OUR STORY

The Story of Ride Fast; 

Ride Fast Crew started in 2020 shortly after I was in a serious SXS accident where I suffered life altering injuries to my left hand. Between surgeries, loss of employment and a break up following shortly after you could say I was at an all time low. I was lost, looking for somewhere to live, and trying to come to terms with navigating life with only four fingers on my left hand and only one functional thumb. Zach (aka Hudy), took me in to live with him at a moment's notice. On that day, Zack and Heiko received the first batch of the infamous “Ride Fast Eat Ass” stickers and things took off from there. 

I posted a story up on my personal Instagram and I had someone message me and offer to buy some (Will Davis, thank you!). Looking back I am not entirely sure who decided and speared this venture off, but an Instagram page was created. This was the beginning of an era to showcase to the world our most shining moments on picture and video.  

Shortly after the creation of the Ride Fast Eat Ass page, we were selling stickers left, right and center, going skiing, and filming our adventures. I personally was still facing one issue, I had more surgeries that I needed to have done on my left hand. I had rods placed, bones that needed to be fused, and open wounds that needed to heal. Even though I had all these things going on with my hand, it wasn’t stopping me. Took a few slams, had some bumps and bruises but it made me come to a conclusion. While I was in the hospital I had given up on so many things that I once had a deep passion for. I discovered that life isn’t perfect, and no matter the situation you are in or may be faced with you can still ride! Having the right friends and peers to encourage you and keep you out doing what you love helped create the now established, Ride Fast Crew. 

Then came COVID and the rental crisis of the decade and I found myself living in Prince George, B.C. out of a U-Haul with my dog Nora and sleeping on a friend's couch (Thank you Cam G. Love you dawg!). Here is where things got interesting. Everyone is bored, pent up at home, and nothing is happening because it's “the end of the world”. This included my treatments for my hand because I could no longer get a doctor’s appointment while this was happening. So no better time to focus on pushing Ride fast. I started driving around and any sick vehicle I would see driving, or if someone chirped the tires or matted it to hear the roar of their aftermarket exhaust I would follow them and give them a sticker! This quickly became a thing and people were loving the slogan. People started asking me “when are you going to make clothing?” To be honest we did not have intentions of clothing and maybe we never should have (seeing we have 4500 plus products available on our little website now). However, you ask and I will deliver no matter how ridiculous the request.

It's funny how I came across Rich's print shop. I was just a fat kid wanting candy and some bubble tea. Being new to Prince George I did not know what Sticky's Candy was, but when I saw the store I had to go check it out. I walked in and to my surprise I saw a little printing shop in the back corner. After chatting with Rich for half an hour, we became pals and made a 200 plus hoodie order that I could not afford. Having no prior sales experience while needing to sell a bunch of hoodies, I take to snap chat and let all the citizens of Prince George know that I’m having a mall parking lot sale! What a success that was, completely sold out of all the hoodies, and got to meet the largest variety of people. After a few more parking lot meets there was every type of engine doing burnouts and wheelies and anything in between and that's when I knew that we had something!

Coming into the Summer of 2020 and that's when I had met the whole moto gang composed of Gage, Jake, Hayden, Matt, Nate and many other beautiful bastards (all events were documented on youtube which is a good laugh). It's a dirtbike frenzy, myself i’m still waiting on surgeries and a purpose and or drive to distract myself from my own negative thoughts. 

I have this great idea: We should give away a dirtbike. Famous last words if it fails! Thankfully it did not, our only issue was that the winner did not have an Instagram account. At this point everyone is busy with their lives between work and racing and I'm a slight hindrance on their peaceful lives. However since I’m a sucker for punishment, I took out a loan on a new snowmobile and then had no choice but to start up another giveaway to get the Ride Fast Crew page growing even more. 

Looking back at 2020 there was ALOT going on! First we had PG madness, giveaway number one, then giveaway number two shortly after. There's a lot I wish I did better to keep the crew together but ultimately everything ran its course and I'm happy for the guys and what they are doing now. For a year and a half to almost two years that the page was stagnant, It didn't feel right, felt like we left our amazing customers high and dry. I missed the messages and emails of so many people that loved the products we provided and the content we created. Missed the feeling when I went to the post office to drop off orders. I finally returned back to work after three years being off and a total of 12 surgeries. That's when it really set in. I was not meant to be here. So I quickly began looking into how I could resurrect the ride fast crew from the dead. It became clear to me that two things needed to happen: I needed to pay off my debt and I needed to learn how to make t-shirts myself. 

I started watching youtube videos to learn how to print shirts, started selling things I didn't need and getting rid of the  existing debt that could free up without needing a job's consistent income. Purchased a cheap old heat press and vinyl cutter with a blown motherboard.  After about a year, this just wasn't working out. I was living up at my family ski cabin, hiking water and groceries everyday in the freezing cold and snow to save on rent, driving 45 mins to a 9-5 job in town, while working myself backwards if you ask me all while fulfilling hoodie orders in the cabin after work. 

Once spring came I decided it was time to make a change. I quickly began weighing the risk vs. reward. If I just sucked it up and went back drilling for a month or two, shut down the website and tried my best not to mess my hand up any further, the resurrection could happen. The gears of this world must have started to move in motion for this plan because the next morning my good friend Garret was on the phone offering me a job to work for his drilling company. It was a rowdy summer drilling, I had a fat stack, and all the drive and determination to start building up my own print shop. If it wasnèt for all the previous customers, fans, and beauties out there encouraging me to get everything going I wouldnèt have gotten through the renovation of the new Ride Fast Crew space. September to November I have never loathed a heated square space so much in my life! Thankfully, I got it finished with drywall, flooring, and the stair nosing's no thanks to some great homies (Zach P, Tom, Aaron, Luke, Keenan the crusher, and also derl!)

These last 3-4 years have been one of the biggest mental and physical tests I’ve had to personally go through. The energy that everyone brings forth and the support in the crew has placed me in the most stable mental and physical state I have ever been. A new goal that I have with Ride Fast Crew is to have continued support for our riders and athletes, help them gain and get exposure to build positive interactions within the action sports community. Clothing and merchandise is just the beginning at Ride Fast Crew. There are so many goals and plans for this group that I hope everything goes off without a hitch. 

Thanks for your time if you have actually read through this all! I have barely touched the surface on everything that is Ride Fast, this is my best attempt to express my dreams, aspirations, and motivations with one hand to communicate with you everything that makes up Ride Fast Crew. 

Thanks again and much love, your RFC operator, owner/chief dip shit 

Anders Person.