We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andrew Crabtree. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andrew below.

Andrew , appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

The life of a person whole wants to make it in any sort of professional sport must be willing to take risks. My journey so far has been no different. What’s up everyone? I’m Andrew Crabtree, an up-and-coming street trials and mountain bike rider. I have many stories of risks I’ve taken but, one recent one stands out. In filming my most recent riding video, “Drew Crabtree’s DAYDREAM”, in this particular clip I wanted to hit a soccer ball with my bike to block a shot on goal. This required my bike to spin around my forks while I stand on my front tire, known as a footjam tailwhip. By swinging the frame around I would block the ball from going in the goal. This proved to be difficult. I recruited the assistance of my friend who is very skilled at soccer. We did a few test kicks, and it was time to fully commit to it. The first kick was a direct shot to my chest with the ball. A few years ago, I had an injury while riding which caused my chest to be impressed a bit. This causes some pain even to this day. I realized this was not going to be fun, but I needed to get that clip. The ball went whizzing right by my head the next attempt. Five attempts in I realized this was going to take a lot longer than I thought. A few more attempts in I was once again hit with the ball. It sent me plummeting to the ground, ripping my jeans on the way down. Dusting myself off, I was determined to land this. Many more attempts went by, missing the ball or me not catching the tailwhip. Finally, exhausted, I whipped that bike around one final time and landed on the pedals and rode off. I was thrilled and so was my filming crew. Constantly pushing myself and risking it all for the clip is tiring, but I love the process of progression. I push myself daily, risk it all to hopefully make it one day in the big scene.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For those who have never heard about me, I am a mountain biker from Ohio. Yes, out of the flat lands of Ohio comes a kid with a dream of making it big in the mountain bike scene. I am at The Ohio State University studying mechanical engineering. I fell in love with riding at Smugglers Notch Resort in Vermont. That was back in 2019 and over these five years I have learned and grown drastically. I make short content videos on Instagram under the tag of dctreemtb and for long content on youtube under the username DCtreeMTB. I film my progression, product reviews, and riding experiences. Most recently in my long content I released my newest riding edit called “Drew Crabtree’s DAYDREAM”, as the title eludes, I end up falling into a daydream which is of me riding on campus. I am very proud of this work, and I hope most importantly that it inspires others to get into riding. I have plans for future video projects with the brands I work with, and I am very excited for those coming up soon! I try to be as relatable as possible to those who are unfamiliar to riding in hopes of getting them into riding. You can find me on all major platforms under the name of dctreemtb. The best way to support me and my work is by watching my videos.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

As mentioned before, I am very passionate about inspiring others to get into riding. With kids glued to their screens, electronics and video games, kids aren’t outside like they used to. My greatest goal in riding and sharing it on social media is to get kids off their electronics and out riding bikes. I’ve partnered with a local non-profit, The Right Direction YDP which has a similar goal which is to teach life skills with kids through action sports. With my time with the organization, I have helped raise money to buy over 150 bikes for local deserving kids. With the support from TRD, I have been able to inspire kids and set that into motion. To find out how to support The Right Direction, search them up on facebook or instagram.

How did you build your audience on social media?

For many of my early years I would post whatever and not put much effort into it. My content did not grow or reach many people. In fall of 2023 I started a series where I did a specific trick until a pro rider, Danny MacAskill, followed me. I assumed this would not take very long, maybe a month, boy I could not have been more wrong. I posted every single day for a year until he followed me. Over that year I grew my account from 800 to 3k followers. My best videos acquired over 150k views. This journey was a great experience and helped me get recognized in the mountain bike community, I now focus on producing high quality short and long content videos that show case my skills and supporter’s products and most importantly, inspire others.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dctreemtb/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.crabtree.3388
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DCtreeMTB
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bikesboardsnboats

Image Credits

William Crabtree