Nanaimo man turns home into mountain biking paradise
To appreciate how Reece Wallace ended up riding his bike off the roof of his three-storey house — and what happened after — we need to go back to when he was a boy.
“I was a cautious daredevil,” Reece smiles, recalling how he regularly cycled around the neighbourhood, riding down long flights of stairs and jumping over high curbs. “I was pushing myself, but then trying not to kill myself.”
While the boy wanted to be either a biker or a pilot when he grew up, he definitely dreamed of having an expansive playground in his backyard.
“My mom always said, ‘If you want something bad enough, you’ll make it happen,’” Reece says.
So Reece started working a series of jobs at fast-food restaurants to save money to achieve his goals.
Over the next decade, he earned his pilot's licence and became a professional free-ride mountain biker. Then Reece focused on finding thing perfect property.
“I was like this soil feels awesome,” Reece recalls picking up a handful of dirt on a rural lot with a steep slope surrounded by forest. “I can make some good jumps out of this.”
Reece spent his life savings, followed by more than six months of clearing the land of dozens of dilapidated buildings filled with garbage.
“I wouldn’t do it again,” Reece laughs. “It’s a nightmare renovating.”
A nightmare followed by Reece doodling designs to realize his dream home.
“I’d draw things just as I would as a little kid,” Reece says, sketching images of ramps protruding from the house and jumps surrounding it.
Then Reece carved up his backyard with heavy equipment and constructed gigantic wooden ramps, turning his paper plans into five acres of limitless possibilities.
Now he’s planning to invite his fellow professionals and cycling enthusiasts to try out his tracks this summer at the Reece Wallace Invitational.
“I see my house as a blank canvas,” Reece says, before showing video of the feats he’s accomplished on his property. “I really can create or do whatever I like."
So if Reece imagines racing through his living room and dropping off his back deck, he goes for it.
“Why not do something different?” Reece says. “Have fun with it and be creative.”
Why not focus all your innate talent and years of training on riding off your roof?
“I was shaking in my boots up there,” Reece says before showing video of him riding off his three-storey home and landing safely. “Every part of your body is just focused on doing it and doing it correct.”
And then — when Reece wondered, ‘What’s next?’ — he noticed the tree beside his house was dying. He decided to lop off the top, use the wood to build a bridge from his roof to the tall stump, and jump off that.
“There‘s an adrenaline rush,” Reece says of landing the jump perfectly. “But there’s also a big sense of relief — oh I didn’t die!"
Which is followed by countless moments of gratitude every day, Reece says, for the advice his mom gave to her bike-riding boy about realizing his dreams.
“That’s sustained me with all the decisions I’ve made in my life,” Reece says. “Follow what you love, work hard at it, and everything will fall into place.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.