

So Russ, are there 10 ambassadors for Timbersled? Are there 50?

I think right now we're at about 20.

I think we're at 28 right now.

28.

And is it up in the air every year? Hey, let's look at the numbers, look at location, maybe we add one, maybe we add five. How does that work?

It's totally on the year. When COVID and all that went down, a lot of weird stuff happened. When people start exiting, they want to replace them. But it's also driven by where you're located. Nobody needs 10 different ambassadors out of one city.

Is it just Canada and the US?

Yep, that's it. We have a couple of Canadian ambassadors in the cabin tonight too.

We've got a couple in Canada who didn't make it, and they're a little upset with me. There are more US guys here that you'll see in the snow, otherwise they would have been here. They blame me for telling them last minute. So I told them we'll make it right and do something cool in Canada, a little simpler, maybe a little ride, something like that.

The bottom line is that bringing everyone together is awesome. It shows the passion. We have people who drove from Canada, and we're going to meet people in Salt Lake City. They're all coming in, dropping some of the stuff at their jobs, and they're going to come hang and ride and have a blast. That's what it's all about.

Brock, you might be able to help with this question, since you've probably seen a bunch of people come in and out, and through your other dealings in the industry. What kind of human does Timbersled usually look for?

They want everybody, but...

I feel like you're right, they want everybody. But you have to watch it. I don't know what the exact wording is, but you just have to be genuine. Honestly, just a genuine person. That's what it comes down to. Helping people when they need help, saying good things about others, not talking down other stuff or products. Posting positive stuff, cool stuff, not bad stuff. You can't go out there and show a whole bunch of negative stuff and bad habits. You really have to keep an eye on your social media. That's what it is.

I look all the time. I look on a daily basis at the ambassadors and who's saying what, and there are a few other ambassadors who do this daily too. I look at everybody.

So it's almost like your first level of entry. You may be an awesome individual, but if you don't have that right out of the gate, you aren't getting through.

Motocross is a perfect example. I don't want to say names, but there were big national guys who were unreal fast, won championships and rode for factory teams, but off the races they were doing bad things: rolling rental cars, partying late, not taking their job seriously. Eventually it ended. And he was a really good guy, he just made some poor decisions. I know other sponsors, in situations where someone's posting that kind of stuff, will tell them, and if it keeps going, maybe they pick someone different next year and give that person some time to grow and make better decisions.

I think the biggest thing is being positive, and that's all I tell my guys. Heck, I've caught our own ambassadors posting or saying something, or an ambassador's husband.

Yep. And I'll call them quick and say, "Hey man, you should take that down." I don't need to do that, it's not my job, but I look out for anyone I can help. And they'll be like, "Oh yeah, I never thought of it like that. I'll take it down." Sometimes it just takes a reminder. It wasn't done maliciously, something just comes out. I've been on the phone going, "Just tone it back. There's another way of doing it."

Like I said, it's all about being positive. Timbersled is after positive athletes and positive people. They want to surround themselves with positive and get away from all the negative junk. There are too many keyboard warriors now. They hide behind it, and then you see them in person and they won't even look at you. It honestly takes more work to be a bad person than to just smile and be good.

be yourself and try to make other people better. I have a tattoo on my arm that says "Justify Your Existence." My way of doing that before I leave this earth is to try to help people, and if it's even only one person, make it better before I leave. That's how I look at it. Being an athlete is a lot like that. Lots of kids look up to me, and I try to help in whatever ways I can. Being an ambassador is the same thing. You're not trained for it, you don't go to school for it, it's not a career. It's something you've been taught in your life. And if you don't get help with your stuff, you can still enjoy the sport. You don't need that title.

And ambassadors buy their stuff. If anyone thinks they get it all handed to them on a platter, they do not. You're still buying your stuff. But we've had ambassadors climb up the totem pole, in a sense, and they're now athletes. You show that good foot over and over, and eventually someone says, "You know what, let's give him a chance, or her a chance."

Where's that line typically? If I'm an ambassador and I'm climbing, where is the line where it's like, hey, we could probably look at this person as an athlete?

I think they look at how they've contributed, what they've done and what their abilities are.

And consistency. Huge thing.

Carri Barton was awesome, and for her to jump to the athlete side is phenomenal. She's legit. She's been doing good things for years.

And I feel like the biggest thing isn't that you have to be out there doing gnarly stuff. It's watching your progression as a rider and helping people. Someone's on a group chat saying, "Hey man, I have this problem," and even if you don't know the person, you fill in: "I've had good luck with this, try this." Stuff like that.

And bring value. Just be a good person and be helpful. Dude, I've helped so many. They'll hit me up on Instagram and ask questions. I'm here to help anyone. That's what we're here for. And if I can't find the answer, I've got numbers I can call. I don't have the answer all the time, but we can find out the info all day long.

I know it's a cliche thing to say, and people say it all the time, but it's so true: you can take 20 years to build up a good reputation, and with the status you're at, it's like you're playing with fire in your hands. You could take, what, 12 or 13 years of building up and wash it down the drain in a heartbeat. You say something to someone in a DM, they screenshot it, and boom, you're done. Just like life, I guess. You just have to have a grasp on it.

Even an example for me: you guys have seen me off air, I might tend to swear a little bit, but I can turn it off when I need to. That's just my Canadian vocabulary. But I know when I need to shut it off and be professional. I'm self-aware enough to know the setting I'm in.

You know your surroundings, like, hey, there's kids here.

Yeah, because I've got kids myself, I get it. I've just got a trucker mouth, I guess, from being a mechanic.

On the ambassador side, what level of commitment or responsibility does an ambassador have once they accept that position?

Mainly what we were talking about: check your posts and be positive. And I'll be honest, one of the big ones, which he brought up briefly, is to get out of the political stuff. We all have our own...

Yeah. In my contracts, like my Yamaha contract, I can't talk about it, and I don't want to. People send memes, and everyone has their own opinion, and I just stay out of it. There's no right or wrong. They're not telling you that you can't have an opinion, but you don't need to share it. Someone could vote for a certain person, and someone else voted for a different person, and then you have a thing. So it's just better not to. I honestly don't care to talk about it. I'll watch it and have my opinion behind closed doors, like me and you talking, but that's it.

I'm good with that. We're all individuals and we all have our own opinions, but I had to lay it out there.

I'm pretty sure even Polaris has it in my contract too. There are just things you can't talk about, like knowing certain things are coming. Nor do I want to waste the energy on what the world is going through right now. I want to talk about snow bikes and having fun and enjoying this trip, stuff I can actually control. I can give my opinion, but it isn't going to change anything. I just want to get people unstuck, show them the sport I love, and try to convince them they love it too.

And send it off of rocks, all sorts of stuff.

Maybe don't do that. Leave that up to me.

Are there any interesting initiatives coming up from Timbersled over the next couple of years? I know most of that stuff is locked down.

Can't say anything.

But how about this. That kit we were riding out there today, from your perspective, what could possibly get better?

Dude, I tell them that all the time. I'm like, "Oh, you could do this," and then they'll show me next year's thing and I'm like, huh, never even thought of that. That's why those guys do what they do. I'm the guy who does the silly things off of rocks and jumps. The engineers, guys and girls, can see through it and understand. I tell them, "I have a problem," or "I need this to do this," but I'm drawing with crayons, and they have a full scan they can turn on the computer. I've got Crayola crayons going, "Do this," and they're like, "What?" So it's cool to have a team, and we have a great team of guys and girls who make cool stuff. We have to juggle through the economy, people, teams and riders and all that, but they want to be competitive as well.

Because there are other snow bike manufacturers. What are we at right now, like eight?

I think it's less than that.

Seven.

Seven kits. There are a couple in North America, one Canadian, one Russian, and I think something else. But it's cool to see all the competition. It makes it better. It makes everyone better.

100%. If there was only one team, only Timbersled, no.

Having competition is cool. If you're only racing yourself, you're never going to get better. You need to be innovative and look for new stuff. I'll put it this way: I know they're doing it. I know the guys who are doing it.

They're doing it.

That's easy. Well, cool. You guys still have a lot of work to do tonight and a full day tomorrow, so I respect your night here. You've got a nice comfy cabin. But we ask two questions to everyone on the podcast. I gave Russ a heads up, so I'll let him go first, and I'll ask the questions so you have some time to think about them.

The first one is pretty easy. You have a new Timbersled kit. If you could only do three things to it, what are the first three things you're doing?

Oh, that's easy.

That's the easy one, I'm teeing that up for you. The next one is: what is one thing that almost all of your followers don't know about you? We're talking a secret, man.

Like that one secret. Friends or followers?

Followers.

Followers? Okay, that's easy. I've got a bunch of those.

Actually, I could answer for him too. I'd never met him before, except in Sandpoint.

Okay, so we'll start with Russ. You've gone through a ton of kits, and you have a ton of kits every year. What are the first three things?

A thermostat is one of the biggest ones. That's pretty standard for any snow bike. You've got to do it. Then it's also a budget thing, whether you want to go TSS, a strut kit or a fit kit. There's no right or wrong answer, they all rock. I've had kits with no TSS in the back, just a strut, no suspension, and they all rock. Handguards for me, because we do a lot of trees. And hand warmers, that's a big thing for me.

Like today. Did you get cold hands? I did not get cold hands today.

You had heated bars.

I believe I got cold hands the only other time I went, so I must not have had heated bars, or I didn't turn them on.

This is on, that's off. They were on today, because I know I checked.

It was comfortable. You absolutely took care of us. I appreciate it.

Dude, I told you, you've got to come.

So did you get three of them?

I got thermostat, handguards, heated handguards and the suspension stuff. There are so many, the list goes on, but those are my tops. If you don't do a thermostat, I'm not saying it won't run, but it's going to be a problem. And actually, an intake, thermostat and an intake are probably the most important ones.

Okay, so I'm going to say you can't use any of his.

What? That whole time he was talking, I wasn't even thinking about what he was saying. I was going over my one, two, three, four, five, six.

Maybe we can... no. Okay, let's do it.

I'll do the same. I'll do my three, and some of it's his, and then I'll try to spin off of those.

Something that's a little more unique to you.

For me, for comfort, I'd definitely do the thermostat, heated bars and a seat.

Yep, seats in there.

Seats are huge. A Seat Concepts seat, man. When they get frozen, just for comfortability, to get you going.

But he touched on like 16 things.

And I can't touch any of them.

I didn't even say intake.

You did say intake. Those words came out of his mouth.

Out of his mouth, dude.

He did like 16 things, so he may have broken the rules. The first three things he said were thermostat, heated bars and TSS.

TSS.

So for me it would be an intake, no matter what brand or manufacturer. There are tons out there now. I'm going to switch subjects for a second: when we first started snow biking, there was nothing. We built everything. We were pioneers, forging stuff. Now you can go to a shop and order it. It costs money, but you get nice stuff. With my stuff, we were building things, wrapping intakes, trying to get warm air. I remember using zip ties. It wasn't pretty, but it worked.

So intake, and tools, because you're always going to tinker, and for when you break down. A tool set, no matter what manufacturer or kit brand you have. There are things you can't control. Maybe you hit your peg on a rock and it's bent some way, and you've got to figure out how you're going to bend it back.

It depends if you also want to be an individual. What about a Deviant wrap?

That's what I was thinking too.

That's actually in the rules. You can't say wrap.

That kind of makes you, though. I'm superficial, so that's actually high up for me, because I've got to be different from the next guy.

Another one is a light. It's super key. Bikes don't come with lights, sleds always do. Some people won't run the handlebar light like we do. They'll just run a GoPro-style click-on light. I run both, because those night rides get gnarly.

I don't know what else. I feel like those are the main things to get you going. Pegs, C3 pegs. Having wider pegs is really key. Both bikes you guys rode today had C3 pegs. A lot of it is just comfortability. It doesn't make the bike perform better, but at the end of the day you come back and you're like, that was nice.

Sure. Okay, that's a good list of things. Last and final question. You ready?

Yep.

Russ, what's that dirty little secret that no one knows about you, that you're opening up right here on the Sledder Cast podcast?

It's not a dirty little secret, but I'm an Australian citizen as well as a US citizen.

What?

We tried to get him to talk in the accent the whole episode, but he wouldn't.

So you have dual citizenship.

Yep.

So he can smack kangaroos.

I've got a mom and stepdad over there. I've got family over there.

How often do you go over there?

We were over there last November. We try to go on a yearly basis. COVID was a little bit of a struggle.

I'd love to go there. It's just so far away.

I know, right?

I've heard things. I think my wife's sister went, and it was awesome.

Everyone I've ever known who's gone works on ranches and does all kinds of cool things. It's super cool. All the stories my best friends told me were unreal. I think they were there for a month and went around the whole island, or the whole country, I guess.

No, it's a big island.

Oh, big island. Yeah.

Okay, all right, so we've got an Australian here. All right, Brock.

Hoyer is not my first last name.

Snap. Let's turn this off right now. What the heck? You've been playing this the whole time?

Hoyer is my mother's maiden name. Rouse was my father's, R-O-U-S-E, and most people don't know that. Even some of my friends don't know that. My dad tried to be in my life, but he wasn't really there. It's the same way I became a mechanic. I was racing dirt bikes and it was fight or flight: fix your stuff or don't race. That's how I became a mechanic. He tried to help, he put some money toward some of my bikes, but my mom and her family, the Hoyers, did everything.

Even in high school I was calling myself Hoyer, and everyone in the school called me Hoyer, until the provincial exams, when the principal steps up and says, "Brock Rouse," and everyone's like, "Who the hell is that?" Me and all my friends were like, "What?" They didn't even know.

I had to do the same thing a woman does when she gets married. I had to wait, because he wouldn't allow it. He's still in my life, he sees the kids, and he doesn't quite agree with me doing it, but he understands. When I turned 19 I was eligible to change my name, so I went through the whole process, like anyone who gets married and wants to change to their significant other's name, the whole rigmarole. But everyone already knew me as Hoyer, so it didn't really change anything other than my license and my passport. So that's something that no one knows.

Nice. Thanks for sharing that, that's awesome. Gentlemen, the night is still young for you guys, with lots ahead. Appreciate you guys so much.

We got a call like three days ago, I think, that was all it was: "Hey, if you want to take part in this, get your butts up to Island Park Thursday." Our mutual buddy was installing a wrap these guys produced on my bike, and I was sitting there talking to Trevyn, and Mack came up. I said, "We're calling him right now." He was coming back on a plane from New York. It all flowed, dude, just like this whole trip. It's funny how things like that just work into place and click. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be.

Yep. Okay, all right. Obviously we know where to follow you guys on Instagram. Not Brock Rouse. It's @brock_hoyer.

Yep, Brock Hoyer.

We'll make sure we tag that appropriately. And Idaho Snow Biker.

Yeah, Idaho Snow Biker.

Here we go. Follow along on the journey, snow bikers. When this goes live, these guys will be long gone out of our territory, but follow the journey and we'll see you on the next episode.

Awesome. Thanks, buddy.