Blog
Van Life - Jim Monro's Dyfi...
15 July 2025 /
23-year-old Jim Monro grew up on a bike. Moving to Dyfi without his family was a huge step for the 16-year-old from Dartmoor, but through the last seven years, riding his bike and progressing his skills have remained fundamental, and his super close-knit Dyfi family have been with him all the way. He is a founder member of the Dyfi Dig Crew, the Red Bull Hardline build team and of course, Shredmansion! He can boast a two year stint on the World Cup circuit with the Continental Atherton race team and is a veteran of three Hardline Finals (the fourth event in 2024 cut short after THAT crash).
Jim’s lifestyle isn’t for everyone but he says that...“Van-life in the Dyfi summer is sick; the whole reason we live in Dyfi is to ride, that comes before everything else!”
JM: I first rode mountain-bikes with my uncle in Scotland when I was 5 or 6, I loved it straight away and after that I was always messing around on bikes, hardtails, BMX it didn’t matter as long as it was on 2 wheels. I came to watch Red Bull Hardline with my mum in 2015 and moved up here soon after.
My first home in the Dyfi was with local legends Jan and Andy Taylor, they really looked after me. Then when I was 17 or 18 I moved into the OG Shredmansion with the boys. It was in Rach’s old house in Aberangell, we rented it while she tried to sell; definitely a high spot, we were all 17/18 years old and living to ride our bikes, it was mad.
The Shredmansion has changed about a bit over the years but there’s always been a core crew of us, we’ve lived in a few different zones around Dyfi. After Rach’s we all lived in one caravan, then there was some sofa-surfing for a bit, we lived in a field for a summer, moved into Gee’s place in Mach and back into the vans again. I’ve had the same van since I was 18 so I’ve always had a back-up if the house or wherever we’re living at the time doesn’t work out. We’ve always been on a super tight budget as well because the whole reason we live in Dyfi is to ride! The riding has always come before the work haha! Van life is sick, deffo would still move back to the original Shredmansion if we could though; maybe one day we’ll be able to afford the ultimate pad with everyone but it’s unlikely.
We’re just at a local farmer's place at the mo with a good li’l crew of mates in vans and caravans, it’s sick. It will do us for summer, then hopefully get a bit more of a dialled setup for winter as Dyfi is a gnarly place at that time J. Last couple of winters, I’ve escaped to New Zealand for the season, but I’ve been in and out of the van since I first moved here, basically.
Getting the call up for Hardline in 2021 was insane. I was 19 and pretty inexperienced and suddenly I’m racing in the event I’ve been dreaming of doing for years.
Dan and Gee had always joked that I’d ride it some-day but I never took them seriously. Then two weeks before the race Dan rocked up with his A200, told me I was riding and gave me his bike to ride it on!
Getting selected for the Atherton Race team in 2022 was mad as well, I feel like that was a big achievement … it was a sick experience and I learnt a lot in those two years but I think more recently I’ve just started enjoying riding for myself and doing what I wanna do. I love just riding with my mates and working on projects like videos that I can look back on and be stoked with in years from now. It’s kinda back to the whole reason I wanted to ride bikes in the first place, not getting stressed on results and not enjoying the riding if you’re not doing well. For me I just like riding my bike, progressing and having fun with it.
I dunno if I like labelling myself as a “Freerider” ,“Freeracer” or “Parkrat” or whatever, I’m just happy to be riding for the reasons that get me stoked. There are still a few people that really inspire me to ride and create stuff, not necessarily all bike riders; there’s loads of sports that come with a similar vibe like skating, moto, surfing, BMX and snow stuff. I hope I can inspire others to go ride and get stoked on the stuff that we put out.
People still talk about the Canyon Gap crash in 2024. I was pretty beat up. To be honest it still scares me to think about it, it was pretty gnarly, but I feel like I’ve learnt a lot from that experience and I’m glad to come out of the other side all good.
Saying that, I’ve always loved Hardline because it was the first event that I saw when I was younger that I really wanted to do. It’s always been a nice vibe for me; we live down the road and build the track every year, it feels like home with everyone supporting each other and having a sick time on bikes; I’m stoked to be back on for more this year.