Tayte Proulx-Royds is a 12-year-old sender who excels across as many disciplines of mountain biking as she can. A Kelowna, BC, local, she grew up riding mountain bikes with her family and has now found herself shredding shuttle laps at lunchtime, podiuming in the Women's Open division at the Big White slope event last year, and winning the first-ever Dark Horse award at Casey Brown's invitational women's freeride event. She clearly rides for the love of it and has already accomplished some impressive things, but she's just getting started. Keep your eyes open for Tayte at all the big events in the years to come.
Who is Tayte Proulx-Royds?
Hi, I’m Tayte. I really like bikes, photography, art, dogs, and skiing. I've got lots of hobbies but biking takes the cake. I’ve been riding my whole life and I can’t stop.
Where are you from and where do you live now?
I’m from Kelowna, BC!
How did you start mountain biking?
My whole family rides bikes and the sport just naturally came into my life. I started riding a run bike at two and my favourite part of riding when I was little was shredding behind my Mom & Dad on the trail-a-bike. I loved the speed and the feel of downhill riding. I quickly grew from the trail-a-bike to riding my own bike and I’m so glad I did. I love all disciplines of riding and raced my first Canada Cup Cross Country Mountain Bike Race in Victoria when I was 9. After that, I found cyclocross, slopestyle, enduro, and downhill/freeride. Participating in Crankworx (Kidsworx) events is when I really fell in love with the sport and the community of mountain biking.
Tayte enjoys riding all kinds of bikes.
In the last 4 years I have really progressed and I have learned how to manual on a pumptrack, and after that I just kept riding and racing bikes and now I’m riding better than I ever thought I would!
Who are your sponsors?
LIV Canada OFFROAD team, Shimano, TITLE MTB, Fox Racing Canada, Silverstar Bike Park, SENDERELLA Official, Mom, Dad, Grandma & Uncle Danny
What bike(s) do you ride?
The bikes I ride include the LIV Intrigue Advanced Pro, LIV Pique Advance 1 (slopestyle bike), LIV Pique Advanced 0-29 (XC race bike), Liv Brava Advance (cyclocross bike), Chromag Monk (dirt jumper), and Giant Glory Advanced (DH).
What does a typical day look like for you?
A typical day for me in the school year: I go to school online and I start my day at 9:15 and I do my classes till noon. And then I take a break for an hour or so and then I head on my bike to go ride around my neighborhood, And usually my brother and I do shuttle laps at Gillard. Gillard is a rad shuttle spot in Kelowna, so fun and so sick! I love having it basically in my backyard. It’s a 15 minute drive from my house to the top of the mountain. It is so nice to have a place to go train for DH and enduro racing in the shoulder seasons (fall/spring). And then just finish off my day with pumptrack laps in my backyard or a rip on my dirt bike, then just hang with my family and dogs.
What's it like for you to compete in multiple disciplines? How do you balance that?
I started competing in different disciplines based on the seasons. I started with cross-country mountain biking and then soon found cyclocross in the fall as well. When COVID hit and all the races were cancelled I started to just play more on my bike. I began hitting all the local bike parks and pump tracks. I found that this was a good way for me to hang out with people who liked bikes and still feel like I was connected to others while staying safe outside. Suddenly I found that I enjoyed the creativity of putting together a good solid line of jumps and tricks. For fun I decided to try slopestyle and participated in my first slopestyle comp in September 2020 at Big White. I surprised myself and ended up winning 3rd place in open women. The rest of the season was spent shuttling with my brother Seth which is when I fell in love with downhill.
Keeping it fun, playful and creative is how I find balance between the disciplines.
Do you have a favorite discipline?
It is really hard to pick my favourite discipline because they all complement each other and they all have lots of cool people in each discipline. Because XC racing hasn’t really happened in BC this year I’ve really started to fall in love with downhill and freeride just because there have been more events.
What riding accomplishments are you most proud of?
Again this is a hard question for me because I have lots of things I’m proud of. I am so stoked that I won the first Dark Horse invitational put on by Casey Brown. But also super proud of winning the provincial championship in DH this year.
Congrats on the Dark Horse Award. How does that feel?
Thank you so much! I was really shocked to find out that I won the first ever Dark Horse Award! I am so pumped and I still can’t believe it! It was so cool to ride with some of the best slopestyle riders in the world. All the girls were so supportive and helped me to take my riding to the next level. It was so cool to meet Casey. She was super supportive and gave us the opportunity to progress on our own time.
What are your strengths?
I would say my strength is that I don’t just send it without thinking. I like to think of myself as a smart rider. Sometimes it takes me a while to try something new like the first drop at Dark Horse, but when I do finally commit to something like this I feel smooth and confident.
What are your weaknesses?
I would say that one of my weaknesses is sometimes also my strength. If I have a feature that I want to conquer in any discipline of riding and I know I can do it but I haven’t yet I will obsess about it and go back and try it again and again until sometimes I become overtired and frustrated. I also have a weakness for tacos and can eat them for days!
Where is your favorite place to ride?
My favourite place to ride is Silverstar Mountain and I also love travelling to different places and riding in Revelstoke and Whistler. BC is awesome for riding!
What has been your worst crash over the years?
My worst crash would be on the last day and the second feature at Dark Horse. I had ridden it for two days over and over and had it dialled but the course had been damp and the last day it dried up a lot so the conditions had changed a bit. The course was running faster. I ended up with too much speed, popped too high, overshot the landing, and ended up too nose heavy and crashed. Luckily I had my Fox RPC helmet to protect me and my Fox chest protector so I managed to be relatively ok. And my LIV Intrigue took the slam like a champ.
Who or what inspires you?
All of the women at Dark Horse and many others in my community continue to inspire me everyday! The best part about riding is just being included. It’s so nice to have a group of girls that want to ride with you regardless of your ability.
What do you enjoy doing away from biking?
I have lots of different interests outside of biking. I really love riding motocross. I picked it up last year and fell in love with it, it’s so amazing! Beyond two wheels, I also love photography and the places I ride inspire my photos. I also love drawing, hanging out with my dogs, my family, and travelling. Cross-country skiing and biathlon are the two other sports I love.
Do you have a favorite motto or saying?
My favourite saying is “Get your guts out!”
What you do think about the future of mountain biking?
I think the future of mountain biking is really exciting and it will keep getting better for women. The more the community speaks up and supports women by including them the more confidence we will have.
How do you want to be remembered?
I want others to remember me as a rider who didn’t care about the rules were in mountain biking. I do what I want to on my bike and I want all women and girls not worry about the rules just go out on your bike do your thing and absolutely send it.
What does the future hold for you?
I want to just have fun on my bike for as looonnnggg as possible! And I also want to race for as long as I can. Definitely one of my goals is to race at the World Cup level! And travel with my bike around the world from race to race would be sooo cool.
Follow along with Tayte at
@tayte_proulx_royds on Instagram.
She has her sponsor "mentions" down pat....Future NASCAR star...lol
When she finally gets fig newtons on broad and they brand her goggle lens
Keep it up Tayte!
Stay passionate! Congrats on well deserved recognition.
Her parents sound like awesome parents who have introduced her to multiple adrenaline based sports and athletic disciplines without being helicopters parents or telling her that such pursuits "aren't for girls."
They sound awesome. Whatever they are doing, they are doing it right.