The power of determination and community support

I’m Tyriq Springer, 19 years old. I attended Fatima College. I have three half-siblings: one on my mom’s side, a three-year-old brother, and two on my dad’s side, a sister and brother (aged 24 and 10).

I grew up in Paramin the majority of my life, but I was back and forth between my mom, dad, and grandparents. I was exposed to the elements of life at a young age and riding changed my life. I believed I would have made it big with riding even when close family members doubted me. Now, I stand to make everyone proud. My riding community supports me like their own son.

The biking dream comes to fruition

I grew up riding bikes in Paramin but I only started mountain biking in 2021. I had gone to ride in Chaguaramas with my dad, stepmom and little brother. We rented a bike from bikehub.tt for my stepmom because she didn’t own a bike. First corner into the trail, I saw a tiny jump. I hit it with the bike. As I landed, my rear axle snapped and my riding day was over…or so I thought. As I dragged my bike back to the van because my dad and the rest had left me to continue their ride, the owner of the bike rental company saw me doing a wheelie earlier when we arrived. He asked if I wanted to use one of his bikes free of charge as he saw my potential. I agreed and he gave me a tour of the trails.

He later said to me that every time he tried to pull away I was always right behind him and this was talent because I was really short and skinny. Since then, I fell in love with the sport and I’m now the first Caribbean mountain biker to represent in downhill at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championship in Val di Sole, Italy, August 26 to 30.

What a lot of people don’t know is that I was forced to stop riding in 2024 to run track and field and for two years. I hated it. I would walk past my bike every day and see it covered in dust. It was eating away at my soul until I couldn’t take it anymore and decided ‘I’m going to do what makes me happy’.

My trip to Italy

I would say I’m very dedicated and passionate about the sport as I want to see it grow locally and regionally. I’m a very outgoing and social person. This trip to Italy really opened my eyes and gave me a taste of what I actually want. It has been my dream since the day I started riding.

Being in Italy was definitely a culture shock. The food was very different as we use a lot of seasonings in our food. The people there were from all over the world and when they found out that I was from Trinidad, everybody showed crazy amounts of love. My dad supported me 100 per cent of the way. I even lost my passport a week before I left and had to get everything expedited.

The journey to Italy wasn’t easy

When I started preparing for the trip, I started calling everyone I knew of influence to raise funding. Every phone call I made, the advice I got just made my budget grow because I’ve never planned a trip before.

I didn’t get any help at the beginning in May to probably the middle of July. I needed $190,000 to cover all expenses. A group of guys said that it was too much responsibility for one person to bear and they wanted to take the burden off my shoulders. I accepted the help because it was tough and a mountain bike group called the ‘Howlers’ had thrown a fundraiser barbecue to help raise money.

We did a paid ride meet-up and a few businesses donated towards the charity and that’s how it was pulled off. I couldn’t have done it without the support. I didn’t get any support from the government and I’m now forced to cancel two of my upcoming events due to lack of funding as it is very expensive.

You have a dream? Be disciplined

Follow your dreams, put in the work on and off the field of play even when you don’t feel like it. On the journey to the top, it’s going to get lonely. I lost a lot of friends because they wanted to lime late on the weekends and I wanted to ride early the next morning.

Every afternoon, after school, I would do my homework and rush out the door to ride before the sun went down. There were many times I fell off the bike and went to school with cuts and bruises or, as we call it, ‘white man’. Don’t let anyone discourage you from doing what you love.