JORDAN “JORDY” SCOTT

With an intro like that, we wanted to reach out to Jordy ourselves to ask her a few questions and learn more about her transition, goals and impressions of mountain biking compared to growing up racing BMX.

TLW: WHEN YOU WERE RACING BMX, WERE YOU AT ALL AWARE OF MOUNTAIN BIKING, OR WHAT THAT TYPE OF RIDING WAS LIKE?

Jordan Scott: During my BMX years, I had almost always been familiar with the slopestyle side of things because I would go to Woodward West every summer. I loved riding the dirt jumps all week and ended up making friends with many of the current up and coming slopestyle riders like Garret Mechem (Lil Rojo) and Owen Marks (O-bro). I even remember seeing Nicholi the first summer I went. When I was around twelve, I built up my first dirt jumper and went to Woodward for their mountain program instead of BMX; that was a big turning point for me. I spent countless weekends riding at local dirt jump spots after that initial taste of slopestyle and have enjoyed it ever since.

Some people would argue that slopestyle doesn’t truly represent mountain biking, so I’d say my first real experience was at Whistler on the way back from one of the BMX World Championships when I was around fourteen. My dad, brother, and I spent the week up there and went full jerry with the rental gear and all. I can specifically remember going down my first green trail through the trees and having the time of my life; I had never rode something that was longer than thirty seconds long, so the endless trails at Whistler were mind blowing to me. Over the next couple years I found myself following more and more BMXers who had made the transition to mountain biking and enjoyed watching World Cup live streams and the Crankworx events.

TLW: GROWING UP AT SUCH A COMPETITIVE AND HIGH LEVEL IN BMX, ARE YOU ATTACKING MOUNTAIN BIKING THE SAME WAY, OR IS THIS MORE OF A FUN RACING OUTLET TO KEEP YOU ON THE BIKE AND ENJOYING TWO WHEELS?

JS: My competitive nature makes it almost impossible for me not to put my all into mountain biking and take it seriously, but I definitely think I am having more fun this time around. In BMX, it was difficult for me to progress past a certain point because I felt like it had no value in my actual racing; quad manualing down a straight wasn’t exactly going to help me win races. My absolute favorite thing about mountain biking is how progressive it is, almost every time I get on any of my bikes I learn something new that I can apply to some aspect of my riding.

I definitely have found that I prefer the multi-discipline events over the hard-core World Cup racing, though. I love riding downhill and competing in it at certain events, but I don’t think I will ever find myself at the top of the World Cup circuit. The risk versus reward in committing to downhill racing isn’t worth it for me; I find enjoyment in progressing on all of my bikes.

TLW: THE BIO ON YOUR WEBSITE SAYS THAT JUST BEFORE ENTERING THE ADULT DIVISION OF PRO BMX RACING YOU SUFFERED A PRETTY SERIOUS BRAIN INJURY. COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT THAT AND HOW IT’S AFFECTED YOUR CAREER, LIFE AND GOALS AROUND RACING?

JS: That traumatic brain injury was actually the turning point for me that ultimately made me switch from BMX to MTB, so it was a pretty pivotal event in my life. At first, this concussion didn’t seem much different than any of the other ones I had, but when I started to try to ride again things went downhill, no pun intended. The best way I could describe what I was feeling was like having the worst migraine of your life for two weeks straight. I went back to my concussion specialist and was diagnosed with Post Concussion Syndrome (PCS), which is basically the recurring symptoms of a concussion months and even years after it has occurred. These symptoms can be triggered by stress, sickness, or even a seemingly small jolt to the head. Some of the issues I had were loss of taste, lack of peripheral vision, heart rate irregularity, terrible balance, mood changes, lack of motivation, and lots of headaches. I went to physical therapy for 3 months following that diagnosis and was able to get back on my BMX bike for the World Championships where I crashed in the main and got 7th. A couple weeks later, the guys at Hyper asked me if I wanted to come up to Whistler for Crankworx to try out some of the new mountain bikes. I was stoked to go, had an awesome time, and actually got 4th in Pump Track my first year racing it.

After that initial experience of mountain bike competition, I was in a really tough situation. I had been training at the Olympic Training Center for two years prior to the incident, and had my eyes set on turning pro the following year and committing myself to trying to pursue the Olympics in 2020 or 2024. Despite this, many doctors had told me that pursuing BMX at that level was not wise with my head injury due to how risky it is with seven other people on the gate. I made the decision to leave BMX behind and take on mountain biking where if I crash, it is my own fault and I can go at my own pace. I am also sure to wear a helmet that I am confident will keep me as safe as possible at all times, even if I’m just bouncing around in the parking lot.

TLW: What has been the biggest struggle in your riding since coming back from that injury?

JS: Surprisingly, my biggest issue since coming back to riding from that injury has been my heart rate. It affected something in my brain called the Vagus nerve and it is supposed to regulate heart rate. My doctors have theorized that my Vagus nerve has the slightest delay, and when my brain realizes this it makes that nerve go haywire and tells my heart rate to speed up when it doesn’t need to. This might not sound like a huge issue, but almost all of my initial physical therapy was spent trying to fix this; my heart rate used to go from 90 sitting down to 150 standing up. We got it as under control as we could, but my heart rate still runs really high and it is nearly impossible for me to do low intensity exercise. It honestly doesn’t affect my riding that much but looking down at my Garmin on a casual trail and seeing my heart rate is at 195 is a little scary. My vision is something I have really struggled with as well since this injury. My prescription doubled and I’ve had to go back to ocular therapy multiple times when things have got out of whack from being sick or stressed. Sometimes it scares me that riding my bike has given me these long-term issues that I could struggle with forever, but I try to manage my risks wisely and not do anything too stupid on my bike.